Thunder Rock (1942)
Director:
Roy Boulting
Writers:
Robert Ardrey (play), Jeffrey Dell (screenplay)
Stars:
Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Barbara Mullen
Robert Ardrey's theatrical semi-fantasy Thunder Rock was transformed in 1944 into one of the most successful British films of the year. Michael Redgrave stars as a disillusioned war correspondent, David Charleston, who shuts himself away from society by taking up residence in a Lake Michigan lighthouse. During one particularly stormy evening, Charleston's solitude is invaded by several strangers, all dressed in 19th century costume. It develops that these strangers are the ghosts of immigrants whose ship went down some 100 years earlier. Through their optimistic example, Charleston renews his own spirits and gives the world a second chance. When Thunder Rock threatens to get too ethereal for its own good, it is brought back to earth by the sardonic presence ofJames Mason, playing a live visitor to the lighthouse who spars both verbally and physically with the self-pitying Charleston.