A Warning to the Curious
1972 Dir. Lawrence Gordon Clark Part of the BBC’s annual series A Ghost Story for Christmas , which ran from 1971 to 1978 and featured some of the small screen’s most chilling moments, A Warning to the Curious was adapted from the short story of the same name by MR James. It tells of a down on his luck amateur archaeologist who goes treasure hunting along the Norfolk coast in search of the fabled lost crown of Anglia, which supposedly helps protect Britain against invasion. He is soon hounded for his trouble by the crown’s spectral guardian… Lawrence Gordon Clark was responsible for many of the James adaptations in this series. Clark’s approach to revealing the horror is in keeping with James’ own quiet approach and it is unveiled slowly, suggestively, so as to heighten the impact and maintain the foreboding atmosphere of dread. The construction of the opening scene, in which an archaeologist is murdered while digging in search of the crown, is masterfully taut and creepy. T...