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Ghost Stories for Christmas Volume 1 (3 x Blu-ray discs)

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Clark directed another story by M. R. James, Casting The Runes for the series ITV Playhouse, produced by Yorkshire Television and first broadcast on ITV on 24 April 1979. Adapted by Clive Exton, it reimagined the events of James's story taking place in a contemporary television studio. [22]

When the Hollywood remake machine really got going a few years ago, I remember my partner asking me why they only ever chose to remake films that didn't need remaking instead of ones that had botched up a decent idea. It's about money, of course, and it's long since been established that you've an easier sell if you're trading on an already famous name. The same principle theoretically applies to television, at least if you're selling advertising space, but when it comes to the BBC, which in theory is not required to bow to the non-creative demands of companies hawking products, then the motives are less clear. I, for one, was certainly a little bemused by the decision to remake what remains to this day the finest made-for-TV ghost story. On the surface, there seemed to be no good reason for it beyond producing a version that was in colour, set in modern times, and whose image filled the by-then standard 16:9 frame (which it doesn't, as it happens, having a 2.35:1 aspect ratio). But I was nonetheless intrigued. A lot of film horror has washed under the bridge since Jonathan Miller's superb 1968 TV chiller, and it was just possible that a new take could still prove effective if it approached the source material from a different angle. It certainly does that. Newly Recorded Commentaries Recorded on Whistle and I’ll Come to You (1968) & The Stalls of Barchester by Jon DearThe Stalls of Barchester". British Film Institute Database. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009 . Retrieved 22 August 2010. Introduction to Lost Hearts, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas and The Ash Tree by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 11 mins, 11 mins, 8 mins) Writer and broadcaster Simon Farquhar takes an enthralling look at what he regards as one of the most interesting films in the Ghost Stories for Christmas series, delivering a commentary that is a blend of the factual, the observational, and the analytical. He’s clearly interviewed some of the personnel involved, and thus has stories related to the shoot that I’ve not heard elsewhere, and while he praises many aspects of the film, he’s also not above criticising elements that he feels don’t quite work. There is specific detail on writer John Bowen, director Lawrence Gordon Clark and score composer Geoffrey Burgon, and he shares a persuasive theory over what makes the first two entries in the series feel different from the films that followed. There’s also an interesting discussion on why Christmas should be a time to tell ghost stories, a question that rears its head in one of the later commentaries. Mark Gatiss's adaptation of " The Tractate Middoth", another story by M. R. James, was broadcast on BBC Two on Christmas Day 2013. This was followed by a documentary, M. R. James: Ghost Writer. [37]

Mark Gatiss's films The Tractate Middoth, The Dead Room, Martin's Close and The Mezzotint were released together as "Ghost Stories" in October 2022.Introductions by Lawrence Gordon Clark (2012, 39 mins total): the director of seven of the BBC's classic A Ghost Story for Christmas episodes discusses his part in the last four instalments he directed On reaching the hall, Stephen is greeted warmly by his cheerfully eccentric cousin, who seems particularly keen to confirm the boy’s age and the precise date of his upcoming twelfth birthday. Stephen also learns that he is not the first child to stay at the Abbey, but that the previous two visitors – a girl named Phoebe and a boy named Giovanni – both mysteriously disappeared. The presumption at the time was that Phoebe was taken by travellers and Giovanni ran away, but as Stephen explores the grounds he repeatedly catches sight of a boy and a girl who may well be the ghosts of the two missing children. One of my favourite things about Lost Hearts is, rather annoyingly, something I can't really discuss without spoiling the story's biggest and frankly most startling surprise. I can't even allude to it without prompting a number of you to second guess what I'm trying to avoid revealing. And for maximum impact, this is one time when you really should go in cold.

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