The Canterville Ghost

TV Movie
1986
PG
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

971

YOUR RATING

John Gielgud, Alyssa Milano, and Ted Wass in The Canterville Ghost (1986)

Comedy Family Fantasy

A girl befriends a mischievous English ghost trying to scare her family (his descendants) back to America.A girl befriends a mischievous English ghost trying to scare her family (his descendants) back to America.A girl befriends a mischievous English ghost trying to scare her family (his descendants) back to America.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

971

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The school, named "All Hallows School" in the film, is the real "All Hallows School" at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset. The gym scene was also filmed there. The Cherry Jumpers are the uniform for the real school too. The nearby Cranmore railway station is the setting for the station in the film and the crossroads with the turning signpost is nearby.

Goofs
As Harry drives Jennifer home, he suddenly slams on the brakes, yet the white car following very closely behind does not run into him. It completely vanishes from existence with the application of the brakes.

Quotes
Jennifer Canterville: God bless you.
Sir Simon de Canterville: What?
Jennifer Canterville: I said "God bless you."
Sir Simon de Canterville: Why would He do that?
Jennifer Canterville: Because you sneezed.
Sir Simon de Canterville: Don't be foolish. Ghosts don't sneeze.
Jennifer Canterville: You know, you've been here for over a week. You've probably caught a cold.
Sir Simon de Canterville: Impossible. Ghosts don't catch cold.
Jennifer Canterville: Nevertheless, you've caught a cold.

Connections
References The Court Jester (1955)

User reviews7

Review

Featured review

8/10

Lovely story

This is a classic story in true Oscar Wilde wit and flair. It's both haunting and funny. It's a fairy tale for all ages. In this story a young American girl helps to free the tormented spirit that haunts an old English castle. It's very well written and a beautiful tale for all ages. It's too bad this wasn't the best adaptation.

The best adaptation of The Canterville ghost, in my opinion, has to be the version with Patrick Stewart as the ghost, it was made for television in 1996. Though set in the 1990s it's very true to the book. The worst adaptation of the Canterville ghost, in my opinion, is the version set in 1944. It had been turned into blatant war propaganda and was almost unrecognizable, it's plot having nearly nothing at all to do with the original story by Oscar Wilde, which is a true classic.