The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

1947. USA. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Music by Bernard Herrmann. With Rex Harrison, Gene Tierney, George Sanders, Edna Best. Harrison's second American film and first collaboration with Mankiewicz (all four of which appear in this exhibition) retains a wistful charm, abetted by Herrmann's score and the always ethereal Tierney. The 1940s fantasy fad (from René Clair's I Married a Witch through Jules Dassin's The Canterville Ghost with Charles Laughton) was not exactly comfortable territory for the earthy Mankiewicz, nor for a male star as rooted in the real world as Harrison. Ironically, in the decades-later television series, Sir Rex's role was played by Edward Mulhare, who also succeeded Harrison as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady on Broadway. 104 min.