the children, werewolf and other random thoughts

[murph]

Finally something that looks familiar............

I'm not sure when I began watching this show as a kid but since I have no memory of the Victoria Winters character and I vaguely remember the David and Amy characters hanging out with Quentin, mostly because of his haunting theme song, this must be the point I began watching the show.  I also remember the werewolf plot and Elizabeth being terrified she would be buried alive.  

In another thread someone mentioned that she gets bored when the children are on.  I don't feel that way at all.  I'm intrigued by what's going on plotwise with them.
It may be because finally something is looking familiar to me.  I also think David Henesy is doing his best acting thus far in the show.  He seems to have really come alive in his portrayal of his character.  Sometimes IMO he seems awkward compared to the other actors. I think the addition of another child actor was very good for his characterization of the David character.  I also think that Denise Nickerson does an excellent job in her role.

I think maybe because Denise was such a good actress that fueled David Henesy to excel.  I think he does a much better job with Denise than he did with Sharon Smythe who played Sarah.  Granted Denise is older than Sharon was and David was a year and a half older when he worked with Denise but I think she was much more of a natural actress than was Sharon.

In Kathryn Leigh Scott's book "35th Anniversary Dark Shadows Memories", she has a recent interview with David Henesy and he states what great friends he and Denise were off the set and in my opinion it really shows in their performances.  

......Just curious why is it that Barnabas always states that he is a cousin from England when in fact Jonathan Frid does not have a British accent at all and since he is actually from Canada I wonder why the writers didn't have him be from there.  (When the character of Barnabas shows up in 1967 he says he's from England and he says it again in the 1897 plot and again in the movie "House of Dark Shadows" which I taped on TCM this morning.)  I always wondered why his family wasn't suspicious of him being from England since he doesn't have an accent.  

It doesn't seem that the writers planned the Elizabeth being "dead" plotline very well because so far I see no reason why this couldn't have been handled when Louis Edmonds was available to be on the show.   Apparantly Louis was appearing in a play for two months which is why he was gone from the show.  In my opinion the writers should have dealt with her death either before he left the show or after he came back.   I brought up in another thread that it makes no sense that Roger wasn't around when Elizabeth "died"  and was still gone three weeks later when she rose from the dead. As close as Elizabeth and Roger are it could have made a great plot line to see his reaction to her death.  Also he and Carolyn could have had some powerful scenes together as they try to be of comfort to each other.  
Louis was a great character actor.  He is another one who I believe was so good that he couldn't help but bring up the level of acting of those who shared the screen with him.  In that same book from Kathryn Leigh Scott that I referenced earlier, Nancy Barrett, David Henesy and Alexandra Moltke all say how much they enjoyed working with him.  

Murph

[JWGucciEnvy]

I have always wonder that the same thing myself, if Barnabas was from England, why no accent...no one seems to question him about his life in England..when he first came on...just Burke and that was because he was jealous.

[kuanyin]

The history behind England is that Joshua, Barney's father said he had moved to England and put that in the family history. Actually, Barney was dead and Joshua thought it of the plague. He did not his son's body being treated as it would have been in the case of plague and also to prevent the panic that would ensue.
Then, when he discovered his son was a vampire, he was even more determined to hide facts. He rewrote history a lot, deleted Millicent's marriage to Nathan Forbes, Barney's to Angie,  and covered up his wife's suicide. He would have chosen England as being far enough away that it would be more reasonable to others that Barney was never heard from again.

At least they never had him do a bad English accent, that came and went!

[Miles]

Then, when he discovered his son was a vampire, he was even more determined to hide facts. He rewrote history a lot, deleted Millicent's marriage to Nathan Forbes, Barney's to Angie,  and covered up his wife's suicide. He would have chosen England as being far enough away that it would be more reasonable to others that Barney was never heard from again.

And in doing so they saved the show from an utter continuity disaster! Sheesh!  I actually bought the accent though, becasue even though its pretty clear JF isnt british, his style of speech makes it believable enough for a tv show.

[JWGucciEnvy]

And in doing so they saved the show from an utter continuity disaster! Sheesh!  I actually bought the accent though, becasue even though its pretty clear JF isnt british, his style of speech makes it believable enough for a tv show.

i agree with you that...Frid's way of talking did make it beliveable and I enjoy the language people used on Dark Shadows anyway...just seems more old fashion I guess, and not because it was from the 1960's just seem like it was older than that.

[Josette]

i agree with you that...Frid's way of talking did make it beliveable and I enjoy the language people used on Dark Shadows anyway...just seems more old fashion I guess, and not because it was from the 1960's just seem like it was older than that.

I was quite struck at one point today when Amy said "neither," pronouncing it "nye-ther" - it had such a grown-up sound to it.

[VAM]

It is obvious from the expressions to the poise she uses in delivering her lines that Denise Nickerson was a gifted child actress. It is no wonder that Miss Nickerson moved on to other ventures while the series was in progress. Granted the majority of acting was B quality, however, I am surprised a few other actresses/actors, who showed masterful potential, were not plucked from the DS fold...Do you think Dan Curtis locked them in the secret room of the mausoleum between episodes?

[Birdie]

I think both David and Denise were exceptional actors.  Even my husband who does not watch the show on a regular basis has noticed.  He can't believe how much better they are than the child actors who were on prime time than and now.

Birdie

[murph]

..............More random thoughts I forgot to include.

I believe Don Briscoe is coming along in his acting.  When he first came on the show his acting IMO seemed so stiff that I thought he was added to the show strictly as "window dressing" for the ladies.  In the current plot line he seems to be more comfortable and natural.

I looked online at the Dark Shadows website and noticed that Grayson Hall was in more episodes than anyone except for Jonathan Frid.  A lot more, she was in more than 400 closer to 500 I think while Joan Bennett was in the low 300's and Joan was on the show a year longer than Grayson.  

I appreciate Grayson more now that I'm an adult.  As a kid watching it when it was on I remember thinking she was some old lady on the show.  (when you're 9 anyone older than 30 is old.)  Actually if she was born in September '23, like I read then she would be 45 on the episodes now airing, not much older than I am today.

Anyway was Julia really that popular of a character when it originally aired  or was she on the show so much because her husband, Sam Hall was one of the head writers and it would be natural that he would want to include her in as many episodes as possible.  In order to do that they hooked her up with Barnabas, the central character of the show.  The premise of those two spending so much time together, I believe is very lame.  I just want to say to her GET A LIFE - he is NEVER going to fall for you.  Throughout the entire run of the show they only put Barnabas with women half his age didn't they?  Even when Jonathan played Bramwell they put him with women in their 20's.  I think the writers must have been middle aged men living out their fantasies through the characters Jonathan Frid portrayed.  

Murph

[onyx_treasure]

..............More random thoughts I forgot to include.


I think the writers must have been middle aged men living out their fantasies through the characters Jonathan Frid portrayed.

    I believe someone else on the board said by the time the story involved Roxanne it seemed like an old man chasing after a little girl.  They did seem like an oddly matched couple.

[Luciaphile]

......Just curious why is it that Barnabas always states that he is a cousin from England when in fact Jonathan Frid does not have a British accent at all and since he is actually from Canada I wonder why the writers didn't have him be from there.  (When the character of Barnabas shows up in 1967 he says he's from England and he says it again in the 1897 plot and again in the movie "House of Dark Shadows" which I taped on TCM this morning.)  I always wondered why his family wasn't suspicious of him being from England since he doesn't have an accent.  

They're not suspicious because a)they have no exposure/knowledge of what a real British person who supposedly has spent his entire life in England would sound like and b)TPTB assumed that the audience would be in the same boat and thought the accent was close enough.

Frankly, I think it could have been a nice move to have had Jason remark on it; he presumably would have known something was really off (Anyone see the downstairs scenes in Gosford Park with the servants commenting on the accent of the valet to the American producer?).

Or it could have been cool to introduce another British character later on.

Luciaphil

[murph]

Responding to my question in this thread as to why Barnabas states several times throughout the series and the movie "House of Dark Shadows" that he is a cousin from England.  Why since Jonathan Frid is from Canada and does not have an English accent? Why not have him be from Canada since that is Jonathan's birthplace?

Kuanyin posted that she believed that they had Barnabas come from England basically because of what we learn in the 1795 plot line.  (I'm sorry I don't know how to post her opinion here. ) I do appreciate her opinion the only problem I have with it is that at the time Jonathan joined the cast the show was in danger of cancellation and Dan Curtis threw in a vampire as a last ditch effort to improve ratings.  

I doubt very much the writers had any thought about his background at the time he joined the show.  They didn't know if the show or the vampire would survive the summer and the 1795 plotline didn't start until November of '67, 7 months after Jonathan joined the show.  

So in the first episode that Jonathan appeared in when he said that he came from England I doubt very much the writers had already put together his entire backstory that we learn about in the 1795 plot.

[Midnite]

(I'm sorry I don't know how to post her opinion here. )

No need to apologize, murph.  For future reference, inside the message you want to include in your post is the word "Quote"-- click on it, and you can take out the parts you don't want included and leave the rest.  Then just add your own response under the text and click "Post".

[yendor]

I think, within the dream-like concept of Dark Shadows, all the actors do very well. When I first began watching (way back when), I remember being quite annoyed with David Henesy and Sharon Smythe. They both seemed to be caught up in "stage mannerisms" designed to show that someone is a "kid." I still see that when my nieces watch "Barney." All the kids performing there act sooo precious, constantly shrugging their shoulders and moving their arms out from their bodies, as if to say "I dunno!" Henesy, especially, had that annoying stage tic, which he'd thankfully lost (or managed to subdue) by House of Dark Shadows.

The best actor on DS, IMHO, was Thayer David. His Bent Stokes was wonderfully done and a distinct difference from Eliot Stokes. I also enjoyed Kathryn Leigh Scott's Josette, though I never quite accepted her as a frenchwoman! To me, Jonathan Frid was much more effective as a villain...when he became Sherlock Holmes to Julia's Watson, I lost all interest in him. As for Grayson Hall, well, I've come to appreciate her talents over the years. She is greatly missed!  I love the way she brings a slightly over the top quality to the show...it fits in beautifully.

For under-rated actors/actresses, certainly Joel Haskell was never truly appreciated by fans, critics, or viewers. He was startling as Nathan Forbes and always projected strength with just the right touch of weakness. When he left Dark Shadows, the show was never the same.

And one last thing--people are gonna hate me for this, but I never did warm up to Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters. She always struck me as insincere and amateurish. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I don't believe she ever really grew as an actress or a character. Still, though, her presence on DS was an anchoring force, and when it was removed, a new, sadder era was born!

Rod

[yendor]

Gawd, my last posting was full of mistakes! I meant "Ben Stokes," not "Bent Stokes!"  And it's Joel Crothers, not "Joel Haskell." That's what happens when you take Nyquil and begin surfing the web!

Rod