Richie-67-485852 This movie has a unique story to tell if one stays with it as it starts out a little slow but necessary. If you can also get past the British way of speaking which to Americans sometimes comes across mumbled then the story with a lot of heart awaits you. This movie has a strong "Somewhere in Time" movie flavor that Christopher Reeve did. Two star-crossed lovers keep missing each other but eventually connect. This movie has that dynamic with its own message and it is a great movie to discuss when it ends. I liked the build-up and the actors really got into their roles. The dame of the house makes a statement after finding out the place may be haunted that resonated with me. She says something to the affect of: if there is a ghost and there is an injustice then it is up to us to handle it or dissemble this house brick by brick. That is someone you want on your team. Enjoy the fresh innocence of a well-done movie back in the forties that must have brought many great entertainment joy. Good movie to eat your favorite snack with a tasty drink. Pay attention as the ghost tries to make itself known and how it all comes about that leads to a satisfying conclusion. Nicely done and thank you

JLRMovieReviews James Mason and Margaret Lockwood star in this British film, A Place of One's Own. It centers on a somewhat elderly couple who have bought a new house to live in for their retirement years. They talk throughout the film about always wanting a place of their own. But then the wife hires a companion. It seems also that James bought the house for a really cheap price, due to the fact the house had been on the market for 40 years. No one wanted to live there, because the gossipers say it's haunted by an invalid daughter who had died there. Of course, signs show that it may be true and she seems to have attached herself to the young companion. What begins as a well-made curious little movie comes across, oddly enough, as very subdued and maybe too much so. Instead of going for obvious shock value and a splashy treatment, this film centers on lost love and two old souls wanting to be together in the afterlife. The film is so subdued and low-key that it has a sleep-inducing effect. The fact that the people here speak so proper and British and old doesn't help either. A lot of films seem interesting at the time and later the viewer decides it wasn't that great. This falls in the opposite category. As it goes on in what feels like a no-win situation and ultimately unsatisfying (or aggravating) throughout the film, the ending gives it a good resolution and makes the viewer vindicated for sticking with it. If you can make it through the film, given the slow-talking people, I think you will like it on the whole, but altogether it wasn't as grand as I thought it was going to be, given the presence of James Mason.

utgard14 I should caution anyone that may be slightly impatient that you'll have to stick with this one for awhile before the story kicks into gear. Over the course of the first forty minutes or so it's a story focused on two elderly people and their young helper who meets a boy she falls in love with. This is all enjoyable enough, if a bit dull, depending on one's tolerance for such stories in older films. There's a sprinkling of mysterious goings-on building to what's to come later, but just a sprinkling. This isn't to discourage anyone from trying the movie. I just want to prepare you to view this when you aren't watching a clock. The pace does pick up midway through and here's where the mystery elements of the film really come into play. All of the actors are good, particularly Margaret Lockwood. As others have pointed out, James Mason and Barbara Mullen are playing characters twice their age for some inexplicable reason. But they do well, with the usual "old people are kind and sweet and amusingly cantankerous" trope that permeated movies of the time. Ernest Thesiger has what amounts to a brief cameo (where he's dubbed, oddly). The role is important to the plot but given how little of his face you see, the part really could have been played by anybody. One more note: this is in no way a scary film. Some of the characters in the story may become frightened or bewildered but to the audience this is more of a mystery film with some supernatural overtones. This is worth pointing out for those expecting something akin to The Innocents or The Haunting. Still, it's a good but not great mystery film with some nice heart-warming humor and sentimentalism. Added points if you like British films of the period where everyone speaks and acts quite properly, except for the servants who add touches of color and comedy relief.

blanche-2 James Mason and Barbara Mullen have "A Place of One's Own" in this 1945 film also starring Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price. The only problem is, someone else owns it, too - the ghost of the former owner, which Mr. and Mrs. Smedhurst (Mason and Mullen) discover when they move in. When they hire a companion for Mrs. Smedhurst, the beautiful Annette, things become very strange indeed. The more they learn about the former owner, the stranger it gets.Mason for some reason, at the age of about 36, plays an elderly man; Barbara Mullen was a little older, but not by much. I immediately thought the story would be told in flashback, with Mason playing a younger man, but no. He does an excellent job. He has the walk and the voice of an old man. Lockwood creates a wonderful character, very sweet and genuine. She had a very wide range as an actress, as she proved in one of her best roles,in Wicked Lady, and years later, in Cast a Dark Shadow."A Place of One's Own" is slow and, for this writer anyway, totally predictable. If I had seen it in 1945, I might have felt differently. Despite good performances, it didn't really hold my attention. If you're not familiar with this genre, you will undoubtedly enjoy it more than I did. I came away feeling it was just okay.