The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
What do you call this kind of contrivance, a situation set up by a fabulous circumstance, and then the inevitable unwinding of those circumstances? It's so artificial you want to scream for some sincerity, and yet it's so sincere, within its artifice, you are convinced, and intrigued.
So here's the set-up. A widow moves to a house overlooking the ocean haunted by the ghost of a seaman who once lived there. And she decides she likes it, or wants it. And so we have the ghost in the form of Rex Harrison, and Mrs. Muir, the woman played with usual cool poise and cinematic good looks by Gene Tierney. The two don't quite fall in love at first, but a relationship grows, and a book is written.
But that is just still the set-up. Mrs. Muir needs more that a pretend reality and a make-believe boyfriend. In comes a charming and somewhat dubious (at first) writer and painter played by George Sander. Conflicts arise, ideals are threatened, and the sky broods. It's a U.S. production but it is set in Britain (ostensibly) and has a very British, conversational feel. (Sanders and Harrison are British, of course, but Tierney is a Brooklyn girl.
All of this is mostly amusing. Yes, American director Joseph L. Mankiewicz has made what almost feels at times like a romantic comedy, though more romance than laughs, especially after the first half. The set-up dilutes the impact of both the comedy and the drama a little. A true madcap could survive this kind of dreamy falseness, but a romance, to really move you, can't keep tripping over little tricks in the plot, and in the filming. So as good as all of this actually is, and as entertaining, it doesn't rip your heart out. And isn't that the idea?
Maybe not always. It does move as much as it tickles. Its mystery is a little restrained, but it's still mysterious. It feels a bit literary at times, controlled and clever. But the actors, all three of them, fit that notion of sounding literate, and speaking clearly, of projecting never-ending poise. In the end, it's Gene Tierney's movie, and she holds it all together through its three distinct phases of the plot. By the last (fourth) brief section, the emotional threads pull together and it becomes a real tear-jerker for a few seconds. Which is plenty.
What do you call this kind of contrivance, a situation set up by a fabulous circumstance, and then the inevitable unwinding of those circumstances? It's so artificial you want to scream for some sincerity, and yet it's so sincere, within its artifice, you are convinced, and intrigued.
So here's the set-up. A widow moves to a house overlooking the ocean haunted by the ghost of a seaman who once lived there. And she decides she likes it, or wants it. And so we have the ghost in the form of Rex Harrison, and Mrs. Muir, the woman played with usual cool poise and cinematic good looks by Gene Tierney. The two don't quite fall in love at first, but a relationship grows, and a book is written.
But that is just still the set-up. Mrs. Muir needs more that a pretend reality and a make-believe boyfriend. In comes a charming and somewhat dubious (at first) writer and painter played by George Sander. Conflicts arise, ideals are threatened, and the sky broods. It's a U.S. production but it is set in Britain (ostensibly) and has a very British, conversational feel. (Sanders and Harrison are British, of course, but Tierney is a Brooklyn girl.
All of this is mostly amusing. Yes, American director Joseph L. Mankiewicz has made what almost feels at times like a romantic comedy, though more romance than laughs, especially after the first half. The set-up dilutes the impact of both the comedy and the drama a little. A true madcap could survive this kind of dreamy falseness, but a romance, to really move you, can't keep tripping over little tricks in the plot, and in the filming. So as good as all of this actually is, and as entertaining, it doesn't rip your heart out. And isn't that the idea?
Maybe not always. It does move as much as it tickles. Its mystery is a little restrained, but it's still mysterious. It feels a bit literary at times, controlled and clever. But the actors, all three of them, fit that notion of sounding literate, and speaking clearly, of projecting never-ending poise. In the end, it's Gene Tierney's movie, and she holds it all together through its three distinct phases of the plot. By the last (fourth) brief section, the emotional threads pull together and it becomes a real tear-jerker for a few seconds. Which is plenty.