Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I tried to see if I could track down a Russian DVD/Blu-ray release of NoDS. No luck. But then, given the way things work there when it comes to Western entertainment, it's probably more than likely that there never was one. And something that may be proof of that is that whenever I did come across a Russian Web site that featured a DVD/Blu-ray version of NoDS, it was always the US release. And in relation to that, one of the sites I came across is called HDREZKA - apparently it's the fourth most popular streaming site in the world. Who knew. And when it comes to NoDS, they have this image -

(Click here for a 496X700 version)

- which I doubt is an actual poster, particularly when there are no credits, and also the fact that when I did come across a site featuring a poster, like the DVD/Blu-ray, it was always the US poster. But something that I found quite interesting is that NoDS is available to stream on HDREZKA - however, it's an odd version in that, unlike the clip that is dubbed into Spanish on that Spanish site, the version of NoDS on HDREZKA features English audio with a man simply repeating the dialogue in Russian. Here's a clip of Angelique's hanging that I made from the site's version -

- and it's most probably more proof that there never was a Russian DVD/Blu-ray release because one would certainly presume that if there had been, it would have been correctly dubbed.

But browsing around Russian NoDS sites wasn't a waste of time because I discovered a few more foreign titles for the film:

I nyhta me ta mavra fantasmata(Fiji) - I couldn't find a way to translate it
Η νύχτα με τα μαύρα φαντάσματα(Greece) - translates to The night with the black ghosts
Chi no kuchibiru 2(Japan) - I'm presuming that's phonetic/how the Japanese characters would be pronounced

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing to revisit how Scene 170 is scripted:

And picking where we left off:

170    CONTD                                       CONTD  170

And that's when Tuesday's quote -

Page 78/Scene 170 - Tracy: 'Oh, Quentin -- I've been so afraid. I don't understand any of this. What's happening to us? The things you said to me last night --'

- comes up, followed by Wednesday's first quote -

Page 78/Scene 170 - Quentin: 'I didn't mean any of them...'

- coming up, followed by Wednesday's second quote -

Page 78/Scene 170 - Tracy: 'I know you didn't. I know...and that's why I'll never leave you...no matter what you say.'

- coming up.

And when it comes to what's different with the dialogue, what Tracy actually says rather than Tuesday's quote is "I've been so afraid. I didn't understand any of it. And then the things you said to me last night --", with the "Oh, Quentin --" and the "What's happening to us?" completely dropped - and rather than Wednesday's second quote, what Tracy actually says is "No, I know you didn't", with the "I know...and that's why I'll never leave you...no matter what you say" completely dropped. However in that case the dropped dialogue is soon replaced by unscripted dialogue, but I'm going to wait until next time to get into that because it plays into what we'll cover next...

And when it comes to what's different with the descriptions and directions, there aren't any of either in this section of the script - and there aren't even any notes to get into. Basically, the three captures featured in the slideshow on Tuesday and Wednesday displayed everything that is needed to know.

  And as far as "Tuesday's quote" goes, it was indeed this past Tuesday's quote, meaning it was April 30th's this time around, and as far as "Wednesday's" quotes go, they were indeed this past Wednesday's quotes, meaning they were May 1st's this time around.

And to refresh your memory regarding Tuesday's and Wednesday's screen captures in the slideshow, here they are with their scripted quotes:

Tuesday's:

Page 78/Scene 170 - Tracy: 'Oh, Quentin -- I've been so
afraid. I don't understand any of this. What's happening to
us? The things you said to me last night --'

Wednesday's:

Page 78/Scene 170 - Quentin: 'I didn't mean any of them...'


Page 78/Scene 170 - Tracy: 'I know you didn't. I know...and
that's why I'll never leave you...no matter what you say.'

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting scripted material from the beginning of Scene 170 that's not quite correct in the subtitles and closed captioning:

Quentin comforts Tracy by saying, "Now, it's all right" - but neither the subtitles nor the closed captioning present it that way -

- and after Quentin says that it doesn't matter that Tracy went to the Tower Room, he adds "Aw, don't cry. You're gonna flood the place" - but the subtitles and the closed captioning present the first part as -

(Plus, when Reply #1753 dealt with the unscripted material from the beginning of Scene 170, we already mentioned how the closed captioning insisted on changing "gonna" to "going to" in one of Quentin's lines.)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting an issue with the way a bit of the scripted material from the beginning of Scene 170 can display in the closed captioning:

Continuing with more of Scene 170's subtitles and closed captioning, after Tracy explains that she's been so afraid and brings up the things Quentin said to her the previous night outside the Tower Room, Quentin apologizes by saying, "I didn't mean any of them" - and the subtitles reflect that - however, the closed captioning has -

- but only the "y" of "any" displaying seems to be a glitch with the VHS/DVD player/recorder's closed captioning decoder because I checked the video I shot off of the TV and the complete "any" displayed on it -

- (it's funny that the VHS/DVD player/recorder displayed the full "Charles Collins" but only a "y" for that particular instance of "any," yet the opposite is true for the TV).

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

...

- but only the "y" of "any" displaying seems to be a glitch with the VHS/DVD player/recorder's closed captioning decoder ...

Apparently that doesn't seem to be the case. I remembered that the VHS/DVD player/recorder allows its closed captioning settings to be customized, so just for the fun of it I changed the font, the background color, and the opacity of the background, and lo and behold -

- so who knows what caused the original glitch? - perhaps something about the VHS/DVD player/recorder's original settings - perhaps not - but whatever it was, it certainly seems like it had nothing to do with the VHS/DVD player/recorder's closed captioning decoder or even the VHS' closed captioning itself...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting more unscripted dialogue in Scene 170:

After Tracy says that she knows that Quentin didn't mean the things he'd said to her the night before ...

...

... in some more unscripted dialogue she first tells him, "Quentin, look at me" - and both the subtitles and closed captioning acknowledges that -

- and then Tracy asks Quentin, "Do you love me?" - and both the subtitles and closed captioning acknowledges that -

To be continued...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting more unscripted dialogue in Scene 170:

After Tracy asks Quentin if he loves her, his first unscripted reply, which both the subtitles and closed captioning acknowledges, and which Quentin mouths, is -

- and then the closed captioning correctly acknowledges that Quentin follows that by mouthing -

- but for some strange reason the subtitles have -

- and in this instance it can't even be that they somehow got it from the script because it's unscripted - and another goof with the subtitles is they ignore Tracy's reaction to Quentin kissing her, but the closed captioning does not -

To be continued...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And wrapping up how the subtitles and closed captioning for Scene 170 deal with unscripted dialogue,

... after something comes over Quentin and he begins to become aggressive with Tracy, at first she whispers to Quentin an unscripted, "Stop," which the subtitles acknowledges -

- but the closed captioning does not (apparently the subtitles and closed captioning decided to take turns acknowledging certain things) - and after Quentin starts to get really aggressive, though the subtitles have -

- even though in the film Tracy is heard to say "Stop it. Quentin. Stop it. You're..." before she gets cut off in the Blu-ray/DVD's 94 minute version of the film -  and though the closed captioning has something nearly similar -

- even though in the film Tracy is heard to say "Stop it. Quentin. Stop it. You're hurt..." before she gets cut off in the VHS' 94 minute version of the film - and after Tracy begs Quentin to stop touching her the way he is (because what's only seen in the 97 and 129 minute versions of the film is he's been molesting her), Tracy screams out another unscripted -

- which obviously both the subtitles and closed captioning acknowledges - and after Quentin tells Tracy that she has a lovely body and roughly cradles her face in her hands, the subtitles have -

- while the closed captioning has -

- though to me it's always sounded like she yells, "Stop!" again - though maybe she does simply cry out - but it's definitely not "Don't!" - and it's interesting that neither the subtitles nor the closed captioning acknowledges the gasp Tracy lets out after Quentin informs her that he'll touch her whenever and however he wants and if she doesn't like it, she can always leave - nor do they acknowledge the deep breaths/sighs she makes after Quentin gets out of the bed and leaves the room.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the wrap up of how Scene 170 is scripted, which shows how different what actually plays in the film was originally supposed to take place:

...

 And now picking up with the script:

Pulling Tracy to him, he kisses her gently.  As the        passion of the moment begins to grow, Quentin's        kisses become more violent.  It suddenly becomes        obvious that she is becoming frightened as he con-        tinues to press himself upon her, now almost savagely.        Tracy now fights to escape his embrace.                              TRACY                  Quentin, please!  You're                  hurting me.        With a desperate effort, she pulls away, cringing        from him against the massive headboard.  Her eyes        filled with fright, she stares at him as Quentin,        smiling evilly, cruelly, stares back.

And that's when Thursday's quote -

Page 78/Scene 170 - Tracy: 'Quentin, please...please don't touch me like that.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

QUENTIN                  What's wrong, Tracy?  Don't                  you like it anymore?  You do                  have such a lovely body.        Then, reaching out to her, he roughly cradles her        face in her hands.

And that's when the first part of Friday's quote -

Page 78/Scene 170 - Quentin: 'I'll touch you whenever -- and however -- I want.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

Then rising, he crosses to the door and turns to her.

And that's when the second part of Friday's quote -

Page 78/Scene 170 - Quentin - 'If you don't like it, Tracy, you can always leave.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

170    CONTD                                       CONTD  170        Tracy is hysterical now.  She screams at him.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 79/Scene 170 - Tracy: 'She's doing this to you! It's her! It's Angelique!'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

He just turns and EXITS THE SHOT.  Tracy runs to the        door and locks it.  TRUCK IN on her anguished face.

End of scene.

And as far as what's different with the dialogue, Tracy actually says "Quentin, stop it! Stop it, you're", which gets cut off there in the 94 minute version but concludes with "hurting me!" in all other versions of the film - And after Tracy actually says "Quentin, please don't touch me like that" she soon adds another "Stop it!" - and Quentin simply says "You do have such a lovely body", with the "What's wrong, Tracy?  Don't you like it anymore?" completely dropped - and Quentin drops addressing Tracy by name when it tells her she can always leave - and Tracy's entire "She's doing this to you! It's her! It's Angelique!" is dropped in the film.

And as far as what's different with the descriptions and directions, after Quentin and Tracy share their gentle kissing, I love how Quentin pulls back and an evil smile comes across his face -

- before he moves in for the violent kissing - however, unlike what's scripted, in the film Tracy isn't able to pull away from Quentin to cringe against the headboard because it's Quentin who actually pulls back a bit while he continues to molest Tracy (which is far more graphic in the 97 and 129 minute versions) - and then as Quentin roughly cradles Tracy's face in her hands, he actually delivers both parts of Friday's quote without rising from the bed in the middle of them - and after he does rise, we simply see Quentin move away from the bed -

- and toward the direction of the door - and then things shift to a still deeply shaken Tracy still in bed -

- and breathing heavy as we also hear the bedroom door close off screen, so we do not see Quentin turn to Tracy from the door, or Tracy scream at him hysterically, or Quentin leave, or Tracy run to the door and lock it as the camera trucks in on her anguished face.

And coming up next time, more material that doesn't appear in any version of the film...

   And as far as "Thursday's quote" goes, it was indeed this past Thursday's quote, meaning it was May 2nd's this time around, and as far as "Friday's" quotes go, they were indeed this past Friday's quotes, meaning they were May 3rd's this time around, and "today's quote" is indeed today's, May 4th's, quote.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Videos associated with Scene 170 that are most definitely worth revisiting:

Recall:

...

As we all know, this is how this portion of Scene 170 plays -

- with Tracy's line, "Stop it, Quentin! Stop it, you're hurting me!" getting cut off because of an edit made to remove graphic molestation footage.

At least so far as the Blu-ray/DVD versions of the film go. I didn't realize until I was doing the closed captioning for Scene 170 that the VHS/Laser version of the film goes a fraction longer when it comes to Tracy's "Stop it, Quentin! Stop it, you're hurting me!":

But here's how it should play:

Sadly, the sound quality isn't the greatest, but that's what happens when you're recording with a microphone off of a drive-in theater's speaker. The microphone has issues picking up the sound and the speaker has issues playing it. But before we had TV showings of the fully unedited 94 minute version of NoDS, that recording was a treasured possession. And actually it still is, given that unfortunately we're still without the 129 minute restored version of NoDS and the recording contains several bits that appeared in the 97 minute version. And yesterday was the first time I was actually able to listen to the tape in something like 40 years because until yesterday I didn't have a reel-to-reel tape recorder to play it...

...

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace VHS video with Laser video)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting this entry in the original slidesow:

The original slideshow for NoDS included this line -

NoDS: Scene #170 - Quentin: 'You do have such a
lovely body.'

- because it was quoted in the Fest's 1999 Movie Calendar, upon which the original slideshow is based.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth revisiting because I think it's unusual:

Given that Scene 170 is such a pivotal scene in the film, I'm quite surprised that I've never come across any stills from it. And it's not like there aren't other stills circulating from other and some might say less significant bedroom scenes.

I've already shared this one (from Scene 46, which isn't even a part of the 129 minute version of the film) in graphics for previous slideshows:

And I posted about this one, which may or may not be from Scene 64:

All that being said, though - and potentially contrary to my notation at the bottom of the graphic for yesterday and today - I do have a publicity still that *might* be from Scene 64. To me, it's often looked more like Quentin is attacking Tracy (and I could never quite figure out where it could fit into the film because in the script there's no scene in their bedroom where he attacks her when they're dressed for bed) - but I do suppose that it could also be interpreted as a somewhat odd pose of the two of them in mid-embrace. Judge for yourself:

It may have also been taken during the shooting of Scene 40. Who knows...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scenes 171 through 171C are scripted:

And moving on to the next four scenes:

171    INT - SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHT - WIDE ANGLE   171        as Quentin walks very fast from CAMERA, almost as        if he were trying to run from what he has done.  He        passes the stairway to the Tower, looking up for        a second.  Then he continues on much slower now,        to the far bedroom.  He leans against the wall, his        back still to CAMERA, obviously going through great        mental anguish. 171A   INT - FIRST FLOOR STAIRWAY - NIGHT                 171A        as Carlotta comes up the stairs TOWARD CAMERA and        starts for the Gallery, she suddenly stops as she        notices Quentin through the open bedroom door. 171B   INT - BACK STAIRS - NIGHT - LOW ANGLE              171B        TIGHT on Quentin as he goes through his inner tur-        moil.  HOLD for a moment, then we HEAR the SOUND of        CARLOTTA'S VOICE.                              CARLOTTA (O.S.)                  Mr. Collins?        Quentin does not respond.  SLOWLY WIDEN to reveal        Carlotta, still in the hallway, but coming toward        him.                              CARLOTTA                  The Jenkins' will be returning                  soon.  If Mrs. Collins is going                  to leave, she should go before                  they come back.  Otherwise she                  will simply run to them.  Don't                  you agree?        He does not move or look at her.                              CARLOTTA                  Don't you agree, Mr. Collins? 171B   CONTD                                       CONTD  171B        With great violence, he turns on her.                              QUENTIN                       (blazing)                  Yes, I agree, Carlotta!  But                  I don't need you to tell me                  what I have to do!        As Quentin EXITS THE SHOT down the stairs. 171C   INT - FIRST FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHT                 171C        as Carlotta turns and comes TOWARD CAMERA, PAN with        her to the top of the stairs, revealing Gerard,        who stands on the lower landing.  She nods to him        as Gerard then goes down the stairs, EXITING THE        SHOT.

And when it comes to the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions, because these scenes don't appear in any version of the film, we have no way of knowing what might have been different.

Although, when it comes to Carlotta's second section of dialogue in Scene 171B, Grayson's script has several words crossed out: "If," "going," "should" (which is replaced with "must"), "Otherwise," and "simply," which would seem to indicate that she was intending Carlotta to actually say something like "The Jenkins' will be returning soon. Mrs. Collins is to leave. She must go before they come back. She will run to them. Don't you agree?"

And Grayson's script also contains several notes. She writes that Carlotta conspires with Quentin but she's in charge, and what she's saying is a demand, not simply urging Quentin (which may explain why she changes Carlotta's dialogue in the way that she did), and the takeover of Quentin is becoming more here.

And somehow I'm sure these scenes were played perfectly. With talents like David Selby and Grayson Hall, how could they not have been? I can just imagine how wonderful Grayson must have been, doing her best passive/aggressive manipulation -  and, as we saw on the series numerous times, few actors can play mental anguish better than David can. So it's an absolute shame that none of this is in any version of the film. But then, we all know that when it came to character scenes, they were the first things that DC was only too willing to sacrifice, no matter how great they might have been...

   One thing I forgot to mention when I made the post above is that in DC's script he had all sorts of notes for Scenes 171 though 171C, but for some reason he partially erased them all so it's next to impossible to decipher what he'd originally written. Who knows?

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   This time around I'm not forgetting to mention that it's indicated in the Advance Schedule section of that call sheet I revisited in Reply #1686 that Scenes 171 thru 171C were slated to shoot on April 6, 1971.

However, as I alluded to in the above post, Darren included this on his Restoration site:

Sadly, when it comes to Scenes 171, 171A, 171B & 171C:

The following is a list of scenes that are still lost and which are not present in the 129 min version recovered in 1999.

...

INT.2ND FLOOR CORRIDOR. Quentin runs from the bedroom. INT.FIRST FLOOR STAIRWAY. Carlotta comes upstairs, notices Quentin.

INT.FIRST FLOOR CORRIDOR. Carlotta nods to Gerard who exits.

Though I may be misinterpreting that Scene 171B is lost because the first two scenes listed above are Scenes 171 & 171A, but the third listed is Scene 171C. Did Darren simply forget to include Scene 171B on the lost list? Possibly. Though one thing that is known is that Scene 171B is not on the recovered list. So who knows?

...

It would be quite nice IF Scene 171B is in the 129 minute version of the film, but given that, as I said, it's not on the recovered list, I have my doubts.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

to learn about notes DC made about Scenes 171-171C but erased

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do it before today, but today I examined what's discernible from the erased notes and it seems like DC wanted to shoot at least some portions of the scenes from a height so he was going to shoot from atop a ladder. Though given much of what he wrote is now unreadable, who knows if he actually shot things that way? And particularly given that nothing from the scenes is in any version of the film, we'll never know...