Movie #955 .........................."The Canterville Ghost" (1944)

The Movie #955 "The Canterville Ghost" is a movie that scared the bejeebers out of me when I was 12 years old. I remember I was a big fan of Margaret O'Brien, and I was nervous through the whole movie, like she was.  When I went to bed that evening, I imagined there was a ghost in my closet, for weeks afterward.  In fact, it probably is the reason that I put a sheet over my ears to this day --- hiding from that ghost!  Well, then when I watched it when I was in my 20's, I discovered it was mostly a comedy.  So the other night, I decided to watch it in my later life, and I found it a bit silly and maudlin, but when Margaret O'brien turns on the tears, she got me again.  The story is really about a relationship of a little girl to a soldier, who thinks he is a coward who can't break the ghost's curse, but the belief of a little girl can do wonders.  The crux of the story still works.  And that's probably why it has been done 6 times in film............so far.  But I still like the original.  It just isn't scary any more, and that's kind of sad.

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The Canterville Ghost (1944) Passed 95 min  -  Comedy | Fantasy  -  July 1944 (USA) I would give this 3 stars out of 5

Directors:

 Jules Dassin, Norman Z. McLeod (uncredited)

Writers:

 Oscar Wilde (story), Edwin Blum (screenplay)

Stars:

 Charles Laughton, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien  

n the 1600s, cowardly Sir Simon of Canterville flees a duel and seeks solace in the family castle. His ashamed father seals him in the room where he is hiding and dooms him to life as a ghost until one of his descendants performs a brave deed. Simon believes he may be saved when he meets Cuffy Williams, an American kinsman stationed with a troop of soldiers at the castle in 1943. Will this blood relative save the family honor, or will his blood be as yellow as the rest of the Cantervilles?