Sightlines · reception
How The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was received
1947 · Joseph L. Mankiewicz · The Ghost and Mrs. Muir on Sightlines
The arc
A modest, politely-received studio picture in 1947, it has quietly climbed into the canon of great Hollywood supernatural romances — helped enormously by the posthumous cult around Bernard Herrmann's score, now ranked among his very best.
What’s debated
The perennial fan debate: is this the most romantic film Hollywood ever made or the saddest — and whether a love story this swooning should leave you quite this wrecked.
Its footprint
It lived a second life in living rooms as the Emmy-winning late-'60s sitcom of the same name with Hope Lange, and Gene Tierney at the seaside cottage window remains one of classic Hollywood's most swooned-over images.
Where it stands
A beloved comfort-film classic among Letterboxd's old-Hollywood crowd — the go-to answer for 'romantic ghost movie' and a gateway drug to both Mankiewicz and Herrmann.
Did you know? Bernard Herrmann — the man who scored Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and Psycho — called this his personal favorite of all his own film scores.