The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark
By Matthew E. Banks, B.A. ©2013
On December 24th
1971, M R James, the father of the modern ghost story was given a new lease of
life when the BBC gave us a new tradition in The Ghost Story for Christmas series. It was a tradition that was
to run consecutively for the next few years, with seven dramatizations, five of
which were based on short stories by M R James and directed by Lawrence Gordon
Clark.
Many earlier Jamesian
telecasts have been lost but those of Lawrence Gordon Clark are not only fondly
remembered, they have achieved classic status and rank as the best of British
Television amongst its contemporaries. The first of these was The Stalls of Barchester (based on The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral) and
starred Robert Hardy, Clive Swift and Thelma Barlow. This was followed on
December 24th 1972 with A
Warning to the Curious starring Peter Vaughn and revising his Doctor Black
character from Barchester was Clive Swift. December 25th 1973 saw
the broadcast of Lost Hearts, one of
James’ most popular stories starring Joseph O’Conor and Susan Richards.
December 23rd 1974 brought The
Treasure of Abbot Thomas starring Michael Bryant. Finally on December 23rd
1975 and written by David Rudkin the BBC brought us their final Jamesian outing
in The Ash Tree[1],
starring Edward Petherbridge, Preston Lockwood and Barbara Ewing. That was the
last of the Jamesian adaptations until 2005’s A View from a Hill.
Clark would later return to
Jamesian territory on April 24th 1979 when he directed and produced for
ITV a version of Casting the Runes,
adapted by Clive Exton and starring Edward Petherbridge, Jan Francis and Iain
Cuthbertson
Now award winning publisher,
Spectral Press under their new imprint Spectral Screen is bringing out a three
edition celebration of those dramatizations titled The Christmas Ghost Stories of Lawrence Gordon Clark. Edited and
with an introduction by film historian Tony Earnshaw and a foreword by Jamesian
connoisseur Mark Gatiss (who is writing and directing a new version of The Tractate Middoth for BBC Christmas
2013), the book features all the tales by M R James from which the dramas were
adapted, each with a new introduction by Gordon Clark himself.
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Each edition offers something
more than its predecessor. The paperback (cover above) has Gatiss’ forward,
Earnshaw’s introduction, the seven M R James tales: The Stalls of Barchester
Cathedral, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas, A Warning to the Curious, The Ash
Tree, Casting the Runes and Count Magnus all with exclusive new introductions
by Lawrence Gordon Clark and an appendix by Earnshaw of Clarks’ filmography and
awards.
The unsigned hardback comes
in a dustjacket of the paperback cover and features all of the above. The
special features to this volume are a Q & A with Lawrence Gordon Clark with
Tony Earnshaw and is illustrated with photographs and chapter heading vignettes
by Nick Gucker (The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is above.) This is strictly limited edition, with a run
of 100 copies at £35.00.
But the prized version is the
deluxe edition, with a quarter cloth with foil stamping cover and a cloth
covered slipcase. The special features to this edition make this one a must:
the teleplay of the un-filmed Count Magnus by Basil Copper, Lawrence Gordon
Clark’s stage play of Lost Hearts as well as examples of Clark’s story boards.
This is a strictly limited edition run of 50 copies, signed by Lawrence Gordon
Clark. It is priced at £75.00
It is a beautifully crafted
book, with Gatiss’ foreword short and straight to the point. Tony Earnshaw’s
informative introduction in which he recounts how he became friends with
Lawrence Gordon Clarke, has championed his work and discusses at length the five dramatizations
is insightful and interesting. The six James stories are all introduced by
Lawrence Gordon Clark and give an insight into his relationship with each text,
for example he states that he chose ‘The
Stalls of Barchester Cathedral because it is one of his most intricate and
ultimately chilling stories.’ The
information here may or may not be known by Jamesian scholars, but it is
refreshing and entertaining. Each of the stories has a title heading
illustration by Nick Gucker and adds to the Jamesian feel of the book. Also
included is a non-Christmas Ghost story ‘Casting the Runes’ which was directed
for ITV and the unfilmed ‘Count Magnus.’ There are also three appendices that cover
Clark’s career, awards and biographies.
A long time ago, for an Eton
Ephemeral I wrote, ‘One dark, bleak,
winter’s night, I was indulging in the rare pleasure of an hour of undisturbed
reading, comfortably tucked up in bed with a copy of M R James’ classic ghost
tale ‘Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to you, My Lad’… Suddenly a noise in the corner
of my room broke my complete absorption in the book. The door of my wardrobe
swung slowly, ominously open… The words I had been reading suddenly took on a
whole new depth of meaning to me:
“The fear of it went nigh to maddening me…”
It is this ‘hidden’ fear that
James captures so perfectly and this book, with Clarks’ insights into the
making of his ghost stories only adds to the depth of James’ work. It is a must
for all connoisseurs of Gordon Clark’s work and a worthy contribution to your M
R James collection.
[1] Stalls of Barchester repeated BBC1 16th
August 1972, BBC2 December 24th 1995 and on BBC4 on December 26th
2004
A Warning to the Curious repeated December
26th 1992 on BBC2, December 24th 2004 BBC4, December 20
2005 BBC4
Lost Hearts repeated BBC2 December 24 1994
and on BBC4 December 19th 2005
The Treasure of Abbot Thomas repeated BBC2
December 24th 1993 and BBC4 December 23rd 2004
The Ash Tree repeated December 18th
BBC4 2005
All are currently available on DVD from BFI.
