Originally posted by Luciaphil on the Dark Shadows: General Discussion Forum on February 23, 2002 at 07:46:05:
You know every time I see this arc of the show I am continually amazed.
The freshness of some of the performances--you can practically see the renewed energy itself. For some of the cast, even the ordinarily fine actors, it's a beautiful thing to watch. Joel Crothers, for instance, was an actor with a lot of talent and his Nathan is a thing of beauty. For those of you who are seeing these episodes for the first time, I recommend paying very close attention to Louis Edmonds. What he does with Joshua Collins is superb and as good as he generally was, Edmonds really shines here.
Grayson Hall's occasional lapses into theatricality serve her really well here. On a mild fashion note, who did not adore the ostrich plumed boa thing? And Joan Bennett seems to have new focus. As for Frid, this is one of the few times you'll hear me say it, but I like his presence in this arc--maybe it's the fact that the character is grounded or maybe it's because he's not such a raving loonie, I don't know, but the whole thing just works.
The makeup people (did someone forcibly remove the trowels from their hands?) and the lighting crew came through and Barnabas does actually seem to be "younger" although the lowest I'm going here is 35--and no, I don't think Lara Parker looks a day younger than 25 either.
The writing, too, is better. And the sets . . . I love what Sy Tomashoff (sp?) did with these.
There are dead spots and the, IMHO, unfortunate introduction of Roger Davis, but you can't have everything.
Right now, I'm enjoying this all quite thoroughly.
Luciaphil