Those of us who are nobly born must prove themselves worthy of it.
I didn't mention it last night, but one of the minor roles in The Ghost Goes West was filled by Elsa Lanchester, who appeared in it the same year she played the title character in The Bride of Frankenstein. And nine years later her husband Charles Laughton took the title role in the 1944 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost, which was directed by Jules Dassin. As in The Ghost Goes West, it concerns a cowardly nobleman who is condemned to haunt his ancestral home by a stern father, only this time the ghost has to find a kinsman to perform a brave deed on his behalf. Enter a squad of American soldiers -- the story having been updated to take place during wartime -- who are stationed at Canterville Castle and include in their ranks the genial Robert Young, who turns out to be a distant relation. Will he be able to lift the curse or will he turn out to be as weak-kneed as every other Canterville has been for the past 300 years?
One aspect of the film that may test the patience of modern-day viewers is the mostly one-note performance of child actress Margaret O'Brien as Lady Jessica de Canterville, who is initially afraid of Laughton (who, after all, has a reputation for ferocity and a penchant for rattling chains, moaning and appearing in various gruesome guises) but overcomes her fear with Young's help, after which she's determined to return the favor. I know I could have done with a lot less of her. The cast also includes Peter Lawford as the womanizing brother who gets Laughton in trouble in the first place and a remarkably subdued Una O'Connor, who isn't quite as demonstrative when confronted with his apparition as she might have been under James Whale's direction. I guess Dassin must have thought Laughton's performance would be hammy enough for the whole cast.