I happened to catch the last couple of minutes of a "Dream Drives" feature on Bellevue Avenue, Newport, RI, late last week. (Why am I always catching only the last few minutes of anything on TV?   )

They were showing a number of stately homes along this seaside steet in Newport, and I would be willing to bet they must have shown Seaview Terrace, the real Collinwood, on this program.  Was anyone lucky enough to catch it?

I know I said I wouldn't be posting here for a while, but I'm just going to sneak in for a minute.  After all, it's not every day that Cassandra Collins arrives on the scene!

And what an entrance (and impression) Lara Parker makes as Cassandra!  I vaguely remember finding her entrance thrilling in my childhood viewing -- though I was too little to realize (until another kid pointed it out) that this scary new lady was really Angelique.

Maybe that isn't as unobservant as it might sound, because what I notice now are some subtle changes that Lara Parker gives Cassandra, differentiating her ever so slightly from Angelique.  

Many of us have highly praised Nancy Barrett's versatility in creating a host of different characters during the course of the show, but I think we may have somewhat overlooked Ms. Parker's abilities in this respect.  Her role as an actress on the series was more limited than Ms. Barrett's since the only character she played besides Angelique (and Angelique alter-egos) was the heroine (Catherine) in 1941 PT.  If her Cassandra is any indication, Ms. Parker had more potential for creating different characters than she was able to realize on the show.

Specifically, I'm thinking of her mannerisms as Cassandra.  Cassandra seems to have an even more single-mindedly evil streak than Angelique, if that's possible.  There's an intensity about her that surpasses Angelique, a conniving manner that ripples barely beneath the surface at every moment.  Her movements are catlike.  In her scene with Elizabeth, she seemed like a tigress eyeing her prey and barely restraining herself from pouncing.

LP's feline mannerisms remind me of another actress I admire, Ann-Margret, who has subtly mimicked feline movement in her mannerisms in several of her more predatory roles (and I'm not talking about "Kitten With a Whip")!.

Even Joan Bennett seemed unnerved playing under LP's relentless focus, as the veteran actress fumbled repeatedly for lines.

Grrrrrrr ...  Or should that be "Meow"?

I had trouble when I searched for the previous thread by this title. I was supposed to enter something about my previous age and my maximum age since last posting, which I couldn't figure out.  Then I went to my profile page and that usually has something at the bottom of the page where you can search for the posts that person has made, but that wasn't there this time -- that may have had something to do with the page taking five minutes to load, so I finally hit "Stop."  Since I wasn't sure if the page had fully loaded, I hit "Refresh" and then got a blank page.  I tried backtracking to my previous page and that made me leave ds boards.  So I closed my Explorer browser and brought up the Netscape browser.  I was surprised to see I was still logged in, but when I tried to begin a new topic, it asked for my user name and password, as if I wasn't logged in.  So I decided to log in (again?), began a new topic, and there was no box to write the message in!  There was only a tiny box about the size of a small "o," but square.  

So now I've gone back to the Internet Explorer browser, brought up dsboards, and it looks like I'm already logged in ...

Boy, I better have something important to say after all that ...

All I wanted to mention was that I was finally able to view the movie "The Tomb of Ligeia," which was recommended by Darren Gross (I hope that's his last name; if not, I don't know where I came up with it ... I seem to have a problem remembering names of characters, actors, and posters ...).  Darren mentioned the movie as having inspired the Angelique/Alexis part of the 1970 PT storyline,  I think it was.

Although I don't remember that aspect of the storyline well enough, I could vaguely see the connection, at least if Angelique had "willed" herself to live even after death.  I think this may have been the point of the original Poe story, too, having quickly glanced at it last night (I know I read it years ago, but don't remember it).

There didn't seem to be as many parallels between this movie and DS as there were between "The Haunted Palace" and DS, but I found "The Tomb of Ligeia" to be infinitely superior.

The movie is gorgeously filmed on the actual site of a ruined abbey, with lots of interesting camera work and subtle performances.  I don't know if it was due to my lack of sleep or not, but this was one of the most confusing and puzzling movies I've ever seen -- very intellectually engaging!  I'm not sure I entirely figured it out, but I definitely want to watch it again.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the 1970 PT storyline (though that's one of my least favorites) and is interested in exploring its connection with this movie.

At first I liked the transition back to the present day when Victoria Winters returned from 1795 ... the tension this introduced to Barnabas; Victoria's lost love of an earlier century; the portrait of Angelique and the power it exerts over Roger; the introduction of Professor Timothy Elliot Stokes.

Then Dr. Lang entered the picture.    I didn't care much for any scene he was in during my first viewing of the series, and now I've toyed with the idea of fast-forwarding through much of the upcoming storyline (though I like the Dream Curse). But as I watched Friday's episodes, I realized that I might miss some good material if I did that. For example, I would already have missed the significant, key point of why Vicki was "sent" back into the past:* 1) she saved Daniel when she killed Noah Gifford, thereby preserving the Collins line, and 2) she was destined to meet Peter Bradford, and their love will transcend time.

This last point reminds me of Gothick's mention recently
about the influence of the movie "Berkeley Square" on the 1795 storyline. I had never heard of this movie (nor of several others mentioned recently on this forum), which made me realize how much I am still learning about DS after more than three years of involvement here.  Either DS is very rich in material, or the people posting here are uncommonly insightful in mining information from the show, or -- as I suspect -- both are true.  

At any rate, a week or so ago I was looking up some unrelated information on the web; I think it had to do with "The House of the Seven Gables," a novel with which DS has much in common, including ghosts of the past, a history of witchcraft, a family curse, ancestral portraits, and, finally, a redemptive love that overcomes the cursed past (cf. 1841 PT). In the course of my web search, I came across mention of an unfinished novel by Henry James titled "A Sense of the Past," which turns out to have been the basis for "Berkeley Square." ("Berekely Square" was apparently a play first, then the movie, and was remade in the 1950s as "The House on the Square." Both movie versions receive high marks from critics and viewers, but neither is available on video or DVD.  I would encourage anyone interested in finding out more about how these movies influenced DS by requesting that they be shown on Turner Classic Movies and/or AMC.)

Another thing that caught my eye in Friday's second episode was the house of Dr. Lang.  What a wonderfully foreboding Victorian home!  Does anyone know anything about the actual house used in the exterior shot/slide?

Somehow I've managed to miss -- two times now -- the "House by the Sea" that was visited by Vicki, Burke, and Elizabeth.  Was an exterior shot of that house ever seen?  For some reason I wondered if it was the same as Dr. Lang's house. Or is this the first time we've seen Dr. Lang's?  Is this house also where

SPOILER

Angelique imprisons Vicki?  

It seems to me that we will be seeing a lot of the interior set of Dr. Lang's house, in various incarnations.  One of my favorite sets of the entire series is the Rectory in 1897, which I think may have made use of the Dr. Lang interior.

I've been sorry we had to leave the past behind.  The 1795 storyline was one of the very best of the series (#2 in my ranking).  It was a cohesive, engrossing story, very well-acted and executed.

I am still lingering in that past, but I know there are some wonderful things to look forward to also. There may even be moments that surpass 1795 ...

_______
*which also raises the question of who or what power sent her into the past


-Vlad

How soon should someone going to the DS festival in June buy their plane tickets?  Do you think prices will go up, or down, between then and now?

** SPOILERS ABOUT TRASK **

Just a reminder that very soon (I think) we'll be treated to events on DS that borrow from Edgar Allen Poe's story "The Cask of Amontillado."  

Having re-read Poe's story recently, I urge other DS viewers to read it.  I think reading the story before Barnabas gets his revenge would actually give more meaning to those episodes (which hopefully didn't air already today).

This is a fairly brief story and one of Poe's most effective; at least, it gave me chills now, perhaps even more than when I read it at about age 12.

"Amontillado" is a sherry from Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

I'm sure the story can be found online.

*   *   *   *   *

This isn't DS's only borrowing from Poe.  As is noted in various resources, Elizabeth's "premature burial" in one storyline (the Cassandra one?) seems to be borrowed with Poe's preoccupation with that subject (in "The Fall of the House of Usher," which I've also recently re-read, and, according to printed resources, a story titled "The Premature Burial," which I may have read but don't remember).

Also, a certain swinging pendulum will make an appearance in the 1897 storyline -- straight from Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum."

I recently re-read this story, too, and then last weekend finally viewed the c. 1960 movie version starring Vincent Price (and also starring DS 1990 revival series star Barbara Steele).  I wasn't expecting too much from the movie -- but was I in for a surprise!  Though the movie has almost nothing to do with Poe's story, it is a wonderfully crafted mystery/thriller that I highly recommend!

No way of knowing yet whether I can swing the DS festival in Los Angeles, but I still would like to know (and I'm sure others would also), what kind of transportation there is between LAX and Anaheim.  Do you think the Marriott has shuttle service? How far is it? Wonder what a cab would cost?

Thanks to anyone who might know!



Transportation between the airport and the hotel was my major concern regarding the fest in New York last August.  I had never been to NYC, whereas I've at least been to L.A. and Anaheim.

People on this board were very helpful ... I think Ringo had info about a "SuperShuttle" and the now-mysteriously vanished Sheilamarch actually called the Marriott when I posted this same question.

Everything seemed to be set ... then, upon my arrival at JFK, I discovered that the Supershuttle wasn't operating that day -- their phone system was out and there was no way to reach them (you had to call from the airport to schedule a pickup).

Taking the subway with my suitcases (yes, suitcases ...   ) was a great, sweating learning experience, though.