The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

My Review

“The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” is a fantasy drama film about a young widow who rents a seaside cottage in England which she soon discovers is haunted by the ghost of a crusty seaman, the previous owner. The thin premise of the movie is made somewhat believable due to crisp direction by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“All About Eve” 1950) and a well written screenplay by Philip Dune. It was adapted from the 1945 novel “The Ghost of Captain Gregg and Mrs. Muir” by R. A. Dick.

Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney lend their familiar big screen personas to this picture with some success. They do quite well in the leading roles. The supporting cast includes George Sanders, Edna Best, Anna Lee, Robert Coote, Vanessa Brown, and Natalie Woods as Tierney’s 9-year-old daughter. “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” was a hit at the box office for 20th Century Fox. It received one Oscar nod for Best Cinematography/Black-and-White (Charles Lang). A television show of the same name ran for one year on NBC and one year on ABC from 1968 to 1970 starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare.