Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisitng the subtitles and closed captioning for Scene 89:

... dealing with Scene 89.

...

And when it comes to Scene 89, as they're exiting the Dining Room, Quentin stops Alex and says, "I'm having more of those crazy daydreams," which the subtitles gets exactly, but the closed captioning has -

- and Alex replies with, "Wanna talk about it?" but the subtitles and the closed captioning each has their our variation of that -

- and to that Quentin asks, "Can you come over tomorrow?", which is reflected correctly in both the subtitles and the closed captioning - and at first Alex replies with an unscripted "Sure," which is acknowledged in both the subtitles and the closed captioning -

- and for some strange reason the closed captioning has Quentin responding with -

- which he doesn't say - but what does happen is Alex replies a second time and adds an unscripted "Okay," which both the subtitles and the closed captioning acknowledges -

And that's the end of what we need to deal with when it comes to Scene 89.

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how the several scenes comprising much of the next sequence are scripted:

The next quote in the slideshow will be from Scene 97, so there are a lot of scenes to deal with before we get there:

90     INT - MASTER BEDROOM - NIGHT                     90        Tracy and Quentin are asleep in the B.G.  Through        the window, the Tower Room is visible.  As we watch,        a faint glow begins to appear.  Quentin begins to        stir.  Finally, he opens his eyes and looks up at        the tower.  Then getting out of bed, he puts on his        robe and EXITS the room. 91     INT - SECOND FLOOR - CORRIDOR                    91        as Quentin comes TOWARD CAMERA and goes up the        stairs toward the third floor. 92     INT - TOWER ROOM - NIGHT                         92        The room glows with a strange iridescent light.        Slowly, the door begins to open by itself revealing        Quentin coming up the stairs,  As he ENTERS the        room he stops at the doorway - a look of great        anticipation on his face.  TRUCK IN ON HIS CLOSE-UP.        ANGELIQUE - QUENTIN'S P.O.V.        A strangely opalescent Angelique lies there holding        her arms out to him.  HOLD ON THIS as he goes to        her ghostly embrace. 93     INT - FOYER - NIGHT        The foyer is dark as the door opens and an angry        Gerard quietly ENTERS.  He carries a vicious-        looking club. 94     INT - FIRST FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHT               94        CAMERA TRUCKS IN FRONT OF HIM as he comes toward        the stairs. 95     INT - TOWER ROOM STAIRS - NIGHT                  95        as Gerard moving noiselessly slowly climbs to the        closed door.  He pauses to listen.  The SOFT        SOUNDS OF LOVEMAKING can be heard.  TRUCK IN ON HIS        FACE.  It is now insane with jealous rage.  Now 95     CONTD                                     CONTD  95        there is the SOUND OF ANGELIQUE'S LAUGHTER and        finally he explodes.  Throwing the door open, he        sees Angelique and Quentin locked in a passionate        embrace. 96     INT - TOWER ROOM - NIGHT - HAND-HELD             96        In one cat-like move Gerard attacks.  He and Quentin        are on the floor with Gerard about to beat his        brains out.  All of a sudden he SHRIEKS IN PAIN        as the ghostly figure of Angelique claws him again        and again.  Blood shows on his face as he drops his        club and tries to protect himself,  In an instant        Quentin is all over him and there is no doubt about        his intentions.  He is trying to kill him.        Throughout the fight INTERCUT QUICK SHOTS of Gabriel        in the place of Gerard,  These will look like all        the other memory cuts and will always be from        Quentin's P.O.V. so that it looks like he thinks        he is fighting Gabriel. 97     INT - TOWER STAIRWAY                             97        as the two of them come crashing down the stairs        INTO CAMERA, Quentin ends up on top, choking the        life out of Gerard.                              QUENTIN                  She's mine, brother!...She's mine!

And as for what's different when it comes to the dialogue, Quentin's line as he chokes Gerard is dropped in the film. However, it was a part of the original Movies Quotes Slideshow:

NoDS: Scene #97 - Quentin (to Gerard): 'She's mine brother!
...She's mine!'

And as for what's different in the descriptions and directions, at the outset of Scene 90, we do not see Tracy and Quentin asleep in the background because the scene begins immediately with a shot of the Tower Room visible through the window, and it isn't until after we see the glow appear in the Tower Room windows that we see Quentin and Tracy asleep - and almost immediately upon seeing them we see Quentin open his eyes, but he doesn't look at the Tower Room immediately because he simply stares into space for several beats before he begins to sit up in bed and then turn toward the direction of the window - and we do not see Quentin actually get out of bed, or put on his robe, or exit the room. And when it comes to Scene 91, a dressed Quentin is seen walking away from the camera before he turns to begin to go up a set of stairs - and then we see his P.O.V. as he makes his way -

- through a corridor. And when it comes to Scene 92, at first we actually see the unfinished portrait of Angelique and the empty couch as both -

- are bathed in the glow of candles before the camera pans over to show the door to the Tower Room open, and before we see Quentin, we actually see his shadow as -

- he gets closer and closer to the open door - and Quentin does not stop at the doorway or have a look of great anticipation on his face, nor is there a close-up on his face because he simply enters the room and moves toward Angelique -

- whose ghost has suddenly appeared on the couch. And when it comes to Scene 93, DC's script actually crosses out the establishment of the scene taking place in the foyer and draws an arrow up from Scene 94 to indicate that both the events of Scenes 93 & 94 take place in the first floor corridor - also we don't actually see Gerard's face come through the doors on the first floor corridor -

- only his legs - it isn't until he reaches the stairs -

- that we see his face. And we actually see more of Quentin and Angelique -

- making out before Scene 95 comes up and we see Gerard making his way up the Tower Room stairs - and while we once again see Quentin and Angelique making out, we do not hear the sounds of lovemaking as Gerard pauses to listen or the sound of Angelique laughing as Gerard finally explodes - though we also don't see Gerard throw open the door or see Quentin and Angelique locked in a passionate embrace. What actually takes place is that at the outset of Scene 96 we see Quentin and Angelique making out when suddenly Quentin pulls away from Angelique to turn -

- and look behind him to see the irate Gerard -

- brandishing the club - but when Gerard attacks him, Quentin doesn't fall onto the floor, he falls backward onto the couch -

- and he already sees -

- Gerard as Gabriel - and we see Angelique rush to scratch both the faces of Gabriel -

- and Gerard -

- but we don't hear Gerard shriek in pain - and after Gerard has become disoriented by Angelique's attack is when Quentin gets up from the couch and begins to fight Gerard, often seeing him as Gabriel. And when it comes to Scene 97, after Gerard tumbles down the tower stairway, Quentin violently kicks him down even further, and Gerard desperately tries to get away only to be tackled by Quentin, it is Gabriel -

- that Quentin continues to see as he chokes Gerard.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The first of two posts to revisit related to Scene 96:

Here are the first batch of stills for Scene 96. First up, a rare still I've never seen shared anywhere:

(Click here for a 700X908 version)

Next, another rare one, though it was published as part of an article in Daytime TV (along with several other rare ones that have only been published as part of that article):

The caption for it reads: "Jealous that Angelique is spending too much time with Quentin, Gerard goes after Quentin."

And another rare one that I find a bit funny because to me it looks more like David Selby wearing a wig and pretending to be James Storm as Gerard -

 - but then, it could be James. Who knows? But it was published in the Dec. '71 issue of 16 Magazine, hence the drawing of scratches on the face where there shouldn't even be any yet...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The second of two posts to revisit related to Scene 96:

Here are a second batch of stills for Scene 96. First up, a rare still that was also published as part of the article that appeared in the Dec. '71 issue of 16 Magazine:

The caption for it reads: "Even in the present day, Quentin fights to defend himself
from one of Angelique's lovers. This time it is Gerard (James
Storm), who, madly in love with the ghost of Angelique, succeeds
in his attack against Quentin -- alias Charles."

(It's interesting that the caption explicitly states Gerard's relationship to Angelique prior to Quentin's arrival when, as the film stands, the audience has to piece things together for themselves, and that's made harder by the fact that even in the 129 minute version Scenes 41 through 44 in which Quentin goes to the tower room on his first night at Collinwood and a Gerard who reacts with "eyes blazing with hatred" sees that Quentin goes there are not included. The only things in any version of the film that give any idea Gerard is somehow angered by Quentin's arrival is when he asks Carlotta in Scene 51, "Do you know what happened last night? Do you?!" - Carlotta explains, "Everything has changed now. You must accept that" - he replies, "I was good enough until he came around. Now..." - and she insists, "Now listen! I want you to go to the stables. He'll be there soon to ride. I've told you that everything was different now." The audience doesn't really have any clue to be able to piece things together to understand what Gerard meant until Scenes 92 through 97 take place - and only if they remember that exchange with Carlotta.)

Next, a still that pops up seemingly all over the place (including that same 16 Magazine article, which is why -

(Click here for a 700X564 version)
The 16 Magazine caption for it reads: "In one of his grotesque visions of a time long gone, Quentin
"sees" Angelique (Lara Parker) trying to stop her husband
Gabriel (Christopher Pennock) as he's about to attack Charles
Collins (who Quentin realizes is himself) in a fit of jealous rage!"

- the caption for the first still says "Even in the present day, Quentin fights to defend himself
from one of Angelique's lovers."

But here's a rare version of Angelique's attack on Gabriel -

The caption for it reads: "A busy spirit, Angelique scratches the face
of Christopher Pennock (Gabriel) as he pre-
pares to launch an assault of his own."
Though shouldn't that have been "Lara Parker scratches the face
of Christopher Pennock (Gabriel)"  or "Angelique scratches the face
of Gabriel (Christopher Pennock)" - not what it is because it
associates a character with an actor...

- something that was also published as part of that same Daytime TV article the second Gerard still came from...

And of course you'll recall that the second still in that post is #15 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Actually, here's a third post worth revisiting related to Scene 96:

I forgot to ask yesterday if I'm the only one who finds it a little odd that the makeup they used in Scene 85 to show the scratch wounds on the cheek of Strack's henchmen -

- makeup that was barely seen as it quickly flashed by in the scene, is much more effective than what they did with the scratch wounds on Gabriel's cheek -

 - when that wound is seen on camera for several seconds.    I mean, the henchman's wounds actually do look like Angelique's nails dug in his skin, whereas Gabriel's wounds look like they simply painted his cheek with red paint. But who knows? Maybe with Gabriel they were attempting to suggest that his wounds were bleeding so much that the actual scratches were hidden under all the blood. 

And I didn't notice until today when I broke Scene 96 down into frames to select one to post on the  "Caption This! - Night of Dark Shadows" board that the scratches on Gerard's face seem to fall inbetween the henchman's and Gabriel's:

Also, I've never really thought about it until today but it's so convenient that those doors in the corridor are closed so Gerard can come bursting through them. We never see them closed in any other scene in the film (or even in hoDS). And when he bursts through them, making all that sound, he isn't exactly acting the way he's scripted to make his way through the house to the stairs because the script says he "quietly ENTERS" his first shot. So much for that notion.    Though the way it is in the film is much more dramatic - not to mention DC isn't exactly known for his subtlety, now is he?! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if DC moved Gerard's entrance from the foyer to the corridor just so Gerard could burst through those doors! 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scenes 97 continues to be scripted and moving to Scene 98 in the script:

Picking up with Scene 97:

Suddenly Tracy ENTERS THE SHOT as she runs up the        stairs and tries to pull Quentin off.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 41/Scene 97 - Tracy: 'Quentin!...stop it! You'll kill him! Stop it!'

- comes up, followed by the script continuing with:

She is beating and pulling at him but he won't let        go as Gerard has just about had it.  Then suddenly,        with a ROAR OF ANGER, Quentin turns on Tracy. 98     INTERCUT - SAMANTHA - QUENTIN'S P.O.V.           98        SUBCONSCIOUS MEMORY CUT.        as he starts to strangle her.

And when it comes to what's different with the dialogue, Tracy actually says "Quentin!...stop it! Stop it! You'll kill him!"

And when it comes to what's different with the descriptions and directions, as part of Scene 97 Tracy does desperately pull at Quentin to try to get him off of Gerard but she doesn't beat him - and there's no audible roar of anger when Quentin turns on Tracy - and as we all know, Scene 98 involves Laura -

- and not Samantha. In fact, it's interesting that in the scenes in DC's script where Samantha's name still appears (it was changed to Laura in the rewrites involving her), it's never crossed out and replaced with Laura, whereas in Grayson's script Samantha's name is nearly always crossed out and replaced with Laura even if Carlotta doesn't appear in any way in the sequence.

  As far as "today's quote" goes, it was December 17th this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post worth revisiting related to Scene 97:

Here's a rare still from Scene 97 ...:

(Click here for a 700X544 version)

It's funny that Gerard is the only one whose face you can't see in the screen capture for Tracy's quote -

- yet his is the only face you can see in the still...

And of course you'll recall that the second still in that post is #14 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Backtracking a bit to two things, one I didn't even think about, and one I forgot was there:

First up, in Scene 92 when the door creeks open to allow Quentin into the tower room, neither the subtitles nor the closed captioning acknowledges the sound, even though in other instances one or the other or both do acknowledge such things.

And second, even though the closed captioning doesn't, the subtitles do acknowledge that the sounds are muted when it comes to Scene 96 as Gerard and Quentin's fight -

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post worth revisiting related to Scene 97's subtitles and close captioning:

Sometimes I wonder if the people who did the subtitles and/or closed captioning for NoDS ever actually watched the film? Case in point, when Tracy tries desperately to stop Quentin from attacking Gerard. She screams, "Quentin!...stop it! Stop it! You'll kill him!", and mind you, the closed captioning does get all of that correct, and the subtitles get the first part correct, however, this is what the subtitles comes up with for the latter half:

Who knows?! 

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Recisiting how Scene 99 is scripted:

Continuing with the current sequence:

99     QUENTIN - CLOSE-UP - NORMAL COLOR                99        as he finally realizes what he's doing and lets go. 99     CONTD                                     CONTD  99

And that's when today's quote -

Page 42/Scene 99 - Quentin: 'Tracy! Tracy!'

- comes up.

And when it comes to what's different with the dialogue, Quentin simply says "Tracy" quietly as the shock of what he's been doing to her hits him.

And when it comes to what's different with the descriptions and directions, for the first and probably only time posting about this sequence, nothing is different. 

  As far as "today's quote" goes, it was December 18th this time around.

Wrapping up Scene 99, first by picking up after Quentin realizes what he was doing to Tracy:

Tracy is in shock as Carlotta ENTERS THE SHOT.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 42/Scene 99 - Carlotta: 'Mr. Collins! What happened?'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

Then she sees Gerard - the blood from the claw        marks on his face.  She rushes to help him as        Quentin shakes his head wordlessly, unable to        explain.

End of scene.

And when it comes to what's different with the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions, we don't actually see Tracy in shock after Quentin realizes he was strangling her because the scene immediately shifts to Carlotta arriving and almost immediately kneeling to examine her nephew, which means that she doesn't speak to Quentin before seeing Gerard - and what Carlotta actually says is "Mr. Collins!", first with shock, and then "Mr. Collins!" with a great deal of incredulity - and so, considering that Carlotta is already at Gerard's side, she doesn't rush to help him when scripted - and nor does Quentin shake his head wordlessly, unable to explain because what Quentin actually does, as can be seen in the following capture -

- is wordlessly cling to Tracy in shock.

And Grayson has some notations in her script for this section. And as you can read below, they start off with "Animal excitement", which perhaps harkens back to Carlotta and Gerard's murdering of the hippy, which was never shot, but perhaps Grayson didn't know that at the time she wrote that notation in her script. And then she writes "Touches blood", which Carlotta doesn't actually do in the take used in the film, but she does do in this publicity shot for the scene (and I've always thought that it's interesting that Carlotta is pointing in the photo used for the lobby card for this scene but she doesn't actually do that in the film either - but then, some of the lobby cards for NoDS are quite different from what happens in the film - one isn't even shot is the same room that the actual scene takes place, but I digress...). And finally she writes something in reference to Angelique. But once again for the life of me I can't decipher the whole thing -

- so perhaps someone else (and you know who you are  ) can...

  As far as "today's quote" goes, it actually is today, December 19th, this time around.

And we'll revisit that deciphering by "someone else" in my next post...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

 

Let's see. It appears to be: Animal excitement. Touches blood. Fingers (or possibly lingers) on as Angelique. Does that seem like it to you, MB?

I think "lingers" may very well be it. That's the word I couldn't figure out, so thanks again! 

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post definitely worth revisiting related to Scene 99:

As you may recall, I posted publicity stills for Scene 99 back in August in Reply #53:

...

(Click here for a 1088X838 version)

- and like the Charles still, there's an alternate (and rare) version -

- but unlike anything I've shared so far, there's also an alternate (and rarer still) color version -

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

...

Although, in the time since I first made that post, I discovered I had a better version of the color still (the one I'd originally shared ended at Gerard's chin but the better one goes down further), so I replaced the original version with its better version. However, depending on how long it's been since you've cleared your browser's cache, you may need to do so the see the newer version. 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And another post definitely worth revisiting related to Scene 99:

... There's also a color version as part of the NoDS Lobby Cards set ...

And here that is from back when I posted it in Reply #77:

...

(Click here for a 930X738 version)

...

Although, I have to say that I honestly prefer the still version:

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I didn't realize until today that the blood on Gabriel's face in the film is -

- very similar to the blood on Gerard's face in the stills -

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

I wonder if they did that deliberately? And who knows if Chris Pennock and James Storm even shot their parts on the same day?

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And speaking of bloody Gabriel, there are these posts worth revisiting:

MB, I'm wondering if maybe it's the angle on the henchman's face and the way the light hits the blood that makes it more effective.  It looks like it could possibly be the same makeup technique as on Gabriel, but the angle and lighting on Gabriel make it much less effective.

Is there anyone active here who has seen the 129-minute cut?  (Have you, MB?)  I wonder if some shots originally were intended to last a bit longer.  There are certainly some very rough edits in the version we have currently.  And they definitely shortened/eliminated some shots to de-emphasize gore and sex between the (97-minute?) "pre-rated" or "R-rated" version and the 95-minute official release version.  (I saw the 97-minute version twice on the very first day of release.  Quentin and Angelique's kisses, and Gerard's moves on Tracy, were certainly eyebrow-raising, at least for an impressionable 14-year-old.  When I saw the movie again a fews years later on TV, it seemed quite a bit tamer--but that could well have been due to CBS' standards and practices department.  But then the VHS also seemed tamer than my memory of the initial release, and later on I learned about the apparent mistaken release of a non-PG version in Aug. 1971--which I had been lucky enough to catch!!)

MB, I'm wondering if maybe it's the angle on the henchman's face and the way the light hits the blood that makes it more effective.  It looks like it could possibly be the same makeup technique as on Gabriel, but the angle and lighting on Gabriel make it much less effective.

I finally found the time to do what I wanted to do, which was to examine the henchman's sequence using some Linux software that can break down video files into their individual frames. And having done that now it would seem as if the makeup for the henchman is different from the makeup for Gabriel. When it comes to the henchman, in addition to the blood, his makeup has little bits applied to his skin, apparently put there to approximate the skin that was torn by Angelique's nails (and interestingly enough, the same sort of makeup technique seems to have been used for Gerard's cheek wounds). But Gabriel's cheek wounds don't seem to have those bits - or if they do, they're covered up by so much "blood" as to be indiscernible. Unfortunately, we don't get to see a side view of Gabriel's wounded cheek either before or after we see it full on, so if there are bits applied, we can't check to see if they stick up from his skin.

Is there anyone active here who has seen the 129-minute cut?  (Have you, MB?)

I've only seen the presentations that Darren Gross has done at the Fests. Though during the presentation that he did in '04, he showed practically all of the recovered footage, and that was a real thrill to see.

I wonder if some shots originally were intended to last a bit longer.  There are certainly some very rough edits in the version we have currently.  And they definitely shortened/eliminated some shots to de-emphasize gore and sex between the (97-minute?) "pre-rated" or "R-rated" version and the 95-minute official release version.  (I saw the 97-minute version twice on the very first day of release.  Quentin and Angelique's kisses, and Gerard's moves on Tracy, were certainly eyebrow-raising, at least for an impressionable 14-year-old.

Yes, the 97 minute version is much more graphic than the version we currently have. The Charles/Angelique tower make out scene, the Quentin/Tracy bedroom molestation scene, and the Gerard/Tracy truck molestation scene are more sexually graphic - and the horse trampling of Trask and the aftermath of Gerard's shooting are much more bloody. But honestly at this point I don't recall if Darren showed the longer versions of those scenes or if he simply showed the scenes that were completely cut.

When I saw the movie again a fews years later on TV, it seemed quite a bit tamer--but that could well have been due to CBS' standards and practices department.  But then the VHS also seemed tamer than my memory of the initial release, and later on I learned about the apparent mistaken release of a non-PG version in Aug. 1971--which I had been lucky enough to catch!!)

Because of its graphic, bloody, and violent nature, I wasn't surprised that a lot of the stuff that I'd remembered from seeing the 97 minute version wasn't shown on TV, not even on TBS - but I was shocked when it didn't show up in the VHS and the VHS appeared to be exactly like the TBS edit. I was even more shocked when I wrote Marcy Robin to ask if she knew why they didn't use the version of the film that I remembered for the VHS but appeared to use the TBS version and she had no idea what I was talking about. And after I explained to her about the stuff that was missing, she was even more confused because she'd never seen what I was claiming had been in the film. It wasn't until a while later that it was uncovered that the 97 minute version had been mistakenly released in some areas of the country.