| Lost Hearts | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Lost_Hearts_1973_title_card.jpg) Title screen | |
| Based on | "Lost Hearts" by M. R. James |
| Written by | Robin Chapman |
| Directed by | Lawrence Gordon Clark |
| Starring |
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| Production | |
| Producer | Rosemary Hill |
| Running time | 34 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | 25 December 1973 |
| Related | |
| A Ghost Story for Christmas | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Lost Hearts is a short film, the third of the British supernatural anthology series A Ghost Story for Christmas. Written by Robin Chapman, produced by Rosemary Hill, and directed by the series' creator, Lawrence Gordon Clark, it is based on the 1895 ghost story of the same name by M. R. James and first aired on BBC1 on 25 December 1973.[1][2] It is the first instalment to have been broadcast on Christmas Day itself, and one of only three in the series' history.[3]
It stars Joseph O'Conor as Mr. Abney, a reclusive alchemist who takes in his much younger cousin, Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent). Stephen finds himself troubled by visions of two children who are revealed to have previously been taken in by Abney, and whose grisly fates potentially foreshadow his own.[4]
"Lost Hearts" was the first instalment not to be written and produced by Clark, who had helmed the first two singlehandedly under the auspices of the BBC Documentary Unit. A "victim of his own success", the series was brought under Hill at the Drama Department, with Clark staying on as director for all but the final entry in the original run.[5] Since airing it has received praise from critics, though some have lamented the loss of Clark's personal touch from the earlier films.
- ^ Lost Hearts (1973), British Film Institute (BFI) database
- ^ "BBC Four - Lost Hearts". BBC.
- ^ The other two to air on Christmas Day are The Ice House (1978) and The Tractate Middoth (2013).
- ^ "Lost Hearts". British Film Institute Database. Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2010.
- ^ Farquhar, Simon (30 June 2015). "Ghosts of Christmas past: M.R. James, Lawrence Gordon Clark and A Ghost Story for Christmas". Sight & Sound. Retrieved 2016-09-02.