This review will not be centered on technical or artistic aspects because others have done so and there´s no need to repeat; it is added to supply the information the film fails to give to round the story.
When watching this psychological story with supernatural accents about two human beings meeting and helping each other cope with their mutual ghosts (a recent war widow and a biochemistry scientist diagnosed with epilepsy) it struck me, besides the great athmosphere helped by Franz Waxman´s music, that several facts remain unexplained and are left unsolved : the dead husband´s voice haunting his young widow, her sister´s attitude towards life and Ann, the dramatism assigned to being an epileptic which is here equalled to a death sentence, and what comes after the hurricane at the end. All these questions remain unexplained in the movie.
All of them are answered in the novel by Philip Wylie. The book is more centered on the metaphysical consideration of life after death and the supernatural phenomena than the picture. There are several more than Bill´s voice and also happen to Galen himself once, troubling him and, as the intellectual scientist he is, making himself both question and discuss them with Ann, friend artist Shawn (who also recalls a couple of unusual experiences himself) and his Psychiatrist and close friend Dr. Johann Altheim (one wonders why they changed the Swiss doctor´s leading and key role, purely anecdotic in the film, for his American colleague Dr. Poole). It will in fact be the inquisitive and open-minded Psychiatrist who will in the end find the answer about the mystery haunting the Gracey mansion, shortly before the hurricane breaks out. This secret is left out of the plot, taking half of the mystery and motivation off.
At one point Altheim tells Galen (approximated) "John, you are an architect. You build new structures in your mind where people want to live. Interesting people come in and interesting things happen". That gives us a clue not only about Galen´s personality but about him taking interest in the metaphysical events.
Shawn, by the way, is not only the commercially successful unconventional artist but has a darker artistic side not precisely socialist.
Lisa, Ann´s sister (Gail in the novel), is so seductive, hedonistic and selfish because she can´t cope with a trauma from her past, one which is connected to the haunted house mystery. It is quite nonsense watching her in the picture acting as she does and towards Ann without much reason for it.
Epilepsy as a fatal illness ? Well, back in the 40s there were limited options for resistant cases. Patients not responding to potassium bromide or barbiturates (phenobarbital = Luminal) had only phenytoin (discovered in 1938) to try until II World War ended. The original story happens during the war, that´s why Ann is recently widowed. SPOILER : We are shown that Galen suffers from partial disconnection crises and finds out that he is allergyc to the drug. He later suffers a serious convulsion on the beach. This means the illness is progressing (END OF SPOILER). What should be added is that he had epileptic relatives that ended in mental hospitals. Also that he was turned down by Dr. Poole when applying for military service. AND that´s why he is scared and has even suicidal thoughts at one point, why he is reluctant to make his mind about Ann, and why he says that "death is not the worst thing that can happen to a man, only the last".
Finally - the hurricane. It breaks out at the right point, when the truth is known by all, when Galen must decide if love is stronger than his founded fears, and when the secrets that haunt the mansion are discovered and Lisa´s past unveiled and cleared out. After this climax each character will evolve. But we are not told about this, only partially regarding John and Ann. Why not conclude the story, as the novel does? What we don´t see is how they struggle together to survive both the hurricane and their psychological suffering, and then which choice takes each one of them.
The movie ends with the impression they went out of budget and had to conclude somehow, leaving loose ends the script had been good enough to have been building from the beginning. The original story does give a clue for everyone. But no spoilers here are intended about the novel either, only answers to better enjoy this movie, which could have been even better.
When watching this psychological story with supernatural accents about two human beings meeting and helping each other cope with their mutual ghosts (a recent war widow and a biochemistry scientist diagnosed with epilepsy) it struck me, besides the great athmosphere helped by Franz Waxman´s music, that several facts remain unexplained and are left unsolved : the dead husband´s voice haunting his young widow, her sister´s attitude towards life and Ann, the dramatism assigned to being an epileptic which is here equalled to a death sentence, and what comes after the hurricane at the end. All these questions remain unexplained in the movie.
All of them are answered in the novel by Philip Wylie. The book is more centered on the metaphysical consideration of life after death and the supernatural phenomena than the picture. There are several more than Bill´s voice and also happen to Galen himself once, troubling him and, as the intellectual scientist he is, making himself both question and discuss them with Ann, friend artist Shawn (who also recalls a couple of unusual experiences himself) and his Psychiatrist and close friend Dr. Johann Altheim (one wonders why they changed the Swiss doctor´s leading and key role, purely anecdotic in the film, for his American colleague Dr. Poole). It will in fact be the inquisitive and open-minded Psychiatrist who will in the end find the answer about the mystery haunting the Gracey mansion, shortly before the hurricane breaks out. This secret is left out of the plot, taking half of the mystery and motivation off.
At one point Altheim tells Galen (approximated) "John, you are an architect. You build new structures in your mind where people want to live. Interesting people come in and interesting things happen". That gives us a clue not only about Galen´s personality but about him taking interest in the metaphysical events.
Shawn, by the way, is not only the commercially successful unconventional artist but has a darker artistic side not precisely socialist.
Lisa, Ann´s sister (Gail in the novel), is so seductive, hedonistic and selfish because she can´t cope with a trauma from her past, one which is connected to the haunted house mystery. It is quite nonsense watching her in the picture acting as she does and towards Ann without much reason for it.
Epilepsy as a fatal illness ? Well, back in the 40s there were limited options for resistant cases. Patients not responding to potassium bromide or barbiturates (phenobarbital = Luminal) had only phenytoin (discovered in 1938) to try until II World War ended. The original story happens during the war, that´s why Ann is recently widowed. SPOILER : We are shown that Galen suffers from partial disconnection crises and finds out that he is allergyc to the drug. He later suffers a serious convulsion on the beach. This means the illness is progressing (END OF SPOILER). What should be added is that he had epileptic relatives that ended in mental hospitals. Also that he was turned down by Dr. Poole when applying for military service. AND that´s why he is scared and has even suicidal thoughts at one point, why he is reluctant to make his mind about Ann, and why he says that "death is not the worst thing that can happen to a man, only the last".
Finally - the hurricane. It breaks out at the right point, when the truth is known by all, when Galen must decide if love is stronger than his founded fears, and when the secrets that haunt the mansion are discovered and Lisa´s past unveiled and cleared out. After this climax each character will evolve. But we are not told about this, only partially regarding John and Ann. Why not conclude the story, as the novel does? What we don´t see is how they struggle together to survive both the hurricane and their psychological suffering, and then which choice takes each one of them.
The movie ends with the impression they went out of budget and had to conclude somehow, leaving loose ends the script had been good enough to have been building from the beginning. The original story does give a clue for everyone. But no spoilers here are intended about the novel either, only answers to better enjoy this movie, which could have been even better.