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The Ghost Goes West
UK 1935
produced by Alexander Korda for London Film Productions
directed by René Clair
starring Robert Donat, Jean Parker, Eugene Pallette, Elsa Lanchester, Ralph Bunker, Patricia Hilliard, Everley Gregg, Morton Selten, Chili Bouchier, Mark Daly, Herbert Lomas, Elliott Mason, Hay Petrie, Quentin McPhearson, David Keir, Arthur Seaton, Victor Rietti
screenplay by René Clair, Robert E.Sherwood, Geoffrey Kerr, based on the story Sir Tristram Goes West by Eric Keown, music by Mischa Spoliansky, special effects by Ned Mann
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Scotland, the 18th century: While fighting the English, Murdoch Glourie
(Robert Donat) dies a coward when he fails to excell in a family fued
(that has nothing to do with the war against the English), and since then
he has to walk his ancestors' castle until he finds a descendant of the
McLaggens and makes him kneel before him and ask for forgiveness. He
hasn't been very successful the last 200 years though ... Present day:
Because he has run into financial difficulties, Donald (Robert Donat
again), last of the Glouries, has to sell his castle to a rich American
businessman, Martin (Eugene Pallette), whose daughter Peggy (Jean Parker)
he has fallen in love with. She likes him as well, but cannot tell the
difference between him and his ghostly ancestor, who also shows affection
for her ... Martin decides to tear down the castle in Scotland and
rebuild it brick by brick in Florida as a means of advertisement for his
department store chain. But when shipping the castle to the USA of course
means the ghost is going there too, and when he makes his first appearance
on the ship, he first freaks everyone out - but Martin is quick to realize
the ghost's potential as an ad gimmick, and sees to it that the ghost is
given a hero's welcome. The ghost doesn't like America much and decides
to remain invisible for the time being, which means at the big day of the
opening of the castle, Donald (who has gone to the US with the buyers of
his castle) has to slip into the part, but everything goes haywire when
Peggy now mistakes Donald for the ghost, and Donald misses the cue to
appear at the opening. It's only when Martin's main rival Bigelow (Ralph
Bunker) admits that he is actually a McLaggen that the real ghost appears,
has his revenge on the McLaggen clan, and is finally allowed into heaven,
while Donald finally gets the girl (and to himself, too). Enjoyable
comedy that might be a bit on the light side but it's never shallow, and
despite its romantic subplot, it stays clear of cheesy bits as well,
instead gets good laughs out of the film's other undercurrents, like the
womanizing ways of Murdoch Glourie or the Scottish-American culture clash
(that also involves a Venetian gondola and an all-black jazz band wearing
kilt) - without actually ever trying too hard. In all, The Ghost Goes
West is what I would call a sweet, entirely family-friendly movie, but
one one doesn't have to feel ashamed of for liking.
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