With a title like this, one might expect "The Ghost Goes West" to be an Abbott and Costello film or perhaps a Bob Hope movie. So, it's a pleasant surprise to have it set mostly in the United Kingdom and starring one of the great English actors of stage and screen. This surely isn't one of Robert Donat's better movies, yet it is quite good in its simplicity. It has nice, mostly mild comedy and romance just on the fringes. Donat plays the double role of Murdoch Glourie, the ghost, and Donald Glourie, the 20th century heir of Glourie Castle in Scotland. He is joined in the cast by a small but talented group of performers, most notably Jean Parker, Elsa Lanchester and Eugene Pallette. Pallette plays Joe Martin, a wealthy American, who will purchase Glourie castle for his daughter, Peggy (Jean Parker). I don't see how this can be labeled a horror film because the closest thing to anything scary about this film is the music on an early occasion when the spectre is first brought up. London Film does a superb job with this 1935 movie in the technical end with special effects. The appearance and fading out of the ghost, is excellent. The plot isn't very complex, but it's interesting that the "West" in this case, is across the Pond from Scotland, to Florida in the U.S. So, Glourie Castle goes from the countryside with heather to the beach with sand and seashells. The plot is light but the film is fun and interesting, and well-acted by all. I can't think of any film that Donat was in that wasn't very good, and most of his stories and roles were or exceptional. A couple of other reviews hit on the best word to describe this film. It's charming.

"The Ghost Goes West" is a cute movie which is an interesting hybrid. It's directed by the famous French director René Clair, stars the British actor Robert Donat and many of the actors are Americans! It sounds odd...but it all works very well.The film begins two hundred years ago. Murdock Glourie (Donat) is the son of a noble Scottish lord but he ends up embarrassing himself and losing the family honor when he's supposed to be out acting manly and fighting a war. He ends up getting killed by mistake and his father curses him to roam the family castle until he regains their honor.Years pass. The family fortune is gone and the castle is a wreck. Donald Glourie (also played by Donat) has a mountain of debts and he and his creditors see no escaping it...until some goofy Americans with more money than common sense see the place and decide to buy it! Oddly, while Donald tries to keep the family out of the castle after midnight (when the ghost appears each night), the daughter (Jean Parker) sees the ghost and thinks it's Donald...and she thinks this version of 'Donald' is pretty sexy! Regardless, the goofy father (Eugene Palette) decides to move the castle, stone by stone, to Florida....and he invites over a bunch of rich swells to see the castle AND the ghost. What's next? See the film.This is a cute film with a nice comedic touch and a touch of romance. While it's all very slight, it's handled well by Clair and the film is a delightful outing. Well worth seeing.

One of my all-time favourite British films, this was my 9th viewing and I still think it's marvellous. Frenchman Rene Clair's prints are all over it, a 1930's British film with so much subtlety, wistfulness and originality was ... unique! Hard up castle owner sells it to American who de-bricks it off to Florida - along with owners' ghostly ancestor. Eugene Palette who only bettered this performance with My Man Godfrey was outstanding throughout, Jean Parker's character as his daughter was a wee bit wishy-washy but she was lovely to look at, and Robert Donat was, as usual, nearly perfect. At this point I have been ordered by my 25 year old daughter to say how gorgeously beautiful he looked - he was a handsome devil to be sure, and you get two for the price of one in GGW. I wonder what kind of films he'd be making nowadays - surely there'd be no character role nice enough! He was so nice in this I even forgive him his Scottish accent lapsing occasionally. There are a few non-laboured sociological points in it too: The generalised commercialism of America, whether crass or not is repeatedly displayed, my favourite bit being Palette's announcement at dinner of the band marching down the stairs playing "traditional Scottish music"!Not that it matters of course but does anyone know the answer to What's the difference between a thistle in the heather and a kiss in the dark?!It would be a poorer film without the lush and swelling background music to accompany Murdoch/Donald and Peggy smooching away up on the castle ramparts at night. The atmosphere created in these scenes by the orchestra's romantic strings plus the gleaming and haunting nitrate photography plus the clever and mysterious lighting is literally Out Of This World, and always leaves a deep impression on me. This is one of the few films where watching and therefore listening to the end credits is essential, for the romantically melancholy fade out. If your TV station has butchered those last 5 seconds, complain!

Robert Donat and Jean Parker...and Eugene Pallett (whose voice was once described like a semi hauling logs driving down a gravel road). Hey, isn't that enough to get you to see it? Add an amusing story of a young Scottish Laird fending off a businessman who wants to buy his castle and a ghost cursed to salvage his family name, romantic intrigues and you have fun, fun, fun. I remember seeing this film as a kid (hey, it was old even then!) and going back to the old Crystal theater to see it again and again. I've heard rumors that a video exists obtainable through a buyer in Canada but if it crosses your screen on the late show, DON'T MISS IT!