Short overview first: This is a film that starts off strong and creepy, bogs down in the middle for a long time, then picks up a bit at the end. If you've read elsewhere that the pacing in this film is a little off, then you've read right. That said, it is in no way a bad film and worth a watch at least, especially if you're into those Gothic style Haunted House films that were all the rage back then.
An old Major has died, and his family are turning up at his house for the will reading (I think). His niece immediately gets the creeps and starts seeing the spectre of a young girl around the place, and is also creeped out by the Oval Portrait of a lady on the wall. The niece starts wearing some old clothes she found in a cupboard which freaks out some guy called Joseph, and the housekeeper then goes into the backstory, which takes up the entire middle portion of the film! But not before the niece is possessed by the spirit inhabiting the portrait on the wall
The backstory concerns the girl in the portrait, the guy called Joseph, and the major, and is more of a civil war era costume drama/romance than a horror film. That said, even my wife, who has no patience for these sorts of b-movies and would rather have some semblance of a real life, did enjoy the film for what it was.
