Vlad, I'm aghast at your report that reviewers have been dismissing the R. Corman/V. Price Masque film as "trash"--when I was a young'un, the movie was widely regarded as the high point of the Corman Poe AIP series, beautifully stylised with exquisite images and a literate, provocative screenplay.  Only The Tomb of Ligeia surpassed it because it was just a bit more finished and had a more understated approach to the subject matter.  Perhaps today's critics regard Ligeia as trash, too.

I don't think people appreciate true subtlety or symbolism in film any longer.  Like Midnite, I've been impressed with the comments cult auteur Harry Kumel made in connection with Daughters of Darkness (although I have only heard the version of his comments recorded on the DVD).  He talks about his formalist methodology and his view that films should be treated as dreams, not representations of reality.  It's not the only way to do film, but it's a technique that I think can be found a great deal in Dark Shadows--both literally in the dream sequences and figuratively in the balletic representation of narrative.

For those whose brains have been rotted out by the explo posturings of certain highly touted present-day filmmakers (I won't name names though I am aching to do so), of course, anything made with a higher degree of imagination than budget is automatically "trash."

cheers, Steve

[spoiler]A couple of family members do come down with it at one point when they attempt to stop holding the Lottery, or maybe when Gabriel pulls the old switcheroo with the local lad (who had such a pretty face, as I recall; wonder who that actor was?).[/spoiler]
It wasn't handled with anything like the sophisticated use of the Plague imagery in Masque of the Red Death. As for the specific questions you ask, my answer is that the symbolism is left deliberately open-ended.  The different colors of plague reflect the different colors of the rooms in Prospero's palace (the concept of a palace or villa with chambers decorated in diffferent colors did come from the original Poe story).  And that the Plague is meant to be as much spiritual as it is physical.  The "Red" Death--Red is a color associated with Pride, and secondarily with the worldy power over the lives of masses of people that are craved by those guilty of the sin of Pride in old morality.  I think it is also meant to echo Prospero's own hubris.

As for the figures in Giuliana's dream, in the movie, I do remember one of them was a Druid.  His costume was clearly inspired by a popular line drawing of Druid that was included in a lot of popular books on the occult and pre-Christian religions in the Sixties.  The appearance of Priests from non-Christian religions in the dream is the classic Christian assumption that anyone who doesn't serve their god must be serving Satan.

cheers,  Steve

How wonderful for Mr. Buzz.  The Yardley bit makes me feature him in a trench coat, slouch hat, and perhaps a pipe.  Tail wagging occurs discreetly off camera.

My cat Simona holds the title Plump Princess of Boston Ave. She was not awarded it, however--she simply seized it, slashing into ribbons with a casual paw anything or anyone that got in her way, as she has since time began.

That's my gal.

cheers, G.

Hi Rainey Park, oh, there were lots of computers on TV in the mid to late Sixties.  They were huge, clunky affairs--a single one could fill a decent sized room.  They were regular props on shows such as The Time Tunnel, The Girl from UNCLE, Lost in Space, Mr. Terrific, and many others.

What I can't understand is the strange spelling of Mr Juggins name on this entry.  Is it so folks won't get confused and think Robin is really talking about Tim?

G.

Hey, DStoDA, yeah, Nancy looked old when they were in 1995 because she was supposed to be old and "half-mad" (an expression I adore--I could swear I've been at least HALF-mad most of my life).

In 1840 when she played Letitia, they went back to the very theatrical make-up they had used on her in 1897 when she played Charity, possessed by the ghost of Pansy Faye.  I don't know whether you ever got to see 1897.  It's really great!

I recently watched the one episode long 1680 flashback and I thought Nancy's look in that was really stunning.  Very glamorous.

Good luck finding a new home for your site.  I did get to view the BAJ magazine cover this a.m.--great job!

G.

Nice photo!  I just had one of those taken for my new Passport photo.  I've gotten a fair bit of sun this summer, so I'm a bit more brown than you!  I'd guess that with your complexion, you need to avoid the sun as much as possible.

cheers, Gothick

Joey, I don't know why Barnabas' name was not given in those old summaries.  My guess is that they had not seen the actual episodes of the storyline prior to the episode before Barn's release because that was where the old syndication package *started*.  I well remember tuning in in 1976 at the start of syndication with tremendous excitement to see an episode that started with Willie staring at Barnabas' portrait.

IIRC, Liz names Barnabas and gives Willie, or somebody, a sentence or two of family lore about him being buried with his jewels, approximately one week before his release.

btw, I also remember that 16 Magazine back in the late Sixties ran a feature called "The Whole True Story of DS" that was based on somebody reading through old scripts, or outlines, and writing up some of the stories.  Seems as if in some cases the info on which these articles was based was a bit shakey, to say the least.  I remember reading in the very first installment about the beginning of the show that David played in the ruins of the Old House and met the ghosts of Josette and Barnabas there.  Although David and Vicki visited the Old House in episode 70 and he showed Vicki Josette's portrait, and her ghost did come and dance after they left the house, so far as I know, Barnabas was never mentioned before late March or early April of 1967.

I cite this because it goes to show that you can't always rely upon old fan produced (or even commercially published) materials in researching the history of DS.

cheers, G.