The Canterville Ghost

I love The Canterville Ghost, particularly Charles Laughton's version (although it's hard not to enjoy Patrick Stewart's turn as the irascible old ghost)

In the seventeenth century, Sir Simon de Canterville is forced by a Code of Chivalry to engage in a duel on behalf of his brother but flees to the family castle out of cowardice.

Disgusted by his son's behaviour, Lord Canterville has the only entrance to his son's hiding place bricked over as proof that Simon is not there, ignoring Simon's pleas for mercy. Here, Sir Simon is condemned to a slow, nightmarish death.

Lord Canterville then curses his doomed cowardly son to find no rest until "a kinsman shall perform an act of bravery" in his name.

Over the centuries, Sir Simon becomes famous as the most terrifying ghost in all of England.

During World War II the castle, now owned by six-year-old Lady Jessica de Canterville (who lives in fear of him), becomes home to the US Army Rangers who are billeted there. Sadly, for Sir Simon, the soldiers are not in fear of him but, instead, mock him. Sir Simon cuts a lonely figure who is weary of his time on earth.

Jessica soon discovers that one of the soldiers, Cuffy, is a Canterville and with his help, she overcomes her own terror of the ghost.

Sir Simon introduces Cuffy to all his ancestors via the family portrait gallery. Each Canterville has his own sorry story of cowardice. Cuffy scoffs at Simon's misgivings and boasts that he is different.

Cuffy, however, displays his true Canterville colours when, on a raid in France, he is paralysed by fear. Naturally, this act means he must leave the Rangers. Lady Jessica, in an attempt to bring out the inner hero in Cuffy, accidentally triggers a mine. Cuffy hitches the bomb behind a jeep and steers it into a ravine. The courageous act finally frees Sir Simon from his centuries of bondage.

Loosely adapted from a story by Oscar Wilder, it is the tale of a cowardly ghost seeking redemption. The tale is set in World War II, a wild deviation from its source material, and mixes themes such as heroism and courage under fire, the qualities Sir Simon lacks.

Blithe Spirit

My next film is the second one starring Rex Harrison and, as I said in my last post I’m not fond of him as an actor but Blithe Spirit is a joyous affair made all the better for the wonderful performance by Margaret Rutherford as Madame Arcati.

Directed by David Lean and adapted from the play of the same name by Noel Coward, Blithe Spirit was not a notable success. Coward objected to the changed ending – in the play Charles leaves the two bickering wives to it, taunting them with his freedom as he does.

The dialogue, in typical Coward style, is fast, witty and slightly risqué in parts (online being deemed too much for US ears).

Believing her to be a charlatan, and rather amused by her eccentricity, Charles, his wife Ruth and their guests George and Violet, can barely stop themselves laughing at Madame Arcati.

Finally, after falling into a trance, Charles becomes convinced that he can hear the voice of his dead first wife, Elvira. To bad for him then that the others can’t, and he passes it off. When Madame Arcati comes to she is convinced something occurred but the others all deny it.

After their guests have gone, Charles tries to convince Ruth that something did happen, but she doesn’t believe him and retires for the night. Elvira reveals herself to Charles but only to him.

As tension mounts between husband and wife, Charles finds himself talking to his dead wife much to the chagrin of his present one. In a last-ditch attempt to convince Ruth he’s not mad he persuades Elvira to pick up a vase and chair.

Of course, when this happens it doesn’t make Ruth feel any better!

Ruth seeks out Madame Arcati in an attempt to return Elvira back to where she came from but the medium claims she doesn’t know how.

Persuaded that Elvira is trying to be reunited with her former husband, Ruth tells Charles that the ghost is planning his demise. Of course, Charles is having none of it. Sadly, for Ruth, she was correct, but Elvira has miscalculated and instead of topping Charles, it is Ruth who dies in the car the ghost has tampered with.

Now a spirit herself, Ruth exacts revenge on Elvira by harassing her, so she wants to leave.

A now desperate Charles, being haunted by two wives, turns once more to Madame Arcati but all her conjuring fails when it is revealed that she didn’t summon the spirit at all; it was the maid!

Unable to assist, Madame Arcati suggests that Charles leaves on a long vacation however, it is not long before he too has a fateful accident and joins Elvira and Ruth as a spirit.

In my forthcoming novel HIGH SPIRITS, the ghosts of Partridge Hall are aghast to learn that their friend Billy, the night guard, is being replaced by modern sensors and CCTV. They set out to scare the men installing the equipment, in an attempt to stop it happening.

Excerpt:

Darren looked around the room as he waited for Steve to finish.

“Reckon it’s true about this place being haunted.”

“You what?”

“Straight up! Reckon it’s the old curator.”

“Blimey, must have been a saddo to want to be in here during his life let alone haunt it forever!”

“Well, the damn cheek of it!”

“Now, Alec, don’t lose your temper!”

“I’ll show him!”

“Pol! No!”

It was too late; Pol was off.

“Yeah, think they’d have better things to do in their….” Darren’s voice trailed off as something caught his eye.

As he watched, he saw a shape seem to materialise before him, but nothing defined. He stared wide-eyed as the shape moved. It was a bundle of clothing such as he’d noticed in the boxes dotted around the museum.

“Okay, mate, you stop that!”

Steve stopped what he was doing and peered down the ladder. “What’d you say?”

The shape continued to move, to grow as the clothes took on a form.

“I said, enough!” Darren could feel the hairs on the back of his head standing up, and he had the greatest desire to pee.

Steve looked over to see what Darren was seeing, and the screwdriver fell from his hand, nearly hitting the petrified Darren on the head.

“What is that?” he stuttered.

“Someone messing about!” Darren was trying to sound braver than he felt. “Oi! I said enough!”

“I don’t like this!” said Steve coming down the ladder.

The two men stood shoulder to shoulder as the clothing, seemingly devoid of a wearer danced around before them.

Alec stood beside them, unseen and unheard, laughing at Pol, who had slipped inside the clothing, and was dancing away, wildly throwing her arms and legs out.

“Alec, don’t encourage her!”

“Serves them right, I say!”

Darren and Steve began to back away as Pol stopped dancing and with deliberate steps that gave the ‘empty’ clothes an air of menace, started to walk towards them.

The two men fled into the hall outside, almost falling over themselves in their rush to get out of the room.

Alec and Jean roared with laughter as Pol stepped out of the clothing, leaving it where it fell on the floor.

High Spirits - where it all began

Growing up in England during the seventies meant three television channels – BBC1, BBC2 and Southern (in the days when independent TV was very regionalised).

Saturdays meant two of those three precious channels were taken up with sports. BBC1 hosted Grandstand whilst on Southern it was World of Sport. Both comprised of several hours of wrestling, horse racing, football, motor racing etc. I guess it wasn't all so corporate big money back in those days!

All this meant that BBC, for me, not being a sports fan, was the go-to place and usually Saturday afternoon meant a film.

It was here that I discovered my love of the Ealing comedies, of Laurel and Hardy, of Gene Kelly musicals, of Powell and Pressburger.

My favourite films though, were the ones that had a bit of the supernatural about them. I just loved ghosts. Not scary ones but romantic, comedy, spine-tingling ghosts.

To celebrate the upcoming publication of my next novel HIGH SPIRITS, I'm going to take you on a tour of my favourite ghostly films from those lazy Saturday afternoons.

Today, it's The Ghosts of Berkeley Square

For me, this is the one that most inspired the ideas behind High Spirit.

Starring Robert Morely as General 'Jumbo' Burlap and Felix Aylmer as Colonel 'Bulldog' Kelsoe, in this 1947 whimsical comedy about two 18th century officers who end up killing themselves after an elaborate plan to capture the Duke of Marlborough (and stop a war) goes terribly wrong.

Incurring the wrath of Queen Anne, the two hapless ghosts are condemned to haunt the house in Berkeley Square until a monarch crosses the threshold.

Both, naturally, blame each other for the whole thing and for many years refused to speak to each other. Realising that the only way to break the curse is to get another monarch to visit, they resolve their quarrel and set about hatching a plan.

Over the decades the house changes use and occupants including a French bordello, home to a harem, a theatre, a hospital and an officers' club.

Finally, when the house is bombed during an air raid, Queen Mary visits the damaged property and the two ghosts are released to take their place in the afterlife.

I think what I loved about this film was the affection that the two characters had for each other. Despite spending 66 years not speaking, it was clear that they couldn't be without each other even if they do communicate by writing notes!

The Madam who runs the bordello is aware of her guests and is not afraid of them and they have a ball with the girls and playing cards.

With each new tenant the unfortunate pair believe that a royal visit will happen and each time it is the ghosts themselves that cause the problem. The pair bicker and fall out, try and scare off newcomers and, every now and then they materialise to mingle with the tenants – such as the men in the Officer's Club (until they get rumbled). This ghostly Odd Couple play for laughs as they watch the times change in their old home whilst manipulating the lives of the tenants to get a Royal Visit.

The Ghosts of Berkeley Square is a film of its time so, rather sadly there is casual racism and a lot of jingoism.

Excerpts from High Spirits:

Page 27-28

'Through the quiet of the evening, Billy did his rounds, checked that all the doors and windows were secure, that nothing was inside that shouldn’t be, and read his paper. The occasional noise reached his ears – a tap, a knock, a thump, and he shook his head and smiled to himself. Some nights the noises were louder and more frequent, and he thought that maybe there was another spat going on.'

Page 107-108

Seventy-odd years had elapsed since that momentous night when Alec and Jean had lost their lives, and for them, the time had passed slowly. A minute was still sixty seconds and sixty minutes still formed an hour. They witnessed the sun rise and set and the summer pass to autumn and onto winter and into spring - the eternal rhythms of the world. For them, however, it was like the slow ticking of a clock in an empty room, and sometimes it felt as loud. They could ‘see’ the world as it came to them, although the tones were muted, like an old photograph. They could ‘hear’ the excited chatter of schoolchildren who visited on an almost daily basis with their harassed helpers and dog-eared workbooks. They could even ‘smell’ the accumulation of time and arrested decay in the stores or the ‘perfume’ of old books as the paper, ink and glue broke down. Nevertheless, they were completely alone.

Page 58-59

“Well, well, well, old boy. This is going to be interesting.”

“I hope he has a good word to say about me. He was a right little so and so when he was a boy.”

“I wouldn’t know. I never met him!”

“You didn’t miss much!”

“Come on, let’s go and enjoy the character assignation.”

“If we must.”

“Do I have too?”

“Yes, you can come and hear what Alec was really like!”

“I’ve always been charming, Pol, don’t you listen to her!”