The chronically ill mother of seven children dies, and they decide to bury her secretly in the garden so that they are not separated and adopted out to different families. I don't know, maybe they had watched "All Mine to Give" on the telly and have seen how this kind of thing can go, but above all they do not want to be separated.
I found the first half to be painfully slow with all these very, very earnest child actors. Things pick up considerably at roughly the one hour point when charming but roguish Dirk Bogarde shows up and hams it up all over the place as the long absentee father. I thought if that one girl hadn't been so uptight about everything, the kids could have had a pretty kick-butt, bohemian life with Charlie. Car rides in the country. Trips to parks and zoos. Music to wiggle to, Playboys lying around, and very little parental supervision, plenty of free time to one's self while Dad was having his parties.
But ... this didn't turn out to be a frothy comedy about the return of a long-absent, free-wheeling dad and the positive effect he had on his dour little children. Within five seconds of Bogarde appearing on screen, I was 99 per cent sure what his fate was going to be, and that eventually he would have to be outed as a total louse to make what happens to him more palatable for the audience. So, the film was pretty predictable in that regard.
Otherwise, there were a few highlights to recommend here and there: the scenes where the one girl may or may not have been channeling her mother's spirit were effectively creepy. One high-ick factor scene with disturbing incestuous implications (or maybe not, if what Bogarde reveals late in the movie was true). An unexpected moment of joy when the kids realize they can access their mother's savings accounts and their lives aren't going to have to be Dickensian after all.
This is a good psychological and atmospheric film, and I'd recommend it.
I found the first half to be painfully slow with all these very, very earnest child actors. Things pick up considerably at roughly the one hour point when charming but roguish Dirk Bogarde shows up and hams it up all over the place as the long absentee father. I thought if that one girl hadn't been so uptight about everything, the kids could have had a pretty kick-butt, bohemian life with Charlie. Car rides in the country. Trips to parks and zoos. Music to wiggle to, Playboys lying around, and very little parental supervision, plenty of free time to one's self while Dad was having his parties.
But ... this didn't turn out to be a frothy comedy about the return of a long-absent, free-wheeling dad and the positive effect he had on his dour little children. Within five seconds of Bogarde appearing on screen, I was 99 per cent sure what his fate was going to be, and that eventually he would have to be outed as a total louse to make what happens to him more palatable for the audience. So, the film was pretty predictable in that regard.
Otherwise, there were a few highlights to recommend here and there: the scenes where the one girl may or may not have been channeling her mother's spirit were effectively creepy. One high-ick factor scene with disturbing incestuous implications (or maybe not, if what Bogarde reveals late in the movie was true). An unexpected moment of joy when the kids realize they can access their mother's savings accounts and their lives aren't going to have to be Dickensian after all.
This is a good psychological and atmospheric film, and I'd recommend it.