In the creation, according to one of the film critics, “the grandmothers of Soviet animation” Valentines and Zinaida Brumberg, there is no salon-sentimental finale of the story of the English writer. Instead of marrying a grown-up Virginia and a young handsome Duke, the animators focused on the fate of a single ghost that has been terrorizing a single ancient castle for 300 years.
Already from the prologue, the creators of the cartoon pick up the ironic attitude of Wilde to the ghost of Simon Canterville, dressing the gray grandfather not even in the rags of an outdated dress, but in a nightwear and home slippers. The satirical tone of the story correctly suggests the appearance of other characters. So, a conservative skinny Englishman with a pipe is opposed to a pragmatic fat American in a checkered jacket and with a cigar.
In vivid sketches through the attitude to the ghost, which, you want – do not want, and to maintain the form have to “rattle chains, moan and walk at night”, the authors reveal the characters of the new inhabitants of the castle. The aristocratic irony of catchphrases from the mouths of experienced actors not only softens the shortcomings of the characters, up to the murder of his own wife, but also gives the cartoon the status of “family viewing”. And the image of the pain-sensitive ghost of Virginia, highlighting the main human virtues, helps to create a perfect family ending.
9 out of 10
Original