I've recently viewed two film adaptations whose stories may have influenced Dan Curtis and "Dark Shadows." After many years of waiting (speaking for many), the 1951 movie "I'll Never Forget You" finally came out on DVD last year as part of a Tyrone Power collection. This is the second movie based on the John Balderston play "Berkeley Square," and the movie was alternatively titled "The House in the Square" in the U.K. I haven't seen the original 1933 movie "Berkeley Square" with Leslie Howard and Heather Angel, which has never been released on VHS or DVD. I've read the play "Berkeley Square," though, and liked the 1951 version. It's a bit creaky, but I especially liked the early B&W interior scenes - the house looked too detailed and realistic to be a movie set but I haven't been able to find out for certain. The original play (itself inspired by Henry James' unfinished novel "The Sense of the Past") concerns a man obsessed with his family's history who goes back in time to the 18th century in England, where he falls in love. Some might see similarities here with the 1795 DS storyline when Victoria Winters goes back in time and meets the "original" Barnabas Collins. The ending of "I'll Never Forget You" was definitely borrowed by Dan Curtis for the ending of his excellent Hallmark production of Jack Finney's "The Love Letter." (The love interest from the past re-appears, reincarnated, in the present day.) I've written in the past how Jack Finney's original short story, "The Love Letter," inspired a sequence in DS where Julia finds a letter in a secret compartment in a desk by which Barnabas in the past is attempting to communicate with her.

Now I've just re-watched a two-part episode of "The New Twilight Zone" (1985) that I recorded on my DVR from the Chiller channel some months ago. The episode is called "A Message from Charity" and is based on a 1967 short story of the same name by a writer named William M. Lee. It's not a full-fledged time-travel story, but instead involves communication by the two young lovers across the barriers of time, similar to Jack Finney's "The Love Letter," but here involving telepathic communication rather than letters. The time periods involved are the teenaged boy in the present day and the girl living in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War. What was uncannily close to the 1795 DS storyline is that the girl, because of her advanced knowledge of the future, is accused and tried as a witch.

"A Message from Charity" was published in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" in November 1967. Dark Shadows' 1795 storyline began in November 1967 and ended in April 1968. What could be the explanation between the two similar themes appearing at virtually the same time? Was it already decided that Vicki would be accused of witchcraft when the DS producers decided to send her into the past? Or might that have been a later development, influenced by the story "A Message from Charity"?

"A Message from Charity" is well acted and poignant, though the production values don't quite match "The Love Letter." California stands in for Massachusetts, and in a scene where Peter is pacing in the school library, I noticed a palm tree out the window (shades of the 1991 DS Revival!).

Stories about time travel have been around since at least the 19th century. I've guessed that Henry James might have borrowed the concept from his friend H.G. Wells. Mark Twain and others had previously used the idea.

- Philippe Cordier

The Chiller channel turned out to be part of my cable lineup that I have currently. The only thing worthwhile that I've found on it (this is since last fall) were a few "Twilight Zone" episodes, including some from a new "Twilight Zone" that I hadn't known about. Otherwise I think it's similar to the SciFi channel's programming.

I have dim memories of watching "The Sixth Sense." The only one I remember, though, and I'm pretty sure this was the program from what has been described here, was an episode with Joan Crawford that I would be interested in seeing again. There was also an interview with Ms. Crawford after the episode in which she talked about having had an extrasensory experience of some kind.

Watching this made me even more decided in my opinion that DS, the series, was fabulous DESPITE DC's involvement.  The man seems to have had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer on acid.

On the other hand, something like "The Love Letter" is quite good. It's a nice updating of the original Jack Finney mind-out-of-time story, and I found it much less hokey than the feature film "Somewhere in Time." The direction is well-paced and reflective, and performances are very good all around (Campbell Scott, Estelle Parsons).

It was good to see Kate Jackson participating in Farrah's documentary. Since I had just finished my viewing of the 1840 and 1841 storylines which featured Ms. Jackson, the contrast with how she looked almost 40 years ago with how she looked in the documentary was striking. I recall that Kate Jackson has dealt with cancer in the past, too, as was alluded to in the documentary.

For those of us who grew up during the time of DS's original airing, Farrah Fawcett is truly an icon of 1970s television. I think this documentary will also be a landmark. For those of us who have lost a loved one to cancer, so much of the documentary will really hit home - the hopes for experimental treatments, the prayers for a miracle, and the suffering we witness. Farrah's faith and her love - evident even in her present state of hazy awareness - are inspiring.

I just saw this interview on DVD for the first time. I was surprised and pleased to see it, because I thought I had seen just about all of the special materials. I haven't purchased any of the "extra" DVDs, but the last set of the DS Collection, No. 26, includes two separate DVDs of extras, to round out the box set to four DVDs. The same disc includes Joan Bennett's interview on Merv Griffin, which was done shortly before Jonathan Frid's. Mr. Frid looked younger than he did on the show, for some reason. The interview shows how gracious and refined a man he seems always to be.

It would have been nice to have some of these interviews included on the 1991 DS DVD set.

Jonathan Frid was certainly gracious in his comments.

I also found this segment interesting, with Joanna Going saying that she was not allowed to watch DS as a child:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyF-B2w2mkM

Seattle show EVENING MAGAZINE, featuring the 1991 revival of "DARK SHADOWS"

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? 
 

Pansity,

That was very revealing information, thank you. Unfortunately, in my case, it doesn't work. I have the newest version of the Insignia DVD player (BestBuy's brand). The older version could be hacked. The new model can't be. Apparently BestBuy got wise to what they see as a problem. You can get to a screen that shows the Region code - but it can't be changed.

I am actually very surprised that there are any DVD players being produced today that would allow the code to be changed via hacking.