Our Mother's House

Seriously, how stupefying can one motion picture be? That's what I kept wondering throughout "Our Mother's House", or at least during the largest part of it. This is a film like you seldomly encounter them, with a plot that is completely original and unseen, at atmosphere that is unsettling from start to finish, characters AND acting performances that are 100% pure and natural and - perhaps most important of all - a story that never at one point becomes predictable or soft. Although a lot less known, "Our Mother's House" might even be more powerful than Clayton's other acclaimed genre milestone "The Innocents". But simply labeling this film as a horror story wouldn't do it any justice. Even though disturbing and utterly bleak, this is more of a harrowing drama. The plot, adapted from a novel by Julian Gloag, is as simple as it is genius: seven siblings live with their bed-ridden mother in a big house and the oldest two, Elsa and Hubert, take care of all the daily chores. But when mother dies, the fear of becoming separated and ending up at an orphanage drives the children to keep mother's dead secret and even bury her body in the garden. Of course, there arise some difficulties, like how to cash in the monthly allowance money or how to get rid of the irritating governess Mrs. Quayle, but overall, they manage just fine. After all, they can always ask for mother's advice during their daily seances. But then their alleged father Charlie Hook shows up. Most of the children now seem to feel like they form a real family again, with Charlie to protect them, but the oldest daughter Elsa remains very skeptical and openly questions Charlie's honesty. Personally, I liked the film much better before Charlie (Dirk Bogarde) entered the scene, but admittedly his role is very difficult, courageous and challenging. "Our Mother's House" is fully of uncanny highlights, notably the so-called "Mother Time" gatherings in the garden shed and the suffering of poor little Gerty when she gets punished for talking to a stranger. The titular house is a wondrously grim setting and Clayton masterfully maintains a slow yet atmospheric pacing with beautiful photography and bone-chilling music. It's a tremendously underrated British cult-classic that deserves to be seen by wider audiences!

Sinister trivia detail: Annette Carell, the actress who briefly appears as Mother, really died in the same year when the film was released. In 1967, she committed suicide at the young age of 38.

I was actually an extra in this film, as the school scenes were filmed at my junior school, St Leonards Church of England School in Chelsham, Surrey. I remember having to wear my best school uniform and do as I was told. I was 8 years old, I suppose, and it was all very exciting with the lights and the trailers and all the people buzzing around. I don't remember whether we were allowed to meet the stars; I somehow doubt it!

This is a great film, very atmospheric, very spooky, and totally believable - kids in the 1960s were obviously very resourceful (and full of very odd ideas). Needless to say, I wasn't allowed to watch the film until I was much older than when I was in it.

Seven children continue in "Our Mother's House" after she dies in this 1967 film starring Dirk Bogarde, Pamela Franklin, and Mark Lester, and directed by Jack Clayton. A very ill, religious woman, the mother of seven, dies suddenly at home. Her children, afraid of being separated, bury her in the garden and continue to live as if nothing had happened, forging her monthly annuity check. One day, their long-absent father (Bogarde) reappears.

Based on a novel by Julian Gloag, Haya Harareet (Heston's Ben Hur co-star) and Jeremy Brooks fashioned an excellent screenplay, beautifully directed by Jack Clayton, a true master (The Innocents, The Pumpkin Eater). With a dark, spooky atmosphere inside a big old house, he creates the world in which the children live, one where they care for one another, pray, and communicate nightly with their mother. When Charlie Hook, their father arrives, that all changes, and the world comes rushing in. At first, Charlie is what is needed - his presence means they're safe from the outside world, but gradually, even his supporters among the children begin to see that he's a danger.

Clayton manages to bring in an incestuous undertone without overtly showing any incest - in the days when directors needed to adhere to certain codes, they called upon their imaginations. It made film more subtle and definitely more interesting to watch.

The acting is superb. Bogarde is in top form as the at first lovable Charlie, who, as he does in "The Servant," gradually becomes more sinister. Pamela Franklin is marvelous as Diana, one of the older children; all of the children are excellent - Clayton was no stranger to directing children, and his deft hand is shown here.

Perhaps not a well-known film in the U.S., "Our Mother's House" will make a lasting impression.

OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE is one weird psychological ride. Here we have a family living in a gloomy Victorian house with a reclusive, Bible-thumping invalid mother--surely fertile ground for insanity or incest or both. However, what we have is a painful portrait of adolescence in the older children and the horrors of navigating through an adult world. Left to their own devices after the mother's untimely death, the children do their best to survive, being molded by the mother's unstable religious ramblings. However, things take a turn for the worst when the absentee father arrives, shattering some illusions crucial to the little family's identity. . .

I've never seen anything like this film(the recent film THE CEMENT GARDEN comes to mind, but that film takes an entirely different direction with an incest theme), one in which children literally elevate their mother to the status of religious icon. This situation is simultaneously chilling and pathetic. This one is for people who enjoy character-driven psychological dramas.

I saw this about 14 years ago in a stroke of luck ( a local TV station had picked up a print, and my mother, suspense thriller buff that she is, decided to tape it), and the film has stuck with me ever since. It's not your typical horror film, and has more of a tragic element which was so very common to films of the genre in this particular era. The dark and dirty imagery only serves to enhance the premise, and the shrine the Hook children build to their mother is downright creepy. The children do a very decent job of portraying children ( something that is increasingly rare these days) and Dirk Bogarde does a fantastic job of portraying their scumbag father. And to boot, we've got a heavy incest theme going on. If you can get a hold of this one, go for it: it's very much of its time, but the opportunity is well worth any trouble.