Are we going to get one of your witty, thoughtful commentaries to today's episodes?  I really want to get out the tape and have a look at these.  Thought Joan looked at her loveliest.

It is interesting to see the comments in the "Naomi notions" post about Naomi's suicide.  Although for obvious reasons I can't really put myself in her shoes (my feet are too darned big for starters, lol), I do find dramatically plausible her traumatic reaction to discovering what had happened to Barnabas, resulting in her act of suicide.  I haven't seen these shows in many years so perhaps the way the story was written, or the way Joan played the scene, makes the depth of Naomi's shock implausible ... but I don't think the concept is at all unlikely, I'm sad to say.

In certain cultures, Imperial Rome and classical China for example, suicide was almost programmed as the "correct" response to family misfortune, particularly for a female.  A lot of the casualties in Chinese wars throughout the ages were women who committed suicide because the alternative was vulnerability to rape.

Gothick

Hi John!

One of my favorite "bloopers" is a very subtle one.  It's in Humbert Allen Astredo's first scene as Nicholas Blair opposite Alexandra Moltke as Vicki.  As he's saying goodbye to her, he has a line that comes out something like, "Very pleased to meet you Miss Molt ... er, Miss Winters!"  If you're not very attentive, you'd miss the flub altogether, because he covers it with one of his most deliciously courtly smile.

Then there's this scene again involving Humbert, though the blooper was not at all his fault.  When, as Evan Hanley, he was dismissing the "shade" of Minerva Trask (a simulacrum created through one of Evan's few workable spells--quite a clever one, actually), the director had failed to realize that Jerry Lacey, Joan Bennett, and Clarice Blackburn would need to dash ACROSS the camera on the very set where Humbert was reciting his incantation.  I swear you can hear Jerry muttering "Jesus!" as he and the two ladies scamper madly across that set!

So many more I could mention... this morning I was watching an episode towards the end of the 1897 storyline where it was one of those days where EVERYTHING seemed to be going wrong.  Only the magisterial Thayer David kept his cool.  What a gent he was.

On the MPI blooper reel, my absolute favorite moment is the bit of footage that miraculously survived from the one time when they were supposed to have stopped tape and the camera kept running.  You hear the director (maybe H. Kaplan?) yell "cut!" and Grayson Hall just glares at him and says: "WHY?" No question who was in charge on set that day!


Gothick

Well Jennifer, the Collins "incestral" traditions never paid much attention to blood ties, did they?  I suppose that is because "the Collins blood has always had a certain persistent ... strength!"  Rather like the passions of those Collins men!

I once wrote a long Chris/Quentin slash tale (inspired by a short story my friend Nicky wrote) because I thought Briscoe and Selby would be so darned hot together.  It wasn't till I finished it that I realized Quentin was Chris' great-grandfather!  Yikes.

Best,

Gothick

Thanks Julia for that gorgeous photo of Barnabas and Julia ... THE Dark Shadows couple, as far as I'm concerned!

A lot of people see Barnabas and Julia as the model upon which the creator of X Files based his concept of Mulder and Scully's relationship.  I haven't watched the series enough to comment upon that--I did see the X files film and could see a definite connection to this aspect of DS.

In terms of wish-we-could-have-seen-them couples. I think Chris Jennings and Joe Haskell would have made SUCH a cute pair.  Joe could have moved out of that awful room and into the cottage, and they both could have had a lot of fun fixing it up.  Plus, I bet Joe would have done a better job of dealing with Chris' hairy side than Sabrina managed to do.

Just my 2 drachmae,

Gothick

Casper sweetie, I think the Countess got clubbed by the weapon Lieut Forbes carries around in his trousers!  At least she went with a smile on her face.  Oh God, I just flashed on an image of Grayson Hall doing a cameo in Clockwork Orange.  Whew.

Don't you know that vampires are immune from bed head?  It goes with the anti-aging creme and the fabou Byronic costuming ...

Please do continue to post your comments.  Just love reading 'em!

Gothick

Thank you MB for that invigorating, refreshing, and edifying image!

Makes one wonder just who was getting Nathan's goodies, since Millicent was too busy freaking out and having hysterics.

A sailor's life for me!

Gothick

Vam!

Basil Rathbone actually played Sir Guy of Gisburne in the Errol Flynn film.  They had the climactic duel up and down those stairs. Truly classic filmmaking.

Rathbone used to be best known for his role in the Universal Sherlock Holmes series that I loved watching over and over and over again on Sat. nights as a teenager.  Especially the ones with Henry Daniell and Lionel Atwill taking turns playing Professor Moriarty. What fabulous panache those actors had.  

So many wonderful Rathbone performances.  A remarkable fact about him I often recall is that Sax Rohmer, a now forgotten cult novelist, wanted Rathbone to play his "Oriental mastermind" character Fu Manchu in the films.  Rohmer gave as his reason the fact that "Rathbone always appeared sinister--even when wearing pyjamas!"

Best,  Steve