O Homem Verde

It has it all. Acting, plot and a good cast. I loved every moment of the movie. I refuse to tell you the plot because there are many in this movie which all join together.

Everything that Albert Finney `touches' turns to movie gold and he was the perfect choice for the lead role in this highly original ghost story. The mixing of his alcoholic delusions with the supposedly `objective' presentation of the ghost part gave the whole thing an usual screen credibility. One didn't know half the time what was what, glossing over the delusional to the phantasmagoric. The injection of uniquely English, character based humor, lent an important significance to the otherwise just scary (alebeit very scary) story line. Then there was the contrast of pagan hedonism with the contemporary gloss of civilized, sophisticated hedonism (the elaborate meals and wines all being eagerly consummed by mostly boorsish clients), all this being reflected in the conflicted sexual content of the ghost and his `victims'. One could go on and on about the rich fabric of this jewel. Thank God for the Brits !

An excellent and faithful adaptation of the 1960s Kingsley Amis novel ( lacking a green man but all the better for it ). A promiscuous alcoholic hotelier, Maurice Allington, is drawn into the schemes of Dr Underhill, a 16th-century cleric who having survived death with the help of a pre-Columbian silver charm now seeks to summon a demon who lives in the woods nearby. Maurice Allington is the perfect anti-hero who still finds time to run a hotel, set up a lesbian tryst with his own wife and save his daughter from a cruel fate and .. oh yes .. meet God on the way, who incidently has a natty line in linen suits and likes a good Scotch.

I was 17 when I watched this on the BBC. I thought I could handle anything on TV. I remember being seriously scared for the first time in years. Albert Finney and the Green Man has haunted me ever since. Will never forget this one.

I've never read the novel this movie is based on either, but the movie made its impression on me from its debut. A BBC production that was released on the A&E channel, 'The Green Man' takes the old haunted house story and throws in a main character fighting his own personal demons, a little pseudo-lesbianism, plus an interesting mix of minor characters. Great scene where the other-wordly being pays a visit to Maurice to give him advice on dealing with Dr. Thomas Underhill! I can't decide whether the being was an angel, fallen or otherwise, or simply a messenger. We're all kept guessing as to that one! If anybody knows ghosts, it's the British. Not that we don't have our share, but there is something special about the United Kingdom. It remains a place of enchantment: the history of the Celts, Druids, and the Arthurian legends.

Incidentally, even though I wasn't the one to donate it, Riverhead Free Library has this excellent video in its catalog!