The Stalls of Barchester

This short 'ghost story' film still delights and intrigues me even after several viewings over the years. Wonderful creation of atmosphere,from the dark interior of the archdeacons house to the misty cathedral grounds.I agree that some may find it a little 'plodding'but this is not a slasher/effects movie and I think the build up of the macabre moments and outcome are to be savored and maybe the 'ghost stories' series strong point. I also enjoyed the subtle moments of humor in this story. All in all a very enjoyable winters afternoon or evening viewing.

Roy

Fun to see this. A Warning to the Curious and Lost Hearts were the masterpieces of the series. This entry is dour and a little plodding but has a palpable tension and dread. It boasts a memorable shock a good five years before DePalma's Carrie, although my memory of it was a little different. It will still make you jump and your blood run cold. 'Stalls' was the series finding its feet. The structure, with two lots of voice-overs is somewhat awkward and unwieldy. The academic inquiry is dry and your attention may wander, forcing you to backtrack. It is the antecedent of The Treasure Of Abbott Thomas, which was similarly scholarly, although not ruinously. It is M R James approach and you can take it or leave it.

M R James is perhaps the most celebrated author of ghost stories in the English language, but only one feature film has ever been based on his work, the 1957 British horror movie "Night of the Demon", loosely adapted from his "Casting the Runes". His stories have, however, occasionally appeared on television. I remember from my childhood that between 1971 and 1975 the BBC used to dramatise one every year under the title "A Ghost Story for Christmas". "The Stalls of Barchester", first shown in 1971, was the first of these. Three more entries were added between 1976 and 1978, based on stories by other writers.

It has been said that the classic Jamesian tale generally includes the following key elements:

1. An atmospheric setting, often in a historic town or remote part of the countryside 2. A gentleman-scholar as protagonist 3. The discovery of an antiquarian object that acts as the focus for supernatural forces.

Here the setting is an English cathedral, about as atmospheric and historic as one can get. (James borrowed the name "Barchester" from Trollope; Norwich was used for the exterior shots). The "antiquarian object" is a mysterious carving in the choir stalls. The "gentleman-scholar", however, does not appear in the main story, although he plays a role in the "framework" within which that story is set. In the 1930s that scholar, Dr Black, is cataloguing the Cathedral library when he comes across the diary of Dr Haynes, who held the position of Archdeacon in the 1870s. The diary contains some shocking revelations. We learn that the ambitious Haynes, coveting the position of Archdeacon, engineered the death of his elderly predecessor Dr Pulteney, but was subsequently plagued by visitations of a possibly supernatural nature. These visitations may be connected with some strange carvings in the Cathedral choir stalls, said to have been carved from the wood of a "hanging tree" once used for executions.

The last entry in the "A Ghost Story..." series which I watched was the second, "A Warning to the Curious". Like all the collection, both "A Warning..." and "The Stalls of Barchester" were written and directed by director Lawrence Gordon Clark, but there are some interesting differences between the two films. In "The Stalls of Barchester", Clark was to stick more closely to James's story than he was to do in the following year's film. He keeps the "framework story" in "The Stalls...", while dispensing with it in "A Warning..."; the main change he makes is to the date of the action. (In James's original the main story takes place in the 1810s rather than the 1870s and the framework story around 1900). Clark also invents the name "Dr Black" for the gentleman scholar, who was nameless in the original. (Black, played by Clive Swift, also makes an appearance in Clark's version of "A Warning...").

The visual look of the two films is also different. "A Warning to the Curious" was mostly shot outdoors, against the background of the wide open, wintry Norfolk countryside; it is the lighter of the two films, but the light is a bleak, harsh one. "The Stalls of Barchester", by contrast, is more enclosed and intimate, with most scenes taking place in a dimly lit indoors, either in the Cathedral itself or in the Archdeacon's residence.

Another difference lies in the way the protagonists are presented. Dr Haynes, as played in a good performance from Robert Hardy, is an unctuous hypocrite, a supposed man of God who has no scruples about committing murder in order to further his earthly ambitions. In "A Warning to the Curious", however, the main character, the amateur archaeologist Mr Paxton, is portrayed as highly sympathetic, probably more so than he was in James's story. (Another fine performance from Peter Vaughan). He is a man in late middle age, from a working-class background, and has recently lost his job. He is, however, a man with a genuine passion for history and hopes to make a find of real significance which will allow him to make a living as a professional archaeologist.

Although "The Stalls of Barchester" is officially called a "ghost story", there is no identifiable ghost; James presumably rejected the idea of having Haynes visited by the spirit of the deceased Pulteney. The possibility is left open (perhaps to a greater extent than in James's story) that Haynes is the victim not of vengeful supernatural entities but of his own tormented imagination and guilty conscience. The unearthly forces which confront Paxton are all too real.

"The Stalls of Barchester" is certainly atmospheric, but I didn't really enjoy it as much as "A Warning to the Curious". I think that the reason is that there is no character with whom the viewer can identify, unlike Vaughan's Paxton, a working-class Everyman who comes so close to success but who is unfairly struck down at the moment of what should have been his greatest triumph. If Archdeacon Haynes is struck down by malign forces it is no more than he deserves; it is difficult for the viewer to feel either sympathy or pity for such a man. Not so much a warning to the curious as a warning to the murderous. 7/10.

A cleric goes a step too far to satisfy his career ambitions and finds himself the target of a ghostly revenge.

The story is framed by a scholarly investigation after the event, which some reviewers feel detracts from the immediacy of the story, and I think the problem is that the narrator has no connection with the plot. Otherwise the story is well told, with the protagonist forbiddingly aloof and the spookiness delivered subtly in shadowy sets with intimate little sound effects. Also a nice strand of humour runs through the early scenes, as the dogged old archdeacon clings to his position.

One flaw in the story is the loose end of the collaborator in the fatal deed - once the blackmail note was produced it had to become part of the plot, but was just left dangling.

'The Stalls of Barchester (1971)' was the first entry in BBC's wonderful "Ghost Story for Christmas" series, but unfortunately it fails to attain the dizzying heights of creepiness reached by 'A Warning to the Curious (1972)' and 'The Signalman (1976).' The short film was adapted from a tale by author M.R. James – who provided many of the "Ghost Stories for Christmas" – and was directed by Lawrence Gordon Clarke, who likewise helmed most of BBC's ghost-story adaptations. The story concerns Archdeacon Haynes (Robert Hardy), who inherits his title following the "accidental" death of his 92-year-old predecessor, whose demise Haynes had awaited rather impatiently. Though it's never explicitly spoken, we all know what evil the Archdeacon has orchestrated, and so punishment is gradual yet inevitable. The recording of the story that I watched (taped, I estimate, around 1999) had an interesting introduction from Christopher Lee, who briefly describes meeting M.R. James in 1935 at Eton College.

If I had to name one reason why 'The Stalls of Barchester' isn't quite as scary as its successors, it would be the storytelling structure. Though telling the story through Dr. Black's (Clive Swift) library research was likely staying faithful to James' original story (I haven't read it myself, but he constructed many of his ghost-stories as third-person tellings), it also disrupted the rhythm of the narrative at regular intervals, and removed the immediacy of Archdeacon Haynes' otherworldly experiences. Hardy, in the main role, was oddly distant and unidentifiable as a character, and so we don't particularly hang onto his every breath as we might otherwise have done. For what it's worth, I associated mostly closely with Dr. Black, and it's unfortunate that his part in the tale was merely that of a curious and belated observer. The first half of the film, merely a set-up completely devoid of the supernatural, was something of a chore to sit through, though the eventual pay-off provided adequate compensation in the form of creepy night-time happenings.

Perusing my previous review of 'A Warning to the Curious,' I was interested to recall that Clive Swift there reprised his role as Dr. Black, playing the holiday companion to Peter Vaughan's haunted treasure-hunter. The success of that M.R. James adaptation underlines my earlier point: by placing our narrator in the midst of the paranormal, and placing his own life on the line, there is a more immediate sense of threat that translates directly towards the viewer's insecurities. 'The Stalls of Barchester,' by its very structure, encourages detachment from its doomed subject, and Hardy's aloof portrayal only broadened this emotional gulf. Nevertheless, this Ghost Story for Christmas has enough creepy moments to warrant interest from fans of the series: a disembodied hand, gaunt and knotted, reaches for Haynes' shoulder; an unseen voice whisperingly requests permission to enter the bedroom; a shadow, swathed in darkness, retreats from the scene of a murder, a chilling hybrid of human and feline features. Sinners beware, for there are those who will always be able to recognise that blood on your hands.