The Ghost And Mrs. Muir (1947)

 

The Ghost And Mrs. Muir - 1947

Coming up next we have 1947's "The Ghost And Mrs. Muir", the story of a young widow who moves into a seaside house, only to find it haunted by its former occupant.

The film's cast includes Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best,  Natalie Wood, Isobel Elsom, and Victoria Horne.

Mrs. Lucy Muir is a widow with a young daughter.  She's just decided to leave the home of her domineering in-laws.  She finds a property she's interested in, "Gull Cottage".  A real estate agent nearly refuses to take her to it, but she is insistent.

Once at Gull Cottage, Lucy takes an instant liking to it.  The seaside setting is just what she feels she needs.  However, the real estate agent is reluctant to let her sign a lease.

Apparently, the house is haunted by the ghost of a sea captain, who committed suicide in the house.  This doesn't deter Lucy one bit.  She still wants the place.

As they finish up their tour of the house, Lucy and the real estate agent hear maniacal laughter coming from somewhere, proving the place really is haunted.  Lucy doesn't care.  She obtains Gull Cottage for herself, her daughter, and her maid/friend Martha.

While napping on her first day at the cottage, Lucy is visited by the ghost of the sea captain, who watches her.  Lucy's dog can feel his presence.

And on the first night, the sea captain appears to Lucy after she demands he do so following some disturbances he was making.  "You'll forgive me if I take a minute to get accustomed to you," says Lucy as she searches for a chair to sit on.

After resisting all of Captain Daniel Gregg's insistencies to leave, Lucy tells him she is staying.  Daniel is impressed that she is so strong-willed.  Lucy says that he must not appear to her daughter.  Daniel just laughs and says, "No woman has ever been the worse for knowing me."

As time passes, they form a close friendship.  She calls him Daniel, and he calls her Lucia.  They both grow comfortable with their relationship.

When financial hardship befalls Lucy, Daniel decides to come to her rescue.  He dictates his memoirs to her, entitled "Blood And Swash".  He wants her to use the proceeds from the book for her expenses.

Lucy takes the book to a publisher.  He reluctantly begins to read it and is pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoys it.  He enthusiastically agrees to publish the book.

After her triumph at the publisher, Lucy meets and hits it off with fellow author Miles Fairley.  He's charming and debonair, and he thoroughly sweeps Lucy off her feet.

Daniel, however, has been watching unseen, and he intensely dislikes Miles.  Lucy smiles when she realizes Daniel is a bit jealous.

Miles comes to visit Lucy at Gull Cottage, and the two become even closer.

Daniel comes to the painful realization that he must let Lucy go so that she is free to be with the living.  "You must make your own life amongst the living and, whether you meet fair winds or foul, find your own way to harbor in the end," he says.

While she is napping, Daniel comes to her and puts the thought in her mind that he has just been a dream, that it was her idea for the book.

Before he takes his final leave of Lucy, Daniel muses over what could have been.  "How you'd have loved the North Cape and the fjords and the midnight sun...to sail across the reef at Barbados, where the blue water turns to green...to the Falklands where a southerly gale rips the whole sea white!  What we've missed, Lucia.  What we've both missed."

Sadly, Lucy journeys to London to visit Miles.  There, she finds that he is married.  She leaves and closes that chapter of her life behind her.

She returns to Gull Cottage, where she gazes at places that Daniel used to be.  She doesn't understand that he was real.  She still thinks it was a dream.

The years roll by.  Lucy's daughter, Anna, comes to visit with news that she is to be engaged.  Lucy discovers that Anna came to know Daniel when she was a little girl.  Anna makes Lucy remember how she felt about Daniel and that he was once a real part of their lives.

The years continue ever onward.  Lucy, now an old woman, is sick and under the care of a doctor.  After telling her maid/friend Martha that she is tired, she sits down and dies.

Daniel appears and says, "And now, you'll never be tired again".  With his arms outstretched he says, "Come, Lucia.  Come, m'dear."

Lucy arises as the young woman that Daniel knew all those years ago, when she first moved to Gull Cottage.

Arm in arm, they stroll out of Gull Cottage and into the mists.  The door closes behind them.

Cast rundown:

   Gene Tierney...................................Lucy Muir

   Rex Harrison...................................Captain Daniel Gregg

   George Sanders...............................Miles Fairley

   Edna Best.......................................Martha Huggins

   Natalie Wood...................................Anna Muir

   Isobel Elsom...................................Angelica

   Victoria Horne.................................Eva

And that's it for The Ghost And Mrs. Muir.  It's a favorite of mine and one of the first older films that I can clearly remember watching.  While set on the seaside in England, this movie was filmed entirely in California along its central coast.  The film is listed at #73 on the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Passions" list.

As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.

In Search Of The Castaways (1962)

 

In Search Of The Castaways - 1962

Coming up next we have 1962's "In Search Of The Castaways", a tale by Jules Verne that sees a lost sea captain's two children defy the odds and travel around the globe to locate their father and bring him home.

The film's cast includes Maurice Chevalier, Hayley Mills, George Sanders, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Michael Anderson Jr., Antonio Cifariello, Keith Hamshere, Wilfrid Brambell, Jack Gwillim, and Joss Ackland.

Siblings Mary and Robert Grant are searching for their father, Captain Grant, who disappeared sea voyage.  Their friend Jacques Paganel has a message in a bottle that they believe was sent by their father.

They appeal to the owner of the vessel their father was sailing, Lord Glenarvan, and his son, John, to help them.

With a little persuading, Lord Glenarvan puts his steam-powered yacht at their disposal, and they set sail from England.  Their destination is South America, where they believe the message in the bottle came from.

Once in South America, the group rides through the Andes Mountains.  Monsieur Paganel sings to keep everyone's spirits up.

Monsieur Paganel points out the way they must take.  Lord Glenarvan peers at the treacherous route through his telescope.

Things get a bit scary when a giant condor appears out of nowhere and snatches up Robert!

He is saved by Thalcave, a Patagonian who shoots down the humongous bird.

Thalcave later acts as their guide.  He leaves the group under the shade of a large tree while he seeks out some information.  The group has no idea that this tree will come to save their lives.

A flashflood surprises the group one night and submerges all of the land in water.  The only refuge is up the enormous tree that they camped next to.

It is up this tree that Mary Grant and John Glenarvan begin to develop some romantic feelings for each other.

However, danger lurks even here.  A jaguar, floating by on a log, jumps onto the tree for more stable shelter.  Wanting to avoid the humans, the large cat climbs to the highest part of the tree.  The humans breathe a little easier watching it disappear from sight.

Lightning strikes the tree, and it bursts into flames.  Everyone finds themselves in danger again, both from fire and a jaguar who is anxious to escape the towering inferno.  (Don't worry.  The jaguar makes it out alright.)

Everyone tries to get into the water to escape the flames, but danger lurks there, too.  Ravenous reptiles are anxious for a meal.  "Apparently, we have our choice.  Eaten raw down there or roasted alive up here!" exclaims Lord Glenarvan.  (Just to clarify, these are American alligators, which would not be living in South America.)

The group makes it out of South America alive, and head to Australia, where they have a new lead.  Lord Glenarvan advertises in the newspaper.  He seeks anyone who can offer him information on Captain Grant.

They make the acquaintance of Thomas Ayerton, who knows a surprising amount of information about Captain Grant's ship, Britannia.  It's rumored that Captain Grant is in New Zealand and held prisoner by cannibals.  Thomas says he will gather some men and supplies to barter with the Maoris for the life of Captain Grant.

Lord Glenarvan isn't at all sure about the men that Thomas has hired.  "Motley looking lot of fellows you've got together," he observes.  Thomas smiles and says, "Well, when you look for men to go into Maori country, you don’t choose from among the social elite."

It turns out that Thomas is a gun-runner and is using Lord Glenarvan's yacht to smuggle goods.  He also Captain Grant's third mate aboard the Britannia and he started a mutiny that led to the ship's doom.  Thomas gets everybody into a lifeboat and kicks them off the ship.

They end up right where they need to be.  Mary and Robert Grant come across their father's trusted shipmate, Bill Gaye, who knows exactly how to get to Captain Grant.  Bill is a quite interesting character.  "You come as a stranger, and I take ye in.  I have prepared a place for thee in the presence of thine enemy," he says as he welcomes the visitors.

Bill and the group are the cannibals' prisoners.  Once the prisoners break free, the cannibals follow in hot pursuit.

Bill takes them to the one place the cannibals won't follow, an active volcano!

Once they defeat Thomas Ayerton, Mary and Robert are reunited with their father at long last.

And as they all head back to England, Mary Grant and John Glenarvan resume their romance with a little stargazing.

Cast rundown:

   Maurice Chevalier.................................Jacques Paganel

   Hayley Mills.........................................Mary Grant

   George Sanders....................................Thomas Ayerton

   Wilfrid Hyde-White................................Lord Glenarvan

   Michael Anderson Jr...............................John Glenarvan

   Antonio Cifariello...................................Thalcave

   Keith Hamshere....................................Robert Grant

   Wilfrid Brambell.....................................Bill Gaye

   Jack Gwillim.........................................Captain Grant

   Joss Ackland.........................................Yacht Seaman

And that's it for In Search Of The Castaways.  This was the third of six films that Hayley Mills made for Disney.  It was hoped that her younger brother, Jonathan, would be able to play her brother in the film.  However, his school teachers rejected the idea.  The film was a huge success at both the American and British box offices.

As always, if you wish to leave a comment, please remember our posting rules.