What TV Have You Seen?

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Over the last few nights i've watched Mystery and Imagination.

Or at least the 8 episodes that still survive of the 24 originally made.

It's a series of tele-plays based on classic Gothic works from the likes of Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, MR James, Poe and Algernon Blackwood. Wilst there's nothing wrong with the stories nor the performances i did feel episodes like Dracula were hampered by tv constraints meaning they lacked the sheer scale that any movie versions gave us and were on the whole rather talky affairs and more stagy than they should have been.

The best of the lot was Robert Louis Stevenson's The Suicide Club which felt suited to the medium of tv as it centres around the goings on in a wealthy establishment, albeit one of decadence and Gothic excess. I should add that The Fall of the House of Usher was also very faithful and again due to it being set in an old house worked better than most. It was also terrifically atmospheric and i felt perhaps even worked better than the Corman film version.

I'm pleased to own this splendid looking dvd set from Network with it's highly informative booklet, as it's tv the likes of which we'll never see again, how many more times i go back for more...well that's up for debate, yet i do recommend this series as i get the feeling it may well be a case of better the devil you know for subsequent viewings.

Bernard Archard in The Suicide Club.

What did you make of Frankenstein Dem? That's the only one I've managed to watched so far.