The Amazing Mr Blunden (1972)

Average rating

(70%)

Starring:	Laurence Naismith \| James Villiers \| Diana Dors \| Lynne Frederick
Director:	Lionel Jeffries
Run time:	97 mins
Genres:	Family
Languages:	English
Released:	(unknown)

A mysterious, old solicitor Mr Blunden offers a destitute family the chance to become housekeepers of a derelict country mansion, which is currently in his charge. Once there the children meet the spirits of others who died in a fire a hundred years earlier. They concoct a potion to enable them to travel back in time in the hope that they will be able to help their new friends...

Radio Times

In his later years, character actor Lionel Jeffries has had a secondary career as a sympathetic director of films made for and about young people, notably The Railway Children. This period ghost story by Antonia Barber is also perfectly suitable for adult viewing. There's much to enjoy, especially in the ripe performances of Laurence Naismith in the title role and the splendid Diana Dors as Mrs Wickens — gross, warty and every young child's nightmare. Character actors Dorothy Alison — Nurse Brace in Reach for the Sky — and James Villiers turn in good work, too.

Rating of 2 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Involved ghost story for intellectual children, made generally palatable by oodles of period charm and good acting.

Highest rated reviews

10 out of 10 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
A gem !

Darren from Stoke on Trent, England, 29th May, 2005

First saw this when I was only about 7 years old when it was on TV one christmas. That was getting on for 30 yrs ago! I loved it then and I still love it now. Worth watching for Diana Dors alone. Her performance is wonderful, and I cannot imagine anyone more perfect for the role of Mrs Wickens. The jaded youth of today may find it rather dull. But having been a child during more innocent times I felt the magical atmosphere of Mr Blunden and it has stayed with me ever since. Highly recommended. :-)

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
a story about ghosts rather than a ghost story!

A Customer from Bucks, 2nd April, 2006

i saw this when i was a kid and never forgot it and watched it with my children 8 and 11 who also loved it. its a gentle tale of redemption and time travel. its plausability seems enhanced by its lack of special effects and meagre budget. no dodgy blue screen moments. wonderful acting and slightly cheesy dialogue seem to make it a classic! the credits 'Goodbye' sequence adds to overall feeling of a night at the theatre and the comfortable luvviness of it. Brilliant britishness

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Most recent reviews

Rated 4.0 stars
Great Family Film

LuckyLegs from from Stockton-on-Tees, 25th June, 2009

Seen this first as a child, and enjoyed it just as much 2nd time around, watching it with my 3 children. The Late - Lynne Frederick stars as Lucy, who with her brother Jamie moves to a cottage within the grounds of a once grand mansion, which is now in disrepair, when their mother is offered the job of caretaker by the mysterious Mr Blunden. They soon meet 2 ghostly children, Sara and Georgie, also brother & sister, who lived there 100 years previously, and were illtreated by the housekeeper Mrs Wickens (Diana Dors), and now need the help of Lucy and Jamie to help avert the wrong done to them a century ago. One for all the family!

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