The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

This article is about the film. For the TV series, see The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (TV series).

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Directed by	Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Produced by	Fred Kohlmar
Written by	R. A. Dick (novel) Philip Dunne
Starring	Gene Tierney Rex Harrison George Sanders
Music by	Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography	Charles Lang
Editing by	Dorothy Spencer
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 26, 1947 (U.S. release)
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) is a romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R. A. Dick. In 1945, 20th Century Fox bought the film rights to the novel, which had been published only in the United Kingdom at that time. It was shot entirely in California.

Plot

In early 1900s England, a young widow, Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney), moves to the seaside village of Whitecliff and into Gull Cottage with her daughter Anna (Natalie Wood) and her maid Martha (Edna Best), despite the fierce disapproval of her mother- and sister-in-law. She rents the house despite discovering that the house is haunted. 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 reluctantly promises to make himself known only to her; Anna is too young for ghosts. When Lucy's investment income dries up, he dictates to her his memoirs, entitled Blood and Swash. His racy recollections make the book a bestseller, allowing Lucy to stay in the house. During the course of writing the book, they fall in love, but as both realise it is a hopeless situation, Daniel tells her she should find a real (live) man.

When she visits the publisher in London she becomes attracted to suave Miles Fairley (George Sanders), a writer of children's stories known as "Uncle Neddy" who helps her obtain an interview. Despite a rocky beginning, the publisher agrees to publish the captain's book. Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and begins a whirlwind courtship. Captain Gregg, initially jealous of their relationship, decides finally to disappear and cease being an obstacle to her happiness. He convinces her that he was all a dream whilst she sleeps. Shortly thereafter while visiting her publisher in London, Lucy pays a surprise visit to Fairley's home and discovers 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 spend the rest of her life as a single woman in Gull Cottage with Martha to look after her.

About ten years later, Anna (Vanessa Brown) returns with her Navy lieutenant fiancé and tells her mother that she knew about Captain Gregg and Miles Fairley all the time, rekindling faint memories in her mother of the captain (it is also revealed that Fairley has become fat and bald and that his wife and children finally left him).

Lucy spends a long peaceful life at the cottage. Captain Gregg appears before her at the moment of her death – reaching out, he lifts her young spirit free of her body. The two walk out of the front door arm in arm, into the mist.

Cast

• Gene Tierney as Lucy Muir
• Rex Harrison as Daniel Gregg
• George Sanders as Miles Fairley
• Edna Best as Martha Huggins
• Vanessa Brown as Anna Muir (as an adult)
• Anna Lee as Mrs. Fairley
• Natalie Wood as Anna Muir (as a child)
• Robert Coote as Mr. Coombs
• Isobel Elsom as Angelica, Mother-in-Law
• Victoria Horne as Eva, Sister-in-Law
• Helen Freeman as Author Displaced by Lucy
• Stuart Holmes as Man Ordered Out of Train Compartment by Captain
• Whitford Kane as Mr. Sproull

Awards

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir received a 1947 Academy Award nomination for Cinematography.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions - #73
• AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores - Nominated
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Fantasy Film

Adaptations to other media

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was adapted as an hour-long radio play on the December 1, 1947 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater with Charles Boyer and Madeleine Carroll, and was also adapted on the August 16, 1951 Screen Director's Playhouse with Boyer and Jane Wyatt.

From 1968 to 1970, a TV sitcom entitled The Ghost & Mrs. Muir starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare aired on NBC and ABC with the same premise as the book and film, but with a contemporary American setting. Mrs. Muir's first name was changed from 'Lucy' to 'Carolyn' for the series.

DVD release

The film was released on DVD by 20th Century Fox as part of their 20th Century Fox Studio Classics collection.

External links

• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at the Internet Movie Database
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at AllRovi
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at the TCM Movie Database

Streaming audio

• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir on Lux Radio Theater: December 1, 1947
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir on Screen Directors Playhouse: August 16, 1951