EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Default Name Honestly, I'm baffled by the current 7.4 rating of this film on IMDb. If you've read the novel by Julian Gloag, you wouldn't rate this film a seven or higher. That is to say, I criticize the film due to the writers', Jeremy Brooks and Haya Harareet, lack of attention to details, or omits them, and the changes to major plot points from the novel. As you read the novel, you begin to see the chinks in their family structure. However, the writers fail to convey the tension that exist from the division within the family. This is definitely an important aspect of the story which gives us insight into their relationship with one another. Conversely, the writers only focus on Elsa's aversion to Charlie Hook. Moreover, I can nitpick about Diana's hair not being brown in the novel or Dunstan who rarely wears his glasses in the film or Hubert who didn't share a bedroom with Jiminee in the novel or the name change of the teacher and the housekeeper in the film. But it won't matter to those who haven't read the novel. In my opinion, this is an inadequate film adaption because the writers have done the novel a disservice. That is, the writers seemingly rush through the source material and present the information in a disorganized manner.

Robert J. Maxwell There are half a dozen or so children in this English household, ranging in age from about five to about seventeen. Their mother dies and they bury her in the garden. They get along on their own, cashing her pension checks and hoarding the four hundred pounds she left for a rainy day. "Mother's house" is a shack in the yard where the children retire to hold séances with Mom so she can tell them what to do.This can't go on, of course. Mothers don't just disappear. A teacher inquires at the house, her questions abrupt and demanding, and at the last minute the situation is saved by the appearance of their estranged father, Dirk Bogarde. (Or not saved, depending on your point of view.) Bogarde deserted their mother years ago and he's never seen the kids before, but he takes over the house, plays games with both the kids and the horses, and everyone seems to be having a jolly good time. Mother's house is neglected. So is the Big House. So are the financial circumstances, as Bogarde taps happily into the nest egg, drinks gallons of booze every day, and has his girl friends stay over at night, much to the kids' chagrin.When the money begins to dry up, Bogarde instigates a mortgage on the house. On top of that he begins to weary of the responsibility of caring for the little brats, even Diana (Pamela Franklin), who is old enough to appreciate his masculinity and has developed an adolescent affection for him.On a particularly bad hair day, he sells all the furniture and tchotchkas in Mother's house, tells them he hates them all, that everything including the house belongs to him, that there mother was nothing more than a whore, and that they were all conceived not by him but by a variety of her guests.Pretty rotten of him, but that's about as far as he gets before Pamela Franklin bashes in his head with a poker. They sadly come to their senses, pack their bags, and leave in the rain. Where did he say that orphanage was, again? These stories of kids trying sub rosa to grow up on their own seem to pop up with irregular frequency. I'm not sure of all the titles but I think they include "The Railway Children," "Don't Tell Mom, The Babysitter's Dead," "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane," and a few others. Others are simulacra: "Secret Ceremony," "Lord of the Flies," "Walkabout." This example has a good performance by Dirk Bogarde as the miscreant Daddy, and some surprisingly effective acting from some of the children, especially (but not limited to) the older two girls -- Margaret Brooks and Pamela Franklin. Generally speaking, children in movies should be struck until they ring, like gongs. But when they deliver, they're awe inspiring. How does a kid who is only, say, eleven years old learn to do a decent imitation of another eleven-year-old human being? The performances are all fine but the story itself is a little sluggish. It's worth watching once, for the reasons mentioned, but probably not worth owning.

suemartin23264 This was on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) a few days ago, and after all the great comments I saw about this movie, I didn't hesitate to tape it on DVD. It wasn't what I had expected in the least, and until Dirk Bogarde turns up, it's quite an average movie. But it definitely does improve after that.The general gist of the film is that seven children who fear the orphanage bury their mother in the garden after she dies of illness, so that no one will find out. For the next 30 minutes, the film revolves around how the children survive on their own, and how they support each other (one of these methods being 'mothertime', where they have séances in the garden as they try to contact their dead mother). Then Dirk Bogarde turns up, and he claims to be their father. Most of the children take to him immediately, but the eldest doesn't, and this leads to all sorts of complications for the family, leading up to the climax (which is actually the best thing about this film).The film, when you look at it closely, is, in fact, quite good. It's got a good storyline, good acting, and great scenery. If you're looking for a horror flick, look elsewhere, but if you're looking for a subtle, well acted melodrama, then look no further!Definitely worth a viewing!

David Spalding Having only seen the last fifteen minutes on a rare TCM broadcast, the film is unmistakably the work of a master, Jack Clayton. He'd already directed the classic The Innocents (1961) with Deborah Kerr. Later he'd direct the cult favorite, Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983). He only directed ten films, but his deft touch is recognizable. The impending suspense and doom as the child question their father isn't relieved by the climax ... one has no idea what will happen but it will be a shock. The great films maintain such suspense and the greatest films pay off without seeming cheap. One day, we can only hope, one day this will be shared in a DVD release.