A Movie To Watch On A Rainy Day

The Ghost and Mrs Muir

It's been a dream, Lucia. And in the morning and the years after. You'll only remember it as a dream and it'll die, as all dreams must die at waking.

Picture 1: http://themave.com/Tierney/films/ghost.htm

As my friends can attest, I love watching the old black and white movies. Give me a cold day, a blanket, spare time and you could catch me watching Casablanca. Although my fascination with Casablanca started when I was in high school, my love of old movies started at a young age. My mother would always watch Jimmy Stewarts It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas and the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers whenever she felt like singing. But whenever a rainy day would come around, we would watch The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, starring Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) and Gene Tierney, was released in 1947 by 20^th Century Fox and won the Academy Award for Cinematography. Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney), a recently widowed mother, buys a house on the coast of England, at the beginning the 20^th Century. Unbeknownst to her, the house is haunted by the previous owner, Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), who has distaste for his new companions. However, after a nighttime confrontation, he decides to let them stay. When Lucy needs help with her income, Gregg helps her pen his memoirs of living on the open sea. The two become close, until Lucy begins to fall for a mortal man. Deciding instead to leave, Gregg erases his memory from Lucy, in hopes she will live a fulfilling life. Years go by until Lucy is an old woman. As she dies, Gregg appears once again, and the ghost of Mrs. Muir and Captain Gregg leave the house, hand in hand, together for the last time.

Now, I love the traditional chick flicks. I like how they always end well, with the hero and heroine always ending up together. They make you laugh when you are having a really bad day; they make you feel like Mr. Right is somewhere out in the world, just waiting to find you.

However, I believe the best romantic movies are the ones where the hero and heroine do not end up together. All through the movie, the audience cheers for them to be together. You want to see Patrick Swyaze and Demi Moore have just one more conversation in Ghost; to have Gerry and Holly have one more letter in P.S. I love you; to have Rick and Ilsa fly off together in Casablanca. But that is what makes these movies so great. It is easy to love someone, but it is harder to let the person go, especially when it is the right thing to do. That gut wrenching feeling audiences have when the two do not end up together is what makes the movie so great. Patrick’s character, Sam, has to move on but is able to say I love you; Holly learns it is okay to move on; Rick lets Ilsa go in order to fight for a cause. The tearjerker movies are the ones we remember; the ones that make us feel for the characters.

Picture 2: http://leclisse.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/3.jpg

In the Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Capt. Gregg lets Lucy go, so she can get on with her life. Half way through the movie, she is falling for a mortal man, but is still attached to the Captain. So he leaves, erasing her memory of him in the process. Unlike Ghost, Casablanca, or P.S. I love you, when Lucy passes away, Captain Gregg comes for her. And, for the first time in the whole movie, they hold hands and walk out the house together. Even though this movie does end with the two characters together, it can make you cry just because they are so happy in the end.

My advice for the many who do not like the old black and white movies: give it time. Right from the beginning of this movie, even the traditional fanfare trumpets announcing 20^th Century Fox are replaced by the brilliant Bernard Herrmann score, this movie will bring you into the romance of two very different personalities. So, find a rainy day, a warm blanket, sit down and enjoy The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

Here is the best trailer I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA6J1yoh7t0&feature=related