Bewitched

This episode suffers the same problem as every surviving episode of the series released on disc: It's a good 15 minutes longer than it needs to be. The entire series would have been better off in a 30 minute format. This particular episode is anemic and suffers even more than the others from the overly long format. There just is not enough story to sustain it. Once again in his historian's commentary, Gary Gerani strikes a perfect balance between offering background of the actors, arcane and insightful information about the production of the film, critical commentary on aspects like the score and cinematography, and the film's place in the history of horror genre, and in the television culture of the time. This is another great Kino Lorber presentation. Highly recommended for anyone interested in 1970s made for television horror or the history of American television production in general.

The other reviewer was talking about the 1960s sitcom "Bewitched" starring Elizabeth Montgomery. This 1983 (or 1985) production is an episode in the UK series "Shades of Darkness", as the cast list reveals. It would be a lot more helpful if people actually checked first which version of a title they are commenting on! This was a ghost story fairly unsuitable for small children and contained little or NO humour!

I recall seeing this a year or two ago and was struck by the slow pace and gloomy atmosphere, though there was a hauntingly bleak seaside atmosphere and a Victorian setting.

Gareth Thomas as always gives a good beleaguered performance, and the plot revolved around someone whose wife-to-be had been killed early, I think. As usual with "19th century" ghost stories, evil and vengeful spirits were involved. However, the whole thing was directed in a fairly flat and uninvolving manner, not helped by the pace.

Perhaps nose-twitching Elizabeth Montgomery and Dick Yorke would have pepped it up!