Our Mother's House (1967)

When their deeply religious mother dies, the seven Hook children bury her in the garden and continue life as normal. Then their absent father, Charlie, reappears...

Director:

Jack Clayton

Writers:

Jeremy Brooks (screenplay by), Haya Harareet (screenplay by)

Stars:

Dirk Bogarde, Margaret Leclere, Pamela Franklin

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dirk Bogarde	...	Charlie Hook
Margaret Leclere	...	Elsa (as Margaret Brooks)
Pamela Franklin	...	Diana
Louis Sheldon Williams	...	Hubert
John Gugolka	...	Dunstan
Mark Lester	...	Jiminee
Phoebe Nicholls	...	Gerty (as Sarah Nicholls)
Gustav Henry	...	Willy
Parnum Wallace	...	Louis
Yootha Joyce	...	Mrs. Quayle
Claire Davidson	...	Miss Bailey
Anthony Nicholls	...	Mr. Halbert
Annette Carell	...	Mother
Gerald Sim	...	Bank Clerk
Edina Ronay	...	Doreen

Storyline

When their deeply religious mother dies, the seven Hook children bury her in the garden and continue life as normal. Then their absent father, Charlie, reappears...

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Plot Keywords:

cutting hair | religious fanaticism | screaming girl | bird in a cage | brother sister relationship | 

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Taglines:

The children's story that is not for children...

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1967 (UK)

Also Known As:

Todas as Noites às Nove

Filming Locations:

Chichester Road, Croydon, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmways, Heron Film Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Three of the seven juvenile actors who play the Hook children - Margaret Leclere (Elsa), Pamela Franklin (Diana), and Phoebe Nicholls (Gerty) - went on to further success and developed enduring film and TV careers as adults. Mark Lester also had later successes, most famously in the title role in "Oliver!" (1969); he gave up acting in the early 1980s and became an osteopath, but returned to film after more than 30 years to play the role of King Harold in "1066" (2015).

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Connections

Featured in Lionpower from MGM (1967)

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Soundtracks

Gertie Is Punished
Written and Performed by Georges Delerue Et Son Orchestre

User Reviews

More innocents.

At the beginning of the sixties ,Jack Clayton made a fine adaptation of "the turn of the screw",called "the innocents" which featured P.Franklin too.This could be called "more innocents "but there's a strong difference between the two works.Although "our mother's house" verges on fantastic,there's nothing irrational,nothing supernatural here.THat's what we can call a miracle of a movie:because it sounds like a horror and fantasy movie without all the genre gimmicks .So people who're looking for gore,special effects and other paraphernalia,please pass by.If you enjoy strong screenplays,first-class performances and masterful direction,this is a must.

Eight children whose mother's just passed away want to go on with their life as if nothing happened.Besides ,they do believe that their mother is still with them,and Pamela Franklin 's rendering is absolutely stunning when she acts as some kind of medium:far from the usual clichés -as you can see in "ghost" for instance-,she will give you goose pimples.This mother will remain a mystery,maybe a saint steeped in piety,maybe somebody much worse than a goody-two-shoes,as Charlie eventually claims.

Charlie is masterfully portrayed by Dirk Bogarde who was in his more fruitful period with such masterpieces as "accident" "king and country" "la caduti dei degi" "morte a Venezio".He keeps people waiting for he only appears after about forty minutes.But when he's on the screen ,the chemistry between the thespian and the children is so obvious that there's no hiatus.At first sight,he resembles some adult Peter Pan (hairdo,swagger,clothes,not to forget the name:Hook!).Here ,where Spielberg dismally failed when he made "Hook" ,Jack Clayton with a much smaller budget had already succeeded in portraying an adult/child, more than twenty years before.But further acquaintance will show that an adult can no longer remain a child .When Charlie is a man again,tragedy is waiting around the corner.

"Our mother's house" is so rich a movie that you could stay all night talking about it:a twilight glow shines on an autumnal suburb and turns into absolute darkness for the last sequence.Georges Delerue's score is simply marvelous and enhances the perfection of the pictures.

A strong influence on the French movie "la fracture du myocarde".

See it at any cost.