The Haunted Screen: Ghosts in Literature and Film

by Lee Kovacs

While ghosts often inhabit films and literature devoted to the horror genre, a group of literature-based films from the 1930s and 1940s presents more human and romantic apparitions. These films provide the underpinnings for many of the gentle supernatural films of the 1990s. Tracing the links between specters as diverse as Rex Harrison's Captain Gregg and Patrick Swazye's Sam Wheat, the text presents the evolution of the cinematic-literary ghost from classic Gothic to the psychological, sociological, and political ideologies of today. Included are analyses of the literary and film versions of classic ghost stories-- Wuthering Heights, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Portrait of Jennie, Letter from an Unknown Woman, The Uninvited, Liliom, and Our Town --as well as interpretations of modern films not based on literary works that show the influence of these predecessors-- Ghost and Truly, Madly, Deeply. The text includes stills, a bibliography, and an index.

Genres: Film

191 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slim volume that is divided into four sections: The Gothic Ghost ("Wuthering Heights,") The Romantic Ghost ("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," "The Uninvited," "Portrait of Jennie," "Letter From An Unknown Woman,") The Theater Ghost ("Liliom", "Our Town,") and Contemporary Ghosts ("Ghost" and "Truly, Madly, Deeply.") Those are the only ghostly tales covered in the book. Missing are such classics as "The Haunting of Hill House," "The Innocents" (i.e. "The Turn of the Screw"), and "The Legend of Hell House," among others. (I wonder about the inclusion of "Letter From An Unknown Woman," since it is not a ghost story.)

I love ghost stories, and Dorothy Macardle's "The Uninvited" is at the top of my list. But this book did not satisfy me. It is not entirely an analysis of the subject or the works covered -- rather it contains lengthy detailing of basic plot elements and should have the word "SPOILER" stamped in red on the cover. If you have not seen or read the items that Kovaks writes about, you won't have to after you know all the details.

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

They don't make them like they used to.