rob4
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 104
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Post by rob4 on Jun 17, 2013 17:58:12 GMT
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Post by valdemar on Jun 17, 2013 22:36:55 GMT
An odd choice for an MR James story - it just isn't that frightening. 'The Ash Tree' would have been a better choice. Better still, The BBC should get Mark Gatiss to remake 'A View From A Hill' - the version that was made a few years back was simply dreadful. My top five MR James stories I'd like to see Mark Gatiss make/remake are: 1]Mr Humphries And His Inheritance. 2]An Episode Of Cathedral History. 3]Count Magnus. 4]Lost Hearts. 5]The Ash Tree. I didn't include 'Casting The Runes', simply because I think that 'Night Of The Demon' is peerless, and it would be pointless to try and better it. Even now.  |
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Post by David A. Riley on Jun 18, 2013 8:27:09 GMT
An odd choice for an MR James story - it just isn't that frightening. 'The Ash Tree' would have been a better choice. Better still, The BBC should get Mark Gatiss to remake 'A View From A Hill' - the version that was made a few years back was simply dreadful. My top five MR James stories I'd like to see Mark Gatiss make/remake are: 1]Mr Humphries And His Inheritance. 2]An Episode Of Cathedral History. 3]Count Magnus. 4]Lost Hearts. 5]The Ash Tree. I didn't include 'Casting The Runes', simply because I think that 'Night Of The Demon' is peerless, and it would be pointless to try and better it. Even now. Oddly enough when Mystery & Imagination back in the 1960s did a dramatisation of Tractate Middoth it was effectively frightening. It was one of my favourite episodes from a genuinely outstanding series of stories, which also included Lost Hearts (in my memory the best version of this story) and Casting the Runes. Like you I would love to see a better dramatisation of A View From A Hill, which is my favourite James story. The one they did took too many inexplicable liberties with the original story and was just not very good. I think it could still be worthwhile doing a Casting the Runes. Although I love the film version, which is a classic and which I rewatch at least once every year, as the Mystery & Imagination series showed, it is still possible to do an effective version of it. Theirs was set back in James' day and was very tense and atmospheric. Mind you, there was a TV version set in modern times (the 70s, I think, when it was filmed) which was dire. I have that on DVD and it is painful to watch and a good example how to ruin a bloody good story! |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 18, 2013 10:42:39 GMT
An odd choice for an MR James story - it just isn't that frightening. 'The Ash Tree' would have been a better choice. Better still, The BBC should get Mark Gatiss to remake 'A View From A Hill' - the version that was made a few years back was simply dreadful. My top five MR James stories I'd like to see Mark Gatiss make/remake are: 1]Mr Humphries And His Inheritance. 2]An Episode Of Cathedral History. 3]Count Magnus. 4]Lost Hearts. 5]The Ash Tree. I didn't include 'Casting The Runes', simply because I think that 'Night Of The Demon' is peerless, and it would be pointless to try and better it. Even now. Oddly enough when Mystery & Imagination back in the 1960s did a dramatisation of Tractate Middoth it was effectively frightening. It was one of my favourite episodes from a genuinely outstanding series of stories, which also included Lost Hearts (in my memory the best version of this story) and Casting the Runes. Like you I would love to see a better dramatisation of A View From A Hill, which is my favourite James story. The one they did took too many inexplicable liberties with the original story and was just not very good. I think it could still be worthwhile doing a Casting the Runes. Although I love the film version, which is a classic and which I rewatch at least once every year, as the Mystery & Imagination series showed, it is still possible to do an effective version of it. Theirs was set back in James' day and was very tense and atmospheric. Mind you, there was a TV version set in modern times (the 70s, I think, when it was filmed) which was dire. I have that on DVD and it is painful to watch and a good example how to ruin a bloody good story! Can't disagree with any of that. I've watching the film version of Casting of the Runes hundreds of times and it never fails to impress. Nioght of the Demons is also superb. Lost Hearts was one of those that haunted me for a long time after. |
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jun 18, 2013 10:54:37 GMT
I would guess that "The Tractate Middoth" has been chosen for budgetary reasons. "Count Magnus" is set mostly in Sweden and "An Episode of Cathedral History" (my own favourite) has a lot of characters. "The Tractate Middoth" is set mostly in a library with about three main characters so would be less expensive. I'm sure that Mark Gatiss will make a good job of it. But I have a question. What is a Tractate Middoth?
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 18, 2013 11:02:33 GMT
There was also a version made in the 50s for US TV. It was renamed as The Lost Will of Dr Rant and starred a young Leslie Nielsen... and you can see it here (part 2 is top of the list on the right): www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr8XGVKvVgE |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 18, 2013 11:33:06 GMT
What is a Tractate Middoth? I think it's meant to be a book on the interpretation of Jewish law. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Jun 18, 2013 15:26:13 GMT
Oddly enough when Mystery & Imagination back in the 1960s did a dramatisation of Tractate Middoth it was effectively frightening. It was one of my favourite episodes from a genuinely outstanding series of stories, which also included Lost Hearts (in my memory the best version of this story) and Casting the Runes. Sadly, all the M & I adaptations of James' stories are officially "missing" - in fact, out of a total of 24 episodes across 3 series, 16 are listed as lost. www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?programme=95e8f849-a1ce-418e-9ed8-7437b350a48c |
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