The Ghost Goes West

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The Ghost Goes West
Directed by René Clair
Produced by Alexander Korda
Written by René Clair
Geoffrey Kerr
Robert E. Sherwood
Eric Keown (story)
Starring Robert Donat
Jean Parker
Eugene Pallette
Music by Mischa Spoliansky
Cinematography Harold Rosson
Editing by Henry Cornelius
Harold Earle-Fishbacher
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) 1935
Running time 95 min.
Country UK
Language English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Ghost Goes West is a 1935 British romantic comedy / fantasy film starring Robert Donat and Jean Parker and directed by Rene Clair. This film was Clair’s first English-language film. The film contrasts an Old World ghost dealing with American vulgarity.

This rather cosmopolitan production combines an Hungarian-born British producer, a French director, and an American writer in a British film.

This movie was the biggest grossing movie in 1936 in Great Britain.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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

Murdoch Glourie (Donat again) haunts the castle after dying a coward’s death in the 18th century. To find rest, he must find a member of the enemy Clan MacClaggan and have him admit that one Glourie is worth fifty MacClaggans.

The plot resembles Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost (1887).

Spoilers end here.

[edit] 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
  • Hay Petrie as The McLaggen

[edit] Awards

Rene Clair was nominated for the Mussolini Cup at the 1936 Venice Film Festival.

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