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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
68 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Mystery And Imagination was a British TV series that ran from 1966 to 1970 and comprised of 24 episodes. Sadly only eight of these episodes have survived, all of which are present in this collection. The series was made by ITV. Each drama was a horror or supernatural tale based on works by well-known 19th century writers such as Bram Stoker, Mary Shelly, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sheridan Le Fanu and Edgar Allan Poe.
This is what is on each disc.
Disc One -
Uncle Silas (1968) black and white, 80 minutes
Frankenstein (1968) black and white, 80 minutes
Gallery - featuring colour pictures (includes those from lost episodes)
Disc Two -
Dracula (1968) black and white, 80 minutes
The Suicide Club (1970) colour, 80 minutes
Disc Three -
Sweeney Todd (1970) colour, 80 minutes
Curse Of The Mummy (1970) colour, 77 minutes
Disc Four -
Fall Of The House Of Usher (1966) black and white, 50 minutes
The Open Door (1966) black and white, 54 minutes
Extract from Casting The Runes - 3 minutes (picture slightly warped)
Frankenstein stars Ian Holm. Dracula stars Denholm Elliot as the Count and the very lovely Susan George as Lucy. Freddie Jones is terrific as Sweeney Todd.
Also enclosed is an excellent 40-page colour booklet, which outlines the history of the show as well as giving detailed descriptions of all the episodes (including those that are now lost).
The four discs and booklet are housed in a case that is the same size as a regular DVD case. The picture and sound quality is top notch on the first three discs. The picture is not as good on the forth disc but is still very decent. All episodes are in full-screen. Each drama was clearly made on a low budget, yet still manages to look impressive. The colour episodes have a brilliantly creepy opening title sequence.
This is a very fine collection from Network that will appeal to anyone who is a fan of vintage British horror. Worth checking out too is Beasts, also released by Network.
This is what is on each disc.
Disc One -
Uncle Silas (1968) black and white, 80 minutes
Frankenstein (1968) black and white, 80 minutes
Gallery - featuring colour pictures (includes those from lost episodes)
Disc Two -
Dracula (1968) black and white, 80 minutes
The Suicide Club (1970) colour, 80 minutes
Disc Three -
Sweeney Todd (1970) colour, 80 minutes
Curse Of The Mummy (1970) colour, 77 minutes
Disc Four -
Fall Of The House Of Usher (1966) black and white, 50 minutes
The Open Door (1966) black and white, 54 minutes
Extract from Casting The Runes - 3 minutes (picture slightly warped)
Frankenstein stars Ian Holm. Dracula stars Denholm Elliot as the Count and the very lovely Susan George as Lucy. Freddie Jones is terrific as Sweeney Todd.
Also enclosed is an excellent 40-page colour booklet, which outlines the history of the show as well as giving detailed descriptions of all the episodes (including those that are now lost).
The four discs and booklet are housed in a case that is the same size as a regular DVD case. The picture and sound quality is top notch on the first three discs. The picture is not as good on the forth disc but is still very decent. All episodes are in full-screen. Each drama was clearly made on a low budget, yet still manages to look impressive. The colour episodes have a brilliantly creepy opening title sequence.
This is a very fine collection from Network that will appeal to anyone who is a fan of vintage British horror. Worth checking out too is Beasts, also released by Network.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I used to love this series when it was on TV. My friend & I were avid watchers and would compare notes at school on Monday. Early episodes were introduced by a character played by David Buck (tasy - whatever happened to him?) who also featured in some of the stories (e.g. Room 13). It is a shame more of the early episodes were not kept - others that particularly come to mind were the chilling Lost hearts (who could forget those bloody holes in the children's chests?) and one that featured Bruce Forsyth in the Canterville ghost. Fall of the House of Usher was very good so I'm pleased that is here.
Classic drama based on stories by the great writers of supernatural & horror (MR James, Sheridan Le Fanu etc) that featured big names - pity there is a such a shortage of quality drama made for TV now.
Classic drama based on stories by the great writers of supernatural & horror (MR James, Sheridan Le Fanu etc) that featured big names - pity there is a such a shortage of quality drama made for TV now.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A good few years before the BBC began its seminal "Ghost Story for Christmas" series, ITV were merrily knocking out supernatural classics in ABC's "Mystery and Imagination" series. Dramatising works by the likes of J. S. LeFanu, Bram Stoker, Mrs Oliphant and of course M.R. James, this series provided a rich mix of chilling classics. This lovely little box set brings together all the surviving episodes (only 8, sadly), comprising two from the ABC series and a further six from a little later on when Thames TV took over the production.
The Thames episodes feature higher production values and faster pacing and direction, although the earlier ABC episodes have their charm. Particularly tantalising is the inclusion of the surviving three minutes of M.R. James's "Casting the Runes", which seems a faithful and well made adapatation. What a pity so many of these ABC episodes are now lost.
The stand out for me was "Uncle Silas", featuring a brilliantly demented performance of the title character by Robert Eddison, in which he is mostly filmed from below for a more forbidding effect. It also brilliantly uses locations to enhance the production. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was perhaps a little ambitious for the producers, who sensibly scaled it down to concentrate on the central part of the novel. Nevertheless, this one seems to have something missing. "Frankenstein" is faithful and thought provoking, and very well acted throughout.
Moving into colour, Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Suicide Club", along with "Sweeney Todd" have some new elements injected in to great effect. "The Curse of the Mummy", also filmed a few years earlier by Hammer, suffers from its studio bound production, feeling more like a play than a TV film, but still well done all round.
This is superbly packaged set. It is dated now, though the later Thames episodes seem much less dated than the ABC ones, particularly the colour ones. There's a lot to enjoy though, well made throughout and a wonderful idea for a TV series to put together classic stories along a similar theme (see also Thames TV's The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes for more in this vein from this powerhouse of 70s British TV).
The Thames episodes feature higher production values and faster pacing and direction, although the earlier ABC episodes have their charm. Particularly tantalising is the inclusion of the surviving three minutes of M.R. James's "Casting the Runes", which seems a faithful and well made adapatation. What a pity so many of these ABC episodes are now lost.
The stand out for me was "Uncle Silas", featuring a brilliantly demented performance of the title character by Robert Eddison, in which he is mostly filmed from below for a more forbidding effect. It also brilliantly uses locations to enhance the production. Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was perhaps a little ambitious for the producers, who sensibly scaled it down to concentrate on the central part of the novel. Nevertheless, this one seems to have something missing. "Frankenstein" is faithful and thought provoking, and very well acted throughout.
Moving into colour, Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Suicide Club", along with "Sweeney Todd" have some new elements injected in to great effect. "The Curse of the Mummy", also filmed a few years earlier by Hammer, suffers from its studio bound production, feeling more like a play than a TV film, but still well done all round.
This is superbly packaged set. It is dated now, though the later Thames episodes seem much less dated than the ABC ones, particularly the colour ones. There's a lot to enjoy though, well made throughout and a wonderful idea for a TV series to put together classic stories along a similar theme (see also Thames TV's The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes for more in this vein from this powerhouse of 70s British TV).
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Network! ------------- I'm as mad as hell and I'm not goin to take it...
Dont trust them!
I've wasted far too much money on so called 'Only known copies available'. Read more
I've wasted far too much money on so called 'Only known copies available'. Read more
Published 20 days ago by J. MCDONALD
Interesting TV-movie collection
This box set is a real treat. The box contains all six movies produced in the series "Mystery and Imagination". Read more
Published 1 month ago by Morten Hillebert Bay
Mystery And Imagination
I got pretty much what I expected. If like me, you watched this on TV when you were very young, you'll also like it-particularly Uncle Silas! Read more
Published 3 months ago by En
Imaginative but very dated.
These adaptations demonstrate just how imaginative and ambitious television production used to be. However few actually work for a contemporary audience and even their enthusiasts... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Adrian Drew
Pity that this is all that remains from this series
This boxset contains all episodes that still remain in the archives. Episodes not on this dvd do no longer exist anywhere, so this is as complete as it gets. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2009 by Mother Teresa
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