The Ghost of Greville Lodge

I have to say that I am not a fan of George Cole. That aside this film has the quality of the films of the Golden era. If this was in black and white you would think it was an oscar winner.

The acting is good and direction clear, the flashback effect is good and gives a lovely feeling of memories.

All in all a great film and one that should get more notice from the "bosses" in the industry.

The Ghost of Greville Lodge is directed by Niall Johnson, who also adapts to screenplay from the novel Down Came A Blackbird written by Nicholas Wilde. It stars George Cole, Prunella Scales, Kevin Howarth, Jon Newman, Billy Smith and Rebecca Weeks. Music is by Sam Parker and Craig Johnson and cinematography by Gordon Hickie.

Teenager James Greville (Newman) has spent most of his youth living in children's homes after the death of his parents when he was just six years old. Out of the blue he gets an invite to stay for Christmas with a Great Uncle at Greville Lodge. Once there he settles in quickly and spends his time exploring the vast lodge and the quaint village nearby. Soon, though, James comes to find that Greville Lodge holds some secrets and that he is in fact the catalyst for those secrets to come out in the open.

Anyone who is familiar with, and likes, The Amazing Mr. Blunden from 1972, will have no problems enjoying this delightful family friendly ghost story. Blending its supernatural heart with a time travelling scenario, film goes exactly where you would expect it to go. It's not the scary kind of ghost story to chill the spine, though there is an ethereal eeriness about certain passages that should make the younger viewers tingle with a suspicion of the unknown. The acting is very competent and the period design for the 1939 segments is splendid in its eye appealing efficiency. A film of this type lives or dies by its ending and thankfully the finale here is excellently put together and hits all the right emotional notes. So have a Kleenex handy just in case.

Really well put together and narratively strong, this is very much recommended to those in search of a Mr. Blunden type ghost story. 7.5/10

There is a strange feel about this film, and as I watched it I thought more of L. P. Hartley and E. M. Forster. There is an aching love story at the heart of this film, and the love is there between two young men and one of the young men's sister. A lot is not made explicit, as if that love was more of a ghost in their lives than any outer occurrence. It is I believe the viewer's right to interpret film, because unlike a book a lot can be read in the actor's faces and their unspoken words and their gestures. It is not a great film, but it is a very good one marred slightly by the stupid fault of green leaves everywhere at Christmas and a slight feeling that the direction could have been slightly better. Prunella Scales says more in a glance than a thousand words and she is a great actress. But it is Billy Smith who steals the film, and he was perfect casting. I found George Cole to be the weakest element and the lead actor took a while to engage me. That said I think the film will last the years, and despite it being ostensibly a ghost story it is the lasting memory of a lost love which really haunts the film. It is well worth watching, more than once for the nuances, and fortunately in the UK the indispensable Talking Pictures Channel has it in its repertoire. Watch it if you can and like ghosts it depends very much on subjective interpretation.

I had never seen this film on television here in Canada and I purchased the DVD solely based on the reviews found at Amazon UK. After all who doesn't love a Christmastime ghost story. I just finished watching this with my wife and we were not disappointed. The story builds slowly but with suspense. A young lad, James (Jon Newman), is reunited with a great Uncle (George Cole) he never knew he had. James travels to the country to Greville Lodge where his uncle lives. Both James and his uncle are very nice people but the uncle is somewhat somber.

James soon begins to have dreams that are connected to Greville Lodge. He dreams he is a lad much like himself and he befriends a boy and a girl who worked at Grenville Lodge many years before. Why are these strange dreams happening? There is a mystery for James to unravel. Something happened many years ago that still affects his uncle. Eventually James comes to believe that if he can unravel the past perhaps he can bring some joy to his solemn uncle.

This is not a horror film with exploding skulls and gargoyles (Thank heavens). It is a gentle ghost story, superbly written and well acted. I recommend it highly as a family Christmas movie.

A very pleasant and charming spectral story with the very much missed George Cole.

Set amidst a sleepy village where James, a young man from a care home, goes to live in a mansion owned by his great uncle.

There is of course a backstory involving his great uncle. Turmoil and grief.

James is visited by apparitions that hint at a tragedy that befell the mansion in the distant past. The story meanders through the past and present where we learn of the friendship between child servants and the son of the master of the house.

It's a gentle drama that can be watched by the whole family. Prunella Scales plays the housemaid that's been working in the family for generations, she and the great uncle share a history.

It lacks a high budget production but perhaps that contributes to the beauty of the film. Well recommended.