Saluting the season the British way, by listening to Kirsty Maccoll's "Halloween", Sandy Denny's heartbreaking "After Halloween" and the BBC's SHADES drama "The Maze". This latter series of literary adaptations has slipped by relatively unnoticed in these parts, but with each episode I'm more and more taken by this six-entry set. So far it's been Edith Wharton's "The Lady's Maid's Bell" (which I've seen several and read a few times) and "Afterward", and CHB Kitchin (new to me)'s "Maze", which I just got done watching over lunchtime. I don't know what it is about these plays, but each one has had me on the verge of tears, they're so perfectly structured and played, as well-made as any ghost-film you could mention, and probably better. They're as much mysteries as spook stories, but the mystification is as much emotional as it is supernatural, which means they're more real. (What's with American TV, that it could never hope to reach this level of seriousness and maturity?) Anyway -- Happy Halloween.

Speaking of obscure British series of supernatural adaptations, has anyone seen any of the other films in the "Haunted" series? I have a Prism tape of one of the episodes "Poor Girl" but I can find little on any of the other episodes. Imdb only lists two, this and "The Ferryman" (which seems to be difficult to track down on tape). Was it a failed series?

for that matter, should we hold out any hope for seeing more obscure British Anthology shows on DVD? There seems to be a wealth of untapped material but do many of them (especially the older ones) exist anymore or did they fall prey to those "space saving" edicts that wiped out bits of DR. WHO history?

Getting HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR, BEASTS and most of those M.R. James stories has made me greedy. I'd love the chance to check out episodes of the following (especially the 70's stuff, for some nostalgic reasons):

EDGAR WALLACE MYSTERIES (1960)

MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION (1966)

ARMCHAIR MYSTERY THEATER / ARMCHAIR THRILLER (1967)

JOURNEY TO THE UNKNOWN (aka OUT OF THE UNKNOWN) (1968)

LATE NIGHT HORROR (1968)

SHADOWS OF FEAR (1970)

TALES OF UNEASE (1970) (As a kid, I loved the paperback anthology series this arose from - made me appreciate the creepy over the bluntly horrific)

DEAD OF NIGHT (1972)

LEAP IN THE DARK (1973/1977/1980)

SUPERNATURAL (1977)

TIME FOR MURDER (1985)

and hey, is someone in Australia gonna release episodes of EVIL TOUCH (1973)? Anyone know?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'd like to see MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION too. Apparently they did an adaptation of Carmilla.

Alas the Carmilla episode, along with the vast majority of the series, no longer survives.

In fact, of the three series made by ABC between 1966 and 1968, only two episodes survive: "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Open Door". Additionally, part of their adaptation of "Casting The Runes" exists.

The fourth and fifth season episodes, made by Thames (as TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION), survive: "Uncle Silas", "Frankenstein", "Dracula", "The Suicide Club", "Sweeney Todd" and "Curse of the Mummy".

I rented the first disc of SHADES OF DARKNESS. I enjoyed both "The Lady Maid's Bell" and "Afterward." I haven't watched "The Maze" yet.

What's interesting is that they're completely shot on film rather than the usual film exterior/video interior (studio set) of other series - though the Hammer House of Horror was also shot completely on film. I'm guessing that's because these first two episodes appear to be shot on location which is especially nice in the case of "Afterward."

My favorite of the series is "The Intercessor" based on the story by May Sinclair. Its very easy to identify with the protagonist's initial fear and then pity for the ghost (whsoe first appearances are genuinely creepy). Its a moving ghost story with no stock characters. All of the main characters reveal depth and are sympathetic.

My least favorite was "Bewitched" from the story by Edith Wharton. I didn't really like the original story to begin with but the adaptation is even worse with its unlikeable, overbearing characters and tacked on ending.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED - I just got through the first disc of this series of Roald Dahl adaptations and I'm not very impressed. MAN FROM THE SOUTH and LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER were done better before. The adaptations are very straightforward and could have done with some fleshing out. LAMB and the one about the fur coat were stories I remember reading in high school English and their adaptations are not anything special (despite the performances of Susan George and Julie Harris - though Brian Blessed is rather annoying in LAMB). The only story I liked on the first disc was WILLIAM AND MARY although that had more to do with Elaine Stritch's performance than any plot twists.

Dahl's introductions are short and uninteresting - consisting mostly of "don't be disturbed by ..." or "I worked a long time on this story..." the only interesting bit of advice was adding humor to leaven the grotesque or something to that effect when introducing WILLIAM AND MARY. Overall, the series so far compares poorly to the similar THRILLER.

I might rent some more discs from the set since Harris, George, and Stritch (along with Joseph Cotten from the cat story) show up again in subsequent episodes.