The Ghost of Greville Lodge is directed by Niall Johnson, who also adapts to screenplay from the novel Down Came A Blackbird written by Nicholas Wilde. It stars George Cole, Prunella Scales, Kevin Howarth, Jon Newman, Billy Smith and Rebecca Weeks. Music is by Sam Parker and Craig Johnson and cinematography by Gordon Hickie.
Teenager James Greville (Newman) has spent most of his youth living in children's homes after the death of his parents when he was just six years old. Out of the blue he gets an invite to stay for Christmas with a Great Uncle at Greville Lodge. Once there he settles in quickly and spends his time exploring the vast lodge and the quaint village nearby. Soon, though, James comes to find that Greville Lodge holds some secrets and that he is in fact the catalyst for those secrets to come out in the open.
Anyone who is familiar with, and likes, The Amazing Mr. Blunden from 1972, will have no problems enjoying this delightful family friendly ghost story. Blending its supernatural heart with a time travelling scenario, film goes exactly where you would expect it to go. It's not the scary kind of ghost story to chill the spine, though there is an ethereal eeriness about certain passages that should make the younger viewers tingle with a suspicion of the unknown. The acting is very competent and the period design for the 1939 segments is splendid in its eye appealing efficiency. A film of this type lives or dies by its ending and thankfully the finale here is excellently put together and hits all the right emotional notes. So have a Kleenex handy just in case.
Really well put together and narratively strong, this is very much recommended to those in search of a Mr. Blunden type ghost story. 7.5/10
