A Congregation of Ghosts

Many years ago, I read Daphne du Maurier's Vanishing Cornwall. In it, she referred to the eccentric vicar of Warleggan in the 1930s and 40s, the Reverend Densham. He had been a missionary in India and brought a few idiosyncracies with him to his new parish.

Little by little he lost his congregation via his actions. None of this sounds very interesting but it is the consummate skill Edward Woodward brought to the role, his last before his death not long after. Densham's activities are interwoven with the purchase in 1967 of the vicarage by a writer and his wife. Slowly but surely Densham affects their lives.

Shot entirely on location in Cornwall, the direction and cinematography is superb. We were lucky to see the screening at Launceston Town Hall as this film has never gone on general release. Hard to believe. With commentaries before and after the film from Jane Nancarrow, the director Mark Collicott, and Woodward's widow Michele Dotrice, this was an emotional evening.