From Time to Time

Julian Fellowes has assembled quite a stellar cast here for this rather charming, if formulaic, ghost story set in an English stately home. The young "Tolly" (Alex Etel) comes to live with his aristocratic grandmother "Mrs Oldknow" (Dame Maggie Smith) - who is having to think carefully about remaining in their fire-damaged family home. Once in situ, the young man discovers that he is able to revisit a time in the house's history when things were different, and there were big secrets being kept. Soon he is embroiled in trying to alter history saving those in both timelines before it is too late. To be fair, the story is pretty derivative, but it looks good - the costume and set designers have fun with the two periods of history - and there are plenty of familiar faces - Timothy Spall, a fine effort from Pauline Collins and a few brief cameos from Hugh Bonneville to keep this amiable story bubbling along nicely for ninety minutes. It's not likely a film you will recall seeing for long afterwards, but it has a gentle charm to it and the young Etel works well with his more illustrious co-stars to create a feel-good film that is worth watching.