The Canterville Ghost (1996)

I like Neve Campbell. She may have disowned it but I loved her in 'Three to Tango' and thought she was great in 'Party of Five'. It was therefore intriguing to see her in this adaptation of the Oscar Wilde short story.Unfortunately despite good performances from Campbell and Patrick Stewart this film looks cheaply put together and has not aged well. It has a grainy quality that is not great.The plotting is slow, and the other performances a bit wooden.It's a shame because this had the potential to be so much better.

I enjoyed the story, and the beautiful English locations used in filming, but the main American characters (especially the parents) really were annoying. The smarmy dad blustered on and on about "physics" and ignored the obvious supernatural events, and the whole family,with the exception of Neve Campbell's character, seemed more or less like the kind of obnoxious, selfish tourists that blunder all over Europe and scream at people for not speaking English. They openly mock the beliefs and legends of the inhabitants of the village (and of the people who've lived in the home for generations) and never apologize for their boorish behavior even after it's been shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that the "ghost stories" were true the entire time. They basically invade a foreign country and then trash it for not being just like home, which is the kind of cultural tantalization Americans are (in)famous for. One wonders why the smug dad doesn't demand that they tear down the house and put up a Holiday Inn and convenience store, so little respect does he show to the area and its inhabitants.I realize when this story was written, the idea of "modern" Americans tackling the problem of a ghost must have seemed fresh and funny. Now, though, the film only highlights why so many other countries hold us in contempt. Indeed, the only sympathetic characters in the film are the ghost and the native British inhabitants; the loud, smug Americans, so arrogant that they fail to see that THEY are the deluded ones who ignore a very real ghost, come across like fingernails on a chalkboard: grating, painful, and woefully out of place.

Despite what some people have said about this TV movie, it was my impression that it was simply magnificent. Patrick Stewart is in his Element in Shakespearean characterization and this is among his finest roles. Neve Campbell brought a warm sensitivity to the role of Virginia and gave a moving performance. The script was first rate, and contrary to what some have said, playing this story in a modern setting works remarkably. That is one of the strengths of great literature that it can be shaped to different times. I was riveted to this production, I having forty years or more since I saw the Charles Laughton version. I can highly recommend this version as a great film and a great family film.

I watched this movie by accident on TV and it was so unbelievably awful I could not switch it off. Every single piece of wit and intelligence has been removed from the Oscar Wilde story by the inept screenplay writer. It barely matters because the dire acting, clichéd camera-work and cloying music would have ruined anything resembling like a decent script anyway. The worst performance comes from Patrick Stewart who comes across as the most hammy, talentless, minor mock-Shakespearean nincompoop as the ghost. "Get thee out of here!" he screams at one stage while waving his arms like a pantomime villain. A truly terrible film and why wonders why Stewart, who can act when called upon to do so, has soiled his reputation by making worthless pieces of crap like this and the XMen.