Discuss - Ep #0070

[Watching Project]

Robservations #70

[DarkLady]

WELCOME OLD HOUSE!!!!!

WELCOME GHOST OF JOSETTE!!!!!

[alwaysdavid]

David eavesdropping on Elizabeth and Vickie is caught by Matthew.   Vickie and David have a scene on the the landing in front of the stained glass window.  I want that window in my house. 
David talks about the lady in white and right away Matthew accuses David of going to the Old House which makes it seem that Matthew too knows that the lady dwells there.  Elizabeth informs the inquisitive governess that the Old House is the original Collinwood.
Carolyn comes in not realizing she is Burke's pawn and brings up hiring a housekeeper.
David eagerly takes Vickie to the Old House walking through the woods at dusk, up the front steps and into the house.  Outside Matthew approaches the house.
David lights a candle and shows Vickie the painting of Josette over the mantel and says that Josette is condemned to stay until a third governess goes off Widow's Hill. He thinks maybe Vickie is  the one.  The story seems to change from person to person who tells it, but then David has a personal agenda that is be a governess.
Matthew enters and when the camera pans back it is revealed that there are  louvered doors  on each side of the fireplace.
They leave and in another exterior shot descend the porch stairs. 
The portrat over the fireplace glows and then a woman in white walks out into thin air and down onto the floor and moves around the room.  She clearly looks much like Maggie Evans.   Then she is seen running and twirling around the porch columns of the Old House.  She does not appear to be a meanacing spirit.

[IluvBarnabas]

I love watching Josette's spirit walking down from her portait and dancing around outside. Our first step towards the supernatural tone has started...

I don't really see the resemblance between her and Maggie though.

David thinks Vicki might be that third girl going off Widows' Hill...he sounded like he HOPES she'll be the next one falling off from there. [spoiler] Unfortunately...it turned out he was right...in the Leviathans' storyline we got that totally unnecessary plot twist of Vicki supposedly being pushed off there by Jeb Hawkes. [/spoiler]

So David apparently isn't too crazy about Matthew either. David's likes and dislikes of people vary on and off, but then again he IS a kid.

[MagnusTrask]

David thinks Vicki might be that third girl going off Widows' Hill...he sounded like he HOPES she'll be the next one falling off from there. [spoiler] Unfortunately...it turned out he was right...in the Leviathans' storyline we got that totally unnecessary plot twist of Vicki supposedly being pushed off there by Jeb Hawkes. [/spoiler]

[spoiler]Thus making Vicki one of the two governesses rather than the third, maybe, and also making her one of the Widows, since she married Clark before going back.   She may have been wailing at herself in 1966.   I've never been clear on whether the wailing widows went off the cliff, or just hung out there after their husbands were lost at sea.   Did the story alternate to two widows waiting for a third widow to go over the cliff (as opposed to governesses)?   If so, Liz didn't have to worry 'till 1970, but didn't know it...  I wonder if "originally", Daphne was one of the governesses...[/spoiler]

WELCOME OLD HOUSE!!!!!

WELCOME GHOST OF JOSETTE!!!!!

Yes!   Step two in this becoming real DS!   (After Thayer appearing.)   I kept scanning back a few seconds, to catch the first glimpse of the Old House over and over, before moving on.   Also the earlier moment when the Old House is first mentioned.   At that moment, it came into existence!  Then it seemed we were being spoiled when almost immediately, we were heading over there, and actually saw it.

That stained glass window upstairs in the foyer... I always wonder aboutr that, what it means for the layout of the house.   Collinwood must be very thin in the neighborhood of the foyer, unless that window looks out on a courtyard.   I imagine that the two wings diverge from there, with one heading forward from the foyer (that you have to turn tight upstairs to access), and the other wing heading to the right from the foyer... obviously not reachable by the upstairs walkway in the foyer unless you go through the first wing a bit to reach the second wing.  But that window indicates no passage from the left wing to the right, but the outdoors... unless it's a courtyard, and there's a bit crossing between wings further back.  Another way of accessing the right wing could be through the downstairs door that in reality goes no place... but that's for servants, isn't it?

In this episode, we get what I think is DS's first and best special effect.   It's really impressive and effective.   There's actually real "mood" to Josette's appearance, as opposed to the clumsy blue-screen disappearances etc. of later years.  No idea why Josette spazzed and ran back to the house suddenly...

I intended to gush more about the Old House and Josette, but Dark Lady sort of stole my thunder...

For the first and possibly only time, I like what Vicki's wearing, but then turtlenecks always work.

  

[DarkLady]

Profound apologies, MT--I never meant to steal your thunder! But even reading my old summaries, I got all excited about the Old House. I still remember how magical it was when I saw it the first time, [spoiler]even though I had already seen the Barnabas episodes.[/spoiler]

The effect of Josette (apparently played by an unknown extra!) stepping out of the portrait is beautifully done. So is the shot where she's moving to and fro in front of the Old House. Is she dancing? Or is she trying to escape?

[Lydia]

That stained glass window upstairs in the foyer... I always wonder aboutr that, what it means for the layout of the house.   Collinwood must be very thin in the neighborhood of the foyer, unless that window looks out on a courtyard.

Interesting point.  I've never thought about the stained window in relation to the door at the back of the foyer.  Maybe there's a second floor patio that the stained glass window overlooks (like what's at The Breakers in Newport) but it doesn't seem likely.

Carolyn comes in not realizing she is Burke's pawn and brings up hiring a housekeeper.

I was thinking about that.  Carolyn usually comes across as being pretty self-centered, but right now she's being nice - unless she merely hoping to please Burke.  She seemed sincere, however.

WELCOME OLD HOUSE!!!!!

It's pretty exciting, isn't it?  In a way, we viewers are like ghosts.  To Vicky the Old House is completely unfamiliar, but to us it's like seeing an old friend again.

The effect of Josette (apparently played by an unknown extra!) stepping out of the portrait is beautifully done. So is the shot where she's moving to and fro in front of the Old House. Is she dancing? Or is she trying to escape?

Yes indeed, it's beautifully done.  For a few seconds there I forgot that it wasn't real.  And no, no, no, she's not trying to escape.  She's dancing.  You'll never persuade me otherwise.  All that unhappiness before death - and then all that happiness after death.

Incidentally, we still have no proof that David has actually seen the ghost of Josette.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The effect of Josette (apparently played by an unknown extra!) stepping out of the portrait is beautifully done.

That was actually KLS doing the effect of Josette stepping out of the portrait. She explains in the PomPress books that she just happened to be in the studio the day they did it.

As for who played the dancing Josette, I seem to recall KLS taking credit for that as well along the way somewhere - but I can't recall when or where...

[DarkLady]

Carolyn tries to talk her mother into hiring Mrs. Johnson as a housekeeper. Elizabeth replies, I prefer to keep my own house. She is wearing a beautiful black velvet robe and her favorite pearls--just what I always wear to do my cleaning.