I'm breaking my self-imposed (temporary) exile again, only to let people know that the movie "The Fall of the House of Usher" airs tonight on AMC at 11:40 P.M. E.T. (But beware -- AMC's times are often approximate.)

I think there were a few people who were interested in this and other Poe adaptations.  "House of Usher" is supposed to be one of the best, and there's also the DS connection ...  In one of the first couple of episodes of the series, Carolyn (in that fakey high-pitched voice she was using at the beginning) welcomed Victoria to "The House of Usher."

This was one of my favorite Poe stories and I can't wait to see what the house looks like.

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"?

Hmm, would you want to look like Jeff Clark if it meant you would be normal (or is that immortal?)?

Is Dr. Lang's home a duplex, or divided into town homes or condominiums?  I was puzzled the first time when Julia apparently had walked right into the house and knocked outside Dr. Lang's door, which opened into a hallway.  Then yesterday I noticed that there's a nameplate reading "Dr. Eric Lang" on the outside of this door.  Maybe this is just an office in his home where he sees patients ...

... And offers to give them electorcardiograms when they say they think they're going to have a stroke ...

Dr. Timothy E. Stoke's home also appears to be an apartment, but I was never sure ... people walk right in there, too, and his door opens into a hallway ...

Angelique's portrait ... does anyone find it as alluring as Roger does, with that sort of Mona Lisa smile ...?  Was any mention made of when Angelique had this painted, or did she just conjure it up?  My guess would be that she had it commissioned shortly after Josette's portrait arrived on the scene in 1795 ... though I think it has been pointed out in the past that she's in servant's garb rather than dressed like a lady ...

*  *  *  *

And this will have to be my last post until the week after next, so that I can complete two projects ...  Administrators have my permission to disable my account to prevent me from returning in that time ...  

Yes, the exterior of the house that Vicky loved so much was seen once during that storyline, but it was not the same exterior as Dr.Lang's residence.

Thank you for clarifying this, Cassandra. Perhaps I saw that one shot of the House by the Sea during my first viewing, because for some reason it has been haunting me and I wanted to see it again.  But I definitely missed it with this current run.

Another DS house that resonates with me is Rose Cottage.

In a way Gerard Styles is a very tragic character:  as you say, he starts out as Quentin's friend, then becomes a shady opportunist, and "regresses" to someone truly evil but only while possessed by Judah Zachary.  

.  .  .

Maybe you can classify Gerard as an instance of a character that changes more than once - four times, to be precise, if you assume that he started out as being Quentin's good friend.    

I think it's questionable whether Gerard Stiles was ever really "Quentin's good friend."

The Nancy Barrett character who knew him from way back said that the Gerard she knew was "an opportunist," but not a murderer (or whatever).  (Your use of "opportunist" was the exact word Nancy Barrett used to describe him, Happybat   .)  However, even she may not have known about his other identity as Capt. Ivan Millar, a pirate, long before he met Quentin.  I would tend to suspect the motives of such a ruthless and unprincipled character as that, especially when he's befriending someone from as prominent and wealthy a family as Quentin Collins!

-Vlad

SPOILER........
There is also Gerard Stiles (another good to evil character) due to possession by Judah Zachery.

I might question this one, VAM.  Gerard Stiles wasn't exactly what you'd call a "good" or "nice" man even before he became possessed by Judah Zachary. Remember, he also used an alias and was involved in pirating!  The "Nancy Barrett" character in that storyline charitably referred to him as a "hustler" or some such (I know that wasn't the term used, but something like that) but claimed he wasn't evil.  Even that characterization of him is somewhat questionable, though, IMO.

My vote for one of the most dramatically changed (and least believably changed) characters is the servant Beth in 1897.  Her switch from sympathetic, caring maid to handmaiden of the dastardly Count Petofi was hard to swallow.  I suspect it had less to do with her intrinsic character and more to do with the decision to extend the 1987 storyline (too much so, IMO).



Great topic, Cassandra!  I, too, am glad that some of the characters changed for the better (such as Mrs. Johnson and Carolyn), as you mention.

And even that a good, pure, innocent character, Rachel Drummond, remained true to her character (a very Dickensian character, much criticized on this forum, but that's another story ... though I'll just mention that I think it was KLS's most successful character other than Maggie).

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

I've only seen the first episode from yesterday, ending with the cliffhanger car crash.  I didn't remember it being that funny the first time I saw it!  

From the end of that episode, my guess would be that Peter Bradford's time in 1968 was nipped in the bud, with Vicki's over-reaction driving ...  

And, BTW, just how long a drive is it to the cemetery?  It never seemed to take David or Sarah quite that long to get there (I'm still in awe of Sarah running out of Collinwood smack dab into the midst of the cemetery, in front of the Collins' crypt!).