SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

hyped garbage

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Our Mother's House is a strange movie. Almost the entire movie takes place within one contemporary English house and hinges on seven closely-aged children, all totally devoted to their deeply religious mother. When their mother dies near the beginning of the movie, the children decide to bury her in the garden and live off of her pension checks which arrive regularly. One of the children, Jiminee (Mark Lester), learns how to forge his mother's signature to cash the pension checks. The children soon release the housekeeper, Elsa (Margaret Leclere), so that they can live alone without adult supervision. Even though they continue to go to school, none of them mentions that there is no adult in the house. Whenever this strange family of children needs counseling from an adult, one of the young girls, Diana (Pamela Franklin) is able to channel her in a backyard room that they call "the tabernacle." All the children seem to know about their mother's absentee husband, Charlie Hook (Dirk Bogarde), but no one seems to want to contact him until he is absolutely needed. Bogarde only has a small amount of time on screen, but it is one of his the most unusual roles.

Honestly, I'm baffled by the current 7.4 rating of this film on IMDb. If you've read the novel by Julian Gloag, you wouldn't rate this film a seven or higher. That is to say, I criticize the film due to the writers', Jeremy Brooks and Haya Harareet, lack of attention to details, or omits them, and the changes to major plot points from the novel. As you read the novel, you begin to see the chinks in their family structure. However, the writers fail to convey the tension that exist from the division within the family. This is definitely an important aspect of the story which gives us insight into their relationship with one another. Conversely, the writers only focus on Elsa's aversion to Charlie Hook. Moreover, I can nitpick about Diana's hair not being brown in the novel or Dunstan who rarely wears his glasses in the film or Hubert who didn't share a bedroom with Jiminee in the novel or the name change of the teacher and the housekeeper in the film. But it won't matter to those who haven't read the novel. In my opinion, this is an inadequate film adaption because the writers have done the novel a disservice. That is, the writers seemingly rush through the source material and present the information in a disorganized manner.

Criminally under - rated,cinematographer/director Mr Jack Clayton created some excellent intelligent atmospheric films that lovers of British cinema look on with special affection.His 1967 "Our mother's house" is a fine example of his sensitivity with child actors and his flair for looking beyond the obvious in casting his adult roles.Mr Dirk Bogarde,for instance,might not have come immediately to mind for the role of a feckless working - class Londoner,but Mr Clayton knew exactly what he was capable of,and Bogarde's performance so moved Signor Visconti that after watching "Our mother's house" he chose him for the life - changing "Death in Venice". Children are seldom the helpless,adult - dependent creatures they are often taken for.Perforce they can be resilient,resourceful and strong. Failing to notify the authorities about the death of their mother,the Hook children hope to escape the dreaded "Orphanage"(much more likely to be put "in care" - probably a fate even worse)and keep the family together. Unfortunately their absent father turns up and threatens their familial security. His profligate behaviour eventually alienates them all with a truly shocking result. Claustrophobic,alternately gloomy then harshly - lit,"Our mother's house" is a film about children for adults. Uniformly well - acted,it is dominated by Mr Bogarde who steals it effortlessly without ever seeming to.He upstages nobody,doesn't appear until 45 minutes into the film,but brings about such a change of direction as to leave one breathless.It is a brilliantly selfless performance that deserves to be far better - known. I unhesitatingly recommend it to anyone looking for some British movie a bit outside the box.

This is a good little movie that heavily relies on its uneasy atmosphere. The movie is also greatly carried by its cast, both the adult as the children's.The story is simple yet effective. The story perfectly sets up an uneasy atmosphere that is dark and sober. The story is unusual and original as well. The movie can perhaps be best described as a dark drama/thriller. The fact that the movie is both unusual and original is probably the reason why this movie unfortunately isn't any better known.The character are perfectly portrayed in the movie and play a great role in the movie its story. The movie is especially carried by the children cast of the movie, who play the most significant and biggest role in the entire movie. The young characters are all both realistic as powerful. Every characters has its own strong personality and they are what make this movie always interesting and never boring to follow, even though the pace itself isn't always terribly high.But the movie also has a good adult cast that unfortunately is perhaps a bit underused at times. Dirk Bogarde plays a great role in the movie but unfortunately his character is introduced at least 15 minutes too late in to the movie. Once his character is introduced in to the story the movie takes more form and becomes even more intriguing to follow. It was also great to see Yootha Joyce in the movie, who I only knew from the British comedy series "George and Mildred". She is a great actress and really gets to show her skills in this movie. The movie handles some intriguing, original and uneasy themes and the movie handles all those themes on its own very special way. It makes the movie a both original as well as memorable movie to watch.Definitely worth seeing, when you get the opportunity to.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/