hannahbrewer This is a harrowing, incredibly atmospheric short film based on a story by Charles Dickens. The premise is basic: A signalman in a far flung mini junction is used to his ways until a stranger appears one day. This is a ghost story as well as a take on solitude, technology and the supernatural. What I recall about this short is the haunting look and feel of the location. The film stayed with me because it reminded me of vague concepts such as time, space and memories. This is a short film (barely 40 mins) and yet it perhaps even exceeds the literary source if you go by some online opinion.

jmcmenemy8 A Charles Dickens classic short, expertly transformed to mid-seventies TV by director Lawrence Gordon Clark on the expert adaptation for the small screen by Andrew Davies. Taught, direct camera-work keeps the claustrophobic feel of the Signalman's life superbly realized; more so when the 'Traveller' comes to visit unexpectedly in the low autumn sunlight that barely reaches the cutting track below. The use of an actual signal box, so not in a studio, helps to keep the realism and feel of trepidation at a heightened level (their breath can be clearly seen in the cold air come night time when they both step outside of the signal box). All in all, a classic piece of British TV that could been rarely bettered, even today. You don't need cgi and huge production values to scare; just 40 minutes of first class direction and acting, which this has in abundance.

MARIO GAUCI One of the most famous entries in this series is actually based on a short story by Charles Dickens and features Denholm Elliot (who is excellent in the title role, a haunted train station attendant). A younger man – who eerily greets the signalman in the manner of his visions! – naturally becomes interested in Elliot's plight and the latter recounts how the ghostly apparition of an eyeless(!) old man would precede tragedies occurring at his post – a train wreck inside a tunnel and even a bride leaping from a train window to her death. The final instance of Elliot's second-sight is most ironic, though it will not surprise anyone familiar with Nicolas Roeg's DON'T LOOK NOW (1973; itself a literary adaptation from the work of a famous author i.e. Daphne Du Maurier).

ackstasis The more "Ghost Stories for Christmas" I watch, the more I'm convinced that they constitute some of the horror genre's finest additions. Filmed on modest budgets, these 40-minute short films for television were produced annually by the BBC between 1971 and 1978. Most were adapted from classic M.R. James short stories, but 'The Signalman (1976)' was notably adapted (very faithfully) from a Charles Dickens tale, which is available in an audio reading on the British Film Institute DVD. Directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark, this creepy ghost story is subtle, haunting and atmospheric, the perfect film with which to share company on a cold and lonely winter night. Just like 'A Warning to the Curious (1972)' and 'Whistle and I'll Come to You (1968)' {from a different series, but in the same vein}, this modest British chiller knows all the delicate tricks that can make the unknown seem like the most terrifying thing of all. I can't wait to track down some more of these wonderful short films.Set in the nineteenth century, the story revolves around an adventurous traveller (Bernard Lloyd) who happens upon the post of an eccentric railway signalman (Denholm Elliott, later of 'Indiana Jones' fame). The Signalman recounts the story of a mysterious spectre that has been haunting him this past year, appearing alongside the "danger light" – one arm across his face, the other waving ominously – at the entrance to the train tunnel, uttering the haunting words of warning, "Hello, down there! Clear the way!" These apparition have, on two occasions, been swiftly followed by a railway tragedy, the most unspeakable of which was a head-on collision between two locomotives in the tunnel, where the flames and smoke swiftly stifled the cries of many survivors. The Traveller tries to rationalise these tales, putting the phantom down to an optical ailment, but the Signalman is not to be convinced. The otherwise-judicious traveller is haunted by the lingering image of this apparition, and, by the film's end, he is left wondering if the Signalman might have been sane, after all.Lloyd and Elliott, who basically occupy the entire screen time between them, are both excellent in the main roles, communicating strong personalities than remain in the mind. Andrew Davies' screenplay is fine, but most credit should be bestowed upon a certain Mr. Charles Dickens, whose graceful writing moulds such complex characterisations, even with so few words, that the Traveller and the Signalman were already extraordinarily fleshed-out protagonists. Unlike 'A Warning to the Curious,' which deviated considerably from the M.R. James story on which it was based, 'The Signalman' is largely very faithful to its source material, and, indeed, much of the dialogue is retained. The only major difference is that, in the story, the Signalman's delusions are only narrated second-hand, and so the man's insanity is constantly brought into question – was there really a ghost, or was he just crazy? Television being a visual medium, the viewer is able to witness these frightening apparitions himself. This technique removes a bit of the ambiguity, but also achieves a heightened degree of terror.