The Ghost Goes West

The Ghost Goes West
Directed by	René Clair
Produced by	Alexander Korda
Screenplay by	René Clair; Geoffrey Kerr; Robert E. Sherwood; Lajos Biro[1]
Based on	Sir Tristram Goes West; 1932 story; by Eric Keown
Starring	Robert Donat; Jean Parker; Eugene Pallette
Music by	Mischa Spoliansky
Cinematography	Harold Rosson
Edited by	Henry Cornelius; Harold Earle-Fishbacher
Production; company	London Film Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	17 December 1935 (UK)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Ghost Goes West is a 1935 British romantic comedy/fantasy film starring Robert Donat, Jean Parker, and Eugene Pallette, and directed by René Clair, his first English-language film. The film shows an Old World ghost dealing with American materialism.

This production combines a Hungarian-born British producer, a French director, and an American writer in a British film. This film was the biggest grossing film of its year in Great Britain.

Plot

Peggy Martin (Parker), the daughter of a rich American businessman (Eugene Pallette), persuades him to purchase a Scottish castle from Donald Glourie (Robert Donat), dismantle it and move it to Florida. Along with the castle goes its ghost.

Murdoch Glourie (also played by Donat) haunts the castle after dying a coward's death in the 18th century. To find rest, he must get a descendant of the enemy Clan MacClaggan to admit that one Glourie is worth fifty MacClaggans.

Main cast

Robert Donat as Murdoch Glourie and Donald Glourie
Jean Parker as Peggy Martin
Eugene Pallette as Mr. Martin
Elsa Lanchester as Miss Shepperton
Ralph Bunker as Ed Bigelow, Martin's rival
Patricia Hilliard as Shepherdess
Everley Gregg as Mrs. Martin
Victor Rietti as the Scientist
Morton Selten as The Glourie
Chili Bouchier as Cleopatra
Mark Daly as Murdoch's Groom
Herbert Lomas as Fergus
Elliott Mason as Mrs. MacNiff
Hay Petrie as The McLaggen
Quentin McPhearson as Mackaye

Critical response

Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene praised the film. He wrote of how the "camera sense" of René Clair (whose prior films were primarily satiric in nature) manifested itself in the film's "feeling of mobility, of visual freedom" and highlighted Clair's directorial genius. Greene also praised the acting of Pallette and Donat, describing Pallette's portrayal of an American millionaire as the finest performance of his career, and Donat's acting style as imbued with "invincible naturalness".[2]

The Ghost Goes West was the 13th most popular film at the British box office in 1935–36.[3] The film was voted the best British movie of 1936.[4]

Both the original treatment and the cutting continuity of the finished film were published in Successful Film Writing as Illustrated by 'the Ghost Goes West' by Seton Margrave. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1936.

References

The Ghost Goes West at Turner Classic Movies
Greene, Graham (27 December 1935). "The Ghost Goes West". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0192812866.)
The Film Business in the United States and Britain during the 1930s by John Sedgwick and Michael Pokorny, The Economic History Review New Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb., 2005), pp.97
"BEST FILM PERFORMANCE LAST YEAR". The Examiner (LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY ed.). Launceston, Tasmania. 9 July 1937. p. 8. Retrieved 4 March 2013 – via National Library of Australia.

External links

The Ghost Goes West at AllMovie
The Ghost Goes West at the TCM Movie Database
The Ghost Goes West on IMDb
The Ghost Goes West at the American Film Institute Catalog
The Ghost Goes West on Screen Guild Theater: 21 August 1944

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] The Ghost Goes West at Turner Classic Movies

[2] Greene, Graham (27 December 1935). "The Ghost Goes West". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0192812866.)

[3] The Film Business in the United States and Britain during the 1930s by John Sedgwick and Michael Pokorny, The Economic History Review New Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (Feb., 2005), pp.97

[4] "BEST FILM PERFORMANCE LAST YEAR". The Examiner (LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY ed.). Launceston, Tasmania. 9 July 1937. p. 8. Retrieved 4 March 2013 – via National Library of Australia.