Well, I liked this one a lot. To be sure, I was not shocked by the big revelation at the end, but I'm not at all sure I was supposed to be. I knew nothing of the film going in, so had no idea I was in for a bit of a ghost story. Meg Tilly was so beautiful. Easy to see why Alan Dresland (Frazer) would fall for her. I thought she utterly nailed this role. The secretiveness, the blossoming love, the creepy aura of something not quite right coming out, well, she knocked all of these out of the park. A lot has been made of her German accent in this role. It sounded fine to me. Granted, I'm a Texan, and speak no German (or Danish) at all.Yes I missed some of her dialogue, but I always miss a little of what people say in accented English. (OK, in a different accent than mine) She was fantastic, and I'm sorry I haven't seen more of her over the years.

Possibly one of the most haunting novels I've ever read, the movie while good isn't at all in the same league as the novel. This is the same problem another movie, "The other side of Midnight" had but that was actually better. Girl on a swing would be an awfully tough book to make into a movie and have it be flawless, the book simply was to atmospheric(mostly accomplished by incredible writing that the movie could not match).

The main problem of this movie is that it kind of evolves into a horror. This book was never meant to be a "horror", more a combination Romance, thriller, mystery, ghost story all in one.

The book is a riveting, heartbreaking piece of work, the movie is merely creepy. Doesn't even begin to capture the essence of Kaithe or Allen, relies more on the fear factor.(I'm not saying it's bad, actually it's good, just not in the same league as the book.)

Spoilers :don't read on unless you want to know.

The book didn't give anything away, I really, when reading it had no idea what would happen page by page. In the movie you kind of know what Kaithe's "secret" is going to be. Although I was delirious with joy to find the movie version of one of my all time favorite books I wish the compelling dreaminess of the book had been captured and that it had moved me more.

I doubt many people would see this movie and call it "remarkable". Yet the book was. It told of the incredible love one man had for this woman and the terrible choice she made that doomed both of them as well as others. You might like the movie better if you don't read the book first but in any event I disagree with many that Meg Tilly didn't do a good job, she did all right. So my overall review is-good movie-amazing book.

Antiques dealer in London, a bachelor who appears to be hesitant of becoming involved with a woman (particularly one with a child),meets a beautiful, enigmatic German girl while on business in Copenhagen. They have a whirlwind courtship and are soon married, but a tragic event in her recent past threatens to tear the lovers apart. Tale of obsessive love and guilt is reticent about revealing its secrets--and, when the climax arrives, it's obscure and troubling, and viewers are left puzzled and rather put off. Dreamily essayed and shot by writer-director Gordon Hessler, via Richard Adams' novel, the film's mercurial nature and heavy-handed psychological overtures may try some viewers' patience long before the climax. Even more frustrating is Meg Tilly's German accent; the actress, glamorous for really the first time, is as dazed and fuzzy-of-thought as ever, and often she's impossible to understand. It's easy to see how a long-time bachelor would become obsessed with her--she's like one of those fragile porcelain figures in his shop--but Hessler dotes on her and dotes on her. Leading man Rupert Frazer is convincingly haunted by the dangerous beauty, though he seems to understand her long before we do. If one responds to the couple's emotional journey, there is hope that the passion and eroticism and heartbreak will all piece together satisfyingly by the end. That doesn't really happen in Hessler's treatment--we're left to ponder the conclusions drawn--yet the high drama at hand is often quite intriguing. **1/2 from ****