The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) – J. L. Mankiewicz

Gene Tierney is romanced by the undead (Rex Harrison as a crusty sea captain) in this lush fantasy picture (lots of scenes of rolling crashing waves).  But whose fantasy is it?  Is it a woman’s picture? Would women of the ‘40s like to be loved and protected by a gruff but colourful old barnacle bill?  Or is this a man’s fantasy in which even after death Rex gets to perv at lovely Gene Tierney (while invisible)?  Of course, there is pleasure for all in the gentle tension of the screenplay that leaves both characters available to be together at death.  Only despicable George Sanders is a possible threat to their romantic eternity and he is quickly dispatched.  Later, they made a TV show using this concept but the sweep of the movie’s arc was dismantled.