The Haunting - film review

If you like stories of the supernatural, then a 1963 film, The Haunting, might be just your cup of tea. Its credentials are impeccable. The director/producer, Robert Wise, won an Oscar for his work on Citizen Kane, and was responsible for West Side Story and The Sound of Music - not exactly a bad CV, and certainly a varied one. The cast includes Richard Johnson, Julie Harris, Russ Tamblyn and the stunning Claire Bloom, each of whom gives a strong performance.

And then there is the writer of the novel on which the story is based. Shirley Jackson's book, The Haunting of Hill House, is much admired, but for me, she is above all the author of  my favourite short story, "The Lottery". All I can say is that if you haven't read "The Lottery", I urge you to do so. Jackson suffered from health problems, and died relatively young, but she possessed a remarkable talent.

As for the film, yes, it is a haunted house movie, and many will be tempted to dismiss it as hokum. But I am keen on stories of the supernatural - I've recently written a story that has undeniably been influenced by extensive recent reading of Robert Aickman - and The Haunting is very well done indeed.

We begin with the concept of an old, sick house, which has many connections with death and disaster. Johnson plays a researcher who wants to explore Hill House's secrets, and persuades Harris and Bloom to assist. Tamblyn, his sidekick, is a sceptic - until, that is, creepy things start to happen. More than half a century after this film was made, it remains entertaining, a first class example of the well-made story of the supernatural.

Lewis: The Dead of Winter - review

The Dead of Winter kicked off the new series of Lewis on Sunday evening, and it was a very good episode, written (appropriately enough) by Russell Lewis, a highly experienced script writer. He was once mooted as a potential writer for a series based on my Harry Devlin novels; it’s my loss that this never came to pass.

The Dead of Winter was in the same mould as some of the best episodes of Inspector Morse, making the most of the Oxford setting, and a grand country house. Quintessential Englishness, if you like. The story was satisfyingly convoluted, too. With Lewis, as with so many good detective stories, sometimes the plot is rather unlikely when you stop to think it all through. But no matter – the key issue is the conviction with which the tale is told. And this one was told extremely well.

An academic is found murdered on an Oxford tour bus, but it soon becomes apparent that the deed was done elsewhere – in a church on the estate of a grand house where Lewis’s sidekick Hathaway grew up. Hathaway is a central figure in the story, and Laurence Fox’s performance was, I thought, compelling.

The rest of the cast was, as usual, excellent. Richard Johnson was splendid as a louche elderly aristocrat, while Nathaniel Parker was good as the lover of Johnson’s glamorous wife, played by Juliet Aubrey. Camilla Arfwedson, whom I haven’t come across elsewhere, was suitably seductive as love interest for Hathaway. And Clare Holman continues to make the most of a limited role as a pathologist who sometimes acts as Kevin Whately’s confidante.

All in all, first class light entertainment. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.