The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

In England in the early 1900s, young widow Mrs Lucy Muir moves to the seaside village of Whitecliff despite the disapproval of her mother-in-law Angelica Muir and domineering sister-in-law Eva Muir. She rents a house there named Gull Cottage, although it has a reputation as being haunted by the spirit of a seaman who committed suicide there.

On the first night after moving in with her young daughter, Anna, and her loyal maid, Martha, Lucy is visited by an apparition of the former owner, a roguish but harmless sea captain named Daniel Gregg. Gregg tells Lucy that his death four years ago was not a suicide but actually the result of accidentally kicking the valve on a gas-fired room heater in his sleep. Gregg explains that he had wanted to turn Gull Cottage into a home for retired seamen and does not appreciate her presence, having personally frightened away previous visitors. He didn't leave a will – which would have included his plans for the house – because he hadn't anticipated dying so soon. However, due to Lucy's headstrong attitude, as well as her appreciation of the house, Gregg reluctantly agrees to allow her to live in Gull Cottage and he promises to make himself visible only to her.

It is not long before Angelica and Eva arrive with the news that Lucy's investment — her only source of income — has dried up, and they insist that Lucy move back to London with them. However, Gregg convinces Lucy to stay, using his ghostly abilities to drive her in-laws from the house. He suggests that Lucy publish a book, a dictation of his memories from his time at sea, for which she will take credit. During the course of writing the book they fall in love. Both realise it is a hopeless situation, and Gregg tells Lucy she should find a living man to marry. In London, Lucy goes to meet a publisher and becomes attracted to Miles Fairley, a suave author who writes children's stories under the pen name Uncle Neddy. The Captain's lurid and sensational recollections, titled Blood and Swash, become a bestseller, providing Lucy with royalties which she uses to buy Gull Cottage. Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and begins a whirlwind courtship. Captain Gregg, though initially upset by their relationship, decides to leave, as he considers himself an obstacle to Lucy's chance at happiness. While Lucy is asleep, Captain Gregg places in her mind the suggestion that she alone wrote the book and that his presence was merely a dream. He then fades away.

Fairley sends a note cancelling a planned visit to Gull Cottage, saying he will be in London for a few days. Later, Lucy visits London to sign a contract, and obtains Fairley's address in the city from the office clerk with the purpose of paying a surprise visit. However, on this visit she discovers that Fairley (who is not at home) is already married with two children, and his wife tells her that Fairley has romanced other women in the past. Heartbroken, Lucy returns to Whitecliff to spend the rest of her life as a recluse, with Martha looking after her.

Anna, now at university, returns with a Royal Navy lieutenant she plans to marry. In the course of a conversation with her mother, Anna reveals that she too had seen Gregg's ghost, whom she regarded as a childhood friend, and knew about her mother's relationship with Uncle Neddy. Lucy reveals that fate has not been kind to Fairley; his wife and children have left him, and he has become fat, bald, and a heavy drinker.

Many years later, now ailing and under a doctor's care, Lucy complains to Martha that her arm hurts and rejects the glass of hot milk Martha has brought for her. After Martha leaves the room, Lucy takes a sip, but the glass falls to the floor as she dies. Captain Gregg's ghost reappears and reaches out to Lucy, whose young spirit takes his hands and leaves her aged body. They gaze lovingly at each other, then walk arm in arm out of the house into an ethereal mist.

• Gene Tierney as Lucy Muir
• Rex Harrison as Captain Daniel Gregg
• George Sanders as Miles Fairley
• Edna Best as Martha Huggin
• 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. Coombe
• Isobel Elsom as Angelica Muir, Lucy's mother-in-Law
• Victoria Horne as Eva Muir, Lucy's sister-in-Law
• Whitford Kane as Mr. Sproule, the publisher (uncredited)[1]
• Stuart Holmes as Man ordered out of train compartment by the Captain (uncredited)

Although Joseph Mankiewicz had an excellent reputation as a screenwriter, Philip Dunne says Mankiewicz's only contribution to this script was writing a couple of "excellent lines" for George Sanders' character. Sanders' casting came about when Richard Ney, the original actor playing the role, was fired for being inadequate in the part.[2] Bernard Herrmann, the composer of the film's music, regarded it as his finest score.[3]

The New York Times called The Ghost and Mrs. Muir "a pleasurable film, despite its failings," singling out Edna Best for "by far the best performannce [sic]". In the writer's opinion, Harrison "has such an ingratiating personality that this compensates in large measure for the lack of characterization in his role," but Tierney "is a pretty girl, but has no depth of feeling as an actress."[4]

Variety, on the other hand, praised the actors and the film unreservedly:

“Gene Tierney gives what undoubtedly is her best performance to date. It’s warmly human... the out-of-this-world romance pulls audience sympathy with an infectious tug that never slackens. In his role as the lusty, seafaring shade, Rex Harrison commands the strongest attention...Philip Dunne’s script lards the R. A. Dick novel with gusty humor and situations that belie the ghostly theme. Dialog makes full use of salty expressions to point up chuckles.”[5]

The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average critic rating of 8.23/10.

Charles Lang received a 1947 Academy Award nomination for his black-and-white cinematography on the movie.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – #73[6]
• 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated[7]
• 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:
  • Nominated Fantasy Film[8]

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 adapted on the August 16, 1951 Screen Director's Playhouse with Boyer and Jane Wyatt. A 90-minute adaptation by Barry Campbell of the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 December 1974 with Bryan Pringle as Captain Gregg, Gemma Jones as Lucy Muir, and Philip Bond as Miles.[9]

From 1968 to 1970, a TV series titled The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare, aired on NBC and then ABC. It had the same premise and main characters as the book and film, but it was a situation comedy, downplaying the romantic fantasy elements and focusing on broad humor. The time and setting were changed, with the action taking place in a contemporary American coastal town (although the ghost was portrayed as being from the Victorian era). For the series, Mrs. Muir's first name was changed from Lucy to Carolyn, and the children's names were changed from Cyril and Anna (in the original novel) to Jonathan and Candace.

In April 1994, Variety continued its reporting on Sean Connery's being slated to play the Captain in a version of the story for 20th Century Fox.[10] The project was still “in the pipeline” in 1997.[11]

On June 3, 2005, a musical based on the film and the book, written and directed by James J. Mellon, had its world premiere at the NoHo Arts Center in Los Angeles. Variety gave it a mixed review.[12]

The film was released on Blu-ray in 2013 by 20th Century Fox after being selected in Fox's Voice Your Choice promotion. It previously was released on DVD as part of the 20th Century Fox Studio Classics collection.

• List of ghost films

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at IMDb
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at AllMovie
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at the TCM Movie Database
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir at the American Film Institute Catalog

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