The year before Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens were cast as the star crossed lovers Mary and Matthew on the popular BBC TV series, they played patient and doctor in one of the many versions of Henry James' novelette which is better than I expected. Dockery is the innocent governess sent to take care of the two ghostly looking blonde children, the subject of obsession by two real ghosts, and product of a haunted past. Dockery becomes consumed by the mystery of a late groundskeeper and the previous nanny, and it's through the secret keeping housekeeper that the truth will be revealed.
The story of the previous governess and the groundskeeper was the subject of a well meaning Gothic horror flop, "The Nightcomers", and I have counted at least three other versions besides this one, the best known of which is the 1961 Deborah Kerr film. A 1992 version turned out to be a pretentious bore, and what I read about this one didn't give me high hopes. But there's a coldness to this version and the constant presence of the feeling that ghosts are always around that made me enjoy this all the more.
Dockery, whose uppity character on "Downton" got on my nerves, is solemn but kind, not too sickeningly sweet, and thus easy to like. Stevens is a minor part with the housekeeper, children and the two main ghosts more important to the story. With the period changed to the 1920's, this often has a feeling that it was more influenced by "Jane Eyre" and "Rebecca" with several elements straight out of the Hitchcock film. It perfectly captures the ghost story, especially since the home where this takes place is very similar to the haunted mansions of "Rebecca" and TV's "Dark Shadows" in addition to "Downton Abbey".
The story of the previous governess and the groundskeeper was the subject of a well meaning Gothic horror flop, "The Nightcomers", and I have counted at least three other versions besides this one, the best known of which is the 1961 Deborah Kerr film. A 1992 version turned out to be a pretentious bore, and what I read about this one didn't give me high hopes. But there's a coldness to this version and the constant presence of the feeling that ghosts are always around that made me enjoy this all the more.
Dockery, whose uppity character on "Downton" got on my nerves, is solemn but kind, not too sickeningly sweet, and thus easy to like. Stevens is a minor part with the housekeeper, children and the two main ghosts more important to the story. With the period changed to the 1920's, this often has a feeling that it was more influenced by "Jane Eyre" and "Rebecca" with several elements straight out of the Hitchcock film. It perfectly captures the ghost story, especially since the home where this takes place is very similar to the haunted mansions of "Rebecca" and TV's "Dark Shadows" in addition to "Downton Abbey".