In the days when television could do this sort of thing...there has never to me been a more perfect adaptation of a ghost story. The location is spot-on, the performances beautifully polite but tense, and the atmosphere has to be experienced to be believed. Lawrence Gordon Clark, as with all the MR James adaptations, stays loyal to the notion of showing a little not a lot, and it works a treat. At forty minutes, it never outstays its welcome,and some of the camera work and individuals shots (eg Denholm Elliott standing at the mouth of the tunnel as smoke billows out behind him after the collision) and the night shot of the traveller returning to the inn are remarkable. Incomparable, and I am positive Dickens would approve.
Review of The Signalman
