Jeanine Basinger argues that Captain Gregg is merely a figment of Lucy's imagination, that Lucy dreams up Captain Gregg to give herself strength to do tough things like write a book and keep a household together and defy her inlaws.
I just don't buy that -- the movie depicts Captain Gregg as existing outside of Lucy's mind -- for example, he sees her while she is asleep, and her inlaws and the landlord experience Gregg.
Your thoughts?
Of course I'l always believe that Captain Gregg is real.
One could always argue that even the visit to the sleeping Lucy was in her mind as was the escorting of Lucy's former in-laws out of Gull Cottage.
Many years ago the whole idea of the Captain being only in Lucy's mind occured to me when Sproul asked Lucy if she had written "a book of dreams". All a sunconsious manifestation of what Lucy needed to get on with her life.
Just one way to look at it, I guess.
We all know better though. Happily ever after.
I think that all true romantics believe in Captain Gregg.
There was some independent verification in how Lucy's daughter described to her mother how Captain Gregg sometimes appeared to her as a child.
Captain Gregg's spirit was ever-present throughout that house by the sea. I feel that his masculine personality helped Lucy to keep going through the long lonely years without love. But I can't help but wonder if Captain Gregg's spirit removed himself for his own sake as well as Lucy's. The scene of him witnessing Uncle Neddy kissing his beloved Lucia clearly ripped his poor ghostly heart out.
Illegitimus!
Yeah, i don't know - for some reason throughout the film i kept wondering - even though i wanted to believe he was 'real' for some reason something kept nagging me - nothing in particular - w=but when you've seen the number of films with that "all in their mind" twist you can't help it.
but over all i do think he was 'real' - especially because of what others experienced before she even arrived there, and the lovely ending.
"Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable. But that’s called cannibalism."
YES HE WAS REAL! not thinking so is blasphemy!
"One day, lad, all this will be yours!"
"What, the curtains?"
'Yeah, i don't know - for some reason throughout the film i kept wondering - even though i wanted to believe he was 'real' for some reason something kept nagging me - nothing in particular - w=but when you've seen the number of films with that "all in their mind" twist you can't help it.'
He had to be real. He knew things she didn't. And her daughter saw him. She knew how he died in detail she couldn't have known, as well as what it means to live at sea as a man. There's no way she could have known that without serious research. Not to mention we saw her after-life and the ghost's thoughts and deeds without her presence. And his activities without Lucy present.
I'm a bloody cynic, the furthest thing from "romatic" as a human being can get. Yet I am certain that the Captain was intended to be perceived as real.
As others have pointed out, there is external verification of Captain Gregg's presence. Mankeweicz makes this clear in the very first encounter where the laughing is heard by both Lucy and the realtor. In the next encounter (while Lucy is asleep, no less!) the dog sees him and barks furiously. In subsequent encounters we have many more examples, too many to list.
I'm in disbelief that anyone would subscribe to the "all in her head" idea when it is very obvious that the director did NOT want to take that approach. He could have taken that approach but chose not to, and he's quite clear about it!
On a side note, I wonder about something which is much more compelling, and this time Mankeweicz *does* leave it open for interpretation: Did Captain Gregg die by accident, or did he really commit suicide? Here's where I believe both interpretations are valid. I (being the cynic) believe that he did kill himself, and his ghostly existence was a sort of penance he had to pay for the crime.
Yes, I agree that Captain Gregg was real. I don't think the ending would have made sense if he had only been a figment of Lucy's imagination.
I have not read the book by R.A. Dick, but apparently in the novel Captain Gregg is never actually seen, but is heard as a voice by Lucy. In the film it is clear to me that the Captain is meant to be real.
After Lucy becomes romantically linked with Miles, the Captain exits Lucy's life. He wants her to believe that she dreamed him so that he will not interfere with her getting on with her life. He does this out of his love for her; he doesn't want to stand in her way of possibly making a happy life with a man (although that doesn't turn out).
About the suicide.... I don't think the Captain committed suicide. When he talks about his life, he sounds as if he enjoyed life to the fullest; it doesn't seem like he is the type of person to take his own life.
In the book Captain Gregg almost never takes physical form but you do see him in ehr dream and I vaguely recall one scene in the book where he briefly took physical form but I could be wrong.
Also in the book it's established that he frightened people out of the house before. It can't be in her head if he had a past before she got there. Not to mention the ending of the film and novel have them together as imaginary visions can't.
His death was most definitely an accident!!!
If he committed suicide, he wouldn't be allowed to meet pretty Mrs. Muir, and "come back" for her some day. He would have to pay for his 'sin'.
Waiting for Mrs. Muir until her death, and walking off with her into the mist, is not the reward of a suicide.
IMO.
The housekeeper saw him too. She kept making little comments where sea slang had worked their way into her conversation.
shareI think he was real and not just because Lucy saw him and we did but because of other scenes. The one at the beginning where the man says its haunted and other people have had strange experiences there.
Also the scene where her mother in law and sister in law come to visit her and Daniel pushes them down the stairs and out of the door.Also the ending where he comes to take her away(not giving too much away for anyone who has not seen the film).
"It is my business to protect your majesty.... against all things."
[deleted]
At one point, when Lucy protests "But I can see you!", Captain Gregg refers to himself as "an illusion, like a blasted lantern-slide."
He also has the nifty capability of materializing by choice: "Don't worry, they can't see me or hear me..."(gleefully rubbing his hands together)"...unless I choose that they should."
But I think the most telling reference is this exchange early on in their relationship:
Lucy: "I feel frightened and confused and wondering what the future will bring."
Captain: "Don't you trust me?"
"Oh, I do, Daniel, when I'm talking to you. But when you're not here, I.... Well, it's asking a great deal to expect anyone to trust her whole future to a...to someone who isn't real."
"But I AM real. I'm here because you believe I'm here.
Keep on believing...and I'll always be real to you."
Amen to that!
"You don't like Edwin's mother and you hate her brooch."share
He was real. He scared off other tenants of the house, the realtor heard him laughing along with Lucy,he 'escorted" the inlaws out of the house.
Push the button, Max!
'At one point, when Lucy protests "But I can see you!", Captain Gregg refers to himself as "an illusion, like a blasted lantern-slide.";
If you're using that as grounds to say he only existed in her head the parapsychology student in me is wincing. Seriously?!? The character is dead. Non corporeal. So any physical form he chooses IS going to be illusionary and by illusionary I mean a construct of his imagination in regard to how he would look if alive. He has no real physical body so any physical form he takes is a form he has to create as a visual manifestation of how he chooses to appear = illusion.
As for the
'"But I AM real. I'm here because you believe I'm here.
Keep on believing...and I'll always be real to you."'
Yet again, learn a little bit about folklore before COMPLETELY misinterpreting things. In most folklore faeries and ghosts can only be seen and or physically manifest if a person believes in them. This is because they are composed of energy and thought. Without any physical form they need a conduit to sustain themselves. That conduit being a human's conscious acceptance of their existence.
Captain Gregg had to be real. He knew things about the sea Lucy never did. How could she have written that book? Google didn't exactly exist yet. Her research was limited. Also Captain Gregg did mischief Lucy couldn't possibly have done. To claim he was only in he head is not only over-analyzing, it's out right impossible. Also we get to see what happens AFTER she dies. That wouldn't have been there if it was all in her head.
There's an episode of the Ghost and Mrs. Muir TV series that spoofs this idea. It's called Dear Delusion. At the end of it the ghost puts his hands over his ears and says 'I can't hear you. You're just a figment of my imagination. Humans do not exist.' in retaliation for Mrs. Muir allowing a psychiatrist to convince her that Captain Daniel Gregg was only in her mind.
But no, he couldn't have been imaginary in the film. He drags out her sister-in-laws, you see him after death with her, and you see events to do with him in which Mrs. Muir isn't present such as his decision to leave. Also Mrs. Muir knew nothing about sea life. There's no way she could have written that book without help or heavy research and Google didn't exist yet. So he had to be real, particularly since we see them after her death.
It's pretty clear-cut the ghost is "real" because we see actions being performed that cannot be part of Lucy's imagination, such as the mother and sister in law being forcibly pushed out of the house against their will, and the touches on the arm before this happened, which took place without Lucy's presence in the scene, so it can't be something she fancied was happening either.
As long as there are other people experiencing the phenomena -- the real estate agent heard the laughing, too -- then we can assume that the main protagonist is not imagining it but that the "ghost" is a separate entity able to act upon other's awareness too.