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.
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.