The Man in Black - Hammer's limited collector's edition Blu-Ray

Amongst all last week's excitement of publishing Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, a couple of anthologies, and the new ebook edition of The Arsenic Labyrinth, I made brief mention on this blog of another project I've been involved with. For me it's a first, and it reflects my interest in films, an enthusiasm with which readers of this blog will be very familiar.

I was approached about a year ago, quite out of the blue, by Hammer Films - a legendary name in the movie business, and one I never expected to have any association with. They told me that they were planning to bring out a collector's edition of one of Hammer's early films, The Man in Black. This one has been unavailable for a long time, but they made it possible for me to watch it by way of background.

The reason for their approach was that, although the film screenplay was not written by John Dickson Carr, it was inspired by a radio series of the same name with which he was very closely involved. For this edition of the film, Hammer wanted to supply a lavish range of bonus extras. And one of them was to be a discussion about the work of John Dickson Carr.

I was due to go to London to take part in the Lansdowne Club Literary Festival, with an event scheduled for me to be in conversation with Andrew Taylor. So it made sense for the bonus extra to be filmed during the Festival and for it to take the form of another conversation between the two of us. It's always great to work with Andrew, and the whole experience was most enjoyable. And I'm delighted with the Blu-Ray. The accompanying booklet, for instance, is very impressive as well as informative. Although nothing is settled, there is at least a chance that I'll do another of these features at some future date, and I must say that the prospect does appeal to me. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm glad to be a bonus extra!