From Time to Time (2009)

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A boy spending time with his family makes some very unusual friends in this comic fantasy from director Julian Fellowes. It's 1944, and Tolly (Alex Etel) is a boy from Manchester whose mother (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) isn't convinced he's safe in the city while World War II is still on, especially… More A boy spending time with his family makes some very unusual friends in this comic fantasy from director Julian Fellowes. It's 1944, and Tolly (Alex Etel) is a boy from Manchester whose mother (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) isn't convinced he's safe in the city while World War II is still on, especially since his father went missing while serving in battle. Tolly's mother sends him to spend a few months with his grandmother Linnet (Maggie Smith), who lives in a rattletrap home in the countryside; Tolly's father is her child, and Linnett is worried about his fate, one of the few things the boy's mother and grandmother can agree on. After spending a few days at Linnett's home, Tolly discovers a handful of spectral visitors and learns that the house is haunted. Linnett is on good terms with the spirits, who in life were members of the family, and as he gets to know the ghosts of stalwart Capt. Oldknow (Hugh Bonneville), his loyal wife Maria (Carice van Houten) and their children Susan (Eliza Bennett) and Sefton (Douglas Booth), he learns a great deal about the exciting but sometimes troubled history of the Oldknow Family. Also starring Timothy Spall and Pauline Collins, From Time To Time received its world premiere at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi