A Classic Romance!

This is a great movie. Gene Tierney stars as Lucy Muir, a young widow anxious to move out of her in-laws' house. She finds a small seaside cottage for her daughter, Anna, her maid, Martha, and herself. Lucy gets it for fairly cheap because of a rumour that's it's haunted. But Lucy falls in love with it and isn't afraid. However, Lucy starts to hear strange laughing, and the lights go out one night. But she bravely says how she isn't afraid...and the ghost is acting like a coward because he isn't showing his face. Just then, she sees the previous owner of the house standing next to her. His name is Captain Daniel Gregg, and he is the one who's haunting the house. He says that he does it because he doesn't want anyone to take his home.

Lucy is upset because she loves the house. Daniel agrees to let her stay only if she leaves the house to retired sailors and hangs his portrait in the master bedroom. Lucy agrees to do both. She brings the painting upstairs, but she doesn't like the way he seems to keep staring at her while she is undressing. She covers it with a blanket while she finishes up. As she's getting into bed, she hears Daniel saying "My dear, don't ever let anyone tell you to be ashamed of your figure!"

Lucy is enjoying life now. She has her little cottage, her freedom, and her daughter. But then her in-laws visit telling her that her only source of income, gold mines left to her by her husband, petered out. Lucy has no money. The ladies tell her that she has to move back in with them. But Daniel comes to Lucy's rescue, saying that they'll figure something out. Lucy is thrilled that Daniel wants her to stay.

Just when Lucy figures that she'll have to move out, Daniel comes up with an idea. They're going to write a book together. Lucy will write it out, and he will dictate. It is while they're writing this book that Daniel and Lucy fall in love.

When Lucy takes the book to be published, she meets an author named Miles Fairley. He automatically sets out to win her heart. He's definitely a brute! But Lucy finds him "rather charming". This, of course, makes Daniel extremely jealous. When Miles and Lucy decide to get married, Daniel realizes that he must leave. He could only make Lucy hopelessly confused. So while she's sleeping, Daniel tells her that all of this had been a dream...she wrote the book herself. This part is sad, when Daniel says "Goodbye, my darling" (pronounced "mudarling" like he always says!)

The "goodbye" scene

In the morning, Lucy doesn't remember Daniel at all, and decides to remove his picture from her room, not knowing what inspired her to put it there in the first place. She decides to pay Miles a surprise visit, finding a wife there, who had been away with the children for months. Lucy feels rejected and alone.

Many years pass. Lucy and Martha are both old ladies, talking about Lucy's granddaughter's engagement. One night, Lucy has a funny pain in her arm. She dies in a chair a few minutes later. The first thing you hear after that is a voice saying, "And now, you'll never be tired again". It is Daniel, he has returned for Lucy. She emerges, young and beautiful again. They walk off together, reunited forever.

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