Sat 17 Mar 2012
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE GHOST GOES WEST (1936).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[3] Comments
THE GHOST GOES WEST. London Films, UK, 1935 / United Artists, US, 1936. Robert Donat, Eugene Pallette, Jean Parker, Everly Gregg, Elsa Lanchester. Screenplay by Robert Sherwood; cinematography: Harold Rosson. Director: René Clair. Shown at Cinevent 35, Columbus OH, May 2003.
Don’t blink or you’ll miss the elegant and icy Elsa Lanchester playing a psychic.
An American businessman buys a Scottish castle, dismantles it, and transports it (along with the resident ghost) to America where it is reassembled and restored. I kept waiting for the “magic” to happen, but this film remained earthbound until the ending when there was a somewhat brief sentimental rush that might qualify as the intrusion of a bit of magic.
The director is notable, the cast a good one, the premise promising, but the film is overproduced and the execution flat-footed. Or maybe I’m just one of those “sophisticates” the program notes refer to who “regularly prowl the art houses” and find Clair’s American films inferior to his French work. This film is, indeed, inferior to it and I don’t think you have to be a “sophisticate” to conclude that.
March 17th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
I agree Rene Clair’s French films are superior to his American. My guess is he had more control over those films than the American studio films. But even Chaplin had a hard time topping A NOUS LA LIBERTE.
What makes Clair’s work important (beside they are funny comedies) is how he used sound. He was one of the first in such films as LE MILLION, to free action from the chain of the microphone.
GHOST GOES WEST is a nice little film that disappoints only because we Clair fans had grown spoiled. While I think I MARRIED A WITCH and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE are both better films, this one is worth watching as well.
March 19th, 2012 at 6:16 am
I think my problem here was that GHOST gave such short shrift to Ms Lanchester, who is always such a delight to watch.
March 19th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Agreed on Elsa Lanchester, very much so. I’m also a big fan of Robert Donat, so why I’ve missed this film of his for so long, I can’t tell you.