The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a 1947 American supernatural romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R.A. Dick. In 1945, 20th Century Fox bought the film rights to the novel, published only in the United Kingdom at that time. It was shot entirely in California. Plot In Britain in the early 1900s, recently widowed Mrs. Lucy Muir moves to the seaside village of Whitecliff despite the disapproval of her in-laws. She rents a house there named Gull Cottage, although it has a reputation for being haunted by the former owner, who committed suicide. On the first night after moving in with her young daughter, Anna, and her loyal maid, Martha, Lucy is terrorized by apparitions, but she stands resolute and demands the ghost show himself. The ghost, a roguish sea captain named Daniel Gregg, manifests. He tells Lucy that his death four years ago was not a suicide, but the result of accidentally kicking the valve on a gas-fired room heater in his sleep. Daniel explains that he wants to turn Gull Cottage into a home for retired seamen, thus why he has been frightening away tenants. However, due to Lucy's headstrong attitude, as well as her appreciation of the house, Daniel reluctantly agrees to allow her to live in Gull Cottage and promises to make himself visible only to her. Lucy's investment — her only source of income — has dried up, and her in-laws say she has no choice but to move back to London. However, Daniel has warmed up to her and asks her to stay. They decide to write a book, a dictation of his memories from his time at sea, from which she will profit. During the course of writing the book, they fall in love. Both realize it is a hopeless situation, and Daniel tells Lucy that she should find a living man to be with. In London, Lucy goes to meet a publisher and encounters Miles Fairley, a suave author who writes children's books under the pen name Uncle Neddy. The publisher agrees to publish Daniel's lurid and sensational recollections, titled Blood and Swash, providing Lucy with an advance which she uses to buy Gull Cottage.