The Laird of Glourie Castle dies in battle in 1747 and is doomed to haunt the castle at midnight until he restores the clan's honor by humiliating a member of the rival clan, the MacClaggans. Centuries pass; the ghost (Donat) shows up on time, bored; the castle falls into desuetude; the current penniless owner (also Donat) manages to sell the castle to an American millionaire (Pallet) and his pretty daughter (Parker), who import it brick by brick to Florida to promote his brand of "fine foods." Both Donat the owner and Donat the ghost go with the castle but the Americans don't find out about it until too late. The living Donat falls for the daughter and vice versa, but the ghostly Donat has an eye for pretty girls too. There follows confusion, mixed identities, and a final laying of the ghost. That is, the ghost goes away for good.
It's a relaxing, enjoyable, light-hearted fable about ghosts and romance and the social world of 1936. I'd have enjoyed it as no more than that when I was a kid. Now that I am an adult, and a bit more, I take up that glass and see things through it darkly again.
Well, not really "darkly." Just that there now seems to be an ill-hidden message behind the whiz-bang pageantry. I don't know how America ever came to acquire a reputation for wealth during the dog days of the Great Depression. Life for most in the USA was as bitter as it was for anyone, anywhere else. The myth of American opulence may have been started by the movies. People watched Fred and Ginger waltz around in wedding-cake settings wearing evening dress and ballroom gowns.
And here is a vulgar American millionaire -- Eugene Pallet, whose voice sounds like Grendel growling from the back of his cave. He's a likable enough figure but stupid and tasteless. A full suit of medieval armor that comes with the castle is turned into a radio. It's like one of those table lamps in the shape of Venus de Milo with a clock embedded in her belly.
In George Orwell's frightening essays in "Down and Out in Paris and London," he meets some American tourists who are loud and full of self display while Orwell himself joins the ranks of those who are literally starving to death. He's quite open about his hatred.
None of that detracts from the fey quality of this romantic comedy/ ghost story. It's a lot of fun. The performances are up to par. I wish the castle had had more atmosphere than it does. Clair's set designer was to bring far more atmosphere to the lodgings on the island in "And Then There Were None." The adults will find this diverting and the kids may get a kick out of the ghost and the mixed identity theme.
It's a relaxing, enjoyable, light-hearted fable about ghosts and romance and the social world of 1936. I'd have enjoyed it as no more than that when I was a kid. Now that I am an adult, and a bit more, I take up that glass and see things through it darkly again.
Well, not really "darkly." Just that there now seems to be an ill-hidden message behind the whiz-bang pageantry. I don't know how America ever came to acquire a reputation for wealth during the dog days of the Great Depression. Life for most in the USA was as bitter as it was for anyone, anywhere else. The myth of American opulence may have been started by the movies. People watched Fred and Ginger waltz around in wedding-cake settings wearing evening dress and ballroom gowns.
And here is a vulgar American millionaire -- Eugene Pallet, whose voice sounds like Grendel growling from the back of his cave. He's a likable enough figure but stupid and tasteless. A full suit of medieval armor that comes with the castle is turned into a radio. It's like one of those table lamps in the shape of Venus de Milo with a clock embedded in her belly.
In George Orwell's frightening essays in "Down and Out in Paris and London," he meets some American tourists who are loud and full of self display while Orwell himself joins the ranks of those who are literally starving to death. He's quite open about his hatred.
None of that detracts from the fey quality of this romantic comedy/ ghost story. It's a lot of fun. The performances are up to par. I wish the castle had had more atmosphere than it does. Clair's set designer was to bring far more atmosphere to the lodgings on the island in "And Then There Were None." The adults will find this diverting and the kids may get a kick out of the ghost and the mixed identity theme.