It seems that those who decided to preserve the master videotapes for Dark Shadows back in the late 1960s and early 1970s had more foresight than NASA.

According to news reports I've seen, NASA has been searching for the past few years for the original video footage that was broadcast on live TV of the first Apollo moon walk 40 years ago (does anyone here remember watching that?  )

NASA has concluded that the original tapes of the historic Neil Armstrong moonwalk were ... TAPED OVER.

The only reason we're able to watch footage on the 40th anniversary now is that a lot of money has been poured into restoring copies taped from the original broadcast (I'm not completely clear on this last point), but the original videos are gone forever.

I believe it's Dan Curtis who deserves the credit for deciding to keep the DS episodes (with the exception of the one missing episode, and the Kinescopes) at a time when it may have seemed there was little reason to do so.

I've just started viewing 1841 for the third time, I believe.

In episode #1203, Melanie Collins is at the piano at Collinwood in a scene shared with Julia. At two intervals, Melanie briefly plays several bars from a lovely rather melancholy piano piece that sounds 19th century. There is a slightly discordant or minor key quality. I don't think it's Chopin, but I can't put my finger on what the piece is. It could even be later than the time period of the storyline.

I've checked all my resources, including the "Dark Shadows Almanac: Millennium Edition," to no avail. Kathleen Resch's 1840 Concordance summaries these episodes, but mistakenly says that Julia is playing the piano and Melanie enters the room.

Do any classical music lovers know what this piece is? I'm certain that VictoriaWinters would be able to identify this piece if she heard it ... are you there, VictoriaWinters? 
 

I'm a couple of years too late with this observation, but since the DVD's release is recent, then perhaps my out-of-touchness can be overlooked.

Despite my long interest in historical magicians, I've only now finally seen the two great 2006 movies "The Illusionist" and "The Prestige." That's a little hard to understand also since I considered Christopher Nolan's "Memento" as on the order of "Citizen Kane," speaking "filmically."

At any rate, I have now finally seen both, and was very surprised to spot "Greystone" towards the end of Nolan's "The Prestige." Surprised because I had assumed the movie was filmed in England ... and because the home represented here is supposed to be that of a British lord of the Empire (played by Hugh Jackman). No wonder the exterior shots of the house were fleeting! Does anyone know if the interiors were also filmed at Greystone?

I do recommend the movie to DS fans who haven't already seen it for its depiction of professional rivalries in the Victorian Age. And add to that a science fiction element, though grounded in the scientific discoveries of that age, including that of electricity. I always remember our discussions on this board years ago about the lighting - both gaslights and electricity - at Collinwood in 1897, and the careful historical detail the writers and producers incorporated into this storyline.

Even though this posting is OT, I find four connections with DS. I'll try to remember to number them.

Whilst looking up something unrelated on imdb.com, I discovered that a new film version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" has completed filming in England and is awaiting release. U.S. distribution rights have not been acquired as yet. Dorian is played by the actor who plays Prince Caspian in the second "Chronicles of Narnia" movie (which I haven't seen). He seems a good choice, but I had always envisioned Ryan Philippe in the role, and Mr. Philippe was in fact attached to a production for several years, he may even have been a co-producer, but for some reason that film never made it beyond the planning stages.

As many DS followers now, the Quentin portrait (1) by Charles Delaware Tate was inspired by the novella "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde. (And longtime readers of this forum will remember how many times I've posted about this ... )

Colin Firth plays Lord Henry, and the character of Alan Campbell, the "John Karlen" role of the Dan Curtis TV version (2), will be played by Douglas Henshall, who was in "Angels and Insects" (a role that gave him quite a bit of exposure).

The film will be a new take on the story that sounds interesting if not 100 percent faithful to the novel (alas!). There is even a character named "Angélique" (3) ... hmmm ...

And there's yet another link to DS. Sybil Vane is played by Rachel Hurd-Wood, who played Wendy in the recent movie version of "Peter Pan" directed by P.J. Hogan, who directed the 2004 Dark Shadows revival pilot. (4)

Read more about the new "Picture of Dorian Gray" in good-ol' "Fangoria":  http://fangoriaonline.com/home/news/9-film-news/1247-first-cast-and-filmmaker-comments-dorian-gray.html

And keep your fingers crossed that the film gets a U.S. release!

"The Man In the Iron Mask" (1939), directed by James Whale, and starring Joan Bennett, aired on TCM this evening. I missed the beginning but luckily recorded it with my DVR and wish I had been able to post in advance that it was going to be on.

I had never seen this and it was really quite well done. Joan Bennett was onscreen through most of it, playing Maria Theresa, the Spanish princess sent to France to marry Louis XIV, played wonderfully by an actor I had never heard of, Louis Hayward (who actually had a dual role, and made both distinct). My take on Ms. Bennett was that she looked lovely and couldn't be faulted for her acting except that her performance seemed to lack some depth of characterization. Yet I'd prefer that to some stagey sort of acting that you often find from this era (and much later ...).

Sadly this isn't available on DVD except in what appears to be an overpriced pirated version taken from VHS. As someone with an interest in Dumas as well as an interest in DS alum Bennett, I hope it will come out on DVD some day. Perhaps it will also re-air on TCM before long.

It's been a couple of years since I recall a posting about DS's influence on our lives. I wrote a long piece about the kinds of correspondences that come up in daily life that continually remind me of DS.

In the ensuing couple of years, those correspondences have become fewer and farther between. I supposed I've had too many other weighty concerns on my mind.

But here are a few things that came up just this past week that reminded me of this subject.

In my work, I deal with old books, and last week I came across several volumes of "Theater World," an annual, from the 1960s. There were a couple of names I wanted to look up in the index, one of them being Jonathan Frid. And sure enough, I found him in two of the volumes, 1963-64 and 1966-1967. (I made detailed notes of everything but am not sure where those notes are.) I was surprised to see Mr. Frid listed as an understudy in two plays on Broadway and performing in yet another in 1963-64; I hadn't remembered hearing of these plays before. In the second volume he was listed twice, I think, and there was a picture of him playing Caliban in "The Tempest." This made me think about how Jonathan Frid must have been a noted presence on the Broadway stage not long before he joined the cast of "Dark Shadows." Given that, many New Yorkers would have recognized him when he came on the scene as Barnabas. An interesting thought!

Another book that crossed my desk only a couple of days ago caught my eye because it dealt with the Roma, or gypsy people. The title is "In Sara's Tents" by Walter Starkie, and I decided to purchase the book myself since it looked so interesting. The book concerns the annual piligrimage of the Roma to the town of St.-Maries de la Mer, Camargue, Bouches-du-Rhône, on the Mediterranean coast of southern France, where they gather to honor Saint Sara. The festival takes place for three days in May when the reliques of "Sarah-la-Kali" ("Sarah the Black" in the Romany language), in legend the Egyptian maid to Mary Magdalene, who supposedly sailed to southern France, are on view and believed to have healing powers. The book also discusses gypsy beliefs and practices of witchcraft, and vampirism. Magda could surely tell us more!

Yet a third book that I saw only yesterday was a small book about the Maine coastline. I debated about setting that one aside for personal perusal, but decided I couldn't take the time with all these personal interests.

Another thing that reminded me of DS a while back that I don't think I've mentioned here before is that I discovered that a cousin of my great-great grandfather (same last name as ours) served as a gendarme à cheval (mounted police) in Gros Morne, Martinique. Of course, "Martinique" caught my eye at once. I'd like to research more about his life since all I know is that he was born in the same town in northeastern France as my direct family line, his wife was a Bouet, and he died in Martinique at the 1866 at the age of 47 (the same age as my own great-grandfather's death, which slightly concerns me personally ... ). My preliminary search for information showed that there was cholera epidemic in the Caribbean that may have touched Martinique at that time. My cousin may have more information since I found this in his database.

A few years ago I was looking through the Family Tree charts of the Collins family in one of the Pomegranate Press books and thinking how remote in time some of their ancestors were. About that time I also saw the 1840 storyline with its flashbacks to events in 1692. I remember how long ago that seemed, and it was as if it must have been a dark distant period lived in frightful shadows. I guess DS made it seem that way, but I no longer view that time period as such since I've researched so much of my own family in the 1600s and even much earlier. I didn't get my interest in historical and genealogical research from DS, but I sometimes like to think that my work in this area might have been useful around Collinwood!

- Philippe Cordier

I came across this review of the entire original DS series recently while surfing the web. The review is actually several years old and it may have been posted here or mentioned years ago. My apologies if I am then posting old information, but the review is interesting enough to merit reading for anyone who might have missed it.  And it's from a website which in my opinion provides very thorough and accurate information as well as in-depth and informative reviews.

The article was posted as a review of Collection 12, but it really covers the entire range of the series, with some choice (and often telling) comments on some of the acting and some good insights and compliments to the series overall.  I'll include a few quotes below, but the entire article is much longer.

http://www.dvdverdict.com/printer/darkshadows12.php

(Edited / See The Evidence [paras. 3 through 8] and Closing Statement [¶ 2] --admin)

I saw a new edition of "Dracula" just out recently that provides tons of annotations. I missed out on purchasing Leonard Wolf's "The Essential Dracula" when it came out as a trade paperback a few years ago and then disappeared before I could get it, which has been a disappointment to me ever since. "The New Annotated Dracula," edited by Leslie S. Klinger and published by Norton just might make up for my lingering sense of loss. It's an attractive but hefty tome (with a hefty price to match). It looks like it has lots of good information for a fresh reading of "Dracula." It also has chunks of information I would rather not have in the same book, such as covering nearly every other vampire that has appeared in books, comics, film, whatever. At any rate, in a discussion of filmed vampires, there is a respectful recounting of "Dark Shadows."