The Rains Came . . .
(This covers Tuesday and Wedneday's episodes)
Fashion notes first . . .
Trowel makeup artist was back, and spread his/her magic intermittently throughout the cast
Red bib dress: evil, scary, bad. Does not improve on continued acquaintance.
Naomi's greenish dress (color sort of defies description) is lovely as usual, but not sure I liked all the frou frou frills at the bosom.
And why is Joan Bennett's face in the first episode four shades darker than her neck? Maybe the makeup person owned stock in whatever gunk they were slathering over the cast. They fixed it in the second of Tuesday's episodes, but then it was back in cartoon mode on Wednesday.
Sarah. I suspect the reason why we never saw her in her white dress (the one she wore all over present day Collinsport), is because the actress started a growth spurt. Fine. I wonder though why poor Sharon Smyth had to get stuck in the Laura Ingalls Wilder calico number and alternately the Pepto-Bismol pink horror. Did the costume people go out of their way to find unattractive outfits for the cast? ?!?
Adored Millicent's brown dress and that wrap. Her curls need their own screen credit--I love them
What a parody of fashion, and how did Barrett or the hairdresser get them to bounce like that?
Ruby Tate . . . I'm trying to think how to express what I thought of Miss Tate's appearance . . . does anyone remember those awful dolls they would show at the Fair or a Carnival--sort of like the Bonanza/Gunsmoke idea of what saloon girls looked like? Well, Ruby kind of reminded me of that with some strange touches (like her boa/wrap thing--at first I thought it was her hair, ick) combined with a strange resemblance to Joan Crawford after she started going for the severe quasi-camp look. Very, very odd.
Back to La Bennett. The grey and black number was very fetching. Wondering now if she had costume approval written into her contract or if she had some kind of pull, because with a few exceptions, she always got the good clothes.
And lastly, what kind of fashion commentator would I be if I did not remark upon the mysterious laundering powers possessed of the late Barnabas Collins' coffin. In goes a bloodied shirt and ill-tied cravat and out comes a completely different and now pristine shirt and still ill-tied cravat!
Onto the rest of the show . . .
In the "things that make you go hmmm" category, we can place Peter's latest bit of legal strategy: We need to tell the authorities that I let you out of jail, because otherwise Trask will claim that you were in two places at once and that therefore you are a witch. Forgive me, but isn't this like cutting off your hand to keep you from scratching?
Naomi's scene with Sarah on the stairs. Bennett could act well with children--we have her excellent scenes with David Henesy at the beginning of the series as proof--unfortunately, this was not a good example of that. Of course, a huge part of the problem was that little Sharon Smyth seemed to have no clue as to her lines. Hard to play for impending doom and pathos when your fellow actor has to go through all of the J-names out before reaching the right one, "Josette".
In my never-ending search to figure out what the hell happened to Victoria Winters' mind, I'm now wondering if her constant self-sabotage has to do with a subconscious need to be at the center of the drama. She had identified with Josette and instead the poor girl got stuck working for $4 a month for an employer who actually expected her to stay put in the school room. When the drama is not "Jane Eyre" but the killer combo of "The Monk" and "The Crucible" (with the emphasis on the Abigail/John Proctor combo), what's an ingenue to do?
Nancy Barrett and Joel Crothers. Absolutely amazing. For all those idiots who doubted that Crothers could play anything other than Joe Haskell and denied the man the opportunity to play the Quentin type character, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?
To be honest, I almost didn't do a column on these shows, but the Millicent/Nathan antics forced me. These two were so on top of their game. Even Sam Hall, whose dialogue has never impressed me much, came through here, "An adventurous child will always want to see an eclipse" and "I think more than most people give me credit for," LOL.
In a show where it's often apparent that a lot of the cast had no clue as to what they were doing or why they were saying what they were saying, it's such a welcome change to see two people who did know what they were doing and why. There's rhythm here. There's chemistry. There's some good acting; it's not just that they know their lines--you need more than that to be a good actor--it's because these two make you believe that they are Millicent and Nathan. And that Millicent and Nathan are full dimensional, complicated people. It's a combination of good material and good acting. This is what the show should be!
Disposable hooker #1. Resemblance to an early and mobile Blanche Hudson aside, you have to wonder about a woman of the streets who had an entire sermon written about her.
The most amazing thing happened on Wednesday. It rained in Collinsport. For like the first time. I'm unclear as to why. Were sound effects records of rain sounds so rare in New York? Rain can be an eerie sound too and it's after all something that most people associate with thunder and lightning.
I remain puzzled as to why a man who needs to stay circumspect keeps yelling, screaming, and drawing attention to himself, especially after having killed someone. And surely they buried the man with a handkerchief. If not, considering that he's evidently got a change of wardrobe, would it be that hard to find a square of linen with which he could WIPE HIS MOUTH?
Curse, schmurse. If I saw my brother coming at me with a mouthful of dripping blood, I would be freaked too. How much more conspicuous does Barnabas want to be? He's done everything but run naked through the town screaming "I am a monster!" (Vicki ain't the only drama crazy character here).
The lines Ron Sproat gave to Naomi about Sarah were quite moving, but Bennett seemed so off and on in these scenes. Sometimes, she sounded forced and other times it all flowed.
Thayer David and Louis Edmonds were in fine form, as usual.
And one more comment: Lordy, what a dysfunctional family!
Luciaphil
