I caught a couple of episodes of this short Gothic horror TV series on the BBC when it was first broadcast in 1977. Now it's available as a box set, I decided to take the opportunity to have a look at them all. Having watched all 8 episodes, it turns out the 2 I'd seen back then were among the better ones - those being "Night of the marionettes" and "Dorabella".
The premise -
At a club in the late nineteenth century, a group of Victorian gentlemen are told "true" tales of terror by people involved in the events recounted. The tale teller's object is to become members of this exclusive club. If the members listening are impressed, the teller can join, if not, he will die - for this is "The club of the damned"...(da! daaaaaa!)
Episodes -
1. Ghosts of Venice - The series gets off to a shaky start. Robert Hardy as an unbalanced retired actor, returns after many years, to Venice, where he meets a ghost from his past... and becomes one himself! With obvious studio sets substituting for Venetian locations, obscurely plotted and hammy, I really didn't understand this one - I think it might have been trying to say something about impotence.
2/3. Countess Ilona/Werewolf reunion - Things pick up with this 2 parter. A countess invites her 4 despicable former lovers to her isolated Hungarian castle where they are killed one by one by a mysterious creature. Being a 2 parter, there's more time here to develop the characters of the guests and the enigmatic Countess herself. The episodes are strongly cast and acted, though the werewolf is hardly seen (probably for the best!). Featuring the splendid Ian Hendry (he makes his cynical and callous arms dealer seem rather likable) - also with Charles Kay, John Fraser, Edward Hardwicke (later Dr Watson to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes) and Billie Whitelaw as the countess.
4. Mr Nightingale - Jeremy Brett, years before he became Sherlock Holmes, as a shy bachelor taken over by his lustful, crude, rude, vicious, doppelganger. A Jekyll and Hyde story which differs from Stevenson in that the transformation of Mr Nightingale is supernatural rather than scientifically based - though it might just be his disturbed mind at work. Notable for the then thirty something Mr Brett's cackling performance as the old, ugly, and crazy Nightingale, and as a showcase for Lesley-Anne Down's extraordinary beauty.
5. Lady Sybil - A clunky psychological study of insanity rather than a horror yarn. The actual supernatural bit seems more or less an irrelevant add on here ("We need something ghostly in this guys..."). Is a man's ghost returning, intent on killing his elderly wife? Are her middle aged sons the real culprits? Interesting to see "Look back in anger" playwright John Osborne in a rare TV acting role, and Denholm Elliott is always worth watching.
6. Viktoria - The familiar "murderous doll " trope, as a little girl seeks revenge on the wastrel dad who has killed her mother. Only of some interest for its gay subplot.
7. Night of the marionettes - Gordon Jackson as an author writing a book on Shelley discovers the origins of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in a strange Swiss hotel. Okay, but not great. I enjoyed the always creepy Vladek Sheybal as the hotel owner.
8. Dorabella - Best of the lot; the series bows out on a high note with this genuinely chilly vampire entry. Starring former pop singer Jeremy Clyde (of sixties duo "Chad and Jeremy") as a rich young man obsessed with a mysterious, aristocratic young woman, who seems to be a supernatural being. With a companion he travels across the countryside, staying in lonely inns, lured on by the beckoning Dorabella - until they arrive at an isolated castle. The episode includes a memorable turn by movie veteran John Justin as Dorabella's father. Like a more low key Hammer horror movie.
The premise of the series, that guests who fail to impress the listeners by their tale will be killed, seems inconsistent with the conventional, urbane, very normal seeming club members presented here. I can't recall actually seeing who gets accepted into the club and who doesn't in any of the episodes; none of them are seen physically being "knocked off" having failed. And it seems a pretty silly chance to take - risking being murdered just to get into a club!
One of the other problems with the series is that, apart from some of the exteriors, it's shot on tape, not film, and tape is simply not the right medium for this sort of material. If it had been all done on film, for example, "Dorabella" would have been a great episode rather than just a good one - all of them would have been significantly improved by using film instead of tape.
The premise -
At a club in the late nineteenth century, a group of Victorian gentlemen are told "true" tales of terror by people involved in the events recounted. The tale teller's object is to become members of this exclusive club. If the members listening are impressed, the teller can join, if not, he will die - for this is "The club of the damned"...(da! daaaaaa!)
Episodes -
1. Ghosts of Venice - The series gets off to a shaky start. Robert Hardy as an unbalanced retired actor, returns after many years, to Venice, where he meets a ghost from his past... and becomes one himself! With obvious studio sets substituting for Venetian locations, obscurely plotted and hammy, I really didn't understand this one - I think it might have been trying to say something about impotence.
2/3. Countess Ilona/Werewolf reunion - Things pick up with this 2 parter. A countess invites her 4 despicable former lovers to her isolated Hungarian castle where they are killed one by one by a mysterious creature. Being a 2 parter, there's more time here to develop the characters of the guests and the enigmatic Countess herself. The episodes are strongly cast and acted, though the werewolf is hardly seen (probably for the best!). Featuring the splendid Ian Hendry (he makes his cynical and callous arms dealer seem rather likable) - also with Charles Kay, John Fraser, Edward Hardwicke (later Dr Watson to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes) and Billie Whitelaw as the countess.
4. Mr Nightingale - Jeremy Brett, years before he became Sherlock Holmes, as a shy bachelor taken over by his lustful, crude, rude, vicious, doppelganger. A Jekyll and Hyde story which differs from Stevenson in that the transformation of Mr Nightingale is supernatural rather than scientifically based - though it might just be his disturbed mind at work. Notable for the then thirty something Mr Brett's cackling performance as the old, ugly, and crazy Nightingale, and as a showcase for Lesley-Anne Down's extraordinary beauty.
5. Lady Sybil - A clunky psychological study of insanity rather than a horror yarn. The actual supernatural bit seems more or less an irrelevant add on here ("We need something ghostly in this guys..."). Is a man's ghost returning, intent on killing his elderly wife? Are her middle aged sons the real culprits? Interesting to see "Look back in anger" playwright John Osborne in a rare TV acting role, and Denholm Elliott is always worth watching.
6. Viktoria - The familiar "murderous doll " trope, as a little girl seeks revenge on the wastrel dad who has killed her mother. Only of some interest for its gay subplot.
7. Night of the marionettes - Gordon Jackson as an author writing a book on Shelley discovers the origins of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" in a strange Swiss hotel. Okay, but not great. I enjoyed the always creepy Vladek Sheybal as the hotel owner.
8. Dorabella - Best of the lot; the series bows out on a high note with this genuinely chilly vampire entry. Starring former pop singer Jeremy Clyde (of sixties duo "Chad and Jeremy") as a rich young man obsessed with a mysterious, aristocratic young woman, who seems to be a supernatural being. With a companion he travels across the countryside, staying in lonely inns, lured on by the beckoning Dorabella - until they arrive at an isolated castle. The episode includes a memorable turn by movie veteran John Justin as Dorabella's father. Like a more low key Hammer horror movie.
The premise of the series, that guests who fail to impress the listeners by their tale will be killed, seems inconsistent with the conventional, urbane, very normal seeming club members presented here. I can't recall actually seeing who gets accepted into the club and who doesn't in any of the episodes; none of them are seen physically being "knocked off" having failed. And it seems a pretty silly chance to take - risking being murdered just to get into a club!
One of the other problems with the series is that, apart from some of the exteriors, it's shot on tape, not film, and tape is simply not the right medium for this sort of material. If it had been all done on film, for example, "Dorabella" would have been a great episode rather than just a good one - all of them would have been significantly improved by using film instead of tape.