The Treasure of Abbot Thomas (A Ghost Story for Christmas)
Made for the BBC TV series A Ghost Story for Christmas, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is a short film (36 minutes) based on a Victorian ghost story by M. R. James. It was first aired on 23rd December 1974.
Much of the film centres on the activities of the Rev Justin Somerton (Michael Bryant) and his star student Peter, Lord Dattering (Paul Lavers).
Peter is introduced during the opening scene where his mother is taking part in a seance conducted by a couple of fake mediums who claim to be able to reach her recently deceased husband and are living in on the estate at Lady Dattering’s expense.
Peter, who is obviously not impressed by the charade is not taking part. When his mother asks him to join them at the table, he refuses but says he may join them the next time, if he can invite a guest. He invites Rev Somerton, who attends the next seance and exposes the two charlatans almost immediately. Lady Dattering sends them packing the following morning.
The Rev Somerton has recently taken up a quest to find the treasure of Abbot Thomas, a disgraced clergyman from the 15th century who was almost burned at the stake for practising alchemy. The Abbot was said to have concealed a large amount of gold somewhere in the nearby monastery. He never revealed the location of his loot but teased those who asked him about it with a riddle that nobody could crack.
During the seance, Somerton recites a poem by Browning, first in Latin and then in French, that proves to be the undoing of the two fake mediums, who claim to be channelling the spirit of a priest who died 400 years ago. Clearly confused, they are unable to respond, leading Somerton to point out that priests of that time spoke Latin and Norman French better than English.
The poetry recital is doubly useful because Peter connects some of the verses to the Abbot’s riddle and joins his tutor on his quest to discover the hidden gold.
Somerton and Peter prove to be a good team, successfully piece together the clues and discover the likely location of the hidden hoard. They also find out that the Abbot has set a guardian over the treasure. Not a superstitious man, Somerton sneaks out alone during the night to try to retrieve the treasure of Abbot Thomas. His mission is successful. Unfortunately, the treasure turns out to be worthless while the guardian proves to be all too real.
Although there are some differences between the film and the original story, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas is an excellent adaptation that works well, is suitably dark in all the right places, and should appeal to anyone who enjoys a good ghost story.