![\"tf-chairs\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-chairs.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThis film has snuck by me for decades now, as it’s one of those classics that a lot of what I call “classic movie fans” seem to like though it doesn’t tend to be on critical best lists, and as an elitist teen I used to avoid those. I’m coming around on a lot of that type of film now, and realizing I missed out.<\/p>\n
In this one, Mrs. Muir (Gene Tierney) breaks free from her late husband’s controlling family to find a little cottage she can call her own (along with her daughter, a young Natalie Wood) – only trouble is it’s haunted by the sea captain (Rex Harrison) who used to own it. Unafraid of the ghost, she moves in anyway and ends up striking up quite a friendship with the gruff captain…and maybe a little more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yeah, the film dances right along the edge of necrophilia here, though I mean, Captain Dan is a much more vital and interesting character than most everyone else she comes across. She almost manages a romance with George Sanders, but he’s at his most charmingly slimy and it’s pretty obvious that’s not really going anywhere. It’s really about the most gothic of romances, a love for something seemingly unattainable that stretches across the boundaries of life and death itself.<\/p>\n
You’d think all that would kind of creepy, but it isn’t – it’s fairly safe, actually, almost to the detriment of the film. In a way, it’s almost weird how this ghost romance situation isn’t remarked on more than it is. The film itself doesn’t treat it as odd, no one seems to notice that she’s spending all hours of the day chatting up invisible boat captains (possibly because they are, too – at least her young daughter is). Seems like at some point it would’ve turned into a “does she belong in a nuthouse” movie, but it never even threatens to.<\/p>\n
![\"tf-sanders\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-sanders.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The film is too sweet and well-meaning to deserve much real criticism, but I did also find it a little bland and uninvolving (and I mean, just how long was Mrs. Muir ignoring her daughter completely to write this book with a dead sea captain?). I think if I’d seen it back in the day I would have more fond feelings for it – and maybe over time, those feelings will grow. It is lovingly shot, with appropriately gothic light and shadows, though the Victorian setting does nothing valuable for Gene Tierney’s hairstylings.<\/p>\n
1947, USA<\/em> I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how The Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n The Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/b> > Courage of Lassie Final #804 out of 3724 (78%)<\/p>\n It is now my #2 Joseph L. Mankiewicz film, my #2 Gene Tierney film, my #3 Rex Harrison film, my #4 George Sanders film, my #10 Romantic Fantasy, my #1 Supernatural Drama and my #4 film of 1947.<\/p>\n The Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/em> was recommended by Patrick Gray, a friend from the Flickcharters group on Facebook.<\/p>\n This film has snuck by me for decades now, as it’s one of those classics that a lot of what I call “classic movie fans” seem to like though it doesn’t tend to be on critical best lists, and as an elitist teen I used to avoid those. I’m coming around on a lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[3270,3272,2869,3271,3269],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-feat-muir.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36554,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/challenge-week-47-limelight\/","url_meta":{"origin":36551,"position":0},"title":"Challenge Week 47: Limelight","author":"Jandy","date":"December 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been wanting to see Limelight for quite some time, as what most people consider Chaplin's last great film, so I really appreciate the push to see it. I had high hopes and they were both met and exceeded. Interestingly, the FB group where I've been tracking this challenge seemed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-feat-limelight.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36911,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/adventures-on-criterion-snow-westerns-and-the-secret-of-convict-lake\/","url_meta":{"origin":36551,"position":1},"title":"Adventures on Criterion: Snow Westerns and The Secret of Convict Lake","author":"Jandy","date":"December 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The other December series on Criterion Channel that interested me (besides Screwball Comedies) was Snow Westerns, which predictably features westerns set at wintertime and\/or high in the mountains with lots of snow. It's a neat and unexpected feature to structure programming around, and I am here for it. McCabe and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures on Criterion"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures on Criterion","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/adventures-on-criterion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannelSnowWesterns.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannelSnowWesterns.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannelSnowWesterns.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CriterionChannelSnowWesterns.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25038,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-16-scariest-movie-ive-seen\/","url_meta":{"origin":36551,"position":2},"title":"50DMC #16: Scariest Movie I’ve Seen","author":"Jandy","date":"July 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What's the scariest movie you've ever seen? Spoilers There aren't too many horror films I've seen, actually, though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/What-Lies-Beneath.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25031,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-15-biggest-movie-character-crush\/","url_meta":{"origin":36551,"position":3},"title":"50DMC #15: Biggest Movie Character Crush","author":"Jandy","date":"July 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: Who is your biggest movie character crush? Okay, so, characters in movies, not actors. This pretty much came\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Indiana-Jones.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35505,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/2016-challenge-debrief\/","url_meta":{"origin":36551,"position":4},"title":"2016 Challenge Debrief","author":"Jandy","date":"March 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's been almost three months since my year-long movie challenge officially completed, and it's taken me that long to decompress, rerank everything, and generally get ready to post a recap of the year. The short version: it was awesome! I watched a ton of movies I really liked, very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/crop-400-Blows-watching.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36388,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-40-crime-wave\/","url_meta":{"origin":36551,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 40: Crime Wave","author":"Jandy","date":"November 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm pretty much always going to like film noir, so my fellow film blogger Kristina was wise in choosing a couple of lesser-known noirs for me to watch. Crime Wave is a fairly straight-forward crime drama, with a gang of crooks holding up a gas station - when one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-crime-wave-feat.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36551"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndirected by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, written by Philip Dunne<\/em>
\nstarring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/b> > The Shining
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir < The Three Musketeers<\/b> (1973)
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir < The Fly<\/b> (1958)
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/b> > District B13
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir < Dodge City<\/b>
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir < Detective Story<\/b>
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir < The Keys of the Kingdom<\/b>
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/b> > Cat People (1942)
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir < Waking Life<\/b>
\nThe Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/b> > The Devil\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Backbone<\/p>\nA few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n
![\"tf-listening\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-listening.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-portrait\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-portrait.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-praying\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-praying.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-bed\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-bed1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-sanders-umbrella\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-sanders-umbrella.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"tf-together\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-together.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"