I just wanted to share that often when Dark Shadows comes to mind, I think of Joan Bennett saying "Bahnabas" and there's something about that regal, rich, velvet-smooth, patrician voice of hers that just drips class and refinement... THAT, for me, defines the tone of the series more strongly than any other element.

I caught Joan recently in "The Eyes of Charles Sand," a failed pilot that aired in the "ABC Movie of the Week" series, around 1972.  She looked so glamorous--she had very little to do, but her look reminded me of Liz in the 1967 period.  What a fabulous woman she was.

G.

I love watching Roger's scenes with both Willie and Jason in the early part of the Jason/Liz storyline.  Truly classic stuff.  I have only seen this particular episode once; definitely time to get it out and have a look!  In a perverted way I quite enjoyed James Hall's performances in these shows.  There's something really unwholesome and nasty about him that I never got with Karlen.  Hall's Willie seems as if performing vile acts upon little girls and/or their dolls would be his idea of a barnstormin' time.  SQUICK!

As for PT Quentin and Maggie... I loved the PT 1970 story overall, but those two characters really tried my nerves.  PT Quentin is a ham-fisted boor; PT Maggie is a quivering nebbish who seems to have had "doormat" tattooed on her behind at birth.  Bleah!

G.

Thanks for the tip!  I did wonder, given Tim's fondness (some would say mania) for all things Bava...

There were a couple of reviews on amazombie which stated that it was pan and scan and the shorter cut.  The most vitriolic was a UK critic, I believe.  Now I wonder whether he got hold of a bootleg, although I believe he made reference to the commentary tracks...

Thanks again!  Next time I need to know the scoop on a cult release, I'll contact you!

Steve

How unutterably groovy, darling!  A hot chick like Kathy Cody and a cast of Disney's best scrubbed!  I can't wait!

I wonder whether they also have copies of the "Golden Age of Leather" set with Cody's potboiler Girls on the Road (1972), which also features Ralph Waite and Michael Ontkean.  I heard a trailer for "Girls" on luxuriamusic.com the other day and nearly died laughing.  Cody's signature line, "WHUUUUUU ARE YUUUUU?" was inexplicably NOT featured in the clip.

G.

Just a line to say how much I'm enjoying these--and how pleased I am that you decided to continue!

*doffs cap*

g.

Glorioski, was it really 35 years ago?  Damn, I'm OLD!

As I've shared many times before, I'd read the show was going off the air.  That didn't make the indignity of the final episode any easier to bear.  I so desperately wanted one final glimpse of Barnabas, Julia and "today's" Collinwood before they rang down the curtain.   Sadly, it was not to be.

It was really bizarre when I tuned in at 4 p.m. the following Monday and in place of my beloved series was PASSWORD. Ugh!

Typing this now, I'm realizing just how much I've changed even though my love for the series has remained a constant.  I've lost all interest in current television.  I missed the final season of a show I had been following, Queer as folk, and I'm wondering whether I'll even bother watching the season when it is released on DVD eventually.  I heard the last season of that show really stank.

Although the final year of Dark Shadows had its dodgy moments, there were also some wonderful things.  I particularly loved the storyline involving John Karlen, Nancy Barrett, and Grayson Hall in the PT 1841 story.

G.

Ooh, Constance Ford!  I always regretted that she did not appear on Dark Shadows.

She's so deliciously baroque in the 1950s potboiler, The Summer Place--sort of a Donna Reed gone over to the Dark Side type of character.  Brilliant work.  I always wondered whether she knew Clarice, Grayson, Louis et al socially.

G.

Interesting paragraph about "Supertrain."  I completely missed it--apparently as did much of the rest of the nation.

I remember first hearing about it when I read a transcript of the 1982 fan interview with Grayson in which they asked her what she thought of the show.  She said something like "Well,I like the TRAIN."

Best, G.