CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES # 6 - THE ASH TREE (1975)

DIRECTED by Lawrence Gordon Clark 

SCREENPLAY by David Rudkin based on the short story "The Ash Tree" by M.R. James 

STARRING  - Edward Petherbridge as Sir Richard/Sir Matthew,  Barbara Ewing as Anne Mothersole,  Preston Lockwood as Dr. Croome,  Lalla Ward as Lady Augusta, Clifford Kershaw as The Witchfinder.

PLOT - The year 1690 - Sir Matthew the owner of Castringham Hall in Suffolk is involved in a witch hunting trial when he accuses a local woman - Anne Mothersole - of being a witch. Mistress Mothersole is executed by hanging but not before she swears vengence on Sir Matthew and his line. 

A few days later Sir Matthew is found dead in his bed - his corpse bloated and blackening as if he had died from some venomous poison...

Fast forward to the year 1735 - Castringham Hall now has a new owner - Sir Richard- a descendant of Sir Matthew who has recently inherited the hall. He learns that livestock on his land has been dying mysteriously from a strange affliction in recent years and starts to become haunted by visions of Sir Matthew's part in the death of Anne Mothersole. Sir Richard also starts to hear strange childlike noises emanating from the large ash tree located outside his bedroom window - the very same room that Sir Matthew died in years earlier. Is history about to repeat itself ?...

DIALOUGE  - Anne Mothersole - "MINE SHALL INHERIT !!!!"

PERFORMANCES  -

Edward Petherbridge plays the dual role of Sir Richard and Sir Matthew. His take on Sir Richard is that of a dashing young aristocrat. He's polite, friendly, determined not to be bound by the traditions of his predecessors and in love with his fiance Lady Augusta (ex Doctor Who companion and ex Mrs Tom Baker - Lalla Ward). All in all he seems like a pretty decent bloke.

This is in stark contrast to his great uncle Sir Matthew. Petherbridge plays Sir Matthew as being a pious and uptight man. He clearly has a sexual attraction to Anne Mothersole but sees her as being beneath him due to her being a peasant and him being a wealthy landowner. It is this sense of shame and revulsion that leads him to accuse Mrs Mothersole of witchcraft which ultimately leads to her execution. 

Petherbridge plays both roles very well, however the constant cutting back and forth between Sir Richard's "present day" and Sir Matthew's "flashback" sequences can get very confusing. This is mainly in part due to the fact that both Sir Matthew and Sir Richard look exactly the same - there's no attempt to distinguish one physically from the other. They could have at least had Petherbridge grow a moustache or beard for one of his roles or given him a slightly different hairstyle. Something...ANYTHING !!! Instead you only have Petherbridge's performance to go by which can sometimes take you a few moments to figure out which character he's playing. It's needlessly disorientating and really takes you out of the story.

Barbara Ewing plays Anne Mothersole. The fact that Mrs Mothersole clearly does posses supernatural powers is fairly obvious from the outset, however you get the impression that if she was left alone to her own devices she'd actually be fairly harmless. It's only the indignities that are heaped upon her during her trial and the unjust nature of her death that sends her down the path of using her knowledge for righteous supernatural vengence. Ewing plays the role with a great deal of dignity, she imbues Mothersole with a sense of calmness and quiet strength. This is a woman who refuses to be broken or cowed by the mindless religious zealots who have just tortured her and condemned her to death.

SFX - Unusually for this series its the special effects that are the real stars of the show. The "spawn of mistress Mothersole" who inhabit the ash tree are sheer GENIUS (in the most horrible and therefore best possible way of course). 

Basically what we have here are the severed heads of babies that have grown spider legs from them. Its not just the way they look, its also the hideous mewling crying and suckling noises that they make as they feast upon their victims - filling thier bodies with deadly venom in the process.

If the baby faced spiders weren't bad enough we also get the decayed corpse of mistress Mothersole that is found buried in the trunk of the ash tree. The corpse is sat with it's legs open looking like it has just given birth to the child faced monstrosities that we've just witnessed...

VIOLENCE  - Mistress Mothersole and two other terrified women are hanged from the gallows in a particularly harrowing scene.

The entirely deserving Sir Matthew and later on the entirely undeserving Sir Richard both fall victim to the face-spiders. Both men are partially consumed and appear to die from the poison the spider-babies secrete. The aristocrat's corpses are both described as being "dead and black." 

RATING  - The Ash Tree is a memorable adaptation with moments of sheer ingenious horror. Once again its beautifully shot, well acted and has bags of atmosphere. Its only let down by the confusing flashback/flashforward narrative structure and the quite frankly baffling decision to make Petherbridge's two characters look indistinguishable from one another. For this it loses a few points I'm afraid...

Overall I'm giving it 3 and a half baby-faced arachnids out of 5. Flawed but well worth a look all the same.

ART  -

Below - an illustration from the Christmas 1975 edition of the Radio Times for the TV premiere of The Ash Tree...

And finally an amusing little picture I found online whilst researching this article. Enjoy.