Mystery And Imagination - The Complete Series (All the remaining episodes) [DVD] [1966]

Very atmospheric.👍

Good vintage viewing

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.

An interesting period piece, misses the mark and nothing like as good as Tales of the Unexpected etc, but does have some weid moemnts, generall though its super dull........shame as feels like with a little more effort could have upscaled to something passing for etertainment. It does hve merit in some of it feeling ike its done live, some truly bizarre moments....but not enough to sustain.

Very well produced adaptations of these famous stories. The excerpt from casting the runes really makes me want to see the full adaptation.

This DVD set is a remnant of the original series - only eight of the original twenty four episodes still exist. I remember watching and being scared by 'Feet Foremost' as an eight year old. Sadly this is a missing play.Disc 1 has 'Uncle Silas' which I found interesting if not especially gripping. 'Frankenstein' written by Robert Muller is an intelligent and relatively faithful adaptation of the novel. Incidentally Muller also wrote a highly original variant on the Frankenstein theme for the later BBC anthology series " Supernatural "- the brilliant 'Night of The Marionettes'.Disc 2 has a rather miscast Denholm Elliott as 'Dracula'. This is quite creepy at times but the acting is sometimes a bit over the top. 'The Suicide Club' is an entertaining if improbable adventure story.Disc 3 contains 'Sweeney Todd' - alongside 'Frankenstein' the best Thames episode. It has a Dickensian feel and eschews the grisly in favour of the psychological. Freddie Jones is excellent in the lead role. 'The Curse of the Mummy' is rather slow although the ending is quite effective.Disc 4 consists of the only remaining ABC episodes. 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is a very free adaptation of the Poe masterpiece by David Campton. Denholm Elliott and Susannah York are in fine form as Roderick and Madeleine Usher. 'The Open Window' is a traditional ghost story whose cast includes John Laurie of "Dad's Army" fame. It is one of the best surviving episodes.All in all a lot has been lost but there are still quite a few thrills for fans of 60's and early 70's television drama.

If you want quality in TV and movies, the British are the best. American audiences want and watch garbage nowdays. This series is a gem! It's wonderful in its simplicity and frightful in its atmosphere. Hopefully some of my country men will actually develop an appreciation for the classics as well as proper manners. LOL.

I wonder how this is classed as the complete series when it is also classed as the remaining episodes. How can it be complete when most of the episodes are missing? From what I found out, most of the episodes were lost as in erased from the master tapes.

While I have only watched Bram Stoker's Jewel of Seven Stars so far, I'm impressed with the quality of the production and am very pleased with my purchase. Looking forward to watching the other movies.

An ITV series from the 60s that adapted famous stories from the 1800s. Plenty of period drama here. They adapt Poe, Stoker, Shelley, Le Fanu, etc. Unfortunately, only 8 episodes remain out of 24. The rest were wiped. They run about an hour and a quarter. The last 3 are in color, the rest in B & W. Dracula and Frankenstein are simplified to fit the time & budget. But plenty of great actors involved like Ian Holm, Freddie Jones & Denholm Elliott present.