Discuss - Ep #0210

Robservations - #210

This is great - a topic appearing like magic for the episode, with the Robservation linked.  Thank you, WP!  I'm assuming, given the Caption This! topic that appeared at about the same time, that WP=MB.

I've done my duty for the day, and what an enjoyable duty it was!  I haven't seen a real black and white episode in a long time, and it sure looked right for what was going on.

The last time I watched this episode, I wasn't much of a Joan Bennett fan.  This time around, I enjoyed every second of Elizabeth's exchanges with Jason.

It's wonderful what a good actor can do without words.  I could have happily spent hours watching John Karlen trying to open Naomi's coffin.  I've never had anything to do with the theater (well, there was my highschool senior play, EVERYbody got a part, and I very nearly missed the cue for my one and only line), and therefore whatever imaginings I have of John Karlen, Lela Swift, and the crew figuring out how they were going to fill up the desired number of minutes are probably completely wrong - but I imagine anyway.  And when Willie grabbed his hair, I thought of...someone.  (Not Dave Woodard.)

And now I know whose hand it really was that came up out of the coffin!

    This is episode # 76 on the slate - I mean the VHS tapes, so it took me a little while to find it.
You get the father/son thing going on there with Jason and Willie? If I had been Willie, I would have said, "Yes, Daddy."
Jason thinks Willie is up to something. Willie swears on a stack of sawbucks that he isn't. Liz hands over 500 bucks to Jason to make Willie leave Collinwood. Now she ought to know better than that. All the conniving Jason has done up to this point. Tsk tsk, Liz.
    Is that Joe Haskell's duffle bag Willie is loading up in the shed? You know - the one Joe and Dr. Guthrie carried to the caretaker's cottage when they were searching for clues about Laura Murdock. Oh, well. You seen one duffle bag carried to a cemetery, you've seen them all. I always say.
    Vicky doesn't let us down. She gives us a "What do you mean?" in this episode. Go, Vicky! She also brings to our attention that Willie is fascinated with the portrait in the foyer.
    Willie trying to open Naomi's coffin: Can you say hernia?
    I have to say that Willie is a pretty smart cookie. I would never have thought to bring a block and tackle to rob a mausoleum.
    There's Jason standing at the front door to Collinwood. Is he coming or going? Looks like he's putting his hat to his head - no, no¢â‚¬¦he's taking it off. He's coming inside. "Quiet on the set! Roll ¢â‚¬Ëœem! You can come in now, Dennis!"
    Jason assures Vicky that Willie will be gone that night.
    John Karlen is superb in this episode. His Willie is frightened to death, yet his lust for the jewels presses him onward. And then he becomes half crazed with greed once the sound of the heartbeat stops.  Whose hand is that coming out of the coffin?

Yes, I was wondering about that block and tackle myself.  You look through the open metalwork door, you see a coffin.  (I'm not sure coffin is the right name for something that seems to be made out of stone, but let it pass.)  You're a strong, cocky young thug, you figure all you have to do is give a shove and the lid will slide right off - why bring a block and tackle?

I'm not a Vicky fan - truth to tell, by the time Alexandra Moltke leaves, I'm quite ready to see her go - but, seeing this episode again, it occurs to me that what matters to me is not whether Vicky is dumb or not, but whether she's warm or cold.  Once upon a time there was a thread here with a title along the lines of "Is Liz a dish best served cold?" and I'm thinking I like Vicky miles better when she's cold.  It's too bad Dan Curtis wouldn't let Moltke play a villainess.

Why oh why couldn't Joan and Dennis be a couple on this show? Am I the only one that thinks these two are great together? I love this side of Joan, where she is feisty and has spunk. Vicki was alright, a little blah. I too wish Dan would have let Alexandra play a villain. She probably would have been more entertaining. Good characters become stale after a while.

Does anyone know if that was Jonathan Frid in the coffin at the end of the episode or was it an extra they used until the next episode to introduce Barnabas?

Jason is a genuinely GREAT actor and brings a tremendous vitality to his scenes here.

I'm also struck by Karlen's work as a pre-Barnabas Willie.  He's very convincing and compelling as a troublemaking jerk; he displays a devil-may-care confidence that he was forced to abandon once he was bitten and had his personality changed completely into that of a craven wimp.  The contrast is very impressive and really shows Karlen's versatility as an actor.

Be sure to check out these (hopefully  ) humorous topics related to this episode:

From "Caption This!":

From "Complete This Phrase / Fill In The Blank(s)":
(none yet)

I LOVE Jason's accent, especially when he says, "Willie!"  

This episode is one of many which really showcases John Karlen's acting talent.  That scene at the end, when his expression changes, is GREAT!  It's one of the few scenes I actually remember from when I ORIGINALLY saw the show!

I'm curious myself.  Whose hand WAS it?  Was it Jonathan Frid's or just an extra's hand? 

----- Sally -----

Well I, too, got curious about the hand at the end, so went on a hunt to research.  According to Craig Hamrick's book,the hand of Barnabas was played by Timothy Gordon. He also played the hand of Count Petofi, and a customer at both the Blue Whale and the Bangor Pine Hotel Restaurant. And finally, he was the ghost of Jeremiah Collins. All necessary parts--which proves the old saying that there is no such thing as a small part for actors!  Barnabas & Company, Craig Hamrick, page 22.

Why oh why couldn't Joan and Dennis be a couple on this show? Am I the only one that thinks these two are great together? I love this side of Joan, where she is feisty and has spunk.

I'm right there with you, Satan! (Never thought I'd be saying that!) They were great together in both pairings, Jason and Liz, and Paul and Liz. It's such a shame they didn't last longer in either storyline. He was so suave and slimy at the same time as Jason.

I agree that DP and JB were great together on the show. When Jason treated her like crap in these early episodes and then DP came back as Paul and Liz was like "I don't really care if he dies" and had that kind of attitude towards him, I felt like it was a vindication of sorts.

Willie and Jason, great sparring partners-Jason having a difficult time controlling his "friend".  JK as Willie stole this episode with his scene in the mausoleum.  I'll bet he had fun with all those emotions.  After a while, Willie seemed to forget about his fright of hearing the heartbeat as he got to work opening the coffin.  But when it stopped, he seemed surprised for a moment.

Now, here's something interesting.  In this episode, as Willie opens the coffin and the hand comes out, we see the ring on the left hand.  Next episode we see the portrait with the ring on the right hand.  Now, I'm going to have to pay attention to what hand Barnabas has the ring on!  

The hand in this episode belonged to Timothy Gordon who had a birthday recently.  In episode #211, we see JF for the first time.

I have nothing to add beyond commenting that that screen capture of the close-up on Liz included in the Robservations PERFECTLY encapsulates what I adore about this period of the show!

And I agree, Bennett and Patrick played off one another brilliantly.

G.

Review:
Jason's finally convinved Liz to cough up the dough to get Willie out of town. Jason tells Willie he has the money, but Willie still splits before he gets his hands on it. Sure, he thought he was going to be rolling in jewels before the night was over, but why didn't he stick around to take the extra cash? It would have taken what, 5 minutes to wait for Jason to wander back out into the foyer and hand him the money? Then he could have left with the jewels and the cash and no one would have been the wiser.

You have to love the outdoor sets, they look that much more creepy in the black and white episodes. They look real enough, but are off by just a slight margin which lends a surreal quality to the surroundings. I love how old horror movies would create outdoor sets inside a studio. Now if only DS had the budget to throw in some painted backdrops the look would be complete.

They sure are taking the time to talk about the portrait lately. I know it's a new addition to the set and they need to establish the fact that Barnabas lived 200 years ago... but it's pretty much all anyone talks about lately, like they just noticed it was there. Nice shot framing Vicki and Liz in the mirror beside the portrait. You miss shots like this later on, before the camera work just went for the EXTREME CLOSE UP 90% of the time.

Is it just me, or does the portrait of Barnabas look a LOT smaller than it does in later episodes? Was there more than one?

Willie enters the mausoleum and takes a look around. If I were him I'd be surprised at A. How clean it is in there, and B. That the local kids haven't vandalized the place with grafitti and beer bottles. I mean come on, you just have to open the door to get inside, it's in a secluded spot, it'd be party central for the high school crowd. Other than that there should be tons of dead leaves, cobwebs, and weather damage to the place. It's pretty open to the elements.

Jason and Liz argue about Willie's disappearance in the foyer. It must be close to midnight by now, what the hell is everyone still doing up?

If it wasn't the opening to a secret passage, that Lion's head probably would have come right off the wall when Willie used it as a brace for the pulley. It's just a decoration. And wouldn't the ring have long since rusted, not to mention the chains? Maybe not, I don't know much about metal working in colonial times.

I wonder how many kids threw their hands over their eyes when the hand came up out of the coffin?

Favorite line of the episode: A bible you can swear on will never be written, Willie.

Hi Arashi,

There were two portraits.  At some point (in mid to late 1969, I think), the original one was stolen.  Its whereabouts have never been determined.

The second one was used in hoDS, hung in Dan Curtis' office for many years, and is the one that was auctioned at the Festival last August.

cheers, G.