Watch Our Mother's House For Free

Such a frustrating disappointment

Instant Favorite.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The reason few have heard of this film is because it is impossible to categorise. Made a few years after the same director made The Innocents and with much of the same sense of mystery and wonder but also the same fear of discovering just too much underneath. The swinging sixties seem a long way off in this almost Dickensian comic tragedy and much of the action seems to evoke the 50s and all those pre war skeletons tumbling out of creaking closets. Hints of incest and worse are probably the main reasons that this has all but disappeared but its a shame because all the children perform remarkably, as do Dirk Bogarde and Yootha Joyce. Immaculate direction, fine music and a wonderful script.

I can recall this film being made. I was 10 at the time and lived near by. My mum took me to watch the filming. Dirk Bogart was a very big star at the time and a small crowd of young mums would stand outside hopping to catch a glimpse. It was this movie that introduced me to the cinema.The actual house that was used for the outside shots was in Chichester Road. Opposite the junction with Chepstow Rise. I believe that the sign of Chepstow Rise appears in the film. The house has long since been pulled down and replaced by flats, part of the Park Hill Estate built by Wates. Towards the end of the film a scene is shot in West Croydon. Still a great Film and worth a watch. The film is very sad in places and shows loyalty from the kids, Similar in some ways to Lord of the Flys. Dirk Bogart plays his part brilliantly as he did in all of his pictures.

There are half a dozen or so children in this English household, ranging in age from about five to about seventeen. Their mother dies and they bury her in the garden. They get along on their own, cashing her pension checks and hoarding the four hundred pounds she left for a rainy day. "Mother's house" is a shack in the yard where the children retire to hold séances with Mom so she can tell them what to do.This can't go on, of course. Mothers don't just disappear. A teacher inquires at the house, her questions abrupt and demanding, and at the last minute the situation is saved by the appearance of their estranged father, Dirk Bogarde. (Or not saved, depending on your point of view.) Bogarde deserted their mother years ago and he's never seen the kids before, but he takes over the house, plays games with both the kids and the horses, and everyone seems to be having a jolly good time. Mother's house is neglected. So is the Big House. So are the financial circumstances, as Bogarde taps happily into the nest egg, drinks gallons of booze every day, and has his girl friends stay over at night, much to the kids' chagrin.When the money begins to dry up, Bogarde instigates a mortgage on the house. On top of that he begins to weary of the responsibility of caring for the little brats, even Diana (Pamela Franklin), who is old enough to appreciate his masculinity and has developed an adolescent affection for him.On a particularly bad hair day, he sells all the furniture and tchotchkas in Mother's house, tells them he hates them all, that everything including the house belongs to him, that there mother was nothing more than a whore, and that they were all conceived not by him but by a variety of her guests.Pretty rotten of him, but that's about as far as he gets before Pamela Franklin bashes in his head with a poker. They sadly come to their senses, pack their bags, and leave in the rain. Where did he say that orphanage was, again? These stories of kids trying sub rosa to grow up on their own seem to pop up with irregular frequency. I'm not sure of all the titles but I think they include "The Railway Children," "Don't Tell Mom, The Babysitter's Dead," "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane," and a few others. Others are simulacra: "Secret Ceremony," "Lord of the Flies," "Walkabout." This example has a good performance by Dirk Bogarde as the miscreant Daddy, and some surprisingly effective acting from some of the children, especially (but not limited to) the older two girls -- Margaret Brooks and Pamela Franklin. Generally speaking, children in movies should be struck until they ring, like gongs. But when they deliver, they're awe inspiring. How does a kid who is only, say, eleven years old learn to do a decent imitation of another eleven-year-old human being? The performances are all fine but the story itself is a little sluggish. It's worth watching once, for the reasons mentioned, but probably not worth owning.

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/