Changing of the Guard: A Dreamy, Tiny Piece of Old Cinema

Is this thing worth a watch?

Honestly, Changing of the Guard is the kind of movie you only stumble upon when you are digging through the bargain bin of history. If you love old, slightly creaky films with that 'storybook' vibe, you will probably get a kick out of it. If you need pacing, modern stakes, or logic, you will be checking your watch within five minutes. It is a sleepy, weird little dream of a movie.

The whole thing starts with a grandfather telling his granddaughter about his time in the military. It is sweet, but in that very 1930s way where people talk like they are reading from a greeting card. Halliwell Hobbes is exactly the kind of guy you want telling you a bedtime story, though. He has that voice that just makes you want to sit on a rug and listen.

Then we get into the dream sequence. Suddenly we are at Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard. It is weirdly hypnotic. The choreography is so rigid it feels almost like a toy set come to life. You can practically hear the clock ticking in the background of the set design.

I found myself wondering if this feels like a cousin to The Eleventh Commandment in terms of just how much it leans into its own artifice. It isn't trying to be real. It is trying to be a mood. It works, for the most part, even when the transition from the living room to the palace feels like someone just turned a page in a scrapbook.

Sybil Jason is in this, and she does that wide-eyed wonder thing that kids in these old films mastered. It is a bit much, sure. But it fits the tone. The film doesn't really have a 'plot' in the way we usually mean it. It is just a vibe. A very specific, dusty, brass-buttoned vibe.

The pacing is honestly a bit of a mess. It lingers on shots of uniforms and marching boots long after you have gotten the point. Maybe that was the intent. To make you feel like you are trapped in a dream that just won't end. 😴

There is a strange, empty feeling to the palace scenes. Like the extras weren't sure if they were supposed to be real soldiers or just background props. I kept looking at the background actors, wondering if they were bored. One of them in the back row looks like he is about to sneeze for a solid thirty seconds. It’s the small, messy stuff that makes me like this more than a polished modern drama.

It is not a masterpiece. It is barely a movie. But it is a nice slice of something that just doesn't exist anymore.