And Now The Return of Another New Slideshow (Sort of) [**Now featuring alternate versions of scenes - see replies #60,#82,#116,#138,#157,#180,#224,#240,#280,#372,#526**]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The production still where it shows that Grayson was standing on a box for that scene is a fun one.

Yes - and what makes it even a bit more fun is that still is one of the lobby cards

Until I was just going through some NoDS stuff, I'd completely forgotten that in addition to the lobby card, there's a B&W still that's slightly different:

Of course, what's also interesting is that in the film Alex and Carlotta are never seen in the same shot from that angle (only in the angle seen in reply 612), yet they are in the above still and the lobby card version.

And I'm happy to report that, yes, the two stills that I suspected had run off together had actually almost done that because I discovered them packed away where they really shouldn't have been. But I found them, and that's all that's important:

Plus, I also discovered a better version of the DC/Kalen behind the scenes still:

[Gothick]

That's a fabulous shot of Dan shooting the Carlotta jump sequence.  Johnny is right in character even though the camera isn't on him.  Now, that's training!

I'd forgotten about those heels Grayson wore as part of the Carlotta costume.  Fabulous... and no doubt excruciating by the end of each day.

That shot of her on that box really is a hoot!  Can't believe that was used for one of the lobbies.  Somebody was really asleep at the wheel the day they did that layout!!

Best,  G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Wrapping up Scene 238 and moving beyond, beginning with today's quote -

Page 110/Scene 238 - Carlotta (as she looks over the side): 'She needs me.'

coming up, followed in the script by:

239    THE GROUND BELOW - CARLOTTA'S P.O.V.              239        On the ground far below stands the ghost-like figure        of Angelique. her arms outstretched as she beckons        Carlotta to her death. 240    EXT - PARAPET - NIGHT                             240        as Alex takes another step toward Carlotta, she turns        and plummets from the tower.  The only SOUND is that        of the MOANING WIND.        FAST ZOOM to Angelique on the ground below.

End of scripted tower sequence - though in the film that isn't the last we see of Carlotta. But more on that in an upcoming post.

And as far as the descriptions and directions go, everything plays pretty much exactly as scripted with the only difference being that there's a zoom to Angelique both times we see her.

And as far as the dialogue goes, Carlotta's quote doesn't appear in the film as it currently stands.

And Grayson has a note in her script that as Cartlotta decides to jump, she trusts in her love for Angelique.

And as an aside, for some reason I've always loved this still:

And being the trouper that she was, I'm sure Grayson did her own stunt and dived off the tower to an inflatable bag below, right? ... No ... Well, you believe what you believe and I'll believe what I believe!! 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I wonder... Given that the candles on the candelabra seem similar, could this still -

- also be from Scene 220, or at least from the same photo shoot?

[Gothick]

That's a beautiful shot of Selby as Quentin. Would make an awesome poster or DVD cover.

G.

[KMR]

And being the trouper that she was, I'm sure Grayson did her own stunt and dived off the tower to an inflatable bag below, right? ... No ... Well, you believe what you believe and I'll believe what I believe!! 

Oh wow, I don't remember ever seeing that still before!  And as many times as I've seen the movie, I also don't recall seeing Carlotta fall from the tower.  (Of course, as I get older, my memory is less and less what it used to be...)  Gotta give those stunt people credit for what they do.  I'd certainly hate to have to jump off that tower, even if they had the most trustworthy inflatable bags, snug up against the house and reaching out at least a hundred feet away!  Well, maybe if the bag was deep enough that my jump only ended up being one story...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The only place I've ever seen that still is as part of the NoDS Herald that was offered to theaters in the NoDS Pressbook. The sad thing, though, is the pressbook doesn't scan very well, so this is about as good as the page gets:

And if you're wondering what all the captions say, starting top left: "Condemned as a witch and adulteress, Angelique hangs from a rotting tree branch, mute testimony of man's treachery", top center: "Quentin seeks his own answers to the ghostly horror that festers in the dank atmosphere of Collinwood", top right: "Shrill cries of terror racket from Tracy's very soul as she encounters the ghostly Angelique", center right: "Carlotta seeks a terrifying ultimate release from the charnel life that has bound her", bottom right: "Ferocious adversaries spill one another's blood as Gerard and Quentin tangle in vicious confrontation", bottom center: "The restless ghost of Angelique emerges from shadows determinedly seeking her earthling lover Quentin", and bottom left: "Reverend Strack, who has persisted with his scheming that Angelique should be hanged as a witch, and Charles Collins, her lover, look upon her limp body swaying from the gibbet" - and the caption for the bottom card: "Zombie-like mourners tramp the sad loneliness of the Collinwood cemetery as Angelique's coffin is delivered to a final resting place."

And as you can see, whoever wrote all that copy was really showing off...

[Uncle Roger]

I may have mentioned this before but back in the day (approximately 1971/72), I purchased several stills from both movies  directly from MGM. There was nothing especially unique about them but they were are close to mint condition as you could get. The still department was extremely cooperative and would send you whatever they had that matched your request. They were expensive for the time--$1.25!! I bought about five or six before MGM closed down their NYC still department. I don't recall if I ever inquired about ordering from MGM in California.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Dealing with the current scene:

241    INT - GALLERY - NIGHT - HIGH WIDE ANGLE           241        Quentin lies on the floor cradled in Tracy's arms.        Claire kneels next to him.  HOLD FOR ONE BEAT and        then FAST ZOOM IN TO QUENTIN'S CLOSE-UP as, taking        a deep breath, he opens his eyes.  SLOWLY WIDEN TO        INCLUDE Claire and Tracy, as Quentin and Tracy        embrace.

And that's when today's first quote -

Page 110/Scene 241 - Tracy: 'Thank God, Quentin, thank God.'

comes up, followed in the script by:

Claire rises as we continue to PULL BACK as dawn   can be seen through the gallery windows.

And that's when today's second quote -

Page 110/Scene 241 - Quentin: 'It's over, Tracy. It's over!'

comes up.

End of the seance sequence.

And as far as the descriptions and directions go, we do know that there's a zoom in to Quentin as he wakes because that is in one of the TV spots, but beyond that who knows because Scene 241 doesn't appear in the film as it currently stands...

And as far as the dialogue goes, presumably in the 129 minute version of the film Tracy still delivers some version of her line, but interestingly enough, in a document that I just recently rediscovered and had forgotten all about, Darren indicates that Quentin's quote was given to Claire (minus the reference to Tracy). So, if I had done graphics closer to what the scene is apparently actually like, these would have probably been more appropriate:

Tracy: 'Thank God, Quentin, thank God.'


Claire: 'It's over. It's over!'

And as we're only too well aware, so much of what we've recently been dealing with in the script doesn't play the same way in the film as it currently stands. And I will be getting into those differences very soon. But for now I want to share two videos that I created with the footage that is available in the film and in the trailers and TV spots to put the clips from the trailers in perspective and to give some idea of how certain things were intended to play and how they do play in the 129 minute version.And for the existing footage in the film I used the VHS so that it would be the same aspect ratio as the clips in the trailers/TV spots.

Part 1:

Part 2:

(ADMIN: Edited to add videos and remove animated GIFs)

[Uncle Roger]

I love the shot of Tracy, Quentin and Claire. Very atmospheric and moody.

And the GIFs are absolutely first rate. You did an excellent job, MB! Bravo!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I may have mentioned this before but back in the day (approximately 1971/72), I purchased several stills from both movies  directly from MGM.

I don't recall you mentioning it before, but regardless of whether or not I just missed it, that's very interesting. It's an idea I never had, so how clever of you. 

I didn't actually start to buy memorabilia from the films until about '73/'74. I began by getting stuff from a place called Cinema Attic (which, believe it or not, was an actual reputable company that advertised in the back of '70s magazines like Modern Screen, TV Picture Life, TV Radio Show, and the like, among the ads for things like Eva Gabor Wigs and Miracle Breast Enlargement creams!!  ). If I remember correctly, one could send for a free catalogue of what they offered and then place orders from the catalogue. They had all sorts of stuff from both films - though not being the biggest hoDS fan, I never ordered anything from it - but being a HUGE NoDS fan, I ordered all sorts of things from it. Unfortunately, they're long since out of business. But my NoDS (and some hoDS) collecting didn't end with them because in the '90s I discovered a place in NYC called Ohlinger's, and every time I visited NYC, I bought tons of more stuff. 

[Uncle Roger]

I did quite a lot of shopping at Ohlinger's myself back in the day. As I recall, they had 5 huge books of DS stills to choose from, one for HODS, one for NODS, the other three for the TV show, with the NBC series and festivals also represented. One of the funniest things I saw there was in a section for KLS: she will not sign these.
Ohlinger's closed their physical store a few years ago. There is supposed to be an online store, though I have never ordered from them.
There was another photo dealer that I had purchased stuff from by mail in the early days called Stephen Sally. They had some good stuff but you ordered by name. Which meant that you ended up with duplicates and exchanging got to be a pain. I believe that they are still in business.
The first place that I bought stuff from was Preview or Premiere Photos out of Hollywood. They advertised photos of many actors at a very cheap price. I bought my first pictures of Nancy Barrett, Jonathan Frid, Lara Parker, Alexandra Moltke, David Selby and KLS from them. The photos appeared to be autographed but they all had the same handwriting. Except for the KLS one which was signed Katherine Reigh Scott! And Alexandra had somehow signed her name Alexander. Well, since I only paid 10 cents for each picture, I don't think that I got ripped off too badly!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've been dancing around the subject for days, but thanks to James Aubrey's insanity, much of what we've been dealing with lately is either jumbled around in the film as it currently stands, or it's completely missing.

Case in point, the only part of Scene 227 that currently appears in the film is Tracy on the floor after the white mist has disappeared, which is then followed by an obvious cut to Quentin kneeling down to revive Tracy and cradle her as she sobs. And what's worse is those two bits of Scene 227 appear after Scenes 237 through 240, which are currently cut to right after Quentin begs Tracy to answer him in Scene 225. And all that means that in the timeline of the current version of the film:

• Scene 225: Quentin begs Tracy to answer him because he can hear her screams as Angelique attacks her in the basement room that Angelique has trapped her.
• Scene 237: Alex searches the tower, sees the parapet door is open.
• Scenes 238-240: Alex finds Carlotta, but she jumps to her death at Angelique's urging.
• Scene 227: Quentin reaches Tracy.

And the problems with that rearrangement is that:

• It causes the audience to presume Carlotta's death allows Quentin to reach Tracy because, apparently, Angelique is no longer being kept alive by Carlotta.
• And quite possibly Angelique could be in two places at once: attacking Tracy AND urging Carlotta to jump. Though because we never do see Angelique's actual attack on Tracy like we do with her attack on Alex, one could at least presume that Angelique doesn't go to Carlotta until after she feels she's dispatched Tracy.
• But the truth is that all of those presumptions are wrong given what was actually scripted. Similar to her attack on Alex, Angelique's attack on Tracy is actually ended by light flooding the room (once the door to the room is finally opened) - and that happens before the seance and before Alex even encounters Carlotta.
• And something that's also quite interesting is that the zooming shot down to Carlotta's dead body on the ground -
  
  
  
  
  - (that currently appears after the bits of Scene 227 - further reinforcing that it's Carlotta's death that saved Tracy) is unscripted. We can presume it might appear in the 129 minute version of the film after Scene 241 (Quentin revives/everything is declared as being over), but who knows...
  

[Gothick]

Only Grayson could manage to look as if she's voguing in a shot where she's playing a dead body.

What a GREAT artist she was!

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

     But I agree!