A very strong entry in the Ghost story for Christmas series, I've been critical in the past thinking it's a drama that has elements of Hammer Horror, but also strong elements of Children's TV. A sort of CBBC v Hammer production, however when I re-watched it, I'll admit for the most part I was wrong. It's a dark story, and the elements in it that seem soft and cuddly are actually dark, and hiding a sinister heart. Fabulous production values, which has been the case throughout the series, this is more blatant horror, whereas with the Barchester Stalls and Warning to the curious, where the threat was more subtle and often inferred, here it's visually more obvious with the scares. Joseph O'Conor is so strong in the role of Abney, he certainly makes up for some of the wooden acting. Overall it's very good. 7/10
27 Reviews
Scarey in 1973
angelacoombs15 November 2021
GHOST STORY FOR Christmas: LOST HEARTS (TV) (Lawrence Gordon Clark, 1973) ***
Bunuel197623 January 2010
Another ghoulish Yuletide yarn from the atmospheric pen of the great M. R. James: after a slow start depicting the settling in of a young boy into the mansion of his slightly dotty elderly cousin, the pace picks up considerably towards the midpoint of this 35 minute TV program with the chilling reappearance of the young children (fleetingly seen waving to the boy at the start) who have now morphed into ondulating Nosferatu-like wraiths complete with talons for fingernails! As it turns out, this boy and girl had previously also been guests at the cousin's manor but were sacrificed to the old man's obsessive quest for immortality via his belief that extracting three young hearts of living children will do the trick; needless to say, our young protagonist is the last link in the chain but the greedy old man did not count on the protection/retribution of his previous victims who (understandably off-screen) perform their own live heart removal on him and throw the beating organ into the flaming fireplace!
Effective and creepy horror film that delivers off a strong atmosphere and mystery
bob the moo11 March 2008
Young Stephen comes out to the countryside to stay with his cousin, the eccentric old Mr Abney. Alone with Abney and his two staff, Stephen hears of the other children who have stayed at this house before him thanks to the kindness of Abney. When he thinks he sees them he responses to their signals for silence by not mentioning it to any of the adults, however when a boy and a girl come for him and night and reveal themselves to have no hearts. However is it just the dream that the adults assure him it all is?
Shown again recently on BBC4 as part of their season of ghost story films leading up to Christmas, this was easily one of the better of them. The foundation of the film is the wonderfully non-threatening Abney, a kindly uncle for the world even if he is a bit eccentric. However, the viewer will keep asking, if he is so cheerful and kind, why is Stephen seeing these two ghostly figures in trees and windows? The questions are what held my attention but the strength of the film is in using them to create an uncertain air that is quite creepy. On top of this are thrown two white faced children who predate Ringu and the like by many decades. They move so effectively and simply that it is just roundly unnerving. Wisely director Clark doesn't shroud these two characters in horror but instead makes them innocent, smiling and cheerful making them seem all the more creepy.
They are not great child actors but they work this well. Gipps-Kent is a solid lead and avoids being cute or overly confident but the film is dominated by the eccentric wonderfulness of O'Conor as Abney. His turn keeps things quite upbeat and makes the mystery and the ghosts seem just that bit more creepy. Overall then this is a great little ghost story. Modern viewers may feel a little bit like it has done better elsewhere (it has, in recent Japanese horrors) but it is worth remembering that this film came many decades before and is just as creepy now as it must have been then.
Shown again recently on BBC4 as part of their season of ghost story films leading up to Christmas, this was easily one of the better of them. The foundation of the film is the wonderfully non-threatening Abney, a kindly uncle for the world even if he is a bit eccentric. However, the viewer will keep asking, if he is so cheerful and kind, why is Stephen seeing these two ghostly figures in trees and windows? The questions are what held my attention but the strength of the film is in using them to create an uncertain air that is quite creepy. On top of this are thrown two white faced children who predate Ringu and the like by many decades. They move so effectively and simply that it is just roundly unnerving. Wisely director Clark doesn't shroud these two characters in horror but instead makes them innocent, smiling and cheerful making them seem all the more creepy.
They are not great child actors but they work this well. Gipps-Kent is a solid lead and avoids being cute or overly confident but the film is dominated by the eccentric wonderfulness of O'Conor as Abney. His turn keeps things quite upbeat and makes the mystery and the ghosts seem just that bit more creepy. Overall then this is a great little ghost story. Modern viewers may feel a little bit like it has done better elsewhere (it has, in recent Japanese horrors) but it is worth remembering that this film came many decades before and is just as creepy now as it must have been then.
"No hearts, they had no hearts!"
ackstasis29 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Lawrence Gordon Clarke was behind the BBC's wonderful "Ghost Stories for Christmas," a series of creepy tales (most borrowed from the writings of M.R. James, though 'The Signalman (1976)' was a Dickens adaptation) to enjoy on a quiet, wintry Christmas night. 'Lost Hearts (1973)' is one of the lesser-known entries, but nonetheless proves a handsome ghost story with more chilling atmosphere in 35 minutes than most feature-length horror movies. Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent) is a young orphan sent to live with Mr Abney (Joseph O'Connor), a kindly, doddering old scholar. From the moment he arrives, Stephen begins to see and hear apparitions of two children – a boy and girl of his age – whose intentions are obscure. Stephen comes to learn that the children are former orphans taken into Mr Abney's home.
One thing Clarke does very well is create mood without even a hostile ghost ('The Sixth Sense (1999)' and 'The Others (2001)' would do this very well decades later). The two children, their faces pale and their fingernails talon-like, stand cross-armed outside the house, silent sentries; the boy plays an instrument called the hurdy-gurdy, and walks with an unsettling, lopsided toothy smile. Perhaps the film would have been even better had Clarke withheld the children's identity until the final act. By introducing the previous orphans – not just through dialogue, but images, as well – he humanises them, and their intentions immediately become less sinister. It would have been more effective, I think, if we didn't understand until the last moment that the ghosts were, in fact, trying to warn Stephen, not harm him.
One thing Clarke does very well is create mood without even a hostile ghost ('The Sixth Sense (1999)' and 'The Others (2001)' would do this very well decades later). The two children, their faces pale and their fingernails talon-like, stand cross-armed outside the house, silent sentries; the boy plays an instrument called the hurdy-gurdy, and walks with an unsettling, lopsided toothy smile. Perhaps the film would have been even better had Clarke withheld the children's identity until the final act. By introducing the previous orphans – not just through dialogue, but images, as well – he humanises them, and their intentions immediately become less sinister. It would have been more effective, I think, if we didn't understand until the last moment that the ghosts were, in fact, trying to warn Stephen, not harm him.
All-round quality little ghost story
Red-Barracuda4 January 2022
It wouldn't be Chrimbo without a ghost story and this one was part of the 'Ghost Story for Christmas' series of annual stand-alone ghostly tales shown on the BBC at Christmas. Lost Hearts was one of the most fondly remembered. Its about a young boy who is sent to stay with his elderly cousin who is obsessed with alchemy and the dark arts. Before long he starts to see a boy and girl ghost kicking about the estate. Like the best ghost stories, this one is successfully creepy at times, with the two child ghosts being nicely sinister. The boy in fact goes around playing weird music on a hurdy gurdy, which is one of most celebrated things about this one. The only criticism I could level at it is the old boy playing the elderly cousin does over act a bit but, other than that, this is an all-round quality little creepy Christmas tale.
Mystery solved !
lizbarber-692606 January 2019
I always remember watching a ghost story with my mam when I was 14 and being scared witless by it but could only remember it had 2 kids with white faces and a hurdy gurdy. As soon as I saw this at Christmas I realised it was the very same one ! Not really scary to me any more, but it brought back a happy memory from long ago.
Another creepy gem from the best ghost story author of them all
Leofwine_draca17 April 2001
Warning: Spoilers
Another of the "Ghost Stories for Christmas" that the BBC ran back in the '70s - those were the days. Clocking it at just under forty minutes, LOST HEARTS is nevertheless a fine adaptation of the short story by famed author M. R. James. Here we have the bare bones of a ghostly tale, stripped of any of the fat that might have been added had the tale been made into a full-length film, and once again a fantastically eerie watch.
The story is set at a large countryside mansion complete with creaking floor boards and long, deserted passageways - a fine setting for a ghostly tale if ever I saw one. The haunting itself takes the shape of a pair of ghost children, who appear from a distance watching the main character rather like THE WOMAN IN BLACK did sixteen years later. These children have blue, dead skin, and open chest cavities where their hearts have been removed (hence the title). Although their appearance seems to be indebted to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the ghosts still pack one heck of a punch and are entirely creepy and disturbing to watch - especially when the camera moves in close on their grinning faces.
The story is a concise and good one, with an inevitable finale looming ever closer. It turns out that Abney is an occultist who believes he has found the secret of immortality - but needs to burn the heart of a young child to achieve that end. You can easily guess the outcome of the man's actions, but it's still gripping stuff. Simon Gipps-Kent plays the young Stephen, and is one of the best child actors I've seen. His performance requires him to act terrified a lot of the time and he does this well, along with being inquisitive and strong-minded. Joseph O'Connor puts in a great portrayal of a mad old man, and comes across as more than sadly pathetic than terrifying. The ghost kids are great, and the supporting actors and actresses make good of their minor turns.
LOST HEARTS is a film that brings out the melancholy and eeriness of the old British countryside, whether it be at a flowing stream, a churchyard, or the deep woods. It captures a forgotten Victorian era which is often overdone in bigger-budgeted movies which become unrealistic and too slick-looking. Here, the setting is fine, and the music greatly adds to the atmosphere. LOST HEARTS is a creepy and forgotten little film recommended to all true horror fans who like their chills to be old-fashioned and macabre rather than gory and in-your-face.
The story is set at a large countryside mansion complete with creaking floor boards and long, deserted passageways - a fine setting for a ghostly tale if ever I saw one. The haunting itself takes the shape of a pair of ghost children, who appear from a distance watching the main character rather like THE WOMAN IN BLACK did sixteen years later. These children have blue, dead skin, and open chest cavities where their hearts have been removed (hence the title). Although their appearance seems to be indebted to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the ghosts still pack one heck of a punch and are entirely creepy and disturbing to watch - especially when the camera moves in close on their grinning faces.
The story is a concise and good one, with an inevitable finale looming ever closer. It turns out that Abney is an occultist who believes he has found the secret of immortality - but needs to burn the heart of a young child to achieve that end. You can easily guess the outcome of the man's actions, but it's still gripping stuff. Simon Gipps-Kent plays the young Stephen, and is one of the best child actors I've seen. His performance requires him to act terrified a lot of the time and he does this well, along with being inquisitive and strong-minded. Joseph O'Connor puts in a great portrayal of a mad old man, and comes across as more than sadly pathetic than terrifying. The ghost kids are great, and the supporting actors and actresses make good of their minor turns.
LOST HEARTS is a film that brings out the melancholy and eeriness of the old British countryside, whether it be at a flowing stream, a churchyard, or the deep woods. It captures a forgotten Victorian era which is often overdone in bigger-budgeted movies which become unrealistic and too slick-looking. Here, the setting is fine, and the music greatly adds to the atmosphere. LOST HEARTS is a creepy and forgotten little film recommended to all true horror fans who like their chills to be old-fashioned and macabre rather than gory and in-your-face.
'Twas then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man Came singing songs of love
southdavid4 March 2022
Back on the M. R James hunt now with the 1973 adaptation of "Lost Hearts". This one was, for me, one of the more successful chillers from the period as both the effects and the performances from the central pair of spirits remains effective today.
In the late 1800's, Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent) is orphaned and sent to live with his relative, Mr Abney (Joseph O'Conor) on his large remote estate. Abney, an eccentric alchemist and researcher, is happy at the arrival of his cousin and begins to plan for his birthday at the end of the month. Stephen is plagued though, both in his dreams and out exploring, by a peculiar looking young pair, a girl and a boy, who can appear and disappear at a moments notice.
So, you'll almost certainly be well ahead of the plot in this one, though that is not really the point. It's nice that Mr Abney and the household are pleased to receive Stephen, as you're certainly more used to seeing unwanted children in this situation - but he bonds quickly with all of them, which makes the inevitable betrayal all the more pointed - even if, as I say, you'll see it coming a mile off.
It's an effective chiller though because of the ghosts, played by Christopher Davis and Michelle Foster. Their skin is painted to give them a dead pallor, similar to in the early Romero films. Fingers and fingernails are extended, in the vain of Nosferatu. It's well done, but it's sold by the performances. Synchronised movements, creepy smiles and the hurdy gurdy music that is linked to their appearances are all excellent nightmare fodder.
Perhaps it could have done with another scaring scene for Stephen alone though, indeed that might have increased the ambiguity of the ghost's motivations and made for a less straightforward story.
As far as M. R. James adaptations go though, I feel like this is one of the better ones.
In the late 1800's, Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent) is orphaned and sent to live with his relative, Mr Abney (Joseph O'Conor) on his large remote estate. Abney, an eccentric alchemist and researcher, is happy at the arrival of his cousin and begins to plan for his birthday at the end of the month. Stephen is plagued though, both in his dreams and out exploring, by a peculiar looking young pair, a girl and a boy, who can appear and disappear at a moments notice.
So, you'll almost certainly be well ahead of the plot in this one, though that is not really the point. It's nice that Mr Abney and the household are pleased to receive Stephen, as you're certainly more used to seeing unwanted children in this situation - but he bonds quickly with all of them, which makes the inevitable betrayal all the more pointed - even if, as I say, you'll see it coming a mile off.
It's an effective chiller though because of the ghosts, played by Christopher Davis and Michelle Foster. Their skin is painted to give them a dead pallor, similar to in the early Romero films. Fingers and fingernails are extended, in the vain of Nosferatu. It's well done, but it's sold by the performances. Synchronised movements, creepy smiles and the hurdy gurdy music that is linked to their appearances are all excellent nightmare fodder.
Perhaps it could have done with another scaring scene for Stephen alone though, indeed that might have increased the ambiguity of the ghost's motivations and made for a less straightforward story.
As far as M. R. James adaptations go though, I feel like this is one of the better ones.
Remarkable adaptation of classic Ghost story.
alexanderdavies-9938213 April 2017
I've only recently begun appreciating the works of M.R James and this BBC TV series is an ideal place to begin.
"Lost Hearts" is a gripping story that focuses on the somewhat eccentric and sinister activities of a boys cousin as the former is an orphan who has been sent to live at his cousin's country estate.
I enjoyed this episode all the way through as each scene bears relevance to the plot.
"Lost Hearts" is a gripping story that focuses on the somewhat eccentric and sinister activities of a boys cousin as the former is an orphan who has been sent to live at his cousin's country estate.
I enjoyed this episode all the way through as each scene bears relevance to the plot.
Strange tale
begob3 January 2016
In the 1850s an innocent orphan goes to live with his guardian, an elderly cousin who dabbles in mysticism, but the fates of two orphans who previously lived there disturb the hospitality.
Could this be made today? The connotations are distasteful, and when you think this was made in the '70s, and the original story was written in Lewis Carrol's time, you wonder if something is being thinly veiled.
This creates a nice Dickensian vibe, as the noble hero is welcomed into a world of slightly grotesque but affable adults whose goal is to mistreat and abuse him. The villain is played very well, but I didn't think the hero was good in close up - always blinking.
Nicely shot, with the spookiness established immediately, and the sets and costumes are perfect. The ghosts are possibly overdone, but eerie nonetheless. (I wonder if the ghouls in the Hush episode of Buffy were inspired by this.) The climax is on the nose, which is a pity, since it could have afforded to be less literal, more mysterious.
Overall - stylish little spook fest.
Could this be made today? The connotations are distasteful, and when you think this was made in the '70s, and the original story was written in Lewis Carrol's time, you wonder if something is being thinly veiled.
This creates a nice Dickensian vibe, as the noble hero is welcomed into a world of slightly grotesque but affable adults whose goal is to mistreat and abuse him. The villain is played very well, but I didn't think the hero was good in close up - always blinking.
Nicely shot, with the spookiness established immediately, and the sets and costumes are perfect. The ghosts are possibly overdone, but eerie nonetheless. (I wonder if the ghouls in the Hush episode of Buffy were inspired by this.) The climax is on the nose, which is a pity, since it could have afforded to be less literal, more mysterious.
Overall - stylish little spook fest.
Nightmares....
ashwetherall130 October 2018
I have been an avid ghost story and horror fan since forever. But this adaptation actually gave me nightmares. The strange thing is that as I watched it I knew it was going to invade my dreams. Although on the surface it's not that scary. But I think it was a combination of atmospheric direction and the strange use of Hurdy Gurdy music that gave it the the creep factor. I recommend this for those who are tired of cliche horror and want a slow burning story of underlying terror.
Atmospheric but flawed
christinakemp-121 December 2005
I was very excited to see Lost Hearts as part of the BBC Four ghost week: the story has been a horror-genre benchmark for me since I saw it in 1966 (Mystery & Imagination). This, however, is the 1973 version, and a disappointment. The film quality and set design are very good, and probably superior to the earlier version. But. In this version, Mr Abney is bordering on clownish; the ghosts aren't frightening or "other worldly"; details differ significantly from M R James's story; the climax is a let-down. I wonder if the 1966 version still exists: it was faithful to James's story, the ghosts were truly frightening and the climax was horribly unexpected - mainly due to the Mr Abney character being more realistic and manipulating the audience into a false sense of security. I would love to see it again.
Highly underrated
gerard-ball20 July 2010
I watched this as a child whilst baby-sitting my younger sister and it scared the living hell out of me. 40 years later I think I would still hesitate to watch it again.
Reading the previous reviews went some way to reliving the horror that I experienced when I saw it and I can concur that the scene where the two children walk up the staircase dragging their long fingernails against the banister has to be one of the most ghastly I can remember. By modern standards its probably rather a tame affair but the combination of horror and the children's lost innocence is what makes it such compelling viewing.
Reading the previous reviews went some way to reliving the horror that I experienced when I saw it and I can concur that the scene where the two children walk up the staircase dragging their long fingernails against the banister has to be one of the most ghastly I can remember. By modern standards its probably rather a tame affair but the combination of horror and the children's lost innocence is what makes it such compelling viewing.
Heart Stopping Horror!
sonofajoiner23 January 2004
I cannot stress just how terrifying the sight of these 2 ghoul children is!! Its one of those fantastic scenes that lingers in the mind long after the film is over. Its a pretty faithful adaptation of the short story to boot. This is definitely worth tracking down.
A faithful M.R. James Adaptation
raymundohpl26 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
LOST HEARTS is based on the short story of the same name by the renowned scholar and Provost of Eton College who wrote ghost stories as a hobby and amusement, Montague Rhodes James(or M.R. James), and comes from James' landmark collection entitled GHOST STORIES OF AN ANTIQUARY. Part of the BBC's "A Ghost Story For Christmas" Series, it was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, who directed many other M.R. James stories for the BBC series. LOST HEARTS is one of his best, with chilling supernatural occurrences and the dangers faced by children at the hands of evil adults skillfully mixed together in a very satisfying tale of ghostly revenge.
The typical "Jamesian" spectre is a solid, menacing revenant, usually skeletal, sometimes demonic, that returns from the dead to revenge themselves on those who have killed them. In LOST HEARTS, the alchemist/diabolist/sorcerer Mr. Peregrine Abney, played by the marvelous Joseph O'Conor(also credited as Joseph O'Connor), is a seemingly charming, eccentric and kindly old soul who welcomes young Stephen, his cousin, played innocently by Simon Gipps-Kent, into his palatial residence. Scarcely believing his good fortune in becoming the ward of such a well-to-do gentleman of class and learning, Stephen is nevertheless taken aback by Mr. Abney's more than guardian-like interest in his well-being by having Mrs. Bunch, played by the motherly and comforting Susan Richards, to nourish Stephen by giving him lots of good food to keep him strong and vigorous, like a lamb or calf being fattened up for the slaughterhouse. A statue of Arimanius, the lion-headed Mithraic God of the Dark who holds the keys to heaven, on Abney's desk and Mithraic Cult astrological symbols on Abney's study wall and his weird queries and remarks about "Censorinus", "Simon Magus" and the like all bode ill for little Stephen. The sinister-looking manservant Parkes is played stolidly by James Mellor.
Stephen, at the very beginning of LOST HEARTS, sees two pale-looking children, a boy and a girl, waving at him from the countryside fields as he nears Abney's residence, and as Stephen is exploring the grounds surrounding Abney's estate, he hears children laughing and the same boy and girl appearing and disappearing amid the trees of the estate, appearing at windows and around columns. Stephen asks Mrs. Bunch about this and Mrs.Bunch explains that Mr. Abney, being a very kindly soul, brought two children before Stephen came, to "care" for them--an Italian lad by the name of Giovanni Paoli, played by Christopher Davis, and a girl with "a touch of the Gypsy about her," Phoebe Stanley, played by Michelle Foster. Giovanni had a hurdy-gurdy with him and its distinctive tune is used to great effect in one nightmarish scene at night when the long-finger-nailed ghostly revenants of Giovanni and Phoebe pay Stephen a visit, pale bluish-grey faces and dark-rimmed eyes filled with longing and hunger(exactly as James described them in his story)childishly exhort Stephen to join them, not to harm him but to warn him about what Abney has in store for him, Giovanni playing his hurdy-gurdy and both of them expose their torn-open chests, bones gleaming and their hearts missing from their bodies as their ghoulish peals of childish laughter echo through the house. Mr. Abney feigns ignorance when Stephen asks him about the children, while Mrs. Bunch and Parkes assume that the two children ran away somewhere. Abney finally sees the two ghost-children as they glare and smile at him from outside the window and he makes notes in his commonplace book about not being able to prevent their psychic flotsam and jetsam from returning to bedevil him. Abney had cut their hearts out from their bodies, reduced the hearts to ashes, and drunk those ashes in a glass of fortified wine, preferably Port, in a Mithraic-inspired blood sacrifice for his own attainment of immortality. The time for Stephen's fate draws nearer and Abney requests that Stephen join him downstairs late at night on Halloween, his birthday, for "a surprise!" Stephen is leery at first but Abney is very persuasive and Stephen has his fateful rendezvous with Abney, who tries to make Stephen drink some wine which he has drugged--Stephen resists violently but Abney overpowers him and makes him drink. Stephen falls into a drugged stupor and Abney prepares to perform the sacrifice which will make him immortal--but then the two revenant-children enter the scene. They close in on Abney, who says that it's too late, they cannot stop him, that he is immortal! The children, giggling, prove him wrong as Abney is paralysed in their thrall, his drawn dagger taken by Giovanni from his numb fingers, and Giovanni and Phoebe, dagger and long fingernails extended, cut into Abney's chest, ripping HIS HEART out of his chest as he screams in fury and agony! Stephen watches helplessly as the two spirits make their exit.
Afterwards, a churchyard scene is seen as the vicar, played by Roger Milner, remarks that Abney dabbled in things better left alone. Stephen looks to the side and sees Giovanni and Phoebe smiling and waving good-bye as they go to their final rest, their brutal murders avenged.
LOST HEARTS is a masterpiece of its kind in the ghost story genre, having both frightful and playful scenes, cold grue and childish fun. It also touches on diabolical actions by perverted adults, the scenes of Abney forcing Stephen to drink the drugged wine very uncomfortably realistic in its depiction of a stronger adult forcing a young child to his will much in the same way as Gilles De Montmorency-Laval, Baron De Rais, or Gilles De Rais murdered, raped, and dismembered children in his alchemical and black magic, necromantic quest for immortality. Perverted adults taking advantage of children is present in everyday life nowadays as well, as in the Mark Foley republican party FIASCO! Everyone should watch LOST HEARTS for its moral lesson to be learned as well as for its well-crafted supernatural thrills! TEN STARS!
The typical "Jamesian" spectre is a solid, menacing revenant, usually skeletal, sometimes demonic, that returns from the dead to revenge themselves on those who have killed them. In LOST HEARTS, the alchemist/diabolist/sorcerer Mr. Peregrine Abney, played by the marvelous Joseph O'Conor(also credited as Joseph O'Connor), is a seemingly charming, eccentric and kindly old soul who welcomes young Stephen, his cousin, played innocently by Simon Gipps-Kent, into his palatial residence. Scarcely believing his good fortune in becoming the ward of such a well-to-do gentleman of class and learning, Stephen is nevertheless taken aback by Mr. Abney's more than guardian-like interest in his well-being by having Mrs. Bunch, played by the motherly and comforting Susan Richards, to nourish Stephen by giving him lots of good food to keep him strong and vigorous, like a lamb or calf being fattened up for the slaughterhouse. A statue of Arimanius, the lion-headed Mithraic God of the Dark who holds the keys to heaven, on Abney's desk and Mithraic Cult astrological symbols on Abney's study wall and his weird queries and remarks about "Censorinus", "Simon Magus" and the like all bode ill for little Stephen. The sinister-looking manservant Parkes is played stolidly by James Mellor.
Stephen, at the very beginning of LOST HEARTS, sees two pale-looking children, a boy and a girl, waving at him from the countryside fields as he nears Abney's residence, and as Stephen is exploring the grounds surrounding Abney's estate, he hears children laughing and the same boy and girl appearing and disappearing amid the trees of the estate, appearing at windows and around columns. Stephen asks Mrs. Bunch about this and Mrs.Bunch explains that Mr. Abney, being a very kindly soul, brought two children before Stephen came, to "care" for them--an Italian lad by the name of Giovanni Paoli, played by Christopher Davis, and a girl with "a touch of the Gypsy about her," Phoebe Stanley, played by Michelle Foster. Giovanni had a hurdy-gurdy with him and its distinctive tune is used to great effect in one nightmarish scene at night when the long-finger-nailed ghostly revenants of Giovanni and Phoebe pay Stephen a visit, pale bluish-grey faces and dark-rimmed eyes filled with longing and hunger(exactly as James described them in his story)childishly exhort Stephen to join them, not to harm him but to warn him about what Abney has in store for him, Giovanni playing his hurdy-gurdy and both of them expose their torn-open chests, bones gleaming and their hearts missing from their bodies as their ghoulish peals of childish laughter echo through the house. Mr. Abney feigns ignorance when Stephen asks him about the children, while Mrs. Bunch and Parkes assume that the two children ran away somewhere. Abney finally sees the two ghost-children as they glare and smile at him from outside the window and he makes notes in his commonplace book about not being able to prevent their psychic flotsam and jetsam from returning to bedevil him. Abney had cut their hearts out from their bodies, reduced the hearts to ashes, and drunk those ashes in a glass of fortified wine, preferably Port, in a Mithraic-inspired blood sacrifice for his own attainment of immortality. The time for Stephen's fate draws nearer and Abney requests that Stephen join him downstairs late at night on Halloween, his birthday, for "a surprise!" Stephen is leery at first but Abney is very persuasive and Stephen has his fateful rendezvous with Abney, who tries to make Stephen drink some wine which he has drugged--Stephen resists violently but Abney overpowers him and makes him drink. Stephen falls into a drugged stupor and Abney prepares to perform the sacrifice which will make him immortal--but then the two revenant-children enter the scene. They close in on Abney, who says that it's too late, they cannot stop him, that he is immortal! The children, giggling, prove him wrong as Abney is paralysed in their thrall, his drawn dagger taken by Giovanni from his numb fingers, and Giovanni and Phoebe, dagger and long fingernails extended, cut into Abney's chest, ripping HIS HEART out of his chest as he screams in fury and agony! Stephen watches helplessly as the two spirits make their exit.
Afterwards, a churchyard scene is seen as the vicar, played by Roger Milner, remarks that Abney dabbled in things better left alone. Stephen looks to the side and sees Giovanni and Phoebe smiling and waving good-bye as they go to their final rest, their brutal murders avenged.
LOST HEARTS is a masterpiece of its kind in the ghost story genre, having both frightful and playful scenes, cold grue and childish fun. It also touches on diabolical actions by perverted adults, the scenes of Abney forcing Stephen to drink the drugged wine very uncomfortably realistic in its depiction of a stronger adult forcing a young child to his will much in the same way as Gilles De Montmorency-Laval, Baron De Rais, or Gilles De Rais murdered, raped, and dismembered children in his alchemical and black magic, necromantic quest for immortality. Perverted adults taking advantage of children is present in everyday life nowadays as well, as in the Mark Foley republican party FIASCO! Everyone should watch LOST HEARTS for its moral lesson to be learned as well as for its well-crafted supernatural thrills! TEN STARS!
Chilling ghost story
Prof-Hieronymos-Grost22 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A few days before his 12th birthday, young Master Stephen is sent to the country to spend some time with his elderly cousin, Mr Abney, who is to be his new guardian, at his country manor. As he nears his destination he sees two young children waving at him in a slow synchronicity, he thinks their movements are odd, but when he takes a second look, they are gone. On arrival, he is shown to his cousin who immediately strikes Stephen as being very eccentric, being a man who writes down every trivial event of the day no matter how menial, Mr Abney seems very excited to learn that Master Stephen will soon be twelve on Halloween night, a fact he immediately leaves to the room to enter in his daily log, much to Stephen's bemusement. Mr Abney we learn is a man of science? his study is full of strange paintings and statuettes and studies it by way of his vast collection of antiquated books, but what exactly his work is, is anyone's guess? although Astrology and the Black Arts are hinted at. Stephen is a bright boy and is soon gleaning plenty of information on his cousin, from cook Mrs Bunch, he questions her about other children staying there, but there are none he learns, but there used to be, Mrs Bunch tells him. There was a young girl some years previously who Mr Abney brought home, he looked after her for a few weeks before she disappeared, Mr Abney's theory being that the girl was a gypsy and had been taken by them, still though he had trawled the nearby lake just to be sure. Then after her, there was an Italian orphan boy, Giovanni, whom Mr Abney found walking nearby, the boy was obsessed with playing the hurdy-gurdy, again Mr Abney took him in but the boy didn't stay long either and disappeared soon after, leaving behind his beloved hurdy-gurdy, a fact Stephen jumps upon as very odd. Stephen's dreams are very soon haunted by dreadful visions of the two children he had seen before, Are they real or ghosts, Stephen is unsure, as he continually catches fleeting glimpses of them here and there around Abneys estate. He also begins to hear voices, he learns he's not the only one either, as Mrs Bunch and handyman Parkes also hear them. On the eve of his birthday, Mr Abney invites young Stephen to a Halloween midnight rendezvous, to experience the gift of a lifetime, Stephen is at first hesitant as he is sure at that late hour he will be too tired, but eager to please his very insistent cousin, he agrees....
It always amazes me how Clark is never mentioned is dispatches, when best horror director lists are being compiled, for he truly had a unique vision on how supernatural films should be filmed and should be better known and admired for his rather obvious talents. Again he delves into M.R.James's Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and ensures the screen equivalent is just as terrifying as the written word. He uses the beautifully stunning English countryside to perfection, as the ghostly children stand transfixed amidst wind rustled trees, as stealthily creeping fog encircles them, their gaze fixed on Mr Abney's manor. The look of the children is quite eerie and unsettling, especially their twisted fingers and elongated fingernails and is added to immensely by Giovanni's rather odd hurdy-gurdy music. Abney himself on the surface seems friendly, but behind the eccentric facade and failed experiments, we just know something dark lingers and its not long before our suspicions of his predatory nature are realized. For its time, the 1890's, James's extremely dark work seems to herald future, more modern concerns and yet still seems to contain even more unspeakable ideas. Stephen's dangerous and fateful midnight meeting, is the subject of the films finale and succeeds in providing us with yet more unsettling imagery. And yet another superb entry in the series is realized.
It always amazes me how Clark is never mentioned is dispatches, when best horror director lists are being compiled, for he truly had a unique vision on how supernatural films should be filmed and should be better known and admired for his rather obvious talents. Again he delves into M.R.James's Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and ensures the screen equivalent is just as terrifying as the written word. He uses the beautifully stunning English countryside to perfection, as the ghostly children stand transfixed amidst wind rustled trees, as stealthily creeping fog encircles them, their gaze fixed on Mr Abney's manor. The look of the children is quite eerie and unsettling, especially their twisted fingers and elongated fingernails and is added to immensely by Giovanni's rather odd hurdy-gurdy music. Abney himself on the surface seems friendly, but behind the eccentric facade and failed experiments, we just know something dark lingers and its not long before our suspicions of his predatory nature are realized. For its time, the 1890's, James's extremely dark work seems to herald future, more modern concerns and yet still seems to contain even more unspeakable ideas. Stephen's dangerous and fateful midnight meeting, is the subject of the films finale and succeeds in providing us with yet more unsettling imagery. And yet another superb entry in the series is realized.
Okay premise, but only occasionally convincing
Horst_In_Translation23 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Lost Hearts" is a British 35-minute live action short film from 1973, so this one will have its 45th anniversary next year. It is one of several horror stories for the holidays directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark based on stories by M.R. James. The contents of characters (a kid in this example here) at remote houses were frequent in these and there was always something spooky going on there. Here the boy (played by actor Simon Gipps-Kent, who had a tragically short life) experiences dreams about two other children that are missing their hearts. Overall, the premise wasn't too bad and the atmospheric touch was there too. But the boy's acting did not impress me too much next to Joseph O'Conor, who really gave a commanding performance that was almost too good for the material of this small screen release. I also had some problems with the (intended) scary moments like for example the two ghost children appearing near the very end. Something just felt not right about that. It's tough to put a finger on the exact reason, but it just wasn't as creepy or at least as mysterious as I had hoped it to be. So overall with the exception of the grown-up lead actor I'd give this film a thumbs-down. But I think you should decide yourself if you want to see it. It is highly unlikely you haven't seen any of the others from the series when considering seeing this one, so decide for yourself depending on how much you liked these.
Best episode in one of the all time great series.
Gary-1611 April 2000
This stunning horror film by famous short story writer M.R.James is only 40 minutes long but is probably the best horror film I've ever seen. It terrified me as a kid and stood up well when repeated recently, although it came across as a more playful piece this time around. Fast film stock gives a horribly verite atmosphere to the proceedings and nothing can beat the grotesque sight of the kids with long fingernails marching remorselessly towards the camera to the eerie sound of a Hurdy Gurdy. Respect due to a work of genius.
Disturbing & Frightening Ghost Story
hauntedriver18 February 2005
Warning: Spoilers
When M.R. James wrote LOST HEARTS in the late 1890s he little suspected that mainstream critics would intuit a dark undercurrent to this tale of occult sacrifice, yet BBC director Lawrence Gordon Clark shrewdly picked up on this subtle theme and brought it to the forefront of his 1973 adaptation of the story. Thus we have Mr Abney, an elderly and excitable black magician, preying sinisterly upon pubescent children in a manner which unpleasantly mirrors contemporary concerns over paedophilia. Mr Abney carefully selects vulnerable orphans for adoption. Once convinced that the children's disappearance will not be missed, he horribly murders them on the eve of their thirteenth birthdays, an age which historically associated with the maturation of the child. He lures them into his study, paralyses them with a drug, and then rips out their pulsating hearts from their live bodies. These he reduces to ashes which are then mixed with fine port wine and drank. Alas in Mr Abney's quest for immortal life occult wonders he finds himself subsequently haunted by the dead children, pallid creatures possessed of sinister talonesque fingernails and rent-open chests. Happily these creatures eventually exact a violent revenge upon their murderous adoptive parent.
Lawrence Gordon Clark's adaptation of LOST HEARTS is perhaps his most powerful, partly because of this undeniably disturbing theme, partly because of his excellent direction. The opening scene which features a young boy arriving at Mr Anbey's manor house in a pony-and-trap through a haunting twilight mist perfectly evokes a lonely supernatural atmosphere. The spirits of the dead children are very frightening, and if in one or two scenes their acting appears slightly mechanical, the overall effect they create more than compensates for these minor defects. The action moves along briskly yet without appearing hurried. The central roles of Mr Abney and the young charge Stephen are played very well; Abney appears to bubble with an excitable Dickensian charm, yet under that energetic exterior a darker, predatory aspect is revealed. The ignorant working-class folk who run his ample home haven't the slightest knowledge about their master's obsessive interest in the black arts. Stephen is plausibly characterized, succeeding where many child actors may have failed. The scene in which he discovers a dead child's body in an old tin bath is truly harrowing.
Clark clearly sensed a parallel with, or indeed an undercurrent of, paedophilia in James's original tale because he teases this theme out and expands upon it in his adaptation. The camera shots of Abney gloating over the boy are sinister. So might a spider regard a trapped fly. Clark adds one new scene which does not appear in the original story: a shot of a naked twelve year old girl in the bath, one of her breasts in side profile clearly displayed. Although James may have written in a pre-Freudian era, latter day critics and film-makers were perfectly capable of teasing out these subliminal themes from Victorian and Edwardian literature. Elsewhere Jonathan Miller had started the Jamesian ball rolling with his superb interpretation of WHISTLE AND I'LL COME TO YOU, portraying a repressed Professor as an emotionally retarded loner. Michael Reeves realistically portrayed the witch trials that swept across mainland Europe as cynical exercises in sadistic manipulation and avaricious profiteering in his critically acclaimed THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL. Clarke himself paid homage to this perspective in his BBC adaptation of M.R. James's THE ASH-TREE, depicting Mrs Mothersole as a sexually alluring woman branded a witch by men who lust after her in stark contrast to James's original, where the alleged witch was portrayed as a deserving victim. Clarke depicts Mothersole - buxom, bare-breasted and chained up in a dungeon - as a sexually alluring woman who only resorts to occult vengeance after being horribly abused herself, which is a realistic volte face of James's possibly chauvinistic original. And in SCHALKEN THE PAINTER, another ghost story adaptation from the 1970s, Clarke amplifies the undercurrent of sexuality that exists in the original Le Fanu tale in a very disturbing and effective manner. After all, Le Fanu did also author CARMILLA, one of the most overtly erotic Victorian ghost stories ever written.
Clarke did not arbitrarily 'sex-up' any old BBC ghost story adaptation. There are no sexual overtones in his excellent versions of THE STALLS AT BARCHESTER, A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS nor THE SIGNALMAN. Clarke appears to have only amplified sexuality where it already existed as a theme or subconscious undercurrent. Indeed, one could even argue that James himself at some impossible-to-fathom level was aware of this concern about LOST HEARTS, hence his subsequent disregard for the tale subsequent to it's original publication in 1895.
The BBC's adaptation of LOST HEARTS is one of the best ghost stories directed by Lawrence Gordon Clarke in the mid 1970s. It is faithful to the original and features many genuinely frightening scenes. Yet ironically the central theme of predation upon children, with its sly similie of paedophilia, a theme which imbues the tale with a dark and sinister edge, may have actually proved it's undoing because the BBC appears reluctant to repeat the film in the light of various child pornography scandals. Hopefully however the film will be released on DVD, or else repeated on TV with the benefit of a contextualizing introduction, because it would be a shame for an otherwise powerful drama to languish in the Beeb's vaults. LOST HEARTS poses unique political concerns and as such appears to present something of a problem to the television scheduler. It is every bit as effective as THE WICKERMAN but the child predation issue lends it a peculiarly discomforting air as elsewhere hangs over films such as STRAW DOGS or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. However, because DVD pirates have already capitalized upon the pent-up demand for video copies of LOST HEARTS and THE ASHTREE by cobbling-together homemade versions to sell on Ebay, then the BBC would perhaps be wiser to satisfy this demand in some suitably responsible manner rather than ignore it.
Lawrence Gordon Clark's adaptation of LOST HEARTS is perhaps his most powerful, partly because of this undeniably disturbing theme, partly because of his excellent direction. The opening scene which features a young boy arriving at Mr Anbey's manor house in a pony-and-trap through a haunting twilight mist perfectly evokes a lonely supernatural atmosphere. The spirits of the dead children are very frightening, and if in one or two scenes their acting appears slightly mechanical, the overall effect they create more than compensates for these minor defects. The action moves along briskly yet without appearing hurried. The central roles of Mr Abney and the young charge Stephen are played very well; Abney appears to bubble with an excitable Dickensian charm, yet under that energetic exterior a darker, predatory aspect is revealed. The ignorant working-class folk who run his ample home haven't the slightest knowledge about their master's obsessive interest in the black arts. Stephen is plausibly characterized, succeeding where many child actors may have failed. The scene in which he discovers a dead child's body in an old tin bath is truly harrowing.
Clark clearly sensed a parallel with, or indeed an undercurrent of, paedophilia in James's original tale because he teases this theme out and expands upon it in his adaptation. The camera shots of Abney gloating over the boy are sinister. So might a spider regard a trapped fly. Clark adds one new scene which does not appear in the original story: a shot of a naked twelve year old girl in the bath, one of her breasts in side profile clearly displayed. Although James may have written in a pre-Freudian era, latter day critics and film-makers were perfectly capable of teasing out these subliminal themes from Victorian and Edwardian literature. Elsewhere Jonathan Miller had started the Jamesian ball rolling with his superb interpretation of WHISTLE AND I'LL COME TO YOU, portraying a repressed Professor as an emotionally retarded loner. Michael Reeves realistically portrayed the witch trials that swept across mainland Europe as cynical exercises in sadistic manipulation and avaricious profiteering in his critically acclaimed THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL. Clarke himself paid homage to this perspective in his BBC adaptation of M.R. James's THE ASH-TREE, depicting Mrs Mothersole as a sexually alluring woman branded a witch by men who lust after her in stark contrast to James's original, where the alleged witch was portrayed as a deserving victim. Clarke depicts Mothersole - buxom, bare-breasted and chained up in a dungeon - as a sexually alluring woman who only resorts to occult vengeance after being horribly abused herself, which is a realistic volte face of James's possibly chauvinistic original. And in SCHALKEN THE PAINTER, another ghost story adaptation from the 1970s, Clarke amplifies the undercurrent of sexuality that exists in the original Le Fanu tale in a very disturbing and effective manner. After all, Le Fanu did also author CARMILLA, one of the most overtly erotic Victorian ghost stories ever written.
Clarke did not arbitrarily 'sex-up' any old BBC ghost story adaptation. There are no sexual overtones in his excellent versions of THE STALLS AT BARCHESTER, A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS nor THE SIGNALMAN. Clarke appears to have only amplified sexuality where it already existed as a theme or subconscious undercurrent. Indeed, one could even argue that James himself at some impossible-to-fathom level was aware of this concern about LOST HEARTS, hence his subsequent disregard for the tale subsequent to it's original publication in 1895.
The BBC's adaptation of LOST HEARTS is one of the best ghost stories directed by Lawrence Gordon Clarke in the mid 1970s. It is faithful to the original and features many genuinely frightening scenes. Yet ironically the central theme of predation upon children, with its sly similie of paedophilia, a theme which imbues the tale with a dark and sinister edge, may have actually proved it's undoing because the BBC appears reluctant to repeat the film in the light of various child pornography scandals. Hopefully however the film will be released on DVD, or else repeated on TV with the benefit of a contextualizing introduction, because it would be a shame for an otherwise powerful drama to languish in the Beeb's vaults. LOST HEARTS poses unique political concerns and as such appears to present something of a problem to the television scheduler. It is every bit as effective as THE WICKERMAN but the child predation issue lends it a peculiarly discomforting air as elsewhere hangs over films such as STRAW DOGS or A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. However, because DVD pirates have already capitalized upon the pent-up demand for video copies of LOST HEARTS and THE ASHTREE by cobbling-together homemade versions to sell on Ebay, then the BBC would perhaps be wiser to satisfy this demand in some suitably responsible manner rather than ignore it.
Behind a Façade of Reason
JamesHitchcock31 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Between 1971 and 1978 the BBC used to dramatise a ghost story every year under the title "A Ghost Story for Christmas". The first five entries in the series were all based upon tales by that great master of the genre, M. R. James. "Lost Hearts", first shown in 1973, was the third of these. (An earlier version of this story was produced for ITV's series "Mystery and Imagination" in the sixties, but this is now lost). James' story was set in the years 1811 and 1812, but the television adaptation seems to be set at a rather later date, given that Stephen has a photograph of his late mother. (Photography did not exist in the 1810s). The clothes she is wearing would suggest a date of around 1870/1880, but the costumes of the other characters seem to indicate a date of 30 or 40 years earlier.
An eleven-year-old orphan boy named Stephen is sent to live with his distant cousin Peregrine Abney, the owner of a country mansion. Abney, a childless bachelor who is much older than Stephen, greets him warmly, and at first seems like a kindly, if eccentric and bookish, old man. There is, however, an air of mystery over the house, and the housekeeper Mrs Bunch tells Stephen that he is not the first child to live at the house. Mr Abney earlier took in two other children, a girl named Phoebe and an Italian boy named Giovanni, but both mysteriously disappeared. Moreover, the house seems to be haunted by a pair of children, with pale faces and a gap in their chests where their hearts should be.
James himself once wrote that in a fictitious ghost story the ghost should be malevolent or odious, but in "Lost Hearts" he broke his own rule. The ghostly children may be frightening in appearance, but they are only malevolent towards Abney, who fully deserves their malice. Towards Stephen, the hero of the story, they are protective, trying to save him from the fate which they themselves suffered at his hands.
"Lost Hearts" has some features in common with both of the two earlier the "Ghost Stories for Christmas". With the first, "The Stalls of Barchester", it shares a central character who suffers retribution for an evil deed he has committed, but in that story there is no identifiable ghost and the possibility is left open that the villainous Doctor Haynes is the victim not of vengeful supernatural entities but of his own tormented imagination and guilty conscience. With the second, "A Warning to the Curious", it shares the feature of a very real ghostly presence, but Paxton, the protagonist of "A Warning..." is, unlike Abney, a sympathetic figure who in no way deserves the dreadful retribution which he inadvertently brings upon himself. One feature which sets "Lost Hearts" apart from its predecessors is that, at around 35 minutes, it is considerably shorter than either.
Simon Gipps-Kent, who plays Stephen, was a well-known child actor of the seventies. He continued acting into adulthood but was to die tragically of a drug overdose at the age of 28. Here he gives a solid performance, but the best comes from Joseph O'Connor as Abney, the avuncular old scholar whose seemingly benevolent demeanour masks a deadly obsession with occult knowledge and a total lack of concern for anyone other than himself. James was a devout Christian and may have intended the story as a warning against dabbling in the occult.
Another feature of this dramatisation is the music; Giovanni's hurdy-gurdy plays a more central role in this film than it did in James's story, and contributes to the eerie, disturbing atmosphere. The film was shot in and around Ormesby Hall in Lincolnshire, the producers having managed to find a stately home that not only resembles James's description of Abney's country house but is also located in the same county. The conventional way of making horror stories and ghostly tales would have been to set them in a crumbling Victorian Gothic pile; Ormesby is nothing of the sort but an elegant Georgian neoclassical building from the Age of Reason. Like its owner, however, the house is hiding its secrets. A façade of reason can conceal the most terrifying unreason. This is a superbly atmospheric production, on a part with "A Warning to the Curious" and considerably better than "The Stalls of Barchester". 9/10.
An eleven-year-old orphan boy named Stephen is sent to live with his distant cousin Peregrine Abney, the owner of a country mansion. Abney, a childless bachelor who is much older than Stephen, greets him warmly, and at first seems like a kindly, if eccentric and bookish, old man. There is, however, an air of mystery over the house, and the housekeeper Mrs Bunch tells Stephen that he is not the first child to live at the house. Mr Abney earlier took in two other children, a girl named Phoebe and an Italian boy named Giovanni, but both mysteriously disappeared. Moreover, the house seems to be haunted by a pair of children, with pale faces and a gap in their chests where their hearts should be.
James himself once wrote that in a fictitious ghost story the ghost should be malevolent or odious, but in "Lost Hearts" he broke his own rule. The ghostly children may be frightening in appearance, but they are only malevolent towards Abney, who fully deserves their malice. Towards Stephen, the hero of the story, they are protective, trying to save him from the fate which they themselves suffered at his hands.
"Lost Hearts" has some features in common with both of the two earlier the "Ghost Stories for Christmas". With the first, "The Stalls of Barchester", it shares a central character who suffers retribution for an evil deed he has committed, but in that story there is no identifiable ghost and the possibility is left open that the villainous Doctor Haynes is the victim not of vengeful supernatural entities but of his own tormented imagination and guilty conscience. With the second, "A Warning to the Curious", it shares the feature of a very real ghostly presence, but Paxton, the protagonist of "A Warning..." is, unlike Abney, a sympathetic figure who in no way deserves the dreadful retribution which he inadvertently brings upon himself. One feature which sets "Lost Hearts" apart from its predecessors is that, at around 35 minutes, it is considerably shorter than either.
Simon Gipps-Kent, who plays Stephen, was a well-known child actor of the seventies. He continued acting into adulthood but was to die tragically of a drug overdose at the age of 28. Here he gives a solid performance, but the best comes from Joseph O'Connor as Abney, the avuncular old scholar whose seemingly benevolent demeanour masks a deadly obsession with occult knowledge and a total lack of concern for anyone other than himself. James was a devout Christian and may have intended the story as a warning against dabbling in the occult.
Another feature of this dramatisation is the music; Giovanni's hurdy-gurdy plays a more central role in this film than it did in James's story, and contributes to the eerie, disturbing atmosphere. The film was shot in and around Ormesby Hall in Lincolnshire, the producers having managed to find a stately home that not only resembles James's description of Abney's country house but is also located in the same county. The conventional way of making horror stories and ghostly tales would have been to set them in a crumbling Victorian Gothic pile; Ormesby is nothing of the sort but an elegant Georgian neoclassical building from the Age of Reason. Like its owner, however, the house is hiding its secrets. A façade of reason can conceal the most terrifying unreason. This is a superbly atmospheric production, on a part with "A Warning to the Curious" and considerably better than "The Stalls of Barchester". 9/10.
Another memorable seasonal chill from Lawrence Gordon Clark
dr_clarke_23 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Having written and directed the first two episodes of A Ghost Story for Christmas, Lawrence Gordon Clark remains behind the camera for the third, but hands over the script-writing duties to Robin Chapman. Lost Hearts is once again an adaptation of a short story by M. R. James, but is much shorter than its predecessors at just over half an hour long. This conciseness does not however detract from its effectiveness.
Lost Hearts is different in tone to either The Stalls of Barchester or A Warning to the Curious, both of which - in true James style - saw older male characters persecuted by vengeful supernatural horrors. Instead, the story here concerns a young orphan named Stephen being sent to stay with his eccentric elderly cousin Mr Abney, who is gradually revealed to be far less genial than he first appears: here, the ghosts are out for revenge, but also to save Stephen from sharing the grisly fate that befell them.
Once again, Clark proves to be an inspired director of low-budget television terror, and once again he makes good use of the location filming, in this case the house and grounds of a country estate. His use of lots of point-of-view shots to show the glimpses that Stephen gets of the mysterious children are effectively creepy, as are the ashen-faced, unspeaking Boy and Girl, never more so than when the boy plays his hurdy-gurdy and then we see them with their hearts missing. Their climactic confrontation with Abner is stylishly shot: Clark conveys the horror of the scene whilst showing very little on screen. As in the previous episodes, the atmospheric score benefits the production greatly.
Prolific (and ill-fated) child actor Simon Gipps-Kent plays orphan Stephen and proves to be a bit wooden, but Lost Hearts benefits from a remarkable performance from the great stage actor and playwright Joseph O'Conor as Mr Abney. At first appearing to be a clichéd eccentric uncle-like figure, he O'Conor makes the slow transition from avuncular to menacing with great skill; it is his performance as much as Clark's direction that makes the eventual revelation of what happened to the Boy and Girl and why so queasily disturbing. Susan Richards meanwhile is rather wonderful as housekeeper Mrs Bunch, whilst James Mellor gives a decent performance as Parkes.
Despite the short running time of the episode, Chapman's version of James' story unfolds in an intriguing and dramatically satisfying fashion, and although on this occasion we get a rare happy ending to the tale as the Boy and Girl save Stephen, punish Abner for his sins, and then wave goodbye at the very end, the overall effect is to provide the audience with another memorable seasonal chill.
Lost Hearts is different in tone to either The Stalls of Barchester or A Warning to the Curious, both of which - in true James style - saw older male characters persecuted by vengeful supernatural horrors. Instead, the story here concerns a young orphan named Stephen being sent to stay with his eccentric elderly cousin Mr Abney, who is gradually revealed to be far less genial than he first appears: here, the ghosts are out for revenge, but also to save Stephen from sharing the grisly fate that befell them.
Once again, Clark proves to be an inspired director of low-budget television terror, and once again he makes good use of the location filming, in this case the house and grounds of a country estate. His use of lots of point-of-view shots to show the glimpses that Stephen gets of the mysterious children are effectively creepy, as are the ashen-faced, unspeaking Boy and Girl, never more so than when the boy plays his hurdy-gurdy and then we see them with their hearts missing. Their climactic confrontation with Abner is stylishly shot: Clark conveys the horror of the scene whilst showing very little on screen. As in the previous episodes, the atmospheric score benefits the production greatly.
Prolific (and ill-fated) child actor Simon Gipps-Kent plays orphan Stephen and proves to be a bit wooden, but Lost Hearts benefits from a remarkable performance from the great stage actor and playwright Joseph O'Conor as Mr Abney. At first appearing to be a clichéd eccentric uncle-like figure, he O'Conor makes the slow transition from avuncular to menacing with great skill; it is his performance as much as Clark's direction that makes the eventual revelation of what happened to the Boy and Girl and why so queasily disturbing. Susan Richards meanwhile is rather wonderful as housekeeper Mrs Bunch, whilst James Mellor gives a decent performance as Parkes.
Despite the short running time of the episode, Chapman's version of James' story unfolds in an intriguing and dramatically satisfying fashion, and although on this occasion we get a rare happy ending to the tale as the Boy and Girl save Stephen, punish Abner for his sins, and then wave goodbye at the very end, the overall effect is to provide the audience with another memorable seasonal chill.
A terrible disappointment
morrison943 November 2010
After reading the 10 previous strongly positive reviews, I purchased this film on DVD. What a mistake! The plot was risible and the direction lame. The acting was pretty good, especially on the part of the two leads (too bad that Gipps-Kent died so young -- he was good enough that I wondered at first if the part was being played by a much more experienced woman). Nonetheless, the set-up (an innocent young orphan comes into the care of a kindly old bachelor) was followed by action that yielded not a particle of mystery, not a moment's frisson. The hackneyed denouement was so poorly executed as to leave me wondering what the other reviewers were thinking. They couldn't all be related to the cast or crew! Hope that other outings in the series are better-- I've now got several more to plow through. I'm a real fan of British TV and film, but this one isn't worth the heel of Mary Shelley's boot.
Intriguing
PercyPrune4 March 2024
A strange story not usually associated with the period portrayed in the United Kingdom and just the right length, 45 minutes to serve the story without tedious & needless elaboration. Simple and not overdone, it has the right balance between the supernatural events and normal life. What is an irritation is that the boy, Giovanni, apparently plays a hurdy-gurdy but holds it in a way where playing is impossible i.e. Upside down, and the music allegedly from the hurdy-gurdy is from an entirely different instrument, a plucked one - mandolin? Otherwise a short well made ghost story that works with a twist in the end.
Ghost Story for Christmas (kids)?
Slip_de_Garcon4 March 2024
OK, first off the bat, I'm a great fan of M R James, so I came at this from that angle. But I'm not the "actually, the short story is different" guy, don't worry.
So, back story, the BBC have gone through stages of doing a 'ghost story for Christmas', and the early 70s M R James adaptations are widely regarded as the best (though Dickens' The Signalman' from a year or two later is arguably superior).
Initial impressions are that this is one for the kids. The protagonist is an 11 year old orphan, going to live with a kindly old relative, albeit one who seems oddly obsessed when the boy's birthday will fall.
The two ghosts are similarly-aged, and up until the final scene seem fairly benign. But I suspect the shots of their very long fingernails, and the scene in which their mortal wounds are revealed would have given me nightmares for weeks if I'd seen it as a child.
Like all James stories, the horror is in the atmosphere and small details, and the iterative hints that our young hero's host is aware of the ghosts' existence, and as we proceed, of the reason they are ghosts, are chilling.
It's not perfect. The boy's acting is wooden, and the film makes less use of landscape than other adaptations by the same director. When it does, the flowering horse chestnut trees (May?) immediately preceding Halloween raised a chuckle in this gardener.
Viewed back-to-back with the best one (A Warning to the Curious) shows its limitations, but that film has a downbeat, adult theme from the off, so is far less suitable for drawing in and then traumatising children. I noted how much shorter it is than 'Warning', and wonder if a few more lingering exterior shots would have improved the atmosphere, but my suspicion is this was kept short and snappy for the same reason.
Keep the little-uns watching to the finale, and they will never hear a hurdy-gurdy without wetting themselves until they are old enough to drive.
So, back story, the BBC have gone through stages of doing a 'ghost story for Christmas', and the early 70s M R James adaptations are widely regarded as the best (though Dickens' The Signalman' from a year or two later is arguably superior).
Initial impressions are that this is one for the kids. The protagonist is an 11 year old orphan, going to live with a kindly old relative, albeit one who seems oddly obsessed when the boy's birthday will fall.
The two ghosts are similarly-aged, and up until the final scene seem fairly benign. But I suspect the shots of their very long fingernails, and the scene in which their mortal wounds are revealed would have given me nightmares for weeks if I'd seen it as a child.
Like all James stories, the horror is in the atmosphere and small details, and the iterative hints that our young hero's host is aware of the ghosts' existence, and as we proceed, of the reason they are ghosts, are chilling.
It's not perfect. The boy's acting is wooden, and the film makes less use of landscape than other adaptations by the same director. When it does, the flowering horse chestnut trees (May?) immediately preceding Halloween raised a chuckle in this gardener.
Viewed back-to-back with the best one (A Warning to the Curious) shows its limitations, but that film has a downbeat, adult theme from the off, so is far less suitable for drawing in and then traumatising children. I noted how much shorter it is than 'Warning', and wonder if a few more lingering exterior shots would have improved the atmosphere, but my suspicion is this was kept short and snappy for the same reason.
Keep the little-uns watching to the finale, and they will never hear a hurdy-gurdy without wetting themselves until they are old enough to drive.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
