Anyone who has read Julian Fellowes’ rather racy novels, or seen his brilliantly snooty Gosford Park will not expect the kind of simple children’s fantasy that is From Time to Time, his directorial debut.

True, the film, which is based on a book called Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston, deals with snobbery, family relationships and the passing of an altogether more glamorous age in the usual Fellowes fashion. But it is most definitely a family film, with a sweeter, simpler premise than his previous endeavours.

In the last days of the Second World War, Tolly, a 13-year-old lad from Manchester, is sent to stay in the large country manor belonging to his estranged grandmother, an austere but kindly Maggie Smith whose dislike for Tolly’s “common” mother lessens as her fondness for Tolly grows. Tolly’s father is “missing in action”; his mother is elsewhere, waiting for news of him.

When Tolly begins to see – and eventually participate in – scenes from the past of his blind ancestor Susan, her tyrant brother Sefton and their bored, money-obsessed mother, Maria, he considers the nature of ghosts, inevitably leading him to contemplate love, loss and, of course, death – with a few mysteries thrown in for good measure.

The plot is at times flimsy. Like a cross between The Railway Children and Lost, it veers clumsily between soft focus shots of the present and brighter, almost cartoon-like scenes from the past. Fellowes seems not entirely at ease in the world of children, and at one point reverts to his old stomping ground of crime and adult class wars, when the guests gleefully discuss the mystery of Maria’s stolen jewels, before returning hurriedly to the plot at hand.

But The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, that wartime children's classic, didn't always make sense either. Such technical hiccups detract very little from what is really a very well-acted and moving film.

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010