begob In the 1850s an innocent orphan goes to live with his guardian, an elderly cousin who dabbles in mysticism, but the fates of two orphans who previously lived there disturb the hospitality.Could this be made today? The connotations are distasteful, and when you think this was made in the '70s, and the original story was written in Lewis Carrol's time, you wonder if something is being thinly veiled.This creates a nice Dickensian vibe, as the noble hero is welcomed into a world of slightly grotesque but affable adults whose goal is to mistreat and abuse him. The villain is played very well, but I didn't think the hero was good in close up - always blinking.Nicely shot, with the spookiness established immediately, and the sets and costumes are perfect. The ghosts are possibly overdone, but eerie nonetheless. (I wonder if the ghouls in the Hush episode of Buffy were inspired by this.) The climax is on the nose, which is a pity, since it could have afforded to be less literal, more mysterious.Overall - stylish little spook fest.

ackstasis Lawrence Gordon Clarke was behind the BBC's wonderful "Ghost Stories for Christmas," a series of creepy tales (most borrowed from the writings of M.R. James, though 'The Signalman (1976)' was a Dickens adaptation) to enjoy on a quiet, wintry Christmas night. 'Lost Hearts (1973)' is one of the lesser-known entries, but nonetheless proves a handsome ghost story with more chilling atmosphere in 35 minutes than most feature-length horror movies. Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent) is a young orphan sent to live with Mr Abney (Joseph O'Connor), a kindly, doddering old scholar. From the moment he arrives, Stephen begins to see and hear apparitions of two children – a boy and girl of his age – whose intentions are obscure. Stephen comes to learn that the children are former orphans taken into Mr Abney's home.One thing Clarke does very well is create mood without even a hostile ghost ('The Sixth Sense (1999)' and 'The Others (2001)' would do this very well decades later). The two children, their faces pale and their fingernails talon-like, stand cross-armed outside the house, silent sentries; the boy plays an instrument called the hurdy-gurdy, and walks with an unsettling, lopsided toothy smile. Perhaps the film would have been even better had Clarke withheld the children's identity until the final act. By introducing the previous orphans – not just through dialogue, but images, as well – he humanises them, and their intentions immediately become less sinister. It would have been more effective, I think, if we didn't understand until the last moment that the ghosts were, in fact, trying to warn Stephen, not harm him.

morrison94 After reading the 10 previous strongly positive reviews, I purchased this film on DVD. What a mistake! The plot was risible and the direction lame. The acting was pretty good, especially on the part of the two leads (too bad that Gipps-Kent died so young -- he was good enough that I wondered at first if the part was being played by a much more experienced woman). Nonetheless, the set-up (an innocent young orphan comes into the care of a kindly old bachelor) was followed by action that yielded not a particle of mystery, not a moment's frisson. The hackneyed denouement was so poorly executed as to leave me wondering what the other reviewers were thinking. They couldn't all be related to the cast or crew! Hope that other outings in the series are better-- I've now got several more to plow through. I'm a real fan of British TV and film, but this one isn't worth the heel of Mary Shelley's boot.

MARIO GAUCI Another ghoulish Yuletide yarn from the atmospheric pen of the great M. R. James: after a slow start depicting the settling in of a young boy into the mansion of his slightly dotty elderly cousin, the pace picks up considerably towards the midpoint of this 35 minute TV program with the chilling reappearance of the young children (fleetingly seen waving to the boy at the start) who have now morphed into ondulating Nosferatu-like wraiths complete with talons for fingernails! As it turns out, this boy and girl had previously also been guests at the cousin's manor but were sacrificed to the old man's obsessive quest for immortality via his belief that extracting three young hearts of living children will do the trick; needless to say, our young protagonist is the last link in the chain but the greedy old man did not count on the protection/retribution of his previous victims who (understandably off-screen) perform their own live heart removal on him and throw the beating organ into the flaming fireplace!