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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Whistle And I'll Come To You, and other BBC ghost story adaptions

All Acting Regiment

19:54 / 22.12.05

At the moment the beed are putting out some old ghost story for christmas dramas: I like them, especially Whistle. Who else here has seen them and what did you think?

00:10 / 23.12.05

I've been meaning to buy Whistle on DVD for a while now, but keep forgetting, so made absolutely sure to watch it last night.

Excellent. It works so well because, in the main, the terror is instantly recognisable. Having to keep on looking at the chair near your bed in order to prove to yourself that there isn't anybody sitting in it, but also just in case there *is*. And then, when it gets too much, pulling the covers up over your ears and face in protection, leaving just enough room to breathe through. Both of which I found myself doing after watching it, along with desperately trying to ignore the fact that there could theoretically be something following right behind me as I was walking up the stairs.

Some clever touches. As soon as the Professor walks into the room we're shown the spare bed, surrounded by a border that could be a camera trick for emphasis, but could just as well be a border of spiritual darkness. It's not commented on, either - not then, nor the next couple of times we're shown it. A lot of stuff showing us how the Prof's mind's working - just as the speech of the guy who's showing him around the room is muffled and mumbled because the Prof's not paying any attention, so we're given portentous views of the spare bed as he notices it but refuses to acknolwedge that he's noticed it.

The nightmare sequence - ick. Total fight/flight shit going on there and, for once, magically not ruined by showing us the ghost. Probably because it doesn't look like anything we're expecting - again, there's never any explanation even attempted. Same goes for the whistle, of course. That's where terror lies - the unexplained. All the way through, I was thinking about how these touches are also used to equally great effect in The Haunting.

In other words, it was aces. The one the previous night (I forget the name) was almost as good, spoiled only by the casting of the husband from Keeping up Appearances in a fairly important role that he was totally unsuitable for. There's another tomorrow night, too (or tonight - Friday, anyway).

06:00 / 23.12.05

I used to love the MR James story when I was wee and it was most frightening thing I read as a kid. I have to try to find this. Thanks.

All Acting Regiment

11:30 / 23.12.05

Glad you two both like it. I couldn't agree more: I actually had to cover the eyes and mute the TV once or twice which is surely a mark of greatness for any tv program.

The sound during the nightmare sequence: bloody hell. I can't even describe it.

I think the one tonight (Friday) is a newly made one. Will be interesting to see what they do with it.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

12:30 / 23.12.05

And once again I turn green with envy. Why doesn't anyone do interpretations of MR James stories here in the States? Why does everything have to be from Stephen King (who's crap, by the way)?

A fall of geckos

13:02 / 23.12.05

Some of these were on last Christmas too - I haven't seen which other's they're showing this year, but they've previously shown The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, Lost Hearts, The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral and A Warning to the Curious. I'm sure there's others as well.

They're all pretty creepy and well done, but I think Whistle and I'll Come to You is in a different league. The director (Jonathan Miller) took a fairly free license with the subtext of the adaptation, adding a level complexity to the central character. The Professor's seems far less irritable and eccentric in the original story. Michael Horden's performance was superb - his depiction of the professor's natural isolation and vulnerability make's the final sequence where he sits on the floor mumbling in shock seem believable. I thought the pacing was pretty good as well. There's a lot of slow shot with very little happening, but the subtle hint of menace created in the dream sequences make these sequences drag out the tension.

Anyone know what other's are going to be shown?

13:35 / 23.12.05

Whilst Whistle is indeed great, I'd argue that The Signalman* is almost as good.

We are all aware that there's a completely new Ghost Story for Christmas on BBC4 this evening?

*An adaption of a Dicken's short story.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

16:06 / 23.12.05

I would like to see an adaptation of The Ash-Tree, which by Blackwood, I believe. Old cursed manors, doomed family line, and a really creepy tree outside. Delicious.

16:16 / 23.12.05

Geckos>

A Warning to the Curious was the one they showed on Tuesday. Tonight's is A View from a Hill and then that's yer lot. It's all been a bit disappointing, quantity-wise.

paranoidwriter waves hello

16:23 / 23.12.05

Can't comment on the dramas, but just wanted to say that this makes me gutted I've only got terrestrial TV. I can't wait till they show them on BBC1 or 2... They will, won't they?. M.R.James is one of all-time favourite short-story writers and 'Oh, whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad' is (IMHO) a masterpiece. Sob.

07:52 / 24.12.05

Kali, why assume there hasn't already been one? The Ash Tree was adapted in 1975, and it aired on BBC4 earlier this week.

11:43 / 24.12.05

PW> Doubt it. The new one will probably get a midnight BBC2 airing, but as the others have been around for years and were only on BBC4 as part of a mini-season, it seems unlikely that they'll be repeated on terrestrial telly any time soon.

Whistle... and A Warning... are both on DVD, btw, as is the adaptation of The Signalman that Boboss mentioned.

Last night's, A View from a Hill was rubbish, unfortunately. The clammy wrongness present in the others was missing entirely and it was about as frightening as an episode of Scooby Doo. Note to directors: iff you want to make the audience terrified by an unknown presence, don't keep on showing us the action through the eyes of that presence. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

13:54 / 24.12.05

Nail. Hit. On. Head.

Also, flashy, fashionable, jerky edits do not the suspension of disbelief make.

Great shame because View could've been skill as fuck.

Haus of Mystery

16:48 / 24.12.05

Anyone remember Robert Powell reading M R James' stories on TV. Came after 'Spinechillers' I think. His reading of 'The Mezzotint' is masterful. That is a chilling little story.

Re: The BBC adapatations. Whilst many retain a Wintery homespun chill, none of them match Miller's startlingly brilliant little film. Michael Hordern's performance is the epitome of the Jamesian repressed academic - a masterfully comic performance that in no way diminishes the pure terror of the later scenes. Check his nervous huddling under the covers as the wind (and more..) howls outside his window. Nothing's ever got as close to how I often felty as a nipper as that scene. It's a perfectly judged rendition of one of James' best stories, and very ahead of it's time. Pure joy.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

19:30 / 24.12.05

Boboss, I assumed there wasn't adaptation because I wasn't aware of it. I apologize.

11:48 / 04.01.06

The BFI edition of "Oh Whistle" turned up here in Amsterdam a year ago. Scared the bejeezus out of me. The DVD for "A Warning To the Curious" has also been sitting in that shop for a year. I think I'll get it. The story was good and creepy.

All Acting Regiment

22:03 / 04.01.06

On View From A Hill. You know, I didn't think it was that bad. At least the bits without the monsters. They conjured a pretty good sense of menace. Then that bit with the taps turning on and off, and then- they had mister skeleton head appear.

Definitely with everyone as far as baddy POV goes, though. It was bad in the otherwise excellent Doctor Who and it's bad here.