Earthbound (1940 film)

Husband and wife Nick and Ellen go mountain climbing in Switzerland, where Nick is murdered, becoming an "earthbound" ghost. Only after his murderer confesses is Nick's ghost freed. ==Cast==

Directed by Irving Pichel, Earthbound was proposed as a star vehicle for actor Warner Baxter, whose career was declining. It would be the final film he made for 20th Century Fox. Sol M. Wurtzel adapted Earthbound into a 67-minute film, while also slightly modifying the story. ==Reception==

In a contemporary review in The New York Times, reviewer Bosley Crowther wrote that "we can only describe "Earthbound" as a solemn piece of foolishness so preposterous that it borders on farce." Several decades later, film historian Leonard Maltin gave Earthbound two stars out of four, calling it a "strange little fantasy" with "a deadly serious mixture of half-baked philosophy and heavy-handed special effects." AllMovie writer Bruce Eder's review graded the film two and a half stars out of five. Although he believed some of the plot elements were "incredulous" and the film's "sentimentality seems dated", he praised the film's acting, opining it was "above average" for a B movie, and wrote positively of Pichel's directing work. In the book American Silent Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Feature Films, 1913-1929, author John T. Soister compared the film to the original. He noted that while the original was lost, the 1940 version was still available. He commented that "it seems the wrong Earthbound has disappeared." ==References==