Spikeopath Sir Simon of Canterville gets roped into fighting a duel for his cousin, realising he faces certain death he flees the field awash with cowardice. His father is so enraged as to this stain on the family honour he walls Simon up in the castle without food and water until death does strike him down. He is doomed to haunt the Canterville castle until a fellow member of the family can commit an act of bravery and thus lift the cowardly stain that has besmirched the Canterville name.Doesn't sound much like a comedy does it !!, but it is, and a very amiable one at that. Loosely based on Oscar Wilde's story of the same name, The Canterville Ghost benefits from a couple of charming performances from Charles Laughton as Simon, and from a young Margaret O'Brien as Lady Jessica de Canterville. Laughton is clearly enjoying himself as the ghost, heavy on the "woe is me" theatrics coupled with gusto comedy, it's a very enjoyable performance from the big man. O'Brien is here enjoying being the center of attention and she positively lights up every scene she is in with youthful exuberance. The story follows a well trodden path to its rewarding ending but it's a fun ride getting there regardless, things really pick up a pace once a platoon of American soldiers are billeted at the castle and we are introduced to Cuffy Williams (Robert Young), a descendant Canterville of course, but he himself is showing a line in cowardice, so we are then left wondering if Cuffy can indeed show bravery and thus free Simon from his ghostly duties ?.7/10

moonspinner55 Jules Dassin directed this adaptation of Oscar Wilde's story, a charming fantasy about the ghost of a coward haunting an English castle, aided by a relative who must perform a heroic deed to save the spirit from eternal misery. Despite a reportedly troubled production, the cast (including big scene-stealer Charles Laughton and little scene-stealer Margaret O'Brien) glides through it blithely, and Dassin's handling of the material is efficient, if perhaps a tad colorless. Robert Young and Peter Lawford are interchangeably bland, but there are some pleasurable moments. Perhaps not the most memorable apparition-laden comedy, but an enjoyable entry in the genre. **1/2 from ****

CountVladDracula This is the worst adaptation of The Canterville Ghost I have ever seen. It was turned into Wartime propaganda with a little girl befriending not so much the ghost but an American soldier, which I guess was the fashion of the time.In Oscar Wilde's original short story an American family moves into the haunted castle and the teenage daughter had to help him to find peace.This version, though listed as comedy, is much darker than Oscar Wilde's original and witty tale of love and forgiveness. There were so many flaws to this one I can't begin to list them all I couldn't even recognize it as being The Canterville Ghost if not for the name of the ghost! In the original short story the ghost had felt accountable for his wife's death and that's why he haunted his castle. In this version the ghost was walled up in a room to starve to death by his own father because he wouldn't fight in a duel that wasn't really his to begin with! Instead of an American family moving in, it's American soldiers during world war two and a sugary sweet little girl girl owns the castle! It turns out, in this horrid adaptation, that one of the soldiers is a descendant of the ghost and he must prove himself by committing an act of bravery so that the ghost may move on.That's right, kids, he has to beat a Nazi to help the ghost find peace even though the original story was written in the late nineteen century! The original story was timeless and had a female protagonist but apparently the story regressed into the sexism of the era in that the manly soldier had to save the day! Though many consider this version to be a classic I feel it is an insult to Oscar Wilde's original classic.And to add to my horror at this so-called morality of this adaptation the ghost begged for forgiveness near the end before he found peace. He wanted forgiveness for not fighting in a duel that wasn't actually his to begin with and dying a slow agonizing death at the hands of his own father! What the?!? This was a shameful exploitation and it was a cruel lie to claim it had anything to do with Oscar Wilde's original and beautiful short story. This was, in my opinion, horrible.If you love the original The Canterville Ghost story by Oscar Wilde or want to see a version that... actually makes sense... Seek out the 1996 made for TV version with Patrick Stewart as the ghost. Though set in the 1990s it's very true to the original, heart warming and fairytale-like quality of the original story. Don't waste your time with this version simply because it was the first. It's almost unrecognizable.

sayhitowarren The current rating for this film (6.7) is too low. A more accurate figure would be between 7 and 8. This is an excellent film, a classic fantasy picture on par with Lost Horizon (1937), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Old Dark House (1932), Scrooge (1935), Scrooge (1938), Blithe Spirit (1945), Gaslight (1940), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Uninvited (1944), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Dead of Night (1945), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Alice in Wonderland (1933). It's not quite as good as It's a Wonderful Life, A Matter of Life and Death (Stairway to Heaven), Babes in Toyland (1934), Cat People (1944), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), Thief of Baghdad (1940), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932).