I have really come to appreciate and enjoy PT1841, especially after viewing it several times. Of course, when I first saw it during its original air in 1971, I didn't, since there was no Barnabas. It seemed that no matter what time a story was set in, all the performers could play other characters, and make it all fun for the viewer, but there had to be Barnabas. Now I see it differently.
Wednesday's episodes demonstrate how actually very good it really is. There was good acting, wonderful directing, even the costumes and sets were vivid. But the one thing that I noted was how intense the performers were in their parts. For the first time in a long, long, long time, Jonathan Frid said his lines with such clarity and emotion, not once stumbling over them, doing a Ralph Cramden mah-mah-mah-mah trying to spit the right one out, or stalling while desperately hunting for the teleprompter. I surmise the reason why was because Mr. Frid was given what he always wanted: a different character. So he went at the part with such vigor; it wasn't the same-old same-old to him. And then there was one moment which I kept rewinding over and over again: when Flora says about the curse: "It would follow us......you know that." Just the way she said those last three words with the conviction of futility and resignation. And the whole story has such a gothic tone about it, a true gothic tone. Such an air of - I don't know what to call it - darkness and despair hangs over that tragic family; you can just feel it. Another one of my favorite scenes, of Melanie pounding on those cobweb covered doors, crying out in madness: "Let me in! Let me in! I want to be with you!" just curdled my blood. To me, it all has the look of a Roger Corman/Vincent Price/Edgar Allen Poe movie in lush color and atmospheric gloom from the '60's.
Gerard