Canterville Ghost - a review
Oct. 22nd, 2004 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsI watched the 2000 remake of The Canterville Ghost last night. A very pretty production - nice costumes, rich settings, good acting. Such a pity the person who wrote the script didn't realize what the story is about.
Oh, they got the surface right - vulgar American family buys haunted British mansion; hilarity ensues when the ghost and the family try to run each other out. But that's not what the story is really about. It's really about cultural adaptation. The Americans are impetuous, impulsive, oblivious to tradition, and advertising oriented, yes... but their energy, optimism, and unflagging determination are routing the British at every turn. The resolution comes when they find common ground.
But this production, oddly, turns the whole thing into a love story about the American daughter, who is taught the meaning of love by the mournful, romantic ghost. A nice trick, considering that the daughter's love life got one sentence in the original story and the ghost murdered his wife. (The scriptwriter blows off that inconvenient fact with a my-last-duchess story of a regretted fit of unsubstantiated jealousy.) Left behind along with the point is much of the wit. The terrible twins are sidelined to occasional comic relief instead of driving the story and my favorite bit of shtick, the multicolored blood stain, is completely removed. (The Americans keep cleaning up Lady Canterville's bloodstain; the ghost resorts to raiding paint boxes to refresh it and when he runs out of reds he uses whatever color he can find.) Instead of a hilarious story of culture clashes, we get a lugubrious, formulaic woo-by-numbers love story. Boy meets girl. Girl teaches boy that class differences don't matter. Girl leaves boy thinking he's a fortune hunter. Boy proves he's rich. Boy and girl marry.
Snoozer!
And while I'm complaining about movies, how come I saw months of advertisement for the new DVD of Aladdin, but only found out last night that the DVD of Mulan, my favorite Disney movie, is coming out the day after my birthday? And I would find this out right *after* I made an Amazon order.
Oh, they got the surface right - vulgar American family buys haunted British mansion; hilarity ensues when the ghost and the family try to run each other out. But that's not what the story is really about. It's really about cultural adaptation. The Americans are impetuous, impulsive, oblivious to tradition, and advertising oriented, yes... but their energy, optimism, and unflagging determination are routing the British at every turn. The resolution comes when they find common ground.
But this production, oddly, turns the whole thing into a love story about the American daughter, who is taught the meaning of love by the mournful, romantic ghost. A nice trick, considering that the daughter's love life got one sentence in the original story and the ghost murdered his wife. (The scriptwriter blows off that inconvenient fact with a my-last-duchess story of a regretted fit of unsubstantiated jealousy.) Left behind along with the point is much of the wit. The terrible twins are sidelined to occasional comic relief instead of driving the story and my favorite bit of shtick, the multicolored blood stain, is completely removed. (The Americans keep cleaning up Lady Canterville's bloodstain; the ghost resorts to raiding paint boxes to refresh it and when he runs out of reds he uses whatever color he can find.) Instead of a hilarious story of culture clashes, we get a lugubrious, formulaic woo-by-numbers love story. Boy meets girl. Girl teaches boy that class differences don't matter. Girl leaves boy thinking he's a fortune hunter. Boy proves he's rich. Boy and girl marry.
Snoozer!
And while I'm complaining about movies, how come I saw months of advertisement for the new DVD of Aladdin, but only found out last night that the DVD of Mulan, my favorite Disney movie, is coming out the day after my birthday? And I would find this out right *after* I made an Amazon order.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 05:12 am (UTC)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036696/
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 05:39 am (UTC)My favorite "remake" is not visual but literary - Scott Corbett, I think it was, did a pastiche called "The Discontented Ghost" in which Mrs. Umley is Mrs. Canterville in disguise and the family calls in Sherlock Holmes to get the ghost. Wilde doubtless rolled in his grave, but it's great silly fun.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 05:48 am (UTC)Bug Netflix, and maybe it will get on DVD. Last time I checked it was only on VHS.
Now I'll have to look for that story... I love Sherlock Holmes pastiches too!
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 10:04 am (UTC)Discontented Ghost is out of print, but a half.com or abe.com search should turn up a copy. (I see one on ebay for $5)
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Date: 2004-10-22 10:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 10:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 08:00 am (UTC)*blink* Is this a new special edition of some kind? I've had Mulan on DVD for a couple years now. And like you, haven't heard anything about a new release.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 09:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 10:50 am (UTC)Bizarre. I haven't heard a peep until now.