The Canterville Ghost (1944 film)

Infobox Film
name = The Canterville Ghost


imdb_id = 0036696
writer = Edwin Blum
Oscar Wilde (story)
starring = Charles Laughton
Robert Young
Margaret O'Brien
director = Jules Dassin
Norman Z. McLeod (uncredited)
producer = Arthur Field
distributor =
released =
runtime = 95 min.
language = English
music =
amg_id = 1:8046
budget =

The Canterville Ghost is a 1944 fantasy/comedy film directed by Jules Dassin. It starred Charles Laughton as a ghost doomed to haunt a castle.

It was remade as a TV movie in 1986 and again in 1996.

Plot summary

In the seventeenth century, Sir Simon de Canterville (Laughton) flees to the family castle to avoid a duel with a gigantic opponent. His proud father, Lord Canterville, refuses to acknowledge that his son has disgraced the family name, even when shown in front of witnesses where Simon is cowering. The father has the only entrance to his son's hiding place bricked over as proof that Simon is not there, ignoring Simon's pleas for mercy. Lord Canterville then curses his cowardly son to find no rest until one of his descendants redeems him with an act of bravery.

The film then moves forward to World War II. US Army Rangers are billeted in the castle, owned now by a six-year-old Lady Jessica de Canterville (Margaret O'Brien). One of the men is Cuffy Williams (Robert Young), who by chance is also a Canterville. Together, the two meet and learn the fate of their ghostly ancestor.

When the crucial moment comes, Cuffy seems to be a true Canterville. When an unexploded bomb is found, he is paralyzed with fear. However, Lady Jessica inspires him to hitch the bomb behind a jeep and drive it away, jumping off at the last moment before it explodes. The courageous act saves his platoon and Sir Simon is finally freed from his centuries of bondage.