The Greengage Summer / Loss of Innocence (1961 Lewis Gilbert)

According to an Amazon reviewer, the DVD is a bootleg and that 'Columbia never officially released it'. I'm not quite sure how thy came by that information but apparently the only way to see it in its original form is from the broadcast that TCM made of it. It's certainly odd that this version is presented in 4x3, although I have to say it doesn't particularly look cropped to me. There are bootleg copies available on dodgy websites which purport to run 99m - the UK release DVD is 95. The BBFC shows that the original, which received cuts (you can see the jump in a couple of places e.g. the conversation about the two women of the hotel being lesbians), was 100m, which equates to 96m on video.

There's a lot going on here, presumably all in Rumer Godden's novel (Howard Koch adapted it with - apparently and uncredited - input from the author). The owner of the Chateau, Claude Mollier, lies to tourists and pretends its some historical relic which it isn't, and is having an affair with mysterious Englishman Kenneth More, supplanting a prior relationship with Danielle Darrieux.

The arrival of the kids - Susannah York, Jane Asher, Elizabeth Dear and Richard Williams - stirs everything up, including malevolent servant David Saire, who is vile - he attacks young Asher for slapping him, later tries to rape York twice. Thankfully More is around to prevent things from going truly sour - he's great with the younger kids. But he's not above having a flirtatious relationship with York himself, which leads to a tragic outcome.

Filmed on location in France by Freddie Young, edited by Peter Hunt (his greengage montage is a bit overdone), good music by Richard Addinsell.

I was trying to wok out if one (or an amalgam) of the kids is her - was the Jane Asher character her alter ego? Whilst researching this I found her quote "Everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.” Which even though it doesn't help is interesting. Though there is an intriguing BBC article here which tells us that the story was substantially true.