Review of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) by Forrest P — 02 Nov 2010

The Ghost And Mrs. Muir is a fantasy romance starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It's one of those sweet little films that has nothing really wrong with it.

A movie like The Ghost And Mrs. Muir is great for just being as sweet and simple as it is. This movie stars the great Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, and George Sanders (whom younger audiences might recognize as the voice of Shere Khan). This cast works marvelously together and have some really great chemistry.

This is also a very well-written film. Mrs. Muir comes across the ghost who then persuades her to write his novel for him which, of course, becomes a best seller. The scenes that establish the chemistry between Harrison and Tierney are some of the best in the film and the ways they are able to interact off of each other really sells the film. But I think my favorite part of the picture is when the ghost realizes he must leave Mrs. Muir. The two have fallen in love by this point and the scene of him leaving actually managed to get a bit of an emotional response out of me.

There's no real flaw to this film, really, except that it does not resonate as much in retrospect as I would have liked. It's not that it's a forgettable film. Quite the contrary in fact. I remember a lot of details to this film that I did not think I would. While well shot and well executed, the film just does not have the absolute staying power that I admire in so many other films. Even so, I loved this movie and I loved the love story that it carried so effortlessly. I would recommend The Ghost And Mrs. Muir. It does not disappoint, even if it does not have the staying power some might find desirable.

8/10.