The Stone Tape (1972 TV Movie) Trivia. The Stone Tape was a significant influence on John Carpenter's 1987 film Prince of Darkness in which a group of scientists investigate a mysterious cylinder discovered in the basement of a church. The Stone Tape is a relatively obscure TV-movie from 1972, another BBC commissioned Christmas chiller. Incidental music and sound effects were provided by Desmond Briscoe of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and these proved significant in setting the mood of the play – sections were later used in a BBC educational programme on the effectiveness of incidental music. Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) is the selfish and petulant head of a research team for Ryan Electrics. They were very cheerful. [7] Cast as Peter Brock was Michael Bryant, who had starred in the BBC's 1970 adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's Roads to Freedom and had a reputation for playing "bad boy" roles. As Brock directs the team to resume its past projects, the Vicar reappears claiming to have found records of the unsuccessful exorcism, not in 1892, but much earlier, in 1760, before the house even stood. Brock and Jill briefly meet with a local Vicar, who is also an archivist, but he fails to turn up records of the exorcism. Brock cruelly dismisses her findings, and forces Jill to take a two-month leave to prevent her from continuing her research. Or, to put it a bit more precisely, two entry points for talking about it today. Thankfully, the (tedious in my opinion) gothic Hammer house-style is largely absent here. The room, with its stone walls, is a remnant of the original building, with foundations dating back to the Saxon era. The Stone Tape remains well-regarded to this day. With an homage like this, one might say, who needs insults? | Synopsis: A research team from an electronics company move into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. Because of its subject matter, it was felt that the play would be best handled as an instalment of Dead of Night, a supernatural anthology series produced by Innes Lloyd. Returning to the room one last time, Jill's senses are besieged by a powerful, malevolent presence from the much-degraded older recording. [18] Besides directing the film, Carpenter wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym "Martin Quatermass", and included a reference to "Kneale University". Often specialises in … Learn more On arrival, they learn from estates manager Roy Collinson (Iain Cuthbertson) that the refurbishment of one of the rooms in Taskerlands remains uncompleted, the builders having refused to work in it because it is supposedly haunted. Written by Nigel Kneale of Quatermass fame, The Stone Tape is another intense ghost story. Selected as director was Hungarian Peter Sasdy whose credits included adaptations of The Caves of Steel and Wuthering Heights for the BBC and Taste the Blood of Dracula and Hands of the Ripper for Hammer. [20] The play also influenced the 1982 Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper film Poltergeist. Since its broadcast, the hypothesis of residual haunting – that ghosts are recordings of past events made by the natural environment – has come to be known as the "Stone Tape Theory". Rack up 500 points and you'll score a $5 reward for more movies. The bar helper recalls an African American soldier she met during WWII telling her that there were guppies in the wall of Taskerlands or maybe "duppies". The rest of the mansion was added on over the centuries. It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. Afterwards he orders that all of Jill's research be destroyed without reviewing it. The film takes an interesting case of an old English manor's "haunted room" and shows relatively competent scientists experimenting and devising theories to explain the phenomenon, almost giving the so-called "stone tape" theory some amount of respectability. Built on the intellectual foundations 19th cent. They were nice chaps – and so we got some very nice chaps for the TV version". In the end, The Stone Tape was broadcast as a standalone programme but production was handled by the Dead of Night team under Lloyd. The Stone Tape is very ably directed by Peter Sasdy, a director more closely associated with the same period's Hammer films. A research team from an electronics company move into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. This was once owned by Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron and sponsor of computer pioneer Charles Babbage. The film takes an interesting case of an old English manor's "haunted room" and shows relatively competent scientists experimenting and devising theories to explain the phenomenon, almost giving the so-called "stone tape" theory some amount of respectability. The term 'Stone Tape' relates to two things: first, the theory that inanimate materials such as buildings can record the resonances of living things and 'play back' those memories in the form of 'ghosts'; and secondly, a little known original screenplay broadcast on BBC television way back in 1972. Brock is certain that the secret is connected to the walls, but he fails to develop a predictable method of triggering. I can only imagine that it is a whimsical riposte for my having my name removed from a film I wrote a few years ago [a reference to Halloween III for which Kneale wrote an early draft] and which Mr Carpenter carpentered into sawdust". The strength of the The Stone Tape lies in its narrative form. It was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972. What to Watch Latest Trailers IMDb TV IMDb Originals IMDb Picks IMDb Podcasts. The play was also inspired by a visit Kneale had paid to the BBC's research and development department, which was then located in an old Victorian house in Kingswood, Surrey. [22] Writer Grant Morrison recalled The Stone Tape as "really creepy and very memorable. Curious, the researchers explore the room and hear the sounds of a woman running followed by a gut-wrenching scream. [27] It is to be reissued as a bonus disc in the Record Store Day exclusive 6-CD box set Four Albums 1968 - 1978[28][29] 29 August 2020. | Kneale recalled of his visit to Kingswood Warren, "The sort of impression you got of the folk who worked there was a boyishness. When team member Jill Greeley witnesses a ghost, team director Peter Brock decides not only to analyse the apparition, which he believes is a psychic impression trapped in a stone … Michael Bates was not available on this day and his lines had to be redistributed among the other cast members. [8][9] Jane Asher, playing Jill Greeley, had, as a child, appeared in Hammer's The Quatermass Xperiment, the film adaptation of Kneale's BBC serial The Quatermass Experiment. Similarly, the researchers working at Kingswood Warren influenced the portrayal of the members of the Ryan research team in The Stone Tape. Excited by the possibilities presented by a recording medium which uses a person's own senses as the means of recording and playback, Brock and his team move into the room. [2] The science and supernatural theme is also present in Kneale's Quatermass and the Pit which, in addition, shares similar elements with The Stone Tape such as an abandoned house with a reputation for hauntings; the collection of documentary evidence of the haunting (also a trademark of M. R. James, a writer much admired by Kneale)[3] and the sensitivity of certain characters to the supernatural. Find trailers, reviews, synopsis, awards and cast information for The Stone Tape (1972) - Peter Sasdy on AllMovie - Peter Brock (Michael Bryant) has assembled a… The Stone Tape is a television play directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. And, like in The Stone Tape movie, the traces can be erased, disrupted by heat or magnetic fields, or otherwise overwritten. The team investigate the phenomena, trying to determine if the stones of the building are acting as a recording medium for past events (the "stone tape" of the play's title). Profile: A UK-based, independent music collective inspired by the English folk revival, Edwardian occultism, Norwegian black metal, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, 1970s doom rock and the electronic landscapes of Detroit and Berlin. Critically acclaimed at time of broadcast, it remains well regarded to this day as one of Nigel Kneale's best and most terrifying plays. Accepting the commission, Kneale quickly decided that, in keeping with Christmas tradition, he would write a ghost story, but with a difference – ancient spirits would come into collision with modern science. Taglines Persinger & Koren (2001) take the “field” ideas in a different direction by considering the earth as a photographic exposure plate. [9], The Stone Tape aired on 25 December 1972 on BBC2 to an audience of 2.6 million. Stone Tape Recordings. Jill hypothesises that the "tape" does not produce actual sound or light, but instead interfaces with the human nervous system during playback to create the sensory impression of sound and vision, and some individuals are more sensitive to this than others. Be the first to contribute! The main characters seem to be yelling all the time so it became an irritation. The Stone Tape was written by Nigel Kneale, best known as the writer of Quatermass. His team is developing a new recording medium that will give the company an edge over its Japanese competitors. Brock hypothesises that it is not a ghost, but that somehow the stone in the room has preserved an image of the girl's death—this "stone tape" may be the new recording medium they have been seeking. Under the UVB-76 Music umbrella, curated by Vega and Overlook emerges The Stone Tapes, a new medium for residual recordings documented in static matter. [18] In the 2004 BBC7 Radio Serial "Ghost Zone", a character refers explicitly to the "Stone Tape theory" as an explanation for the way an invading alien intelligence is "replaying" scenes and figures from the past of the remote Scottish village in which the story is set. Parents Guide, TV EYE: British Science Fiction Television in the 1960s and 1970s. The Stone Tape was one of the last plays Nigel Kneale wrote for the BBC. [5], For the research facility at "Taskerlands", Kneale was influenced by a visit he had paid to the BBC's research and development facility which was based at an old country house at Kingswood Warren in Kingswood, Surrey. It was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972. Summaries. Just brilliant images. [12], Recording of The Stone Tape began on 15 November 1972 with the exterior scenes of the house, "Taskerlands". Inquiring of old records, Collinson finds records of a young maid who had died in the room in 1890 and that an unsuccessful exorcism had previously been performed on the property. Showing all 3 items. With Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Iain Cuthbertson, Michael Bates. The Stone Tape is a television play directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. Over the years it has become increasingly difficult to get … Nigel Kneal's classic ghost story The Stone Tape , first broadcast by the BBC in 1972, represents his best work outside of the legendary Quatermass series. However, their investigations serve only to unleash a darker, more malevolent force. [26] This edition is now out of print, but in 2013 the DVD was re-released with new cover art by 101 Films, which also included the commentary by Kneale and Newman. Stream Tracks and Playlists from The Stone Tapes on … Field Recordings and Experiments by George Albert Wilberforce, ca. ... 'Redemption Day' Trailer 'Redemption Day' Clip: "24 Hours" Movies Streaming Now. The soundtrack from this film, composed by Desmond Briscoe at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, was released on 13 April 2019 on 10" green vinyl for Record Store Day 2019. The best thing I can say about The Stone Tape is the design of the scenery was good. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide. Renovations reveal a medieval stone stairway that is the focus of strange phenomena in the room. [13] Viewers were similarly impressed: a panel questioned for an audience report praised The Stone Tape as "thoroughly entertaining" and "both gripping and spine-chilling".[9]. 11 Tracks. | 1225 Followers. Like the maid before her, she dies while frantically trying to escape it. That scared the hell out of me!". The Stone Tape, which was a TV-movie that ran on the BBC as their seasonal “Christmas ghost story,” and which was originally planned as being part of its Dead of Night program before being eventually presented independently, has two main claims to fame. [6], Kneale delivered his script, initially titled Breakthrough and later renamed The Stone Tape, in September 1972. Their scientific devices fail to detect any evidence of the phenomena the team experience, and different team members experience different phenomena: most are able to hear sounds, Jill can also see images, but another member of the team experiences no sensory input. Instead, Sasdy opts for a brisk but imaginative approach more in … Synopsis Going freelance in the nineteen-sixties, Kneale had produced scripts for Associated Television and for Hammer Films. Plot Keywords Get Movies. [22] Sergio Angelini, writing for the British Film Institute's Screenonline, has said that "The Stone Tape stands as perhaps his (Nigel Kneale's) finest single work in the genre". Not all scenes were recorded in time and a remount was required on 4 December 1972. They bombard it with their technology, hoping to find the secret of the "stone tape" and have it play on demand. It was also included in a two-disc edition with the BBC's Ghostwatch programme from 1992. Original title: The Stone Tape (TV). Under mounting pressure to succeed, Brock uses every available instrumentation, only to be told, by Jill, that the presence she had felt earlier was now gone, apparently meaning that the "tape" has been erased. She surmises that the recordings are imprinted in moments of extreme emotion, like a kind of telepathy. It sounds pretty bad. A team of scientists, eager to discover a new recording medium, take over a brooding gothic mansion recently bought and renovated by their employers. Sarah Jane Smith, who did not believe that ghosts were the souls of the departed, was a proponent of that theory. Under the UVB-76 Music umbrella, curated by Vega and Overlook emerges The Stone Tapes, a new medium for residual recordings documented in static matter. [16] Since the broadcast of the play, this hypothesis has come to be known as the "Stone Tape Theory" by parapsychological researchers.[17]. [23][24] Lez Cooke, in his book British Television Drama: A History, has praised the play as "one of the most imaginative and intelligent examples of the horror genre to appear on British television, a single play to rank alongside the best of Play for Today".[25]. The script of The Stone Tape was published, along with the scripts of The Road and The Year of the Sex Olympics in 1976 by Ferret Fantasy under the title The Year of the Sex Olympics and Other TV Plays. [6] Production then moved to BBC Television Centre between 20 November 1972 and 22 November 1972. The Stone Tape (TV) is a film directed by Peter Sasdy with Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Iain Cuthbertson, Michael Bates, .... Year: 1972. Roger Fulton, writing in The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction, calls it "arguably the most creepy drama ever seen on television". A research team from an electronics company move into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. Borley Rectory in 1892, the "most haunted house in England". The Stone Tape theory is interesting… [1], In the middle of 1972, Christopher Morahan, who was Head of Drama at BBC2 and who had directed Kneale's 1963 play The Road and the 1965 remake of Kneale's adaptation of Nineteen Eighty-Four, approached Kneale asking him to write a play to be broadcast over the Christmas period. The "haunted" room has been declared of historical importance by a preservation society, prohibiting development, destruction, or commercial use. [19] This homage did little to impress Kneale, who wrote in The Observer, "For the record I have had nothing to do with the film and I have not seen it. The concept of mixing the supernatural with high technology had long been a feature of Kneale's work – most notably, his 1952 radio play You Must Listen, which concerned a telecommunications engineer who discovers that a telephone line has somehow preserved the final conversation between a woman and her lover before her suicide, was an important antecedent of The Stone Tape. The plot was thin and the writing even worse. [4] In addition, the relationship between the scientists and the local villagers echoes that seen in Quatermass II. It features a cameo from Jane Asher. See the full list of The Stone Tape cast and crew including actors, directors, producers and more. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Brock's failures are compounded when his superiors signal their lost confidence in him, requiring him to share Taskerlands with a rival research team working on a new washing machine. Its juxtaposition of science and superstition is a frequent theme in Kneale's work; in particular, his 1952 radio play You Must Listen, about a haunted telephone line, is a notable antecedent of The Stone Tape. Directed by Peter Sasdy. I could only watch it for a limited time before I had to turn it off and try to get back to it later. In the opening sequence Jill Greely (Jane Asher), a computer programmer, arrives at Taskerlands House, an ugly Victorian mansion that has been bought by the Ryan Electrics Corporation and refurbished as a research centre. Rotten Tomatoes, home of the Tomatometer, is the most trusted measurement of quality for Movies & TV. [14] Moving to Independent Television, he wrote and created series such as Beasts and Kinvig and succeeded in getting his rejected Quatermass scripts produced in 1979. In the late nineteen-sixties and early nineteen-seventies, Kneale had been coaxed back to the BBC, writing such plays as The Year of the Sex Olympics, Wine of India and, for the anthology series Out of the Unknown, The Chopper. 1972-1982 Its virtues aren't just the main spine of the story, but the way the characters shift, as in real life, the bitter comic conflict between pure and impure science". The official label of “Stone Tape” derived from the title of a 1972 BBC drama by Nigel Kneale. Embittered, Brock no longer wants anything to do with the stone tape. *. In the movie “The Stone Tape”, a team from an electronics company move into an old house to work on a new project. They move into a new facility at Taskerlands, an old Victorian mansion that has been renovated for their use. Buy Movies. Nigel Kneale was a Manx television playwright who had first come to prominence in the 1950s thanks to his three Quatermass serials and his controversial adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, all of which were produced by the BBC. A DVD was released by the British Film Institute in 2001 with a commentary by Nigel Kneale and critic Kim Newman, sleeve notes by Kim Newman and the script of the play as well as the script of The Road. [9] These were shot at Horsley Towers, East Horsley in Surrey. Earn 125 points on every ticket you buy. The Stone Tapes. Realizing that the phenomenon occurring in the room is far older than the house, Jill theorizes that the stone tape can be recorded over again and again, like magnetic recording tape; the maid's death was simply the most recent and clearest recording. 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