199. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

Directed By Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Synopsis

Widow gets a haunted house near the coast and falls in love with the ghost of a sea-captain. Eventually she starts seeing flesh and blood men and out of the kindness of his heart the ghost departs... she lives a life of loneliness until she finally dies and is reunited with her only love.

Review

This is a delightful film, although it reminds us now a bit of Swayze's vehicle Ghost it is in fact a really good film. Firstly all the characters are very loveable and none more than the ghost that haunts the house, and it is easy to see how a woman who needed something exciting in her life would fall in love with him.

The other characters are just as good and George Sanders is particularly good as the very funny and suave pretender to Mrs. Muir's love. Then there are other details here, the soundtrack is great and the passage of time shown by the bit of driftwood eroding on the beach is also a nice little touch. Also, notice a very little Natalie Wood as the young Anna Muir.

In the end it is a tender, lovely and actually very funny film which is a beautiful love story as well and a delight to watch. Girls, bin your Ghost VHS' and get The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, a much more adult and well developed love story about a person who has some actual depth below the skin. Highly Recommended.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

It is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R. A. Dick. In 1945, Twentieth Century Fox bought the film rights to the novel, which had only been published in the United Kingdom at that time.

Trailer: