Starring: Voices of: Stephen Fry, Freddie Highmore, Imelda Staunton, Toby Jones, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Hart, Emily Carey, David Harewood, Meera Syal
Distributor: Rialto Distribution
Runtime: 89 mins. Reviewed in Jan 2024
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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An American family moves into Canterville Chase, a stately countryside mansion that has been haunted by the ghost of Sir Simon De Canterville for 300 years.
This is a classic story for a contemporary young generation. Despite Fry being the voice of the Ghost and an executive director, this is not a version for an adult audience. And, the treatment here seems geared for an American rather than a British audience.
Oscar Wilde published this story in 1887, and, like The Happy Prince, it is one the stories he liked to tell. The novella blends Wilde’s humour with social commentary.Checking, it is reported that there have been 14 versions of the story in film. In more recent decades, two knights of the realm have played the Canterville Ghost – John Gielgud and Patrick Stewart. However, the audiences who have seen the 1944 version with Charles Laughton as the Ghost, supported by Margaret O’Brien and Robert Young, will know that it was the best version. Laughton was a marvellous ghost, enjoying both the comedy and the scares.
This time around, there is a marvellous array of British voices in the cast. Fry is the ghost, Laurie does a whole range of voices, Highmore is the romantic lead, Hart the domineering ghost hunter, and there’s American on entrepreneur Hiram Otis (Harewood) and his family (wife Virginia (Carey)).
Otis is ambitious, and wants to bring science and technology from America to England, while his wife wants to move in high social circles. He has two precocious sons who cause mischief all the time, irritatingly for the characters and, perhaps, for the audience except the youngsters who identify with them. There is the daughter who does not want to settle in England, surly and stubborn, befriending the ghost, helping him in his quest. And, there is a nice local lad, from the family hostile to the Ghost, but a nice and simple romance.
This is quite a raucous version, the Americans loud and bombastic, not believing in ghosts and taking the frequent appearances for granted. The ghost himself has a high old time with various apparitions, attempts at scaring, an elaborate disruption of the family banquet.
This film goes on the list of versions of Oscar Wilde’s story – but not necessarily near the top.
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