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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2021 14:04:25 GMT
Paging @daver @davros1 @davygallagher grinch and other fellow Jamesians, again!
Another Jamesian BBC play I found recently on YouTube:
"The House at World's End"
We begin one Christmas Eve at Cambridge, long ago. The Master will be delighted if you can join him in his rooms. He has a tale to tell...
(I'm sure you'll be as pleased as I was to find David Collings as the doctor (no not that Doctor  ) and that the residence of Uncle Magnus is, by pure coincidence no doubt, Cranleigh Hall...)
David Collings is in it too! Thanks for this  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2021 18:26:01 GMT
Paging @daver @davros1 @davygallagher grinch and other fellow Jamesians, again!
Another Jamesian BBC play I found recently on YouTube:
"The House at World's End"
We begin one Christmas Eve at Cambridge, long ago. The Master will be delighted if you can join him in his rooms. He has a tale to tell...
(I'm sure you'll be as pleased as I was to find David Collings as the doctor (no not that Doctor ) and that the residence of Uncle Magnus is, by pure coincidence no doubt, Cranleigh Hall...)
I actually had this pinned on the bookmarks banner of the top of the Chrome browser on my previous laptop for a long time as a 'priority' to listen to but never got round to it, and forgot the name when I upgraded, so thanks for the reminder of its title. Will try to give it a listen to when I finish the last four chapters of Survivors (The Audiobook) this evening. Its taken me two Saturday evenings so far, and that and Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show are the only two Audio dramas I have listened to/got into the past few weeks, not having been in the mood of free of time. Cheers for the link. |
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Post by number13 on Mar 29, 2021 23:27:46 GMT
Paging @daver @davros1 @davygallagher grinch and other fellow Jamesians, again!
Another Jamesian BBC play I found recently on YouTube:
"The House at World's End"
We begin one Christmas Eve at Cambridge, long ago. The Master will be delighted if you can join him in his rooms. He has a tale to tell...
(I'm sure you'll be as pleased as I was to find David Collings as the doctor (no not that Doctor ) and that the residence of Uncle Magnus is, by pure coincidence no doubt, Cranleigh Hall...)
I actually had this pinned on the bookmarks banner of the top of the Chrome browser on my previous laptop for a long time as a 'priority' to listen to but never got round to it, and forgot the name when I upgraded, so thanks for the reminder of its title. Will try to give it a listen to when I finish the last four chapters of Survivors (The Audiobook) this evening. Its taken me two Saturday evenings so far, and that and Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show are the only two Audio dramas I have listened to/got into the past few weeks, not having been in the mood of free of time. Cheers for the link. I too have a browser like that - the road to chaos is paved with well-intentioned bookmarks...
Enjoy the story gentlemen, don't forget, when you listen it's Christmas Eve... |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2021 13:52:52 GMT
I actually had this pinned on the bookmarks banner of the top of the Chrome browser on my previous laptop for a long time as a 'priority' to listen to but never got round to it, and forgot the name when I upgraded, so thanks for the reminder of its title. Will try to give it a listen to when I finish the last four chapters of Survivors (The Audiobook) this evening. Its taken me two Saturday evenings so far, and that and Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show are the only two Audio dramas I have listened to/got into the past few weeks, not having been in the mood of free of time. Cheers for the link. I too have a browser like that - the road to chaos is paved with well-intentioned bookmarks...
Enjoy the story gentlemen, don't forget, when you listen it's Christmas Eve... Listened to this last Saturday late evening. Very good and worth a revisit some time too. I liked the mix of past tense narration and in character performance, well suited to M.R. James' writing. I realised at the end that I have probably read it too at some point. Thanks again. Please do flag up any other useful links in future. For myself Michael Hordern and David Suchet are the most satisfying to listen to, whilst Robert Powell on TV does a good narration. I never cared too much for Derek Jacobi (too brisk and 'reading the words off page' from the samples I have tried) and have yet to hear David Collings nor Andrew Sachs readings. Has anyone any opinion of their recordings? |
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Post by grinch on Apr 27, 2021 19:58:49 GMT
For me, I think Michael Hordern is the ultimate reader when it comes to M.R. James. Not sure why, perhaps it’s because he just so fits the idea of a fusty old academic?
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Post by number13 on Apr 28, 2021 12:24:09 GMT
For me, I think Michael Hordern is the ultimate reader when it comes to M.R. James. Not sure why, perhaps it’s because he just so fits the idea of a fusty old academic? He's always superb, in every role. But his most famous James role of Professor Parkin is a bit of an oddity and I have the feeling James may have been gently poking fun at some of his older Cambridge colleagues. Most of James' protagonists are much younger men, as he himself was when he started writing the stories.
Although it's true that James is often portrayed as elderly when he appears in audios (like the BBC series of 'Stories I Have Tried to Write'), he was by all accounts good, even lively company, enjoyed reading popular fiction, was a keen walker and long-distance (tri)cyclist and much younger than most of his academic peers. (He became Provost of King's in his early 40s and was still only in his mid-50s when he left to take up the same post at Eton.)
And he put far more humour into his stories than most adaptations reflect. The name of the great Michael Hordern of course made me think of 'O Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad' and that story is a case in point. We know the haunting, lonely beaches and the shrouded figure and The Thing in the other bed - but in the original there are also jokes about golf (a recurring theme in several of his stories) and the Colonel is written as a bluff, semi-comic character.
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Post by number13 on Nov 14, 2023 0:51:13 GMT
This thread has risen from the past and slowly beckons to all fans of The Master (no not him, The other Master, M.R.James) especially @davygallagher and grinch
The 1959 BBC adaptation of 'The Tractate Middoth' is on Sounds for the next 14 days (full cast drama, 30 mins)
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Post by number13 on Dec 17, 2023 13:42:21 GMT
Starting on Christmas Day for five days, BBC R4 Extra will repeat the 2018 Mark Gatiss series of 15 minute short plays from the stories of The Master. At 07:15, 12:15 and 17:15 daily, also on Sounds afterwards of course.
One story that's well known, three of the absolute classics, and a 'wild card' from very late in the canon. Beware unsolicited engravings, slips of paper and strange carvings, never excavate a barrow in the dead of night and leave that door locked at all times, as you listen to:
The Mezzotint Casting the Runes The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral A Warning to the Curious Rats |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2023 12:41:43 GMT
Well, no James for Christmas but we did get Conan Doyle's Lot 249 last night.
A very fun, OTT version it was too. Played with quite a hint of the films most inspired by the story with the hysterical madness of a lot of Universal Horror being put into it. Kit Harrington, who I normally don't care for, is really solid and completely gets the more heightened almost camp interpretation down pat.
Doyle, who hated being known for Holmes and wanted spiritualism and the paranormal to be his legacy, would surely be happy to get this, which has plenty of both, made nearly 100 years after his death.
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) and that the residence of Uncle Magnus is, by pure coincidence no doubt, Cranleigh Hall...)
