Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The [Special Edition]

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"The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" was director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1947 postwar love letter to the world, a romantic, sentimental, totally heartwarming film that gets better as the years go by.

Set in England at the turn of the twentieth century, the story centers on a widow, Mrs. Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney), and her young daughter, Anna (Natalie Wood), who go to live by the sea after the death of the husband. Taking up residence in "Gull Cottage," a charming, nautically inspired house overlooking the English Channel, they intend to live comfortably evermore on the deceased Mr. Muir's gold shares. But things go wrong almost immediately. For one, the late husband's money quickly runs out. For another, Mrs. Muir finds the place is haunted.

The house, you see, is still occupied by the ghost of its former owner and designer, Capt. Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), a fellow determined to scare off everyone who tries to live there until the lodgings can be converted into a home for retired seamen. How he intends to accomplish this task is anybody's guess. No matter, though. After the two principal characters become formally acquainted one dark night, Mrs. Muir finds herself increasingly attracted to the old sea dog; and the gruff and grumpy sea captain reluctantly takes a liking to the spunky Mrs. Muir. Indeed, the Captain even volunteers to help Mrs. Muir with her financial situation by dictating his memoirs to her, which she ghostwrites for him, so to speak, to great effect.

But renewed funds don't solve all their problems. You see, she is young and beautiful and he is, well, dead. Their romantic inclinations are apparently doomed from the start. Despite these circumstances, or rather because of them, the movie becomes a sweet and entirely different kind of love story and one that plays out convincingly from beginning to end. The Captain, recognizing Mrs. Muir's need for a flesh-and-blood companion, sees only one honorable course, which he takes, departing from his beloved Gull Cottage and Mrs. Muir's presence, allowing her to get on with her earthly life.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Muir has met and grown fond of a brazen cad named Miles Fairley (George Sanders), who soon becomes a suitor. He's a writer of children's stories who hates children, so we sense something amiss about him from the outset. Nevertheless, their relationship blossoms as Mrs. Muir's recollection of the Captain fades into the memory of a dream. And that's as far as I'm going with the story line because to reveal any more would be both superfluous and detrimental. Suffice it to say, the plot unfolds with the gentle precision of the best and most timeless fantasies.

The credits for the movie read like a "Who's Who" of classic Hollywood filmmakers and are a testament to the quality of the studio system of the time. Director Joseph Mankiewicz ("All About Eve," "Suddenly Last Summer," "Guys and Dolls") was among the most respected craftsmen of his generation. Producer Fred Kohlmar had done and would continue to do a string of successful light comedies. Distinguished screenwriter Philip Dunne ("The Last of the Mohicans," "Stanley and Livingstone," "How Green Was My Valley," "The Robe") adapted the story from a novel by R.A. Dick. Legendary cinematographer Charles Lang, Jr. ("The Ghost Breakers," "The Uninvited," "Sabrina," "Some Like It Hot," "The Magnificent Seven," "Charade") provided the photography. Stars Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, and Natalie Wood were (or would become) household names. Famed designer Oleg Cassini designed Ms. Tierney's costumes. And the incomparable Bernard Herrmann ("Citizen Kane," "The Magnificent Ambersons," "The Devil and Daniel Webster," "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Psycho") provided the atmospheric musical score. Name any film today with a pedigree like that.

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