I first saw THE GREEN MAN when it was broadcast back in 1992 on A&E when it really stood for Arts & Entertainment. I’m always on the lookout for a good ghost story movie. I’ll take it over your average horror film any day of the week. This one is more than just a good ghost story, it’s a great one which incorporates the legend of the Celtic Green Man into a modern setting. It’s based on a novel by Kingsley Amis and stars Albert Finney in a typically charismatic performance.
He plays Maurice Allington, the owner of a historic English inn who is oversexed and seriously alcoholic. When he begins having dreams and hallucinations about a forest spirit and a ghost dressed in 18th century clothing he puts it down to drink only to discover that it’s all too real when the ghost causes the death of his father and goes after his teenage daughter. Throw in a significant subplot of his roving eye, an unhappy marriage, and a visit from God in a a 1950s business suit and you have an intelligent though occasionally soft-core narrative for adults.
Despite a lot of assets, THE GREEN MAN is not without flaws. At 150 minutes, it needs to be seen as the 3 part BBC series it originally was, not run altogether without a break. The adult relationships subplot seems there only for the sake of making the story contemporary and for adding to the length but, to be fair, I haven’t read Amis’ novel where I’m sure it fits in better than it seems to here. Of course Finney is very good at playing troubled characters from the creepy remake of NIGHT MUST FALL (1964) through his stunning portrayal of the alcoholic diplomat in UNDER THE VOLCANO (1984).
The scene where he stares at the woman in the shower and then his reaction is the equal of Jack Nicholson’s in THE SHINING. The rest of the cast is solid with a nice turn from Michael Hordern as Finney’s father and a chilling portrayal from Michael Culver as the ghost. The biggest problem though is not with the movie, but with the format. It’s still only available in America on VHS. There is a Region 2 DVD but in this day and age it needs to be on an all region Blu-ray.
The Capsule Critic 