Laurie Baxter (Derek Farr) is in love with Amy Nugent (Diana King). Laurie’s mother (Winifred Davis) is not happy that her son wants to marry a shop girl. She would much prefer that Laurie marry longtime family friend, Diana Hilton (Vera Lindsay). Diana is in love with Laurie, but he only has eyes for Amy. Laurie proposes to Amy, and she accepts.
Laurie and his mother have a fight. Laurie goes to Amy’s home to ask her to elope. When he arrives, he is told by Amy’s parents (Cameron Hall and Irene Handl) that Amy is sick. It turns out that Amy has a terminal illness. When she dies Laurie becomes inconsolable.
Not long after that Laurie meets one off his mother’s friends, Mrs. Stapleton (Marian Spencer). Stapleton is involved with Spiritualism and séances with a medium named Mr. Vincent (Frederick Leister). Stapleton leaves a book for Mrs. Baxter that explains all about séances and how people can talk to loved ones that have passed on. Laurie reads the book and becomes fascinated with the possibility of being able to communicate with Amy. He contacts Mrs. Stapleton and asks if he can attend the next séance. Laurie becomes convinced that Mr. Vincent can put him in contact with Amy.
Laurie’s teacher, Mr. Morton (Gibb McLaughlin) is worried about him, so he contacts and old acquaintance, Mr. Cathcart (Hay Petrie). Cathcart is an expert on Spiritualism. He knows Vincent and how dangerous he can be. When Cathcart learns that Vincent is going to try to materialize Amy, he is convinced that if it isn’t stopped it will mean that Laurie is in danger of losing his sanity.
“Passing Clouds” AKA “The Spell of Amy Nugent", AKA "Ghost Story" AKA "Spellbound" was released in 1941 and was directed by John Harlow. It is a British low budget psychological drama horror film produced by Pyramid Amalgamated in Britain and Producers Releasing Corporation in the U.S. It wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1945. The story is from the 1909 book “The Necromancers” by Robert Hugh Benson.
I’ve seen a lot of old movies, many of them ended up being fascinating. This one was not. It droned on but never really amounted to anything. Nothing about the movie is interesting or exciting, even the climax. The copies of the film available are a little creaky. Parts are a little dark and the sound will occasionally fade in and out. It doesn’t help the mundane dialogue of the film.
The film assumes that Spiritualism is a real science and that mediums are the real thing. This belief was something that was consistent with the time when the book was written. It was referred to as a social religious movement. The belief began to fall out of favor when Harry Houdini exposed most of the mediums as frauds. By the forties it wasn’t so much a thing.
Reportedly, the film was banned for a time by the British censors as being offensive to spiritualists.