Review of The Canterville Ghost

I have seen 4 of the "manifestations" of THE CANTERVILLE GHOST, and this one comes closest to Wilde's satirical comedy novelette. Even here, though, the production team has seen fit to emend and amend, but not to excess. The ages of the young and old are correct, and so is the ghost's "crime". He killed his wife because she was "plain" and a lousy cook into the bargain! Her relatives chained him up and let him starve to death in a concealed room in the Canterville Chase castle. He can only be released from his limbo by the prayers and tears of a "golden girl" That's our "Virginia", but you'll have to see the movie to see if it works. Wilde's story is a rather "wild" satire on the foibles of well-to-do Americans vis-a-vis the British aristocracy. The movie tones this down only a little. It's very well done for a TV movie, with a most capable cast. If you don't get a chuckle out of Mr. and Mrs. Otis and their lovely daughter Virginia, something is wrong with your chuckler. Ian Richardson makes a very querulous ghost, very much according to Wilde's sketch. Don't look for horror. There isn't any and Oscar Wilde didn't intend any so far as I can tell from a recent reading of "The Canterville Ghost".