The
Return of Peter Grimm
stars Lionel Barrymore as the title character. Peter Grimm is an old cranky
man. The only thing he truly loves in life are his flowers which his family has
been growing and selling for generations. Peter has a foster daughter named
Catherine who has been living with him for several years. Peter is a tyrant he
rules his home and the people around him with an iron fist. He has always
planned on Catherine marrying his nephew
Fredrik. Catherine and Fredrik like each other but not enough for them to marry
the other. Catherine is in love with James who works on the property.
Shortly
after Fredrik arrives Peter dies of a bad heart. He returns as a spirit. The
only living thing that can see him is the dog. Peter walks into the house to
see Fredrik reading his will. Fredrik mentions money he wants the money that
Peter left. Peter had left the money for Fredrik to give to charities not to
use. Fredrik wants to sell the property.
Now
in spirit form Peter wants to try to right the wrongs he created during his
life on earth. He sees that Catherine is in love with James and that Fredrik
would be no good for her.
The Return of Peter Grimm has a good
story. I like the idea of someone coming as a ghost or spirit to help the
living. The story could be seen as melodramatic but to me it was not too bad.
Lionel Barrymore was excellent because he could play either a cranky old man or
a really lovable man and be fantastic as both. The Return of Peter Grimm had been a stage production starring
Janet Gaynor (which is where the poster for this post comes from). In certain
scenes you can tell the story came from a stage play. The film is not one I highly
recommend seeing but if TCM ever airs it again give it watch.
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