Midnight Oil:Movies and More

Charles Laughton has tremendous fun playing “ The Canterville Ghost” in the wartime adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic story.

My brother-in-law called me just after 11pm on Saturday night to tell me that my husband had been hauled into emergency while they were at a family gathering out of town. I was getting ready to watch my TVO movie at the time. My hubby appeared to be okay, although it was a bit of a scare. There wasn’t much that I could do about it sitting at home. I did some research on his presumed condition, and then settled down to watch the late show on Saturday Night at the Movies.

Under the circumstances, I wasn’t quite ready to go to bed. But I wasn’t ready to scare myself silly either watching pre-Halloween horror movies. The late night flick shown on TVO was just right. I had seen “The Canterville Ghost” before. I knew that it would be just the right mixture of harmless fun and old fashioned patriotism to soothe my jangled nerves. Funny that – watching a late night ghost story to calm your troubled mind.

But sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

I never knew that Robert Young was so young – at one time. Funny, but I had never pictured him as anything other than the grey haired Marcus Welby, M.D. of my youthful television watching years. But of course he had to have dark hair and a dashing figure at one time or other. Mr. Young was perfectly acceptable as the likeable American G.I., Cuffy Williams. He plays well with children and old farts like Sir Simon de Canterville in his spectral state.

I can’t say that I can plead ignorance to Charles Laughton’s immense comic talent. I think I have seen him in enough films to know that he could be quite the funny fellow. He did seem to relish the role of Sir Simon in this case. What could be better than playing a ghost who does not take himself or his official role of haunting the castle very seriously? Can one possibly imagine a more ludicrous scene for an otherwise very dignified, overstuffed member of the English gentry than to be riding around on top of the “blockbuster bomb” over hill and dale in order to dispose of the dreadful means of mass destruction? My kids weren’t up at the time to watch it, but I am sure they would have gotten a kick out of watching at least that scene and many others.

I did read some discussion on whether the child star of this film, Margaret O’Brian could be compared with Shirley Temple. To my mind, you can’t really compare the two. Margaret did a good job with this part as the diminutive Lady Jessica de Canterville, but she did not have the star power nor the talent that the young Shirley Temple had. I can’t say that Lady Jessica stole the show, but she did seem to hold her own against a very formidable stage presence (Laughton).

I am sure that I would enjoy immensely the original novella play by Oscar Wilde. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading it. I realize that the 1944 movie version takes great liberties with the original story. As for the fact that the story is reset in WWII England and the American soldiers replace the American millionaire and his family, well, it’s all in good fun. The movie is obviously a vehicle for boosting wartime morale and having the Brits and the Yanks take a few good natured cracks at one another along the way. Having said that, more than fifty years later, the film can still be an amusing ghost story in its own right mainly due, I think, to Laughton’s wonderful talent.

Suggested Reading :

• Read the original Oscar Wilde novella online  
• Whatever happened to the innocent childhood fun of Halloween ghost stories?