Don’t Take It to Heart 1944

During World War II, the ancient castle of the earls of Chaunduyt (pronounced “Condit”) is damaged by German bombing, releasing a long-hidden ghost from a chest hidden in a wall. The sighting shocks the staff, first witnessed by the Edward Rigby as Butler and the Esma Cannon as a Maid, and the event quickly becomes front-page news.

Lawyer Peter Hayward [Richard Greene] joins a tour of the somewhat decrepit castle, led by the poverty-stricken, but unconcerned Lord Chaunduyt [Brefni O’Rorke], incognito. He is drawn to portraits of a young woman who turns out to be Lady Mary [Patricia Medina], the present lord’s daughter.

When Peter examines manuscripts uncovered by the bombing, he discovers that the lord has forgotten the appointment, and Lady Mary has returned home and can be persuaded to assist him. She has socialist leanings and is engaged to commoner George Bucket, much to her snobbish aunt’s displeasure. They spend time together; after a week, Peter asks whether she was only trying to help sell the manuscripts. She admits it is important to her father, then tells him she has to go away the next day when he makes his attraction clear. When he asks when she found out, she says it was half a minute ago.

In the local pub, the ghost tries to engage a somewhat inebriated Peter to take on a case after Joseph Pike [Alfred Drayton] ploughs up a cricket pitch; over 400 years, his conscience has grown to bother him that he fenced in land that did not belong to him.

When Mary returns, she finds Peter still there. She then tells him that her fiancé, whom she has seen only briefly since they were children, is coming home from the war. Discouraged, Peter decides to leave. At the railway station, he learns that Joseph Pike has confiscated the land Harry Bucket [Wylie Watson] once operated a brickyard, probably out of spite for losing the case over the cricket grounds, and now people are saying that he is responsible. At a party, Mary inadvertently learns that George is engaged to someone else, which makes her distraught. However, she pulls herself together when Peter appears; she continues to discourage his romantic interest in her.

Meanwhile, Peter concocts a plan. He has some local residents move sheep onto the confiscated land. When Pike takes the matter to court, presided over by Lord Chaunduyt [Brefni O’Rorke], Peter pleads not guilty for himself and all of the other defendants. Pike is represented by Sir Henry Wade [David Horne] and Patterson. Peter calls Dr. Rose of the British Museum as his first witness. The ghost [Richard Bird] unexpectedly appears, takes the witness stand, and confirms that the signature is that of his father. The case is dismissed.

Harry Bucket [Wylie Watson] is made Lord Chaunduyt by act of Parliament. Peter confesses to Mary that his aged father is a baronet, and despite her outrage they share a kiss. Meanwhile, the former earl continues to enjoy himself by poaching.