The Ghost

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert!: The "twists" at the end of this film is revealed in this review.

The Ghost is about a woman, Margaret, whose husband, John Hitchcock, is slowly dying in 1910 Scotland. But don't think she's in despair about her husband. Margaret is having an affair with John's doctor, Dr. Charles Livingstone. Charles kills John, planning to run away with Margaret and John's money. Of course, John's money goes missing, which would probably be the biggest problem if it wasn't of course for all the creepy things going around the house at night.
The film hits all the Gothic cliches: dramatic music, creaking chain sounds, dark and stormy nights, people channeling the dead, blood appearing out of no where, secret passages. Charles even looks just like Edward Norton in The Illusionist. (Or maybe Norton's look was based on this film.)
There are lots of flaws in the film. Despite being set in Scotland, only one (small) character has a Scottish accent, Mr. Fisher. There's almost no mystery as to what is happening in the film. The audience knows the moment Catherine the maid is guaranteed her job for the rest of her life that she is obviously helping John's plan. John is clearly not dead and manipulating events so that Margaret will believe that Charles is betraying her, killing him in the process. It's no surprise when John shows up, telling Margaret the truth.
The best part of the film? Without a doubt Barbara Steele, a horror movie veteran by the time this film was made. Her eyes are large and expressive and she conveys each emotion crystal clear. She's a perfect example of the old acting mantra "acting is reacting."
The film is meant to scare people in more ways than one. It is common when someone is terminally ill for a spouse to cheat on them, though in the vast majority of cases the man cheats in a heterosexual coupling, not the wife. By making the wife the cheater in the story, it makes a moral judgment on women and their capacity of be faithful. The movie is on some level a criticism of women's desires, since that's apparently where the trouble is.
The only thing that might saves this movie is the ending, in which Margaret has her revenge. Neither John nor Charles is particularly appealing, and both come off an infants who demand her attentions. When John returns, he accidentally drinks poison, only to have Margaret taunt him with the antidote which she purposely spills in front of him. John slips behind the secret passage right as Scotland Yard arrives. Margaret is taken away as a murder (although she has only committed one murder, not two), and John dies, boarded up in his own house, his plan have fallen apart. No one really gets away with their behavior in this movie, three of the main characters dying and the fourth carted away to jail. Since Margaret is the only survivor, it leaves in question who is morally the most reprehensible: the cheaters or those who seek revenge.