Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0024543071426
Format: Black & White
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2003-04-01
Running Time: 104
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1947-06-26

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Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - a Classic
Comment: A perfect Classic - an unusual story line, entertaining and romantic. What more could anyone want? Yes, it's black and white, but once you get into the movie, you don't notice it. It's a movie perfect for the entire family. So, pop up some popcorn and prepare to be entertained.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Charming Surprise!
Comment: My sister made me watch this one night when there was nothing else on. I was fully prepared to dislike this movie if only because the plot sounded so silly. I am usually not a fan of old movies and certainly not romantic tearjerkers, which my sister loves. But to my surprise I was caught up in this unassuming little story from the beginning. And I cried at the end. So give this movie a chance even though it does not seem to be your cup of tea. The word "charm" is overused by reviewers, but I can't think of a better word to describe the Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

Customer Rating:

Summary: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Comment: If your are a romantic and don't mind crying a little you will like this story. Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison are superb. It is a classic in all respects.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A haunting tale of love and the sea
Comment: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, based on the novel by Josephine Leslie (as R.A. Dick) and screenplay by Philip Dunne, is the English Victorian tale of widowed Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) and her young daughter Anna (Natalie Wood). Wood turns in a spirited performance as young Anna, although she is not given a great deal of screen time. Edna Best makes a charming companion for the isolated Lucy as her outspoken maid Martha. Lucy's meddling in-laws want to force Lucy and Anna to move to London, but Lucy is offended by their view that she is helpless and incapable of supporting herself and her daughter on her writing. Tierney brings a gravity to her role befitting the Victorian era, but tempers it with a playful, witty streak. Harrison is effective as the gruff sea captain with a heart of gold. The two strike up an amazing amount of chemistry despite the physical distance between the actors; instead, emotion is conveyed through glances and words.

The two move to a cottage by the sea that's curiously affordable considering the great view, but Lucy soon finds out why. It's haunted by the ghost of Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), a cantankerous old salt who's overly fond of swearing and frightening off prospective buyers. Lucy, however, is very forward and independent for her era and refuses to be forced out of her new home in Gull Cottage, so the two reach a kind of truce.

Lucy and Daniel soon strike up a deep friendship bordering on romance, and Lucy, a writer, agrees to ghost write Capt Gregg's autobiography. During her meetings with the publisher, she is charmed by Miles Fairley (George Sanders), a famous children's author, and Daniel reluctantly lets Lucy pursue a flesh-and-blood suitor. The ending (much-copied) may be one of the most romantic on film, and clearly inspired later time-travel romance Somewhere in Time (Collector's Edition).

The film is marked by beautiful cinematography, particularly of the sea (filmed at Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey, and various other California coastal locations), and a lush, haunting score by Bernard Herrmann (The Ghost And Mrs. Muir: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) that may be one of the most poetic film scores ever along with John Barry's Somewhere In Time (1998 Re-recording).

The DVD thankfully features many fine extras, such as commentaries by film historian Gregg Kimble and Bernard Herrmann expert Christopher Husted, commentary by chairman of film studies at Wesleyan University Jeanine Bassinger and Kenneth Geist (biographer of Joseph L. Mackiewicz), A&E Biography:"Rex Harrison: The Man Who Would Be King," the original theatrical trailer, and a still gallery. This is a fitting tribute to one of the most timeless screen romances, and fans of Somewhere in Time (Collector's Edition) will feel right at home.

Customer Rating:

Summary: One of a Kind, Exquisite and Perfect
Comment: On any list of the Ten Most Romantic Films Ever Made, "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" will likely always be present. This beautiful 1947 black and white film by Joseph Mankiewiecz, with a gorgeous score by Bernard Herrmann (better known for the foreboding ones he did for Alfred Hitchcock), and marvellous performances by Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, represents the best of post-War British romanticism. It can only be described as - well, haunting. Once seen, never forgotten, and pull out your handkerchiefs, you will need at least two.

Gene Tierney plays Lucy Muir, an exquisite young widow with a little girl who moves to the seashore to get away from her late husband's domineering sister and mother. Lucy's financial resources are limited, but she happens onto a house overlooking the sea that is surprisingly affordable - it appears the house has had trouble remaining occupied, due to "disturbances". Lucy and her daughter fall in love with the house and move in, accompanied by Martha, their housekeeper. Shortly afterward, Lucy is confronted by the source of the house's disturbances: its former owner, one Captain Gregg, a seaman who died in the house, and still considers it his. He has chased out all subsequent owners and intends to do the same with Lucy, but she stands up to him defiantly, and lets him know that she will NOT be leaving and he can do as likes. He admires her spirit, and, having glimpsed her beauty (Ms. Tierney was surely at her most radiant in this film), he softens and agrees to share the house with her and her little family, although she asks him to refrain from contact with her little girl. Captain Gregg is played by Rex Harrison at his most attractive, giving the role an irrisistible blend of charm, irony, and crustiness.

A bantering but affectionate friendship develops between Lucy and Captain Gregg's ghost. The Captain has clearly fallen for the new owner of the house, so much so that when Lucy's slender funds begin to run low and she confronts the possibility of losing the house she has come to love as much as he, Gregg dictates his very salty memoirs to her - they are published and become a best seller, ensuring Lucy's future.

However, Captain Gregg eventually realizes that his presence in Lucy's life is preventing her from going out and meeting living men. Reluctantly, he decides to withdraw, and does so in a way that leaves Lucy no memory of Gregg's "reality", but rather a memory of an imaginary character that she dreamed and who then inspired the book. After Gregg disappears, Lucy begins to go out into society, and almost immediately meets George Sanders - an experienced cad with whom she falls in love, only to find that he is married with several children. The heartbroken Lucy retreats into solitude and decides that the only companionship she needs is her growing daughter, the loyal Martha, and the beloved house by the sea.

Years pass, and Lucy's daughter grows up and becomes engaged to (naturally) a naval officer - when her daughter brings her fiance home, Lucy finds out that the little girl knew all about Captain Gregg and had frequent contact with him - something they both hid from Lucy. More years pass, and now it is Lucy's granddaughter who is engaged to (naturally) a naval officer. Lucy and Martha have grown old together in the house, and, on a windswept night, the white-haired, tired Lucy passes quietly away in the great armchair in the Captain's old room - he suddenly appears before her and holds out his hands, and she springs up, young and beautiful again, and the two pass silently out into the briny night, finally able to live out the love they could not share while one of them still walked among the living.

It sounds terribly soppy, but the script is of such high quality, the performances so note-perfect, the production so atmospheric, that the film never wanders into over-sentimentalization or saccharinity. Its gentle romanticism recalls a lost era (alas, even Britain no longer makes films like this!) and, once seen, leaves an indelible memory.

A five-star classic, and a must-have for fans of post-War British filmmaking of this genre.

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Editorial Reviews:

Joseph Mankiewicz's moody classic is less ghost story than romantic fantasy, a handsome 1947 drama of impossible love set on the picturesque turn-of-the-century New England coast. Independent young widow Lucy Muir (the luminous Gene Tierney), desperate to escape her uptight in-laws, falls in love with a grand seaside house and moves in, only to discover the cantankerous ghost of the hot-tempered Captain Gregg (a histrionically flamboyant performance by Rex Harrison). Lucy refuses to let the bombastic captain frighten her away, earning his respect, his friendship, and later his love. They team up to turn the captain's salty memoirs into a bestseller, but as his affection grows he fades away, leaving Lucy free to undertake a more worldly suitor, notably a charismatic children's author (George Sanders at his smarmy smoothest) with his own guarded secret. Charles Lang's melancholy black-and-white photography and Bernard Herrmann's haunting score set the tone for this sublime adult drama, and Tierney delivers one of her most understated performances as the resolute Mrs. Muir. Mankiewicz turns this ghost story into a refreshingly mature and down-to-earth romance. --Sean Axmaker