This is part 2 of John Bullard’s guest post.

This is the second part of a look at the ghost stories by M.R. James that the B.B.C. adapted for their series, “A Ghost Story for Christmas”. In part 1, we looked at the stories and films of “The Stalls of Barchester”, “Lost Hearts”, “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas”, “The Ash Tree”, and briefly at “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”. Now, we will examine “A View From a Hill”, “Number 13”, “The Tractate Middoth”, and take a deeper dive into the original 1968 version of “Oh, Whistle …” and its 2010 remake. There will be major spoilers for these last two films, and minor ones for “A View From a Hill”.

As previously stated in Part 1, M.R. James was a Medieval Scholar and dean at Cambridge, and started the tradition of inviting his friends and students over for a Christmas Eve party and to hear his latest ghost story. In 1968, the B.B.C. adapted James’ “Oh, Whistle …” story for an anthology, and then for a Christmas Eve show, they adapted “The Stalls of Barchester”. Due to the good ratings and acclaim for “Barchester”, the B.B.C. started the tradition of showing new ghost story films each Christmas. We looked at the five stories from James’ trove of ghost stories that were adapted in the initial run of the “A Ghost Story for Christmas” series, which ran from 1971 to 1978. After a period of 27 years without the Christmas ghost story films, the B.B.C. started again in 2005, and have made a film for 7 out of the last 16 years, with the newest seventh show, “The Mezzotint”, to run on Christmas Eve this year. Six of the seven films have been adaptations of M.R. James stories:

A View From a Hill 2005

Number 13 2006

Whistle and I’ll Come to You 2010

The Tractate Middoth 2013

Martin’s Close 2019

The Mezzotint 2021

The last three shows have been adapted and directed by Mark Gatiss, the noted writer/actor, and horror story fan.

“A View From a Hill”

The original story is here:

A View from a Hill (Full Text) · A Thin Ghost (thin-ghost.org)

Fanshawe, an academic, decides to take a holiday at the estate of Squire Richards, a new friend he made. While there, Richards proposes to take Fanshawe out to the highest hill in the area and show Fanshawe the sights. Fanshawe asks to borrow a pair of binoculars, and Richards offers him a pair in a box that Fanshawe cuts his thumb on opening to get the glasses out. On the way to the scenic view spot, Richards points out local sites of archaeological interest to Fanshawe that had been investigated by a local watchmaker, Baxter, who was an amateur archaeologist, and who also made the binoculars that Fanshawe held. When the pair gets to the top of the hill, Fanshawe is amazed at the things he sees through the glasses that Richards can’t see. The next day, Fanshawe decides to take a bike ride through the area to visit the sites he had seen through the glasses.

Here is the link to the film:

A View From A Hill ( M. R. James Ghost Story) – YouTube

For the film, the makers made quite a few changes in the story, and changed the ending. The actors are great in their roles, and I particularly enjoyed Pip Torrens’ portrayal of Squire Richards. He had that right portrayal of Bertie Wooster’s slightly smarter brother. His servant, Patten, is played by David Burke, who played Dr. Watson to Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes, who makes the first of his 2 roles in these series of films. Patten comes off as Jeeves who is beginning to fall prey to the infirmities of old age. Instead of Fanshawe spending a holiday at Richard’s invitation, he is there to catalogue the archaeological finds that Baxter had made and that Richard’s father had bought or kept upon Baxter’s death, and provide prices on them so that Richards could sell them for needed money to help out the expenses of the upkeep for his property.

Slight spoilers for the endings—continue on to “Number 13” if you don’t want some of the plot for the story or film spoiled.

 

In James’ original story, Fanshawe sees a lot of activity on Gallows Hill through the glasses, and decides to go there to try and figure out why what he saw through the glasses wasn’t visible with the naked eye or to Richards when Richards tried using the binoculars. He has some interesting experiences there, but makes it back to Squire Richards’ home for dinner, and to hear the climax of the story from the aged Patten on what happened to the binocular maker, Baxter.

For the film, the makers decided to give Fanshawe a more exciting and chilling encounter on Gallows Hill. I much prefer the story’s climax to the film’s ending, but I do find the film to be very good, and one of my favorites of the series. The B.B.C. did a great job with restarting the series with this adaptation.

 

“Number 13”

Here is the link for the story:

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary/Number 13 – Wikisource, the free online library

This story is about a researcher, Anderson, going to Denmark to do some research on local church history. He stays in The Golden Lion Inn in room 12, a decently sized room with three windows. On his way to dinner that evening, he happens to notice a room 13 which had not been listed as existing earlier. However, the room is gone the next morning. While doing his research at the church’s library, he comes upon papers talking about the last Catholic Bishop of the area and a scandal involving a tenant in a house owned by the bishop. The tenant, Nicolas Francken, was alleged to have sold his soul to the devil and practised dark arts in the home before mysteriously disappearing as he was about to be brought to trial for his alleged activities. Anderson starts noticing that his room changes sizes at night, and the tenant in the room next door isn’t a quiet, considerate neighbor.

The link for the film:

M R James Ghost Story : Number 13 – YouTube

High marks all around for this adaptation! The actors are all wonderful in their roles: Greg Wise as Professor Anderson, David Burke making his second appearance as the innkeeper, Gunton, and his real-life son, Tom Burke, plays the next door neighbor in room 14 to Anderson, the lawyer Jenkins. The action is moved from Denmark to England, where Anderson is coming to the local cathedral to do some researching. He checks in to The Golden Lion Inn, and takes room 12. The innkeeper, Gunton, asks for prepayment of the bill by Anderson as there has been a history of people suddenly checking out from the inn during the night without paying their bill. Anderson finds in a cache of recently discovered papers hidden behind a stone wall in the Cathedral, certain papers remarking on a forgotten Bishop Walgrave and his friend and frequent nightly visitor to his home, Nicholas Francken. He also finds a sealed note in the hole in the wall, that he opens to find indecipherable writing on it, and the signature of Nicholas Francken. The question in both the original story and the film is where was the Bishop’s house where Francken stayed?

In Anderson’s room at the inn, Bosch’s painting of “Christ’s Descent Into Hell” is prominently displayed in view of his bed. He notices the door of the unlisted room 13 next to his on his way down for dinner. He meets his neighbor, the lawyer Jenkins. That night, Anderson is awakened by the sounds of partying next door and bangs on the wall for quiet. After he goes back to bed, the shadow of a figure appears on the wall watching him as he sleeps. Anderson continues his investigations into the forgotten Bishop and where his home was, as well as trying to figure out the mysteriously appearing and disappearing room 13. This film really is a fantastic production from the actors, settings, script, sound effects and special effects. It is my favorite of the series so far. The little changes the writer makes to James’ story are very good, and add to the story tremendously.

“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”

Here is the link to the story:

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary/’Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You My Lad’ – Wikisource, the free online library

Philosophy Professor Parkins decides to take his term break at the seaside village of Burnstow to practice his golf game. One of his fellow professors, an archaeologist, asks him to look at a site of a ruined Templar church there and determine if it would be worth excavating. Parkins gets a double room, and goes out for a walk. He finds the church ruins, and while examining a hole in the stone ruins, finds a whistle with an inscription in Latin translated into English as “Who is this who is coming?” He decides to blow on the whistle to see, and immediately the wind outside blows open his window. He spends a restless night and hears noises in his room. In the morning, the maid informs him that both the beds in his room were slept in with one having the bedding twisted up. He informs her that he didn’t sleep in that bed but must have messed it up when he laid his suitcase on it earlier.

He meets up with a retired colonel for golf that day and tells the colonel of the previous day’s and night’s happenings. The colonel mentions it might be supernatural, to which Parkins emphatically states his belief that there is no such thing. But events continue to prove Parkins is wrong in his belief.

As this is James’ most well-known tale next to “The Casting of the Runes”, it’s not surprising that the B.B.C. has done two versions of it for television. The first one was done for an anthology show “Omnibus” in 1968, and starred Michael Hordern as Professor Parkin. Again, here is the link for it on YouTube:

M R James’ Whistle And I’ll Come To You 1968 – YouTube

In 2010, the B.B.C. remade the story with the late, great John Hurt in the role of Parkin, and here is the link for it:

Whistle And I’ll Come To You 2010 – YouTube

In discussing both versions, there will be MAJOR SPOILERS of the endings. So if you haven’t seen them, jump on down to the next selection, “The Tractate Middoth”. I recommend both films, but be aware that the 2010 version has very little to do with James’ story.

 

The 1968 version sticks fairly close to the story as James wrote it. They dropped the “s” off the end of the Professor’s name. Hordern was inspired casting for the role. In the story, Professor Parkins is a young man, while in the film, Parkin is obviously middle-aged, with a life full of experience proving his belief and knowledge in his field of philosophy to be true. Hordern also has the self-important air and punctiliousness of one who knows what is what.

He most emphatically tells the innkeeper he’s not there for golf, in a change from the story. Parkin then goes off the next day walking among the shore, and up in the high ground, where he stumbles upon some ruins and a former graveyard. He unconcernedly tramples across graves until he comes to a grave on the edge of an eroding cliff that he sees some bones hanging out over the empty space. He unfeelingly kneels down on top of the grave looking for souvenirs, saying “Give a dog a bone”, and finds a cylindrical object that he takes while uttering “Finders, keepers”. On his way back to the inn, he sees someone is following him.

When he gets back to the inn, after dinner and up in his room, he looks at his find, and reads the Latin inscription and translates it, saying “Who is this who is coming”. He then says the fateful words, “We shall blow it and see,” and blows the whistle, and is startled to hear the winds rise up outside. In the morning at breakfast, Parkin has a conversation with the colonel, delivering a self-satisfying philosophically logical argument against ghosts at breakfast, and goes on his way. That evening, he hears noises in his room and has bad dreams of being pursued along the beach. In the morning, the staff asks him which of the two beds he wants to sleep in as both are again in disarray. He begins to have disquieting thoughts that something inexplicable is happening that he can’t explain. That night, he is awakened from his sleep by rustling  and sighing noises, and looks over to see the bedsheets on the other bed standing up and moving like a ghost. He goes into shock and starts gibbering insensibly. He is saved by the colonel coming in and putting him to bed, leaving Parkin shell-shocked by what he has seen and heard.

The 2010 version should really have been titled as “inspired or suggested by” James’ story, as with the exception of place, and some moments from the story, it is a very different animal. First, the story starts off with the astronomer Parkin, played by John Hurt, taking his wife, clearly in the later stages of dementia and fairly catatonic, to a care facility, and leaving her there to go off to the village at the seaside that they used to go to for holidays. He’s clearly saddened at no longer being able to care for her and have her in his life, and can’t stop worrying about her. He is given a double room instead of the single he asked for, and resignedly takes it. His attitude throughout the teleplay is one of someone who doesn’t want to cause waves or upset others, and therefore, accepts whatever is thrown at him.

He goes for a walk on the beach as he and his wife used to love doing, and after eating his lunch sitting on the dunes, finds a lost, gold wedding ring in the sand that he takes. While walking back, he notices someone in white is following him.

Back at the hotel, he looks at the ring and reads the inscription, “Who is this who is coming”. He calls the care facility to talk with his wife, who still in her state of catatonia, stares while the nurse holds the phone to her ear so Parkin can talk to her. At dinner, Parkin quietly sits and eats his fish and chips without much interest, while a couple eats at the table near him with their noisy, rambunctious young boy fidgeting and making noises. That night, he looks at the ring some more as the winds rise outside his room. He hears noises of scratching and thumping in his room, and a hideous bust in the room unsettles him.

The next night, he has someone violently pounding on his room’s door, trying to get in. The knocking subsides, and he has a disquieting dream from which he awakes, and then goes out to find someone, only to find no one else around and the inn’s doors locked. When he reports the disturbance to the innkeeper, she tells him he was the only one in the inn that night, that there were no other guests, and she was at her home with her sick child. Parkin is alarmed to find such shoddy care for their guests that they would leave him locked in the place by himself with no way to get out. The innkeeper assures him she will be with him tonight. When she jokingly suggests it’s possible that the noises and door pounding might be supernatural, he gives his speech that he doesn’t believe in such things, that he’s seen far worse—a human body that has outlasted the existence of its personality, obviously talking about his wife. He tells the innkeeper he’s changed his plans and will be leaving in the morning. He goes out to the beach for one last walk, and once again sees the figure in white chasing after him. He runs and makes it to the inn. That night, before going to bed, he puts a pillow against the opening between the door and floor, and gets into bed. The noises begin, the pillow gets pulled out from the other side of the door, the banging starts on the door, then something begins to come underneath the door. Parkin is cowering in his bed with the covers pulled up to shield his face. He opens his eyes and looks to see his wife kneeling on his bed. She then starts telling him over and over with her voice getting louder and louder, “I’m still here!”, and reaches for him. Parkin can’t stand the terror, and falls over, his hand spasmodically scratching the floor-making the same scratching noises he had previously been hearing, then it stops. At the same moment, his wife in her bed at the facility, has a tear running down her cheek. Then innkeeper comes in to check on Parkin the next morning and sees him dead. At the care facility, the nurse sadly looks over at Mrs. Parkin sitting in a chair. Mrs. Parkin suddenly looks over at the nurse, then turns her head as if someone is behind her and gives a smile. The nurse passes in front of Mrs. Parkin’s chair, and when the nurse is gone, the chair is empty.

In comparing the two versions of the story, they both take decidedly different views on the character of Parkin. Both have changed the character from the young academic man in the story, to an older man for different reasons. In the first film, while following the story fairly closely, it views Professor Parkin with the standard view of a pompous, formal old fool. He is generally by himself in many of the shots of the film, and while in the dining room, he even is placed at a small table away from the big table where everyone else is sitting. Even when it’s just him or the colonel in the dining room, Parkin still sits at the small table by himself. One also begins to get an idea that the film considers Parkin to be a child—he is at what is generally considered the children’s table by himself in the dining room, and during the last night’s events in his room, when his mind is blasted by the sight of the animated sheets, he reverts to sucking his thumb and making infantile noises.

In the 2010 remake, the aim of the filmmakers is very different from James’ original story and the 1968 film. They appear to want to examine the effects of old age and dementia upon a life-long relationship and marriage. Parkin is lost at not having the daily care of his best friend and the love of his life to give him a reason to exist. He is alone, and doesn’t know what to do once he places his wife in a long-term care facility. In fact, one can argue that the events depicted in the film may all be occurring in Parkin’s mind because he doesn’t have his wife around anymore and is either feeling guilty for breaking up/ending their marriage by putting her in the facility (possibly suggesting by his finding the wedding ring instead of a whistle), or feels that his life is over without someone to give him a reason to go on living. The figure that appears on the beach wearing a shapeless white garb appears to be a white-haired woman—possibly suggesting his wife haunting him in his mind because he’s not around her caring for her and has left her behind before she and he are ready for the break. Unlike the story and the 1968 version, the noises in his room and banging on his door may also only be figments of his mind. In the story and 1968 film, you had the maids remark to Parkin(s) about the second bed in his room having its sheets all twisted up that they had to fix each morning after he found the whistle, which Parkin(s) didn’t mess up. You have a shot after Parkin finds and takes the whistle of someone following him in the film, while the story has him feel like he is being followed. And in the story, a terrified boy runs into Parkins and the Colonel having been scared to death watching a white figure up in Parkins’ empty room’s window. In the 2010 version, the innkeeper says no one else heard the banging on his door, and there was no use of a second bed in his room to show anything messing it’s sheets up. In addition, during the final night for Parkin in the 2010 version, the innkeeper told him she was specifically staying in the inn because of his disquiet from the second night’s events. She would have definitely come running if the banging and screaming in his room was really happening, as Parkin was the only guest in the inn. The final interesting bit was that Parkin in his dying moments made the scratching sounds he originally complained of with his fingers on the floor. And, of course the biggest difference between the 2010 film and the original story and 1968 version is there’s no whistling on a magic item by Parkin to summon anything supernatural, just him finding a lost wedding ring.

Both versions make superb use of the soundscape and soundtrack to heighten their effect. And I personally think that in the 2010 version, the moments of the door banging and jumping as something is trying to get in is the best use of those effects since the original 1963 movie version of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Both “Whistle” films are worth watching, but just remember that the 2010 version has something different on its mind as to what it will be portraying than an adaptation of the original story.

 

“The Tractate Middoth”

The story link:

More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary/The Tractate Middoth – Wikisource, the free online library

A Mr. John Eldred arrives at a library seeking the copy of a book, The Tractate Middoth. An attendant, Mr. Garrett, goes off to get it, but returns to tell Mr. Eldred that a person in a cloak, maybe a clergyman, had it. Mr. Eldred hurriedly leaves. He returns the next day for the book, and Garrett goes to get it, but faints upon seeing the face of the clergyman, who is again holding the book. Eldred leaves without the book. Garrett then takes a holiday to convalesce from his shock, and stays with a Mrs. Simpson and her daughter. There, he learns about Mrs. Simpson’s late, rich, nasty uncle, Dr. Rant, and the problem she had with her cousin John Eldred dealing with the inheritance of Dr. Rant’s estate due to two different wills he made out for her, which she hasn’t been able to find, and one to Eldred, who got all of Dr. Rant’s fortune when he produced his version of the will. Garrett realizes he can help in the matter and the race is on to get a copy of The Tractate Middoth, which will settle the issue.

The film:

M.R. James – The Tractate Middoth (2013 BBC) – YouTube

This is the first of three adaptations that Mark Gatiss has written and directed of M.R. James’ stories for the “A Ghost Story for Christmas” series. Gatiss is a life-long fan of James’ stories, and of horror in general, and has a great time adapting and directing this film. The cast is great, and the settings are wonderful. Gatiss has moved the happenings of the story from Edwardian England to the 1950’s, and does a fine job with showing post-war England.

The film follows the story fairly closely with minor changes to make it flow better, covering up some of the minor plot holes in James’ story. Gatiss even uses the actress Una Stubbs, Mrs. Hudson in his and Steven Moffatt’s modern adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories as a minor player in the film. This is a  wonderful film and highly recommended!

That makes up the last of the “A Ghost Story for Christmas” episodes that are available on YouTube for viewing. Based on his work on “The Tractate Middoth”, I would expect that the versions of “Martin’s Close”, and “The Mezzotint” would be worth watching if you can find the first, and are in the UK for Christmas Eve for the second. If nothing else, I hope this has gotten you  to continue the fine old Victorian tradition of reading a ghost story for Christmas, whether it’s one of James’ many, or someone else’s.

Sources

Texts

Jones, Darryl (Editor), (2011), M.R. James Collected Ghost Stories, Oxford University Press

Websites

A Ghost Story for Christmas – Wikipedia

A View from a Hill (Full Text) · A Thin Ghost (thin-ghost.org)

A Warning to the Curious (Full Text) · A Thin Ghost (thin-ghost.org)

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary – Wikisource, the free online library

More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary – Wikisource, the free online library

Read for free | M. R. James Archive (wordpress.com)

YouTube-various sites linked in text

John Bullard is a retired attorney who lives in Texas, and has updated The Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard for The Robert E Howard Foundation Press, which will soon be available for purchase. He became a life-long Howard fan upon reading his first Howard story in an anthology of horror stories in 1974. While working on the Letters, he started seeing the subject matter of this post and has written it up for the education and edification of other Howard-ophiles. John is currently working on several projects for The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press.