From Time to Time

Before I get to a review of the movie, I note that everything seems to be on fire. Roaring flames encroach on the old homestead across the state and evacuation notices are in place there; the hiking trail I wrote about in the previous post in on the edge of fire. Fires rage to the north, south, east, and west; smoke seasons the air and shrouds the horizon; I can't even see the hills a few miles away; the wind blows but it only brings more smoke.

From Time to Time, directed by Julian Fellowes and written by Fellowes and Lucy M. Boston, features Maggie Smith as Mrs. Oldknow, Alex Etel as the boy Tolly, and Eliza Bennet as Susan. This movie from 2009 surprised me. I had never heard of it before.

Near the end of WWII (that's not eleven for those of you in doubt) Tolly, whose father is listed as "missing" is sent to live in the country with his father's mother--Mrs. (or grandmother) Oldknow. Naturally, with a name like that, one must expect there will be some significant discussion or relevant history. 

Tolly is a bit of a bother, being somewhat hostile to his grandmother and the situation. However, that all changes when he meets Susan--the blond girl in the picture below with Tolly on the left and Jacob on the right.

Her initial appearance comes as a surprise as Tolly has gone to bed. He can see and hear her, but she can only hear him, because she's blind. I thought it interesting that her ghost would be blind -- except, Susan et al. aren't really ghosts. What we have is brushes with time. It's like Captain Kirk in "The Tholian Web." Tolly moves in and out of time between his own time and the early 1800s at the estate. At the present, the estate has fallen on hard times and Grandma is going to have to sell the place. 

However, there was woman who almost ruined the family when she married the heir who was a sea captain during the Napoleonic Wars.

 She had some valuable jewels, but those were stolen when the wing she had built caught fire. So, we have the set up for young Tolly to move in and out of time to learn family secrets and save the estate--hopefully--all while dealing with his father's missing status and his grandmother's dislike for his mother.

As soon as we see Caxton, the butler, we know we aren't going to like him.

He does fun things like aiding and abetting Susan's older, pampered, and evil brother in forcing Jacob up the chimney and then having a fire lit. Jacob is a runaway slave the captain/father rescued and brought back as an assistant to Susan.

The story is predictable but it doesn't disappoint. The transitions from present to past are nearly seamless and occur without warning. There is no mechanism, it just happens. Some people can see Tolly when he's moving in time, but most people cannot--it's sort of like plot armor; those who need to see and interact with him can, while the bad guys cannot. Although Grandma can see the ghosts, and they are ghosts when she sees them, she apparently doesn't get to go back in time and see them alive and in their own time. The story moves along quickly once it gets past the slow opening. 

I recommend it. 4 out 5 time portals given.

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I won't know anything about my short story submission for a week or two. I do have concerns that it may not fit with the other stories--which may have been the problem with my previous Napoleonic story that didn't get selected. I, however, enjoy variety, or as a certain batch of British funny men would say, "Something completely different."

The first half of the third installment in my adventure series for boys has been sent to my review team for their comments and corrections while I finish the second half. I'm enjoying the writing as well as feeding descriptions into AI to get images of the characters and creatures featured in the story. Book Two: Accidental Wizard is scheduled for release next month.