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Reviews
Lost Hearts (1973)
Atmospheric but flawed
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.
The Riff Raff Element (1993)
Fantastic little series
Only two previous reviews - no wonder there's no video or DVD. It was a great little series, and I can't understand why it has never been repeated. One of my favourite bits was the over-zealous North-American secretary (Pippa Guard?) who experienced the immaculate conception, which turned out to be a cushion! I do recall it was screened quite late, and for a first showing, must have attracted a fairly small audience.
This is a gem of a series with interesting plots and sub-plots - the parallel families with their intertwining stories. As one of the other two reviewers has said, this series has dimmed in the memory over the years, but was a worthy piece of tragi-comic drama, and is certainly worthy of a second showing.