Monday, November 19, 2012

The Ghost And Mrs. Muir

The Ghost And Mrs. Muir
Released Year: 1947
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Actors: Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best, Vanessa Brown, Anna Lee, Robert Coote, Natalie Wood, Isobel Elsom, Victoria Horne, Helen Freeman, Stuart Holmes, Whitford Kane, Buster Slaven, and Will Stanton



     This movie was done by 20th Century-Fox, who always uses trumpets for their opening numbers. This film and three others do not use the sound of the trumpets. The other films are All About Eve, Sounder, and The Sound of Music. Bernard Herrmann composed the music for this picture, he is also known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock as well. Herrmann has said that this was the best music he ever composed. Another cool piece of information is that this movie is about a seaman, which happens to be funny because the word "Muir" means "The Sea" in the Irish language, Gaelic. You may also recognize Victoria Horne, she was also in Harvey with Jimmy Stewart.

     The year is 1900 and Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) is tired of living with her late husband's mother Angelica (Isobel Elsom) and sister Eva (Victoria Horne). Which is not surprising as they are two irritating people. So Lucy decides to pack up and leave with her daughter Anna (Natalie Wood). The two end up moving to a beautiful house called Gull Cottage, and it is sitting by the ocean on a coastal village. Lucy soon starts to hear things inside the home. And discovers a ghost! The ghost is Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), and the story is that he committed suicide. Which Lucy soon finds out from the source that it just isn't so. The two of them find themselves talking everyday and having a great time. For when Lucy first moved in, the Captain tried to get rid of the Muir's by trying to scare them. Which Lucy was just not afraid enough to move out. Realizing this, the Captain becomes friends with her instead. After a bit of time, Lucy's mother in law, and sister in law come to the house only to tell her that she will be having financial trouble which means losing the house. The Captain and Lucy end up writing a novel together to save the house. The Captain does not want to lose her, and does not want to have to scare away another family! The book is soon finished and Lucy is to take the book and get it published. At first, the publisher is not interested, he says that he gets thousands of women in every year trying to publish a love story. But this book is different, it is about a seaman and all of his travels. It is a book for men! Lucy gets the publisher to read her book, and he falls in love with it. Lucy ends up with the money and keeps the house. During this trip to the publisher's office, she meets Miles Fairley (George Sanders). He is an attractive man and he also tries to woo her. The Captain is pretty jealous of this, but decides to leave so he can stay away and not interfere with Lucy and her new life. But soon Lucy finds out a secret about Miles that may or may not mean wedding bells. He did propose, but does this secret mean no to the marriage? Lucy can't live forever can she? Will this mean that when she dies, she will end up with Captain Daniel Gregg, or will she have married Miles and end up with him as ghosts instead? Find out by watching this must see! I enjoyed it very much, and recommend it to everyone.

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