God Bless You, Lucia Muir, Wherever You Are
Unlike Rex Harrison's Captain Daniel Gregg in 1947's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, I have never called any of my beloveds -- and there have been several -- by the Spanish equivalent of their first names -- apart, of course, from those who already had Spanish first names. But The Ghost and Mrs. Muir makes me want to do so.
Indeed, it makes me want to do a lot of things. Sail the seven seas. Weather a storm at sea. Romance a widow and let her not be the worse for knowing me. (Not that I'm in the habit of making women be the worse for knowing me.) Write a book more stirring than the one Gene Tierney's character Lucy -- excuse me -- Lucia Muir writes midway through the movie. Drink warm milk.
Okay, that last part was an exaggeration, but I still must admit to being greatly moved by this movie. In an age in which so many “art” movies strain to show how “literary” they are, it was interesting to see a movie that pays homage to the power of the written word -- and yet avoids the usual whining of how nobody ever takes writers seriously. A movie that actually has a sense of humor about the subject. And yet has other things on its mind.
I suppose the one reason I am so moved by this movie is the way the Gene Tierney character eventually reminded me of an older relative. Unlike Lucia Muir, this relative was never widowed, but she did marry twice -- and after the second marriage, she seemed to give up on romance altogether. I would like to think that the relative in question is destined to have a happier fate than Lucia Muir. But time will tell.
Of course, one could argue that Lucia Muir's fate in the end was not all that unhappy. And given the fact that she was a widow, the fact that the movie manages to give its blessing to a relationship that does not involve a reunion between her and her departed spouse despite the Hays Code seems like a notable achievement.
But, as in the case with my older relative, I am human enough to wish things had worked out for her a bit differently. And that romance in the real world has more than a ghost of a chance.
Unlike Rex Harrison's Captain Daniel Gregg in 1947's The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, I have never called any of my beloveds -- and there have been several -- by the Spanish equivalent of their first names -- apart, of course, from those who already had Spanish first names. But The Ghost and Mrs. Muir makes me want to do so.
Indeed, it makes me want to do a lot of things. Sail the seven seas. Weather a storm at sea. Romance a widow and let her not be the worse for knowing me. (Not that I'm in the habit of making women be the worse for knowing me.) Write a book more stirring than the one Gene Tierney's character Lucy -- excuse me -- Lucia Muir writes midway through the movie. Drink warm milk.
Okay, that last part was an exaggeration, but I still must admit to being greatly moved by this movie. In an age in which so many “art” movies strain to show how “literary” they are, it was interesting to see a movie that pays homage to the power of the written word -- and yet avoids the usual whining of how nobody ever takes writers seriously. A movie that actually has a sense of humor about the subject. And yet has other things on its mind.
I suppose the one reason I am so moved by this movie is the way the Gene Tierney character eventually reminded me of an older relative. Unlike Lucia Muir, this relative was never widowed, but she did marry twice -- and after the second marriage, she seemed to give up on romance altogether. I would like to think that the relative in question is destined to have a happier fate than Lucia Muir. But time will tell.
Of course, one could argue that Lucia Muir's fate in the end was not all that unhappy. And given the fact that she was a widow, the fact that the movie manages to give its blessing to a relationship that does not involve a reunion between her and her departed spouse despite the Hays Code seems like a notable achievement.
But, as in the case with my older relative, I am human enough to wish things had worked out for her a bit differently. And that romance in the real world has more than a ghost of a chance.
Labels: Fantasmas, Gene Tierney, La Dama y el Fantasma, Películas Clásicas I, Películas de Halloween II, Rex Harrison
posted by Tonio Kruger at 9:46 AM
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