The Return of Peter Grimm (1935 film)

The Return of Peter Grimm is a 1935 American drama film directed George Nicholls, Jr. from a screenplay by Francis Edward Faragoh based upon the 1911 Broadway play of the same name by David Belasco. Produced by Kenneth Macgowan and released by RKO Radio Pictures on September 13, 1935, it stars Lionel Barrymore, Helen Mack, Edward Ellis, and Donald Meek.

Previously filmed by Fox Film Corporation in 1926 as a silent film, The Return of Peter Grimm.

A business owner disbelieves in the afterlife, until he dies and returns as a ghost. When he learns that his intended heir plans to sell the business, the ghost tries to sabotage the heir's arranged marriage.

Plot
The owner of a thriving, generations-old nursery business, Peter Grimm is determined to marry off Catherine, an orphan he has raised to young womanhood, to his nephew Frederik. Catherine, who does not love Frederik, reluctantly agrees to marry him just to please her benefactor. Meanwhile, James, Grimm's secretary, is secretly in love with Catherine.

Grimm scoffs at his doctor and old friend, Andrew Macpherson, for his belief in the afterlife and seances, but after he dies, is chagrined to find his friend is right. As a ghost, he is disgusted when he finds his nephew is planning to sell the business to a despised longtime rival. Grimm tries to prevent the marriage he arranged.

Cast

 * Lionel Barrymore - Peter Grimm
 * Helen Mack - Catherine
 * Edward Ellis - Dr. Andrew Macpherson
 * Donald Meek - Everett Bartholomew
 * George Breakston - William
 * Allen Vincent - Frederik
 * James Bush - James
 * Ethel Griffies - Mrs. Martha Bartholomew
 * Lucien Littlefield - Colonel Tom Lawton
 * Greta Meyer - Marta
 * Ray Mayer - The Clown