The Green Man

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.

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.

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.

A delightful movie with a balanced mix of humor and horror.Some of the scenes are surreal. Well acted all round and Alex Guiness is brilliant in his protrayal of the lecherous alcoholic innkeeper caught between God and the evil inhabiting his country inn. Highly recommended.