Saturday, 12 February 2011

Mystery and Imagination

I've just started watching a DVD boxed set of the above-titled Sixties TV series. It consists of feature-length (roughly 80 mins) adaptations of classic Gothic tales and ghost stories. As often happens with Sixties UK telly, a lot of the tapes were wiped/lost. So what's left? Well, quite a bit.

So far I've seen a lively version of Le Fanu's Uncle Silas and a cracking adaptation of Frankenstein. The latter is especially compelling because a young Ian Holm 'double stars' as the scientist and his creation. Yes, and the limited effects available at the time don't really mar the conceit at all.


2 comments:

Todd T said...

Thanks for mentioning this. I'd only heard briefly about this show before, and didn't know there was a DVD available. I'll have to try to obtain a set.

valdemar said...

Unfortunately the series is incomplete due to tapes being wiped etc. However I can recommend what's left. Dracula and Frankenstein are both good, as is Sweeney Todd. The Fall of the House of Usher is a bit shaky, but that's because it's heavily padded.

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