And Now The Return of Another New Slideshow (Sort of), Part 2 [**Now featuring alternate versions of scenes - see replies #18,#21,#23,#49,#64,#69,#76,#88,#90,#100,#105,#107,#115**]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Wrapping up Scene 8, beginning with today's first quote -

Page 3/Scene 8 - Maggie: 'He's not with Mrs. Stoddard?'

- coming up, followed by today's second quote -

Page 3/Scene 8 - Daphne: 'No, I just left her room.'

- coming up, followed in the script by:

Daphne goes down the stairs.  CAMERA TIGHTENS on        Maggie as she looks up the stairs.                                          CUT TO BLACK        CONTINUE CREDITS:

And when it comes to the dialogue, both quotes are delivered exactly as scripted. However, after Daphne's line, Maggie delivers an unscripted -

Okay. Thanks.

And when it comes to the descriptions and directions, everything there plays as scripted.

And it was definitely a smart move to put Scene 8 in the film before Scene 4 because, with all the "Hanging David" material cut, Scene 8 is the perfect way to set up that Maggie is looking for David, even if we don't know quite why.

And tomorrow we'll be dealing with the first bit of material in the script that was never shot. But more on that then...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Setting up today's scene and moving one scene past it:

9      INT:  STAIRCASE TO TOWER ROOM - NIGHT              9        A shaft of light can be seen as the door opens.  Maggie,        holding a flashlight, looks up the stairs. She hears a        sound.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 3/Scene 9 - Maggie: 'David, if you're hiding up there, please come down!'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

There is more thunder and lightning.  She starts slowly        up the stairs.  CAMERA HOLDS HER in TIGHT SHOT, TRUCK-        ING IN FRONT OF HER.  She enters the tower room.  A        flash of lightning illuminates her face and startles        her.  There is a DEAFENING ROAR OF THUNDER.  Maggie        shines her flashlight around the room. 10     INT:  TOWER ROOM - MAGGIE'S P.O.V.                 10        CAMERA SLOWLY PANS with her flashlight.  We see piled        up books, old furniture, strange shapes and shadows.        MAGGIE - CLOSE UP        A look of exasperation on her face.  She turns to leave.

End of tower sequence.

And when it comes to the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions for these two scenes, we have no way of knowing if anything might have changed or things might have played as scripted because in DC's script he drew a box around them and put a big "X" in it, writing "REPLACE THIS" down the left side of the box. But in the end it appears that the scenes just weren't shot and nothing replaced them. But shades of NoDS with a shaft of light being seen as the tower room door opens by itself. What a foreshadowing of NoDS that might have been. But alas...

Coming up next: the opening scenes in the original draft of the script. And as I said, I think people who've never seen that script will be surprised by how different some of the scenes are because there's no Roger and no Daphne - only Maggie searching for David - but not in quite the same ways/places as in DC's script. And there are also fewer scenes...

[Uncle Roger]

There's one thing that I have always wondered about the early drafts of HODS. Was the heroine always Maggie? Was the heroine ever Victoria Winters?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

FADE IN: 1      EXT:  COLLINWOOD - NIGHT                          1        LONG LENS SHOT of the somber, EEIRE CASTLE as the rain        pours down.  Lights show from the lower windows.  FADE        IN EEIRE THEME MUSIC.  The house is suddenly illuminated        by a violent flash of lightning.  At the same time we        hear LOUD MENACING THUNDER.  The CAMERA STARTS TO MOVE        IN on the great house heading for one lit room on the        second floor.  There is a second flash of lightning and        we up MAIN TITLES.                       DARK SHADOWS        Credits continue over the following: When the CAMERA is        TIGHT on the window, we see a bedroom, and though one        light burns, it is deserted. 2      INT:  MAGGIE'S ROOM - NIGHT                       2        The CAMERA MOVES THROUGH the window into the pleasantly        furnished bedroom.  The room is not lavish, but a cut        above the cook's or the maid's room.  On the bed lies a        note.  We ZOOM IN on the note and see the red inked        childish scrawl:                       "It's all your fault.                       You'll be sorry."        O.S. we hear the sound of a DOOR OPENING.  The CAMERA        PANS UP to MAGGIE EVANS in the doorway.  She is young,        pretty, plainly dressed, as befits a governess.  She        looks around the room, angry, concerned.                                  MAGGIE                   David?        She frowns, then sees the note on the bed.  She rushes        to it, picks it up, reads it.  There is a LOUD CLAP OF        THUNDER, A FLASH OF LIGHTNING.  The light in the room        goes out.  Maggie moves to a table, lights a candelabra,        and turns, the note in one hand, the candles in the        other.  She runs from the room. 3      INT:  SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHT               3        LOW ANGLE        Maggie closes the door to her room, starts down the long 3      CONTD                                       CONTD 3        hall.  CAMERA, TRUCKING BACK in front of her.  In the        flickering candlelight, we can see the disapproving        faces of the Collins' family portraits.  She passes four        doors, opens the fifth.                                  MAGGIE                   David? 4      INT:  SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR - NIGHT               4        CAMERA FRAMES the bed in the f.g. as Maggie looks into        the dark room.  A flash of lightning illuminates her.        She hesitates, walks into the room.  It is a boy's        room--a boy of about twelve.  There are pennants,        posters, a bow and arrow, records, etc.  Maggie goes to        the closet, opens the door, looks in.  No one is there.        She goes to the door, leans against the closet, thinking.        CUT to BLACK.  Actually this in int. dark storage room. 5      INT:  STORAGE ROOM - NIGHT - BLACKNESS            5        Flash of lightning illuminates the room.  We see it        crammed with trunks, statuary, dress form, old furniture.        There is another flash of lightning.  Then it is black        again.  There is the SOUND OF A DOOR OPENING as the light        from Maggie's candelabra illuminates the room.  Maggie        ENTERS THE SHOT.                                  MAGGIE                   Please, David!  If you're hiding here--        There is a LOUD CLASP OF THUNDER. 6      INT:  UNUSED PARLOR - NIGHT                       6        The formal Victorian parlor in the unused West Wing.  The        furniture is all covered with sheets.  The chandelier is        wrapped in sheeting,  The effect is of a ghost room.        Heavy draperies hang at the windows.  The lightning        flashes. Maggie enters through the great oak doors.  A        little frightened now, she looks around the room. 7      MAGGIE'S POV - THE ROOM                           7        CAMERA PANS THE ROOM, STOPS SUDDENLY, when one of the        heavy drapes moves.  ZOOM IN. 8      MAGGIE - EXTREME CLOSEUP                          8                                  MAGGIE                   David Collins, I have had enough of                   this!        CAMERA TRUCKS BACK AND PANS HER to the drapery, she        pulls it back.  No one is there.  But there is a flash        of lightning, and we see that one of the glass panes is        missing.  She stares down at the broken pane.  Her anger        has turned to a kind of desperate concern: Where is the        child?

And that's it for now because that brings us up to the same point we currently are in DC's script.

And isn't it interesting how some of the descriptions and directions were originally much more detailed. I love how originally the zoom in to the window in the opening shot of the film was supposed to be a zoom in to Maggie's bedroom window and the camera was supposed to have moved through the window and into the bedroom. Though of course, the window the camera focuses on in the actual opening of the film -

- is not even the window to Maggie's actual bedroom - nor is it the window in the stairwell where Maggie and Daphne meet (in fact, in the zoom the window on that landing doesn't even show light coming from it) - but of course we're not suppose to realize any of that!    And speaking of Maggie's bedroom, as I'm sure we're also all aware by now, her bedroom in the film is actually Lyndhurst's Master Bedroom, so its description in the first draft as "a cut above the cook's or the maid's room" is an understatement. But most likely when the first draft was written, they weren't even aware they would be shooting at Lyndhurst, which is also probably why the rewrites tailored the scenes to Lyndhurst's actual rooms. Though I have to say it's too bad they scraped the scene in the old Victorian parlor because scenes in the unused West Wing were always such a staple of the daytime DS. And I'm also kind of disappointed that they dropped all the thunder and lightning, not to mention Maggie exploring with a candelabra because those were staples of the daytime DS, too, not to mention the Gothic genre in general. Though, of course, DC was hardly going for mere Gothic - he wanted blood and gore - and more blood and gore - and then more blood and gore - and then even more blood and gore... 


But be all that as it may, coming up later today we'll get back to DC's script and a couple of scenes leading up to tomorrow's scene in the slideshow...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

There's one thing that I have always wondered about the early drafts of HODS. Was the heroine always Maggie? Was the heroine ever Victoria Winters?

It certainly seems as if it was Maggie from the very beginning...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The two scenes leading up to tomorrow's slideshow:

11     INT:  MAGGIE'S ROOM - NIGHT                        11        Maggie enters her room.  She puts down her flashlight,        stares out the window.  Could David be outside?  She        suddenly knows very well that he could be and probably        is.  She goes to her closet, opens the door. 11.   (CONT'D)        There is a flash of lightning.        MAGGIE - FAST ZOOM TO CLOSE UP - FROM INSIDE CLOSET        She screams  (Runs out)        CONTINUE CREDITS 12.    INT. CLOSET - MAGGIE'S POV        We see the SHADOW OF A BOY'S BODY hanging there.  It        is DAVID.  ZOOM IN CLOSE UP.  His neck appears to be        broken.        LAST CREDIT

And when it comes to the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions for these scenes, we have no way at this point of knowing if what's scripted is how things actually played out because the scenes are no longer in the film and appear to be lost. But to help visualize, here's a rarely published still from the moment after David is discovered:

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And here's the way the two scenes are done in the first draft:

9      INT:  MAGGIE'S ROOM - NIGHT                        9        Maggie enters her room.  She puts down the candelabra        down.  Then she stares out the window.  Could David be        outside?  She suddenly knows very well that he could        be and probably is.  She makes the decision to go after        him.  She goes to her closet, picking up the candelabra.        She opens the door of the closet.  There is a flash of        lightning.        MAGGIE - FAST ZOOM TO CLOSE UP        She SCREAMS 10     MAGGIE'S POV - INT. CLOSET                         10        We see the SHADOW OF A BOY'S BODY hanging there.  It is        DAVID.  ZOOM IN CLOSE UP.  His neck appears to be broken.        LAST CREDIT.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Setting up the current scene:

13.    INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT        Maggie runs from the room and down the hall SCREAMING.                                  MAGGIE                      Mrs. Stoddard....Mrs. Stoddard....        LIZ comes out of her room into two-shot.                                  LIZ                      Maggie!  What is it?                                  MAGGIE                      David -- David --        They start moving toward her room.  MRS. JOHNSON enters,        ad-libbing.        ROGER enters up the stairs, ad-libbing.                                  MAGGIE                      Mr. Collins!  It's David....

And that's when today's quote -

Page 4/Scene 13 - Liz: 'What about David, Maggie?'

- comes up.

And when it comes to the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions for this scene, we have no way at this point of knowing if what's scripted is how things actually played out because this scene is no longer in the film and appears to be lost. Though one thing we do know thanks to the stills for Scene 14 is that Daphne was substituted for Mrs. Johnson, quite possibly because, with Clarice Blackburn not being available, Mrs. Johnson hadn't been cast yet when the scene was shot...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

But here's how things play in the first draft:

11     INT. CORRIDOR - NIGHT                              11        Maggie, still holding the candelabra, runs from the room.        SCREAMING.  MRS. JOHNSON, a dour woman dressed in the        black uniform of a housekeeper, runs from the room next        to Maggie's.  INTO TIGHT TWO SHOT.                                  MRS. JOHNSON                   Maggie! What is it?                                  MAGGIE                   David...David...        She points inside her room, unable to say more.  Mrs.        Johnson looks at her sharply, starts to the room as ROGER        comes down the hall. Roger, a stern, proud, impressive-        looking man in his forties, is David's father.                                  ROGER                   My dear Miss Evans, why are you                   screaming?  I find Proust difficult                   enough to read without -- 11     CONTD                                        CONTD 11                                  MAGGIE                   Mr. Collins! It's David --        ELIZABETH STODDARD enters down the hall in the opposite        direction from Roger.  She is the grande dame of the        Collins' family, and Roger's sister.  She is still quite        beautiful.                                  LIZ                   What about David, Maggie?

To be picked up tomorrow...

[Gothick]

Hanging David!  One of the most infamous moments in DS history... there was a much more widely circulated photo that showed up in many mags way back when.  Kind of funny that they wound up deleting the scene after all that exposure.

That's an incredible still you found, MB.  Congratulations!

Best,  G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's interesting that seemingly in most of the stills from the discovery of David, his eyes are open, yet in that one they're closed. I wonder which it actually was in the film?

The story I've always heard is that all the "Hanging David" material was originally in the film and was actually shown during a preview screening. But the feedback from the audience to David hanging himself was so negative (many felt kids would try to recreate the scene themselves) that the decision was made to cut practically all of it so that it seems Maggie looks for David but doesn't ever come across him until the scene in which he locks her in a room at the Old House. Boo-hiss!!    But we can't do anything about it now... Though, of course, every bit of blood and gore was deemed perfectly fine for kids, with any younger than 13 simply having to ask their parents' permission to see the film. Though, honestly, how many theaters really policed that? 

[Gothick]

Well, I was 12 when I saw hoDS and my sister was 11, and neither of our parents came to see the movie with us.  We were dropped off and then picked up afterwards.

I really can't recall if the movie gave me nightmares.  My Mom hated DS so it seems remarkable that she allowed us to go. 

G.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Wrapping up Scene 13, beginning with today's quote -

Page 4/Scene 13 - Maggie: 'He's dead -- he's dead!'

- coming up, followed in the script by:

TRUCK into TIGHT TWO-SHOT (L to R).  PAN them as they        rush to the room.

End of scene.

And when it comes to the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions for this scene, we have no way at this point of knowing if what's scripted and/or crossed out is how things actually played out because this scene is no longer in the film and appears to be lost.

And here's how the scene is scripted to conclude in the original draft:

MAGGIE                   He's...he's...dead!        ELIZABETH - ROGER        FAST TRUCK BACK TO GROUP SHOT.  PAN them as they rush to        into the room.  Mrs. Johnson leading the way.

Not all that different from the final version - though I am a bit disappointed that Roger's line from back in reply #23 was dropped. But I suppose it is possible that it might have been used as Roger's ad-libbing as he enters up the stairs. Though, sadly, we'll never know... And when reading DC's script, one probably presumes the "(L to R)" reference means left to right - but given the indication of a two-shot of Elizabeth and Roger in the original draft, I wonder if it actually means Liz to Roger?

[KMR]

But most likely when the first draft was written, they weren't even aware they would be shooting at Lyndhurst, which is also probably why the rewrites tailored the scenes to Lyndhurst's actual rooms. Though I have to say it's too bad they scraped the scene in the old Victorian parlor because scenes in the unused West Wing were always such a staple of the daytime DS.

When I read the reference to the "West Wing", my first thought was: How in the world can Lyndhurst be thought of as having a "West Wing"--let alone any wings at all? It's so tiny! (Relatively speaking, of course...)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've said the same thing, too. In fact, I'd often told people that in no way could I accept Lyndhusrt as possibly being Collinwood because the place barely has enough room for all the people who lived there in hoDS, let alone space to be deserted wings. But over the years somehow I've gotten over that somewhat... And Lyndhurst does have being an architectural wonder going for - it's breathtaking. But still, give me Greystone or Seaview as Collinwood any day...