An adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s 1887 short story, Sydney Macartney’s “The Canterville Ghost” aired on ABC on January 27, 1996, and, perhaps surprisingly, featured notable central roles for both the late legend Sir Patrick Stewart and Neve Campbell. Indeed, 1996 was a banner year for both actors, with Stewart appearing in the film “Star Trek: First Contact” and Campbell headlining two of the best teen movies of the 1990s over the same 12-month period (namely, “The Craft” and “Scream”). Stewart, of course, was already riding high professionally by that point. But for Campbell, this was the final vault before proper stardom following her breakout role on the hit series “Party of Five.”
It should be noted that Wilde’s original story is a light tale about a haunted mansion, and Macartney’s TV movie — which is currently streaming for free on platforms like Tubi and Prime Video — affects a similarly lighthearted tone. Wilde’s source material concerns the Otises, a family of two parents and three children who move into Canterville Castle, despite warnings that it is haunted. Sure enough, its ghost tries to frighten them off, but the Otises react with mere annoyance. For example, when Mrs. Otis spots a bloodstain on the carpet, she dryly states, “I don’t at all care for blood-stains in a sitting-room.”
Macartney’s adaptation transposes the action to the modern day. In the movie, the Otises inevitably have to deal with the specter of Sir Simon de Canterville, played by Stewart. Campbell, meanwhile, plays the young Virginia Otis, and the story is told largely from her perspective. As for Sir Simon, he eventually reveals the trauma that left him in his ghostly state, which has to do with his beloved dead wife, Eleanor.
The Canterville Ghost is a light ghost flick with Patrick Stewart as the ghost
The TV movie version of “The Canterville Ghost” adds a few fun flourishes to the story. The Otis family patriarch, Hiram, is played by Edward Wiley, and there comes a scene where Virginia and the Ghost, having begun communicating, have to convince Hiram that ghosts are real. In a nod to Sir Patrick Stewart’s past with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Virginia and the Ghost get Hiram’s attention by staging a scene from “Hamlet” wherein Sir Simon plays the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father. Fittingly enough, Stewart would later portray both the Ghost of Hamlet’s Father and Claudius in a celebrated 2008 BBC production of the play opposite David Tennant.
Initially, as mentioned, Sir Simon is determined to scare away the Otis family to remain in his sad, ghostly state. Soon after moving in, however, Virginia finds a secret passageway inside the Canterville Castle leading to a chamber where Sir Simon hangs out during the daylight hours. Soon, she and her brothers befriend Sir Simon, and we learn that, despite his intense demeanor, he isn’t so terrible or scary. (Virginia’s brothers even startle Sir Simon with a fake ghost puppet they construct themselves.) At the same time, Virginia develops a crush on Francis, the Duke of Cheshire (Daniel Betts), a local nobleman who plays a larger role here than he does in Oscar Wilde’s original story.
The central drama arises when Hiram believes Virginia is responsible for Sir Simon’s shenanigans and threatens to send her back home to the U.S., where she won’t be able to flirt with Francis anymore. This is basically her motivation for proving the ghost is real because, again, “The Canterville Ghost” is a fairly fanciful yarn.
What did critics think of The Canterville Ghost?
There aren’t a lot of professional reviews of the “Canterville Ghost” TV movie readily available. One can find a write-up on Common Sense Media by Brian Costello, who gave the film a high rating (which indicates that it’s perfectly okay for younger kids). Costello also praised Patrick Stewart, writing that he brings a Shakespearean relish to his character. “(H)is performance,” the review reads, “more than makes up for the dated special effects.”
David Saunderson, writing for the British/Irish horror website Spooky Isles, had some mild complaints about how the TV movie strays from Oscar Wilde’s original story. With weary resignation, he observed that Otises had to be made American for American audiences, despite being British in Wilde’s source material. He added that the movie isn’t as good as the 1944 film adaptation starring Charles Laughton in the title role and that he found the modern contrivances to be a little tiresome, despite Stewart’s solid work. As he put it:
“Patrick Stewart is a fine actor, and fine actors make fine Canterville Ghosts — he’s very dramatic, a bit scary, and works well with Neve Campbell (…) who plays the Otis daughter who hates that she has been brought to England but soon befriends the ghost and learns from the experience — blah, blah, blah — usual teenage angst in TV movie!”
Notably, 1996’s “The Canterville Ghost” won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Miniseries or Special, which is no small feat. Stream it now, and see what you make of it.
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