That was an excellent one.

Really Surprised!

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

"Please, my friend, you must compose yourself!" Indeed he must, for Denholm Elliot is in full over-acting mode. There is more steam emitting from his ears than blowing forth from the train. He is acting like there's no tomorrow, which, heh, heh, may or may not be the case.This is one of the Ghost Story For Christmas series I missed as a kid. The shrouded figure, either a monk or grim reaper is a familiar motif throughout its run, and shows up here to do some arm waving.As this is a two hander, you know one of the protagonists is soon to be pushing up the daisies. Guessing which and how is perhaps the only modest interest this dated entry will allow.

In the days when television could do this sort of thing...there has never to me been a more perfect adaptation of a ghost story. The location is spot-on, the performances beautifully polite but tense, and the atmosphere has to be experienced to be believed. Lawrence Gordon Clark, as with all the MR James adaptations, stays loyal to the notion of showing a little not a lot, and it works a treat. At forty minutes, it never outstays its welcome,and some of the camera work and individuals shots (eg Denholm Elliott standing at the mouth of the tunnel as smoke billows out behind him after the collision) and the night shot of the traveller returning to the inn are remarkable. Incomparable, and I am positive Dickens would approve.

BBC adaptation of a Charles Dickens ghost story about a lone Signalman (Elliott) who is haunted by the image of man who appears at the mouth of the railway tunnel to warn of impending disaster. One of the best entries in the "A Ghost Story for Christmas" series, the horror is conveyed through Elliott's state of mind after witnessing an horrific mid-tunnel train collission, and is enhanced by bizarre tonal 'music' and a sense of total isolation. Best viewed late at night, The Signalman has stood the test of time and the image of the eyeless screaming phantom (complete with blue skin!) is enough to send shivers down the spine of even the likes of M R James.