Main Cast: Robert Donat, Robert Donat, Jean Parker, Eugene Pallette, Everley Gregg, Elsa Lanchester, Ralph Bunker
Release Year: 1935
Country: UK
Run Time: 85 minutes
Plot
Wealthy American Joe Martin (Eugene Pallette) purchases an ancient Scottish castle and then has it dismantled and transferred to his Florida estate where he plans to reconstruct the castle brick by brick. Martin is unaware that his new acquisition comes equipped with an 18th-century ghost, played by Robert Donat. As the spectre, who feels as though his honor has been besmirched, flits around haunting one and all, Martin's daughter Peggy (Jean Parker) carries on a romance with the ghost's descendant, also played by Donat. It is only natural that the "live" and "dead" Donat will become mixed up, and this comedy of errors dominates the final scenes of The Ghost Goes West. The film was the first English-language production of French director René Clair -- and almost the last, due to producer Alexander Korda's insistence upon tampering with the original concept as laid down by Clair and screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Ghost Goes West is a delightful if totally inconsequential comedy-cum-fantasy. The basic situation involving a ghost doomed to haunt a castle until he can prove his mettle and the consequences that has for his descendants is now overly familiar to audiences, which dilutes its impact somewhat; but the performance of the always engaging Robert Donat helps to overcome this flaw. Donat was a very special performer, one who made relatively few films in a lengthy career, but who could almost always be counted on to bring a certain appeal to his work. Even more importantly, he was an exceptionally fine actor, and while Ghost rises and falls more on the fact that he has the requisite charm and style, it's the fact that Donat goes well beyond these important but superficial qualities that makes his work here memorable. Aside from the familiarity of the story, the screenplay suffers from some occasional slipshoddiness -- the romance is not handled as satisfactorily as might be wished, the "is he a ghost or isn't he" aspect of it in particular not being milked as well as it might have been and not being resolved as clearly as desired. But for the most part, the script is more than adequate, and René Clair directs the proceedings with a sure but pleasingly light touch. Jean Parker is a bit unformed as the leading lady, but Eugene Pallette, Elsa Lanchester, and Ralph Bunker more than make up for her occasional stumbles. All in all, The Ghost Goes West is a sweet little treat. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Hay Petrie - The MacLaggan; Morton Selten - Gavin Glourie; Elliot Mason - Mrs. NcNiff; Patricia Hilliard - Shepherdess; Jack Lambert - Son of MacLaggan; J. Neil More - Son of MacLaggan; Herbert Lomas - Fergus; Arthur Seaton - creditor; David Keir - Creditor; Mark Daly - Groom; Quinton McPherson - MacKaye; Colin Lesslie; Dorothy Bouchier - Cleopatra
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.
Peggy Martin (Parker), the daughter of a rich American businessman (Pallette), persuades him to purchase a Scottish castle from Donald Glourie (Donat), disassemble 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 get a descendant of the enemy Clan MacClaggan to admit that one Glourie is worth fifty MacClaggans.
Cast
Robert Donat as Murdoch Glourie and Donald Glourie
Both the original treatment and the final cutting continuity were published in Successful Film Writing as Illustrated by 'the Ghost Goes West' by Seton Margrave. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1936.
The film was referenced in "Is There Honey Still for Tea?", an episode of Dad's Army, when it is proposed a cottage is moved in a similar style to the castle in the film.
Entr'acte (1924) •Paris qui dort (1924, a/k/a The Crazy Ray) •La Tour (1928) •Forever and a Day (1943, segment "1897") •La Française et l'amour (1960, segment "Le Mariage") •Les Quatre vérités (1962, segment "Les Deux Pigeons")
Orhaz a Karpatokban (with Gyula Zilahi) ·A Becsapott újságíró (with Gyula Zilahi) ·Tutyu és Totyó·Lyon Lea (with M. Miklós Pásztory) ·A Tiszti kardbojt·Mesék az írógépröl·Mágnás Miska·Fehér éjszakák·Ciklámen·Az egymillió fontos bankó·A Nevetö Szaszkia·A Nagymama·A Kétszívü férfi·A Dolovai nábob leánya·St. Peter's Umbrella·Harrison és Barrison·Faun·A Gólyakalifa·Mágia·Mary Ann·Yamata·Neither at Home or Abroad·White Rose·Ave Caesar!
1920s
A 111-es ·The Prince and the Pauper ·Herren der Meere ·Die Tragödie eines verschollenen Fürstensohnes ·Samson and Delilah ·Das unbekannte Morgen ·Jedermanns Frau ·Tragödie im Hause Habsburg ·Dance Fever ·Madame Doesn't Want Children ·A Modern Dubarry ·The Stolen Bride ·The Private Life of Helen of Troy ·Yellow Lily ·Night Watch ·Love and the Devil ·The Squall ·Her Private Life
