284 of 1001 Movies: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

For a rainy Monday I picked up The Ghost and Mr. Muir to watch, and it was suiting. The setting and characters add to the atmosphere the director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, incorporates into the film. The movie is a bit slow throughout, and for some reason the characters lacked intrigued. There is a quality of magic that is maintained throughout the movie that was appealing to me.

Summary: Lucy Muir is a widow who want to get away with her daughter from her controlling in-laws. In a big movie she purchases a house by the shores of the beach to move to. Her in-laws think this idea is crazy, but Ms. Muir is going through with it. Upon arriving she receives a warning about the property but wants to purchase anyway. After moving in the ghost of Captain Daniel Gregg begins trying to spook her out except he finds she isn't very scared. The two grow closer, but with boundaries to the relationship someone might have to let go, and the person it might have seemed easiest to let go, may have a harder time than predicted.

The quality of the movie adds to the setting. The film has an overcast vibe, and the scenery they use contribute to casting that same effect. The movie also brings out the Victorian era it was set in as well with the costumes and vibe. The movie being filmed in California also contributes to a lot of a great scenery.

On top of that you have good acting from the cast. Rex Harrison is the captain, and while he seems a bit stiff in his role, and a little easy to predict, he still brings out the toughened captain, softened by a woman whole essence well. A little chessy? Yes.

Gene Tierney was Ms. Muir,and I thought she brought out the refined and strong aspect of the character well. She kept her interesting, including how she responded to the scenarios she was threw in. The only thing I did noticed was how the poster drastically changed her appearance from the movie. On the poster she has the 40's hair, even the dress, but obviously in the movie she looks nothing like that. It's odd ho far movies then might go in their own way, without the use of photoshop,to make a woman look appealing to draw a crowd into the movie.

Without special effects then to make us think of the captain as a ghost, they do a good job of casting the mood instead to create his presence as one. The movie does throw in the unexpected twist to the story line to keep things interesting, but for the most part it's a lot of dialogue and moving slowly with each scene. The director captures the growing feelings between these two well though,and leaves us wondering how it might progress.

113 of 1001 Movies: Black Narcissus (1947)

With two directors, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Black Narcissus is quite a stunning movie that explores a lot of ideas well within one story as it chronicles it all through nuns. Movies from the 40s have been good, but I can't remember quite watching anything that felt like this movie from that decade. This movie gets more serious, and doesn't try to make the ending appeasing for viewers to watch.

A group of Anglican nuns are sent to a remote location in the Himalayas  where they sat up a school and a hospital for the local people there at the inquiry of Dean, a local British agent. Clodgah, is the Sister Superior once sent there, and is hoping to forget a failed romance she had in Ireland once arriving. When she meets Mr. Dean though tension begins to rise as the two do find that they are attracted to one another, but Mr. Dean does not only attract Clodgah though, but also Sister Ruth, who is growing more unstable the longer she stays in the mountains.