How comfortable are you with ambiguity?

[BigBadBob141]

All the BBC films are very good, a few mentioned here that I had forgotten about, as for the radio, yes it could very well have been Michael Hordern but can't say for sure, but he really was an excellent actor, have enjoyed many of his roles!
P.S. The ending of "The Ash Tree" while a bit limited by the special effects tech of its day is still damned creepy!!!
P.P.S. I think maybe ITV did a version long, long ago in the dim and distant past of "Lost Hearts" but the BBC version is great and like the above the ending was so creepy, a surprisingly bloody story from good old M.R. James but an excellent one none the less!

 

[paranoid marvin]

There are also several tv versions of his chilling 'Casting the Runes' story. Probably the best is the (still quite scary) b&w movie Night of the Demon. Although the ITV version did have an excellent version of Karswell in the ever entertaining (and sadly no longer with us) Iain Cuthbertson.

 

[Phyrebrat]

There are also several tv versions of his chilling 'Casting the Runes' story. Probably the best is the (still quite scary) b&w movie Night of the Demon. Although the ITV version did have an excellent version of Karswell in the ever entertaining (and sadly no longer with us) Iain Cuthbertson.

Apparently there's a terrible version with Jan from 'Just Good Friends'. Or rather, I'm not sure it's terrible so much as they've tried to update it and change things which didn't work.

Also, Niall McGuinness is one of the reasons I watch Jacques Tourneur's version of NOTD so often. He's a delight in every scene (as is Dana, I suppose) and on of my favourite lines is his reply to Dana Andrews' saying he must be a good sport: 'No, I not you know, not a bit!'

And let's not forget Cherry Ripe and 'It's in the trees, it's coming!' - I always hear 80s power synth drums after the latter

pH

 

[BigBadBob141]

"Night Of The Demon" is a must see classic, and as I've said before it's unusual in showing the monster right at the start of the film!

 

[HareBrain]

I remember there's a brilliant line in it which isn't in the original story, but which for me made the whole thing more chilling. Alas, I can't quite recall what it is, but that's a good excuse to watch it again.

I have just done so. It is superb:

The line which wasn't in the original comes at 23 minutes and a handful of seconds, and is basically "We say that someone survived the train crash but was very badly injured by it; but we wouldn't say that someone survived death but was very badly injured by it".

(But what if they were, professor? WHAT IF THEY WERE...???)

 

[Astro Pen]

I like that ambiguity where you initially like a character and then begin to realise that something... isn't ... quite... as it should be. Kings "Misery" is a nice example of that kind of pivot.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I have just done so. It is superb:

The line which wasn't in the original comes at 23 minutes and a handful of seconds, and is basically "We say that someone survived the train crash but was very badly injured by it; but we wouldn't say that someone survived death but was very badly injured by it".

(But what if they were, professor? WHAT IF THEY WERE...???)

I think the Hordern version to be quite different to James' original in many respects. For James it is the familiar story of a scholar (usually an antiquarian or historian) delving where he should not and finding more than he bargained for, usually with unfortunate consequences. The tv version sees the professor (apparently) accidentally discovering a partly disturbed burial. Also in James' story, the apparition that pursues him is far more real, and is seen by several people, whereas only Hordern sees it in the tv programme and the only in dreams/at night, and we are left wondering how much was real and how much a product of his solitude.

This is not to say either is better than the other, as they are both brilliant in their own way. And I feel sure that James would have approved of this adaptation of his work, particularly the depictation of the entity. They complement each other wonderfully , and it's a shame that more adaptations weren't carried out in a similar manner.

 

[BigBadBob141]

REF: paranoid marvin.
You are absolutely right, the radio version of M.R. James's " Oh Whistle.......... " staring Michael Horden is the version I heard, first broadcast 24th December 1963 and joy of joys if you want to hear it you can, some kind soul has put it on You Tube where I stumbled across it!