The Stalls of Barchester

While cataloguing the library of Barchester cathedral, Dr Black comes across the personal diary of Archdeacon Haynes among the rather lacklustre and poorly maintained books. Black reads about how Haynes rose to the position of Archdeacon when his predecessor, the elderly Pulteney, took a fatal fall in his home. The diary tells of admin and clerical responsibilities but gradually the personal musings of Haynes about noises, feelings and other impressions that Haynes starts to have about his new home.

As well as many other strengths, BBC4 recently also provided an opportunity to dip back into some old versions of ghost stories made back in the seventies, adapting the writing of MR James. Of what I have seen of the series, The Stalls of Barchester is pretty good despite not being as creepy as I would have liked. The story itself offers creepy moments without ever totally revealing itself and in this regard I did find it quite engaging, however the delivery doesn't work to the favour of these moments. The story is told in retrospect via the reading of Dr Black and this technique does rather distance the viewer from the material because, instead of being with Haynes, we are actually with Black. This doesn't matter too much when the Haynes scenes are longer and run together but Black does fragment the telling and, despite bookending the story, Black is mostly remote from it.

The construction of the Haynes scenes is good though and the film does produce some genuinely creepy moments with minimal effects. Not brilliant perhaps, but still nicely creepy – just a shame the rest of the delivery doesn't support it. The acting is solid in the key role; Hardy convinces in his increasing bewilderment and inability to accept what he is experiencing. Bennett, Barlow and others all fill in around him. Swift and Leighton are fine but the script keeping them away from the main story means their performances do likewise.

At heart this is a nice little ghost story with some effective chills but the structure and manner of delivery does rather prevent the viewer getting lost in it and also breaks up the flow. Worth seeing but there are much better similar films shown on BBC4 recently.

As Christmas approaches, this series is always a must watch, and The Stalls of Barchester is a great start to a fantastic series. This one feels like a delicious starter for a few episodes which soon follow. I've always considered this a classy production, glorious production values, a wonderful setting and a truly reliable cast. Psychological fears in this one as opposed to out and out scares, but the focus more so here is on the story.

It's wonderfully gothic, even though it's set inside a Cathedral, with wonderful carvings and tales of a hanging tree. Robert Hardy is excellent as the tortured Archdeacon Haynes, there are fine performances all round.

Subtle horror that's definitely worth your time. m 8/10

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.

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

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.