Lionel Jeffries (The Railway Children) directs this enjoyable supernatural fantasy movie. It's a nostalgic family classic in which the mysterious but kindly solicitor Mr Blunden visits Mrs Allen and her young children, offering her the position of caretaker at a derelict country mansion. More surprises are in store when the children encounter the ghosts of two former young residents and find themselves transported back in time to help their new friends right a 100-year-old wrong. film. Spike Milligan, Gert Fröbe, Gene Wilder, David Niven, Michael Gough, David Tomlinson, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Donald Pleasence and Robert Helpmann were all considered for the role of Mr. Blunden before the role went to Laurence Naismith. Diana Dors plays the wicked housekeeper Mrs. Wickens, who along with her disturbed husband is plotting to kill the children to get her hands on an inheritance. Pretty much unrecognisable from her normal blonde bombshell image she's gross, warty and every young child's nightmare. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios in 1971 with location filming around the village and church at Hedgerley. The fire-ravaged derelict stately home was in fact Heatherden Hall, on the estate of which the studios are located and which at that time served as administration offices for the production facilities. It's based on a 1969 novel by Antonia Barber entitled The Ghosts, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.