The Canterville Ghost is a 1944 fantasy/comedy film directed by Jules Dassin, loosely based on the 1887 short story of the same title by Oscar Wilde.

It starred Charles Laughton as a ghost doomed to haunt an English castle, and Robert Young as his distant American relative called upon to perform an act of bravery to redeem him.

His proud father, Lord Canterville (Reginald Owen), refuses to acknowledge that his son has disgraced the family name, even when shown in front of witnesses where Simon is cowering.

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

Next, during World War II, US Army Rangers are billeted in the castle, owned now by six-year-old Lady Jessica de Canterville (Margaret O'Brien).

According to Laughton's biographer, Charles Higham, Norman Z. McLeod began direction of the film but was replaced after five weeks when he failed to win the actor's confidence.

Robert H. Planck replaced William Daniels as cinematographer at the same time and is credited with the grainy texture of the black and white production.

Of Laughton's performance, Higham wrote that it combined "burlesque, melodrama, pathetic farce, the comedy of manners, and outright tragedy in a rich range.

"[4] John Howard Reid selected The Canterville Ghost as one entry for his 2005 book, Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics.