Despite some great talents on-board (Richard Matheson as director of development, Jimmy Sangster as story consultant and occasional writer, William Castle as executive producer, Sebastian Cabot as host, and a slew of up-and-coming directors at the helm), "Ghost Story" didn't make it in the ratings, and was in fact retitled halfway through its run to "Circle of Fear". Cabot welcomes us as Winston Essex, portly host of the ornately spooky Mansfield House, introducing us to the characters in each week's one-hour episode. It's an anthology series which doesn't have much on "Night Gallery" (which, in turn, had nothing on "The Twilight Zone"). Usually, a married couple is beset with supernatural trouble when either the husband or the wife starts hearing/seeing things, while their respective spouses attempt to stop the madness in its tracks. Some of the trick photography and editing effects in the pilot episode (wherein pregnant Barbara Parkins is hearing things) are actually quite good, though subsequent episodes show a dip in inspiration. Some stories (such as "Concrete Captain") are mercilessly padded to fill time on the clock, while others are over-plotted and fall apart from the weight (as with "The Dead We Leave Behind", concerning a TV set which turns crystal ball). Nice to see this early work from filmmakers such as Richard Donner and Leo Penn, and actors like Jodie Foster, Karen Black, Susan Dey, Gena Rowlands, etc. But taking ideas from the imagination to the printed page--and then onto the television screen--has never been an easy journey, and "Ghost Story" doesn't fulfill expectations.
Review of Circle of Fear
