Don't Take It to Heart!

Chaunduyt is rather like Brigadoon, locked in time centuries before. A bomb hits the castle and manages to awake a ghost, who is rather a jolly old soul. Word gets out about the ghost, and other findings, and suddenly the manor is open to tourists, and newcomers flood Chaunduyt, not all with good intentions. A young professor is most interested in some ancient manuscripts - and the current Earl's daughter - but he ends up getting much more involved, in a fight with the villagers, aided by the ghost, over some developers who want to bring Chaunduyt a little more up to date.

Fairly amusing. 6/10

This picture deserves more publicity. It is a charming British comedy with a great sense of goofiness that the Brits used to do so well.

In it, our hero Richard Greene displays the wonderful charm we remember so well from his subsequent "Robin Hood" TV series. As the reluctant Lord (who secretly yearns for commoner vices), Brefni O'Rorke is delightfully wise, subtle, and droll. Even Ivor Barnard, in his brief cameo, is memorable as a French refugee bus driver. (Apparently, he apprenticed in a Parisian taxi.) And scattered throughout the film are many funny bits (such as rival lawyers continually attempting to one-up each other with earlier and more obscure citations.) Indeed, my only disappointment was over the ghost's role. More could have been done with him. Since sheep have a crucial role in the picture, for example, perhaps, as a sight gag, a ghostly encounter might have turned some black ones white. Also, the ghost's fate should somehow have been intertwined with that of the obnoxious plaintiff, who, after the trial, just seems to abruptly disappear, as if forgotten.

Not much to add to what other reviewers have said, but what some found silly struck me as silent film comedy. As such, I enjoyed the scenes with little or no dialogue - the catastrophe-courting bus ride, the butler's expeditions through the massive old pile to reach the front door or the phone, the errand boy ringing the doorbell and the mechanism over several floors of the house that eventually strikes an actual bell.

For someone who knows so little about British films, I was delighted to learn more by watching it in the only place one might find it these days: You Tube. It's British humour and therefore one has to be awake to get the full benefit. The British routinely poke fun at themselves, especially their Xenophobia. When a passenger on a bus learns that the driver who drove so badly was a 'foreginer' and 'French' to boot, she simply replied "so there you are". I found the whole thing a delicious and at times an hysterically funny film. Add to that the inimitable British skill at character depiction and a cast of terrific actors to act them out and the result is quite impressive. It's also interesting to note the date of production (1944), Like the Americans, the Brits didn't make film about the War during it; they both preferred to laugh their way to Victory as much as possible. These great film greatly helped relieve the enormous personal stress of those enduring that horror. As Eleanor Roosevelt (if I remember correctly the author) said about the war on the home front: "keep 'em laffing "

A pleasant and amusing but far from brilliant old British comedy, more often than not it is too silly for its own good, and some of the comedy bits are a bit awkward. The biggest problem with it all is however that the plot is tad too complex, in view of the light-hearted manner in which the material is treated. Still, the film certainly has its fair share of virtues. The cinematographer makes good use of lime lapse and zooming, plus the set design is interesting. Having Moore Marriott on hand is always a good thing too, even though this time he is not quite as delightful as usual. The special effects are okay for the time, and so is the overall quality of the picture. It is nothing really special, but it is quite satisfactory stuff.