Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Steineded How sad is this?

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

MartinHafer This film begins with a sickly mother and her seven children living in an old English house. When the mother dies of whatever disease she has, the kids decide NOT to tell anyone and just bury her in the yard. After all, Mother did have a pension and they can live on that...provided no one notice they are signing the checks or asks what happened to the mother. This is all very creepy and I wasn't too sure if I liked this or not. A bit later, however, their ne'er-do-well father returns--after having abandoned them years before. Now, this scoundrel soon figures out what's happened and he proceeds to loot the savings account, bring in assorted tarts into the religious home and systematically sells off what he can. He's a total creep--using the money for alcohol, horses and ladies. What are the kids to do?! It's almost like it would be better if they just told everyone their mother had died.Seeing this film was interesting to me, as the father is very similar to my uncle--and I am sure most families have a cretin like this somewhere. This took the film from a creepy but somewhat dull film to a really interesting movie--as Dirk Bogarde played an amazingly slimy character. He was vicious and horrid--just the sort of guy that you can't stop watching because he's so awful! And the final scene where he reveals to the kids exactly who he really is--you just have to see it! Creepy but fascinating--this one's well worth seeing--and one you won't soon forget. Plus, I was impressed as some of the children's performances were exceptional--particularly the older ones. As for my wife, however, she didn't like the vague ending...though it did work for me.

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.

jcplanells3 This excellent film is a forgotten jewel. An intriguing story about the dark side of the childhood, but also a poetic look to a group of boys and girls who decided to continue his life as usual, as if his mother were among them and not dead. So, the undesired return of a father (or maybe not the father of all of them, perhaps) breaks the normal life (in the point of view of the children) that they live. So the father (Dirk Bogarde) should pay for to be an stranger in some kind of closed paradise. The direction of Jack Clayton (remember The Innocents) is perfect, and so is Dirk Bogarde, in the best moment of his career of actor.

info-6947 I was actually an extra in this film, as the school scenes were filmed at my junior school, St Leonards Church of England School in Chelsham, Surrey. I remember having to wear my best school uniform and do as I was told. I was 8 years old, I suppose, and it was all very exciting with the lights and the trailers and all the people buzzing around. I don't remember whether we were allowed to meet the stars; I somehow doubt it!This is a great film, very atmospheric, very spooky, and totally believable - kids in the 1960s were obviously very resourceful (and full of very odd ideas). Needless to say, I wasn't allowed to watch the film until I was much older than when I was in it.