Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to Scene 179:

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.RUINED SWIMMING POOL. Quentin & Angelique make love.(Around ten seconds of this scene exists on the theatrical trailer, but the rest of the shots in the sequence are lost.)

I'm not so sure if Scene 180 is still lost or not. Scene 180 does not appear on the lost list - but that's the case with a few scenes that still may be lost. And the thing is when it comes to the Blu-ray it does seem as if there might be a cut in the background music at the point where the existing sequence in the 94 minute version of the film switches from Tracy tossing in bed (Scene 178) to her approaching the pool house (Scene 182). But that seeming cut can also be heard when it comes to the VHS, and as we've seen, most of the time that sort of thing was rescored to correct any jumpiness in the background music, but it's not when it comes to the VHS. So, maybe the way the background music plays at that transition was intentional and not due to cut footage. And once again, I don't recall if Darren ever showed a version of the sequence that included Scene 180. -

...

DISSOLVE TO: 180    INT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                       180        With the SOUNDS OF THE DREAM STILL ECHOING OVER HER        FACE, she opens her eyes.  HOLD HER IN CLOSE-UP as        she slowly sits up.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 84/Scene 180 - Tracy (trance-like): 'I won't let you have him... I won't.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

WIDEN as she stands, crosses to the door and EXITS     THE SHOT.

...

- So who knows?

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Two posts to revisit with regard to Scene 179:

As I have with other GIFs, I've made videos of the GIFs I'd originally made of the dream sequence footage from the NoDS trailers.

First up, the clip that shows the least amount of footage:

And the longest version, which also has much better color quality:

It's just too bad that it has the NoDS logo over most of it...

Here's the first of two stills I want to share for Scene 179:

First, a rare B&W still -

- which was shared on page 176 of DS Memories.

And here's another B&W still -

- which I first came across a somewhat cropped version as part of an article entitled NOSTALGIA BONUS Remember When Dark Shadows Kept You Glued To The Set from the June 1974 issue of Weekday TV (which, quite interestingly, had sections devoted to the daytime show and NoDS, but nothing from hoDS). And a much more cropped version also appears on page 9 of the booklet for the movies soundtrack.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Two more posts to revisit with regard to Scene 179:

Several color stills that I'd previously shared:

...

Plus, we're also very lucky to have stills from the dream:

...

(There are also other color stills of the dream, two of which feature Angelique and Quentin, on page 183 of the PomPress book Return to Collinwood, and I'd be happy to also scan those for anyone who hasn't seen them.)

By request:

Enjoy!

And something supposedly behind the scenes from the shooting of the dream:

The 16 Spec caption for it reads: 'In his present life, "Quentin Collins" (David Selby) is beset by visions
of a former life as "Charles Collins", and a former love--the wicked
temptress "Angelique" (Lara Parker). Here, in one of his visions, the
couple enjoy a very private picnic.'

To my knowledge the only time this has been officially published was as part of a 16 Spec preview of NoDS. And I've mentioned this before, but am I the only one who thinks it looks like Angelique doesn't have any ankles/feet?!

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't know why I didn't think of whipping up something like this last year - but I did this year after I saw the color stills again:

Just a short idea of what might have been...

And as in the past, I used the VHS version of the film because the clip taken from the trailer is the same aspect ratio.

And I made sure to keep the jumpiness in the background music at the beginning of the Tracy outside the pool house footage rather than smooth it over.

 

[Uncle Roger]

Excellent work MB!!🎉🎉🎀🎉🎊

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   I'm glad you like it. 

I've been going back and forth over whether or not I should have had the stills display a bit longer. But I like the way the background music plays over Tracy and the dream (somehow I managed to get the timing nearly identical to way the music plays in the film over Tracy's tossing and turning), so I think I'm going to just leave it alone. Don't mess with good fortune... 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to Scene 181:

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.COTTAGE. Alex and Claire recover and plan.

Normally I would say it's a shame that a scene involving Claire wasn't included in the film (or not even filmed, as in the cases of Scenes 81, 82 & 83), but in this case it's probably a good thing because including Scene 181 would have slowed down/interrupted the suspense/momentum between Tracy in the master bedroom and her appearance outside the pool house...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And something to revisit regarding Scene 181:

Graphics appearing in the slideshow recently -

- and continuing through Tuesday the 17th have been made using different crops of this -

(Click here for a 800X527 version)

- which was shared in the 1992 LA Halloween Fest Program...

The case this time around is that they're lasting through the end of today, Wednesday the 17th...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The other day while I was looking up something completely different, I was reminded by this -

...

- which leads me to mention that in DC's script he's added:

178A   SHOTS OF A IN THE TOWER LOOKING DOWN        SUPER EYE SHOTS

...

- which prompted me to want to make an entirely new video because how would it have been possible for the audience to definitely know that Angelique was looking down on the Master Bedroom from the Tower Room if there was no establishing shot to indicate that? Plus, as I'd said, I'd wanted to length the time the stills were on view, so making a new video killed two birds with one stone, as it were. And I added two other stills to the mix to establish the dream.

 

[Uncle Roger]

Very well done, MB!!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

  I'm happy with the way it turned out. Plus, I got to learn how to use features of my video editing software like crossfade, overlay and zoom, all of which I'd never had occasion to even think about using before...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Getting back to the subtitles and the closed captioning, when it comes to Scene 184, after Tracy enters the pool house, calls to Quentin, and asks if he's there, in a bit of unscripted dialogue, she calls out to Quentin two more times - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- reflect that.

It's interesting that sometimes the subtitles represent Tracy as calling to Quentin questioningly and others not, but the closed captioning always has Tracy calling to Quentin questioningly. I suppose it's a matter of interpretation...

And I have to say I've always loved the shot of Tracy reflected in the water.

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with Scene 184:

From out of nowhere Tracy hears Quentin's voice ask, "Did you come to spy on us, Laura?" - and she asks in more unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and after she calls out in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and then in the last of these three bit of unscripted dialogue she asks again in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with what would appear in the film to still be Scene 184 even though in the script things have moved on to Scene 185 (more on that in a later post):

After Tracy asks "Where are you?" for a second time, Quentin comes into view and asks "Isn't it enough that you killed her?" - that prompts Tracy to first ask in yet another bit of unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and then Tracy follows that up with more unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles - -

- and the closed captioning -

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Moving on to Scene 185:

After Quentin, thinking she's Laura, asks if she won't ever leave them alone, Tracy tries to point out in more unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and after Quentin, still thinking she's Laura, vows that she'll never interfere and makes a grab for Tracy's throat, Tracy follows that up by screaming "No, look, it, it's me!" - but the subtitles have -

- and the closed captioning has -

- and Tracy follows that by screaming "Stop it, Quentin, it's me!" - but the subtitles have -

- and the closed captioning has -

To be continued...