I had always been interested in watching this well-regarded British ghost story – but was still pretty much blown away by it, being generally deemed too low-key for complete success. The film (the U.K. equivalent to THE UNINVITED [1944]) is notable for James Mason's playing of a character role much older than his 36 years; he's fine as always, but is matched by Barbara Mullen as his wife – and the whole proves a nice showcase, too, for the young Dennis Price as a doctor. The latter falls for and eventually treats Margaret Lockwood, Mullen's ingénue companion – who, on the old couple's inexpensive acquisition of a fashionable but notorious country-house, becomes possessed by the spirit of the latest female occupant (she had been ill-treated by both masters and servants and would die separated from her lover, another medic). Directed by a former cinematographer (his debut and unquestionably best effort), the period atmosphere is exceedingly well deployed throughout – thanks to Stephen Dade's probing camera-work and the elegant production design, particularly the mansion's interior. There are few genuine scares, yet the film generates some definite frissons along the way: Lockwood, a mediocre pianist at best, suddenly playing a piece faultlessly in front of guests; the girl's spontaneous quotation from a poem she readily admits to being unfamiliar with; and, especially, her close encounter with an unseen entity (woken up by the piano mysteriously playing at night, we hear its lid being violently shut when she enters the room, followed by the camera's swift panning – suggesting something had gone past her – and then hushed voices plotting murder in the hallway). Also worth mentioning in this regard, however, are the enigmatic 'orders' given to the old couple as well as the gardener (a surprising straight turn from comedian Will Hay's frequent sparring partner Moore Marriott) respectively requesting a certain doctor's presence and the unearthing of a locket (subsequently cleaned just as inexplicably). Eventually, the former lovers do get together one more time – the girl obviously in Lockwood's form and the medic now reduced to an old man (played by none other than Ernest Thesiger, whose entrance here towards the end of the film is almost as impressive as the one in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN [1935]) – but, tellingly, the camera cuts away at this precise moment, as if we what they had to say was meant for their ears only!; following this, there is a twist involving Thesiger's character – which I actually predicted, but it certainly adds to the poignancy of the reunion. All in all, a little gem of a film displaying plenty of brooding style but also surprising warmth (not a feeling one usually associates with ghost stories).
Review of A Place of One's Own
