Peter Ibbetson

Fantasy about two separated childhood lovers who meet in dreams as they grow old. From a novel by George du Maurier., Surrealistic love story based on a novel by George du Maurier. Two childhood sweethearts are unexpectedly reunited as adults. The bond between them leads to tragedy and he is convicted of killing her husband, but the love that has been rekindled is stronger than the forces keeping them apart., “I’ll See You in My Dreams” could well have been the theme music of Peter Ibbetson, the second film version of George du Maurier’s 1891 novel. Peter Ibbetson (Gary Cooper) is an architect who, while working on a restoration job for the British Duke of Towers (John Halliday), discovers that The Duchess of Towers (Ann Harding) is actually Mary, his childhood sweetheart. The jealous duke pulls a gun on Ibbetson, but Peter kills him. He is sent to prison for life, certain that he’ll never meet his Mary again. But both lovers are reunited in one another’s dreams, which connect them spiritually. The years pass, but the aging Peter and Mary remain ever youthful in their dreams. Upon their deaths, they are reunited in the afterlife. Somehow this fragile fantasy works, thanks to the steady guiding hand of director Henry Hathaway.