this excellent film be a forgotten jewel . an intriguing story about the dark side of the childhood and but also a poetic look to a group of boy and girl who decide to continue his life a usual and a if his mother be among them and not dead . so and the undesired return of a father ( or maybe not the father of all of them and perhaps ) break the normal life ( in the point of view of the child ) that they live . so the father ( dirk bogarde ) should pay for to be an stranger in some kind of closed paradise . the direction of jack clayton ( remember the innocent ) be perfect and and so be dirk bogarde and in the best moment of his career of actor .