On the 16th December 2013 I posted about 'The Amazing Mr Blunden' a classic British film from 1972. With itsd own charm and weirdness about it, it used to be a film that my sister and I used to watch when we were very young. In fact this was one of the films that we had on a list, a list of films we thought no one else had heard of, at least people our age. There are several on there which we discovered to be films that everyone had seen and there still a few that remain unheard of.
The only connection to this festive season is that the opening scenes take place Christmas Eve but from there we are in glorious Spring time. For a brief summary, its all about the ghosts, the mansion and of course the mysterious man himself, Mr Blunden.
With the release of a very special edition from Second Sight Films who have recently brough us the delightful 'Flight of the Navigator' back into our homes through its own special release, I have reviewed the film, in full, which was previously published on Vulturehoud. HERE.
I also wanted to revisit my post from 2013 as I was still in the very early stages of finding my way writing wise and how I had pictured the blog to be. Honestly, its not my best, but its always good to look back and see how far you've come. But also, just for fun, HERE is the post.
“We three kings of Orient are my dears”
Ghosts are real. That is what you have to believe when entering the world of ‘The Amazing Mr Blunden’ especially as the family film classic was based on ‘The Ghosts’ by Antonia Barber. The element of supernatural isn’t a spoiler as its one of the first topics talked about, the belief in the spirits and whether they are feared. Ghosts are more than they seem and for the heroes in this story, overcoming any fear or second guesses is just one layer to this time travelling ghost story.
On a cold Christmas Eve, kindly old solicitor Mr Blunden mysteriously visits the Allen family, who have recently hit on hard times. He offers Mrs Allen the position of caretaker to an old estate where her and family can live in a cottage on the grounds. Jamie and Lucy Allen soon encounter more strange happenings when they meet two ghosts who used to live in the mansion house. Transported back in time, they find themselves working against the clock, trying to help their new friends and right a wrong that took place over 100 years.
With a title change the film automatically becomes more family friendly and suggest that (especially from the original poster) that this mysterious Mr Blunden is some sort of supernatural adventurous being but in fact, he’s better than that, he’s just a gentleman trying right a wrong that happened 100 years ago. This, is a far better fit of character for the story and just adds to the mystery. Maybe the film could have been called, ‘The Mysterious Mr Blunden’. Having ghosts as the subjects of the time travelling adventure mystery, it’s hard to ignore the obvious genre that which these apparitions appear. Horror does make an appearance in the form of Mr and Mrs Wickens, the latter, a cleverly disguised former sex symbol Diana Dors, literally steals the scene whenever she shows up. These two nasty characters are more than the evil caretakers of the house, they are the reason for the entire plot of the film. Without their plan to kill off the children, Lucy and Jamie would not need to time travel back to save the day. The film has been quite charmingly described as a ‘family friendly Hammer horror’ which I think both gives the film too much credit and not enough. The film has that rare quality where it both charms, amuses and has us enthralled, an edge of mystery that is never really solvable which is most likely why it is returned to time and time again.
There is a certain quality that some British films have that even though you know and feel it was made a number of decades ago, the slight grain and tone to the print and ever-present Britishness that just shines through. Maybe it’s not something that everyone picks up on when watching these classics but it’s there all the same. A group of weird and wonderful characters that are both stereotypical and a joy to watch, a story that has you on the edge of you seat and most of all, the amazing Mr Blunden himself, are all elements to a classic film that at last get its special edition treatment.