The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Tags: haunting

Plot synopsis:
In the early 1900s, young widow Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) moves to the seaside English village of Whitecliff despite the fierce disapproval of her caterwauling mother-in-law and domineering sister-in-law. Despite its reputation of being haunted, she falls in love with and rents Gull Cottage, where she takes up residence with her young daughter Anna (Natalie Wood) and her maid Martha (Edna Best). On the first night, she is visited by the ghostly apparition of the former owner, a roguish but harmless sea captain named Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), who tells her that his death four years ago was accidental. He was trying to close a window which blew open during a storm, when he kicked his gas heater on with his foot in his sleep. He further explains that he had wanted to turn Gull Cottage into a home for retired seamen in generations to come. After learning of Lucy's appreciation of the house, Daniel reluctantly agrees to allow her to live in Gull Cottage and promises to make himself known only to her (Anna is too young for ghosts). Despite a few differences and disagreements with Captain Gregg, Mrs. Muir and her household settle comfortably into Gull Cottage. However, it is not long before Mrs. Muir's in-laws arrive with the news that Lucy's investment income has dried up, and they insist that Lucy move back to London with them. After his ghostly eviction of the in-laws, Captain Gregg comes up with an idea to save the house: he will dictate his memoirs to her and she will have them published, with the royalties going to her. During the course of writing the book, they find themselves falling in love, but as both realize it is a hopeless situation, Daniel tells her she should find a real (live) man.
When she visits the publisher in London, Lucy becomes attracted to suave Miles Fairley (George Sanders), a writer of children's stories under the nom-de-plume of "Uncle Neddy," who helps her obtain an interview. Despite a rocky beginning, the publisher agrees to publish the Captain's book. The Captain's racy recollections, published under the title Blood and Swash, become a bestseller, allowing Lucy to buy the house. Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and begins a whirlwind courtship. Captain Gregg, initially disgusted of their relationship, decides finally to cease being an obstacle to her happiness. While Lucy sleeps, Daniel places the suggestion in her mind that she alone wrote the book and that he was just a dream. His task accomplished, Captain Gregg disappears from the house. Shortly thereafter, while again visiting her publisher in London, Lucy decides to pay a surprise visit to Fairley's home. There she discovers to her horror that not only is Miles already married with two children, but that this sort of thing has happened before with other women. Lucy leaves heartbroken and returns to Whitecliff to spend the rest of her life as a recluse in Gull Cottage, with Martha to look after her.
About ten years later, Anna (Vanessa Brown) returns with her fiancé, a Royal Navy lieutenant. In the course of a conversation with her mother, Anna reveals that Captain Gregg's ghost was her childhood companion during the same year Lucy and the Captain were acquainted. She also knew about her mother's relationship with Miles Fairley all the time, rekindling faint memories in her mother of the Captain. It is also revealed that Fate has not been kind to Fairley; he has become fat, bald and a heavy drinker, and his wife and children have finally left him.
Lucy spends a long peaceful life at the cottage, still tended to by Martha. One foggy night, as Lucy sits dozing in her bedroom chair before the gas fire, she dies. Captain Gregg appears before her at the moment of her death. Reaching out, he lifts her young spirit free of her aged body. The two walk arm in arm down the stairs, out of the front door, and into a brightly lit mist.

Review: That's what makes for great movies.Gene Tierney is perfect in her role as Lucy, a young widow, very strong-willed and with a mind of her own.
I particularly liked her expressions which were corrected by him, such as: (she describes) sheets bellying in the wind, (he, correcting her) sails billowing; (she, in a flurry for him to be gone, asks him to) decompose, (he haughtily retorts) dematerialize, madam!When she develops an interest in a certain outsider, Miles Fairley, suitably performed by that perennial ladies' man, George Sanders, well the captain becomes very annoyed and tells her, "I said you should see men, not perfumed parlor snakes," which I thought was amusing and a very apt description.I think the overall tone of the story tends to confirm a universal belief in an afterlife form of existence, a conviction as old as mankind itself.
However, in this story the emphasis gradually shifts to supplanting the experience of a ghostly dialogue exchange with that of a dream state as being the source of reality, in effect Lucy dreamed it all, even the writing of the book, which is something I would question but that's another matter.The exquisite music throughout the film sets the mood beautifully in expressing the many changes varying from haunting, romantic atmosphere to frolicsome (when the captain is up to his pranks), as well as the churning turbulence of the majestic waves along the shore.I've recently acquired the DVD and appreciate having the subtitles now which brings out more details of the dialogue.
The ghost of Captain Gregg (Rex Harrison) is at first brash and frightening but we come to find that he is a salt of the earth man of high principles.Get over slick and callow modern film making and take a few steps back in time to watch this most charming and romantic of love stories well told on all sides: an ornate confection of a story, carefully and lovingly photographed, acted with aplomb and riding on top of a musical score that is as moving and powerful as the tides that beat throughout this film.I find a personal connection to this story in that it takes me back to the days I lived on a northern island that was similarly beautiful though tinged with the bittersweet loneliness of a remote place awash in the deep undercurrents of sorrow and melancholy..
Gene Tierney is an impoverished widow who manages to find a suitable seaside cottage for herself, her maid and her daughter (Natalie Wood), only to discover that its former occupant is a strong-willed, salty sea captain (Rex Harrison) who is opposed to anyone else living at Gull Cottage.
Tierney has her best role since 'Laura' as the lovely widow, engaging in many witty dialogs with Harrison's ghost with their relationship ultimately leading to a wistful ending.
Touches of humor abound in early scenes of Tierney with her relatives who are opposed to her independent decision to find her own lodgings.Later remade as a TV series in the '60s which never captured the charm of the original story filmed with such tender care by director Joseph L.
Lucy Muir, a widow of one year, decides to start life anew, with daughter and faithful housekeeper, in a cottage by the sea, despite the warnings by the real estate salesman that the house is haunted by the ghost of its former owner, a seaman, Capt.
After Mrs. Muir encounters the ghost, the two strike an eerie, yet deep relationship, which grows even more when Lucy, forced to earn the money for payment of the cottage, writes a book about the captain's sea encounters.
A beautiful film from all standpoints, with brilliant performances by Tierney and Harrison, who play extremely well off each other with tender, humorous, and bickering encounters, and Sanders, who is as usual, his charming self.
A touching and romantic ending set this film off as one of the all time great cinematic love stories.
The Ghost and Mrs Muir, while a little pretentious at times, stands out as one of the finest romance films of Hollywood's golden period, and an interesting and entertaining fantasy film to boot.
Gene Tierney, whom I'm becoming a bigger fan of every time I see one of her movies, is the headstrong widow - while Rex Harrison is the cantankerous seaman.
One thing I love about old films is the way that they show how different things are nowadays - this is best shown here by the fact that, in one scene, Rex Harrison is told off for swearing; after saying 'blast'.
There is a constant tension between Gene Tierney (Mrs. Muir) and Rex Harrison (Captain Gregg) that is never really satisfied.
Because of this there is a layer of sad acceptance in the actions of Mrs. Muir and Captain Gregg, which is understandable to all of the audience - this is an emotion that all people are forced to feel at one point or another.From a technical standpoint, the film is obviously in black and white which does nothing to detract from the story.
While a quick glance at my rating confirms that I wouldn't denigrate the film as "hack work", the genre parade is interesting in light of Mankiewicz' stated intent.A central theme throughout The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, directly hinted at a number of times by dialogue about progressivist attitudes in the twentieth century, is that of gender roles.
The ghost (Rex Harrison) of a sea captain will appear and is romanced with the attractive woman but the jealousy incarnated for a suitor (George Sanders) spoil the relationship .It's an agreeable romance story in which the protagonist duo is magnificent .
It's got everything - drama, comedy, romance, fantasy, good acting, solid direction, interesting cinematography, a beautiful score, atmosphere, nice sets, and a well-written script.
All that you can say is that this The Ghost And Mrs. Muir have as the lead characters, the ghost of a dead sea captain and a widow named Muir.The recent widow Muir played by Gene Tierney has decided to rent a cottage by the sea in Edwardian Great Britain, party for solitude and grieving and partly to get away from her interfering in-laws played by Victoria Horne and Isobel Elsom.
George Sanders has a nice supporting part as a living individual much interested in Gene Tierney as well, but who turns out to have a lot less character than meets the eye.The film has been proposed for a remake a few times, maybe it will be some day, but to find players of the ability of Rex Harrison, Gene Tierney, George Sanders and the rest will be a considerable challenge..
Although I don't generally care for Rex Harrison's films - his typical role is that of a slick, sophisticated, superficial snob* - in The Ghost and Mrs Muir he projects a very engaging, masculine warmth and heart as the ghostly mariner, attractive to women and likable to men.
It's a pity that Hollywood seems to have lost its knack for warm-hearted, good-humoured ghost stories like this since the 1950s.*Noel Coward, author of Harrison's greatest success, Blithe Spirit, once told him: "If you weren't the best light-comedy actor of your time, you'd be fit for nothing but selling second-hand Rolls-Royce cars in Curzon Street."** ** For the benefit of readers outside Britain, I should explain that this is an extremely high-class commercial street in the West End of London, formerly the centre of the up-market end of the used-car trade..
Mr. Mankiewicz has the credit of directing this quaint little love cum ghost story, set around the fictitious English coastal area of Whitecliff-By-The Sea and its rustic Gull Cottage around the time of 1900.
Gene Tierney is appropriately proper and pinched (it's a period piece, after all), but she subtley blooms and has great chemistry with enchantingly buffoonish Rex Harrison, who isn't afraid to look like a windbag and yet makes points on Mrs. Muir besides.
The scene where she looks at Gull Cottage for the first time is beautifully photographed with great music as we enter the "haunted house." The only thing I found puzzling was why or how Mrs. Muir could rent the cottage for like 40+ years!
Eschewing grand proclamations of passion and overblown romance, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) is a lovely, quiet little film that gets under your skin.
Combined with Gene Tierney's performance as the independent young widow and a very virile Rex Harrison as the ghostly sea captain who inspires her to write a book about his adventures, this is one of the best cinematic romances out there..
This film is great to watch if you like romantic movies and/or ghost stories.
Rex Harrison is superb as the ghost of a sea captain, trying to scare a widow ( Gene Tierney ) and her daughter ( Natalie Wood ) from his house after they rent it.
Gene Tierney was beautiful as Lucy Muir; she struck a perfect balance between portraying a young, vulnerable widow and a strong, independent woman.
Rex Harrison, playing the gruff yet lovable captain, manages to bring a lovely melancholy element to the film while at the same time injecting it with doses of humor to keep the mood from being somber.
Gene Tierney is stunningly beautiful as the independent widow Mrs. Lucy Muir, who takes her daughter (Natalie Wood) and housekeeper (Edna Best) along with her to live in the seaside abode known as Gull Cottage.
It is essentially perfect from every point of view: the direction by Mankiewicz, the acting by Gene Tierney (Mrs. Muir), Rex Harrison (captain Gregg), George Sanders, the performances by the supporting cast, the beautiful cinematography and the evocative setting on the lonely shores of Southern England.
Rex Harrison plays essentially the same role he plays in "Anna and the King of Siam>" (In my view, that is a considerably better movie.) He also is much as he is in the brilliant "Unfaithfully Yours." That said, he is very good as the salty but slightly sentimental sea captain -- or ghost of a sea captain.Gene Tierney plays a very independent woman.
Mendocino, California?One of the wonderful aspects of this film is its intimacy....until the last scene in the film, the leading man (a ghost) and the leading woman never touch, embrace, or kiss....yet a marvelous intimacy is exchanged between Lucy (Tierney), and 'the Captain' (Harrison), ....and with the audience.
I actually wish there would be a new film adaptation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, not because I think there is anything wrong with the first film adaptation, but because I think a new generation should be introduced to good supernatural romantic fiction and opposed to what is currently trendy and sadly many of the current generation won't watch a black and white film or read a novel more than twenty years old because they make negative assumptions about the content such as assuming it would be out dated, stuffy, cheesy or hard to follow.
This is a charming and romantic period piece with two truly great actors portraying the Ghost: Rex Harrison and Mrs. Muir: Gene Tierney.
It was way too slow, especially in the second half of the film.Oh, it's nice to admire Gene Tierney's beautiful face and George Sanders usually plays an intriguing character but the rest is just typical what-I-call "Hollywood theology" in which everyone goes to heaven or comes back to earth as ghosts.
Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders and Natalie Wood all have an unfortunate or scandalous story attached to them.Back to the film, it's easy-going and stays with you after it has finished..
What we're expected to believe is so unrealistic, that this widow (Gene Tierney) rents out a cottage haunted by the ghost of an old sea captain (Rex Harrison), that she can see him and yet never tries to touch him, that she puts up with him sleeping in her bedroom, and that the two have what seems to be a normal relationship.
Muir, played by the incredibly beautiful Gene Tierney, soon discovers the root of the brokers objections: the cottage is haunted by its former owner, a wily sea captain, Daniel Gregg.
More playful scenes of Rex Harrison harassing the living, more depth to the relationship between Mrs. Muir and Gregg, and a better sense of the long passage of time following the early eventful years would be welcome.
In some ways it is comical, thanks to Rex Harrison's irascibility; he, in this movie once a sea captain, is the ghost of the house into which Lucy Muir (played so well by the very beautiful and appealing Gene Tierney) moves with her little daughter (performed by the precious Natalie Wood at about age nine.) Yes, you had to laugh at Harrison when he does become so unbearable toward Gene Tierney.
In 1900, a young widow (Gene Tierney) finds her seaside cottage is haunted...and forms a unique relationship with the ghost (Rex Harrison).While not the most celebrated film of its era, "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" has a few accolades to its name.
Mankiewicz directed this classic romantic ghost story that stars Gene Tierney as Lucy Muir, a recently widowed woman who moves in(along with her daughter, played by Natalie Wood) with her in-laws, but feels oppressed living under the same roof, so buys a seaside cottage overlooking the English coast that turns out to be haunted by the ghost of Captain Gregg(played by Rex Harrison) the original owner, who is quite disagreeable, yet he and Lucy come to an understanding, and he even agrees to let her "ghost write" his autobiography, which turns out to be a success.
Rex Harrison is great as the ghost of a cantankerous sea captain who haunts the seaside house of widow Gene Tierney.
And finally George Sanders, whose very appearance is a giveaway that his character is up to know good, but you have to admit slimy cynicism was never so enjoyable.At a time when dramas were turning into convoluted, twisting thrillers, The Ghost and Mrs Muir is a beautifully straightforward story.
Recently widowed Lucy Muir {Gene Tierney}, decides she has had enough of her overbearing in-laws and moves herself and her daughter out to Gull Cottage.
A lovely place atop of a cliff and overlooking the sea, Gull Cottage has one other significant factor, it has the ghost of the previous owner and builder of the cottage, Captain Gregg {Rex Harrison} in residence.Long before Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore were apparently putting the supernatural romance on the map, came this sweet, tender and funny Joseph L.
Pleasantly enjoyable fantasy film from the late 1940's bolstered by two fine lead performances from Rex Harrison (in his first cinematic outing in a ghostly plot, this time as the haunting ghost - a few years later he was being haunted himself by ghosts in David Lean's "Blithe Spirit") and Gene Tierney, atmospheric background music from the celebrated Bernard Herrman and persuasive direction from Joseph Mankiewicz.
Rex Harrison is magnificent as Captain Gregg, and George Sanders is his devilish self as Miles Fairley.Therefore, I give "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" a 10 out of 10..
Gene Tierney's great beauty adds poignancy to the story, but Rex Harrison makes the Captain into a man worth waiting for until you get to "the other side."  One of the very few movies guaranteed to make me cry every time..
Gene Tierney as Mrs. Muir, is a beautiful widow, who is very proper, yet grows tolerant of the captains salty ways.
A good, but not fabulous movie is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, a movie which tells the tale of a recent (well, OK, 1 year +) who decides to rent a house, much to the realtor's horror, that is haunted by the sea captain who once lived there years ago.
The stars of the film are Rex Harrison as the gruff but lovable Captain and pretty Gene Tierney as strong-willed Lucy Muir.
Rex Harrison is at his charming best as a rugged deceased Sea Captain who haunts a small sea side cottage which is occupied by an independent widow, the impossibly  beautiful Gene Tierney.
George Sanders also plays his role to slimy perfection!Another thing that I love about this movie is the haunting score, by Bernard Hermann, the amazing black and white cinematography...I could go on all day about the wonderful aspects of this film!
The Ghost and Mrs. MuirThe difference between landlubber and seafaring ghosts is the latter's ectoplasm reeks of chum.Mind you, scent isn't enough to ward of the widow in this romance.Moving with her daughter (Natalie Wood) to a cottage on the English seaside, the independently wealth Mrs. Muir (Gene Tierney) soon finds her new home is haunted by the previous owner Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), an ornery sea captain.When Mrs. Muir's fortune vanishes, her transparent tenant proposes she pen his biography, and live off the royalties.During the process, the two grow fond of each another.
The word that best describes Rex Harrison as the Ghost is dynamic and Gene Tierney as Lucy Muir is innocently beautiful in favorable way.
This is a gloriously charming romantic comedy/fantasy, that should be shared with everyone.Gene Tierney gives a tender performance as the widow, Lucy Muir, who decides to leave the home of her stifling, controlling in-laws to make a new life for herself and her young daughter Anna (Natalie Wood).
It is NOT a comedy but a very touching romance about a woman (Gene Tierney) and her daughter (played by a young Natalie Wood) moving into the home of a deceased sea captain.
This powerful romantic gem rich in human warmth and spirt and moments of rare humor brought together screen legends Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison.Lucy Muir (Tierney), a young widow, moves into a seaside cottage with her maid, Martha (Edna Best), and her daughter, Anna (Natalie Wood).
She's one of my all time favorites.With its heartwarming story, acting and Oscar nominated cinematography, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a moving classic in Hollywood's best style.