Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting another still associated with Scene 124:

Here's the first of what I'm sharing that's associated with Scene 124 -

(Click here for a 556X1208 version)
The Flip caption for it reads: "Monica Rich plays Sarah, the 19th
century daughter of the Collins'
housekeeper. She is Angelique's only
friend in the 19th century, just as
Sarah's reincarnation, Carlotta
Drake (Grayson Hall) is Angelique's
only friend in the 20th century."
(I suppose they don't consider Charles as Angelique's "friend," given he's, uh, much more than her friend. 
And it's amazing how many plot points this and other articles gave away long before the film had even opened.
But then, I've bitched about that quite often with regard to both this film and hoDS.

- it's part of Flip Magazine's Curse of Dark Shadows article, and to my knowledge it's the only place it's officially been published. But then that article, like the one from Daytime TV, is another that contains material that's exclusive to it. And interestingly enough, when it comes to Flip's article, I've never come across any of the still versions of any of its photos...

  And you'll recall that the entire Flip article is shared back in Reply #1331. (Clicking on the links to the larger versions will eliminate the artifacts in the photos.)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

With regard to Scene 124, Darren Gross posted on his Restoration Web site:

The following is a list of scenes that are still lost and which are not present in the 129 min version recovered in 1999.

...

STAIRWAY. Sarah cries, trying to save Angelique.(trims)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing to revisit the subtitles/closed captioning (with new screen captures) for Scene 124:

In Scene 124, after Angelique tells Sarah, "Darling, don't cry," her next line is "Sarah, dear, please don't cry." - and the subtitles reflect that - however the closed captioning has -

- with the "Sarah, dear" part dropped for some reason...

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen capture)

And in Scene 124, after Angelique says, "Sarah, dear, please don't cry," her next line is "It'll be just as if I've gone away for a little while" - and the subtitles reflect that - however the closed captioning has -

- with "It will" instead of the "it'll" that's said in the film and the dropping of "just" and "little" for some reason...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen capture)

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Wrapping up cisiting how Scene 124 is scripted:

Before we conclude Scene 124 as it appears in DC's script, here's how it concludes in Grayson's:

ANGELIQUE                  You'll remember all the time we've                  spent together...all the love we've                  shared.  You'll remember me.        She kisses the child goodbye.        As Mrs. Castle takes the weeping Sarah toward her        room, the others EXIT down the stairs.

End of scene - but this is how things play out in DC's script, beginning with the first part of today's quote -

Page 62/Scene 124 - Angelique: 'You'll remember all the time we spent together. All the love we've shared...'

- coming up, followed in the script by:

She suddenly takes off her locket.[/colot]

And that's when the second part of today's quote -

Page 62/Scene 124 - Angelique: 'Here. You've always thought this so pretty.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

She slips it around the child's neck.

And that's when the third part of today's quote -

Page 62/Scene 124 - Angelique: 'As long as you wear this, you'll remember me.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

124    CONTD                                             CONTD    124        She kisses the child goodbye.        As Mrs. Castle takes the weeping Sarah toward her        room, the others EXIT down the stairs.

And as far as differences in the dialogue go, the first part of Angelique's quote is completely dropped in the film -  and when it comes to the second part, she actually says "You always thought" rather than "You've always thought" - and when it comes to the third part, she actually says "As long as you wear this, you will remember me."

And as far as differences in the directions and the descriptions go, it isn't until after Angelique says "Here" that she pulls rather than takes off her locket - and as Angelique says "You always thought this so pretty" and for a bit beyond another clasp of thunder is heard - and rather than slip the locket around Sarah's neck, what actually happens, as can be seen in today's capture -

- is that in a close-up Angelique holds the locket up as she makes her pronouncement about it - however, as can be seen in the following capture -

- the "you will remember me" part of the pronouncement plays as a double exposure of Angelique's close-up and the start of Scene 126 as Angelique lowers the locket as Scene 124 slowly fades out and Scene 126 slowly fades in. And that probably begs the question: What happened to Scene 125? Well, it's not in any version of the film and there are questions as to whether or not it was even shot. But we'll deal with Scene 125 in a post later today...

And finally, as I mentioned in reply #367, we had yet to see Strack's henchman. Well, that's because, as can be seen in the following capture, he doesn't actually appear on screen until the camera angle changes and -

- he's seen standing on stairs higher than the ones Charles is on and behind Angelique and Sarah - and notice that unlike what the script indicates, he is not holding a blood-soaked kerchief to his face. (And get your minds out of the gutter because Sarah and Angelique are not looking at Angelique's ample bosom but down at the locket after Angelique says "Here" and before she pulls the locket off.)

   And as far as "today's" quotes go, they were yesterday's, March 25th's, this time around, and the reference to Reply #367 refers to a post in another topic but that same post was revisited in this topic back as Reply #1614.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 125 is scripted:

And here's Scene 125:

125    INT - SARAH'S BEDROOM - DAY                       125        as the door opens, Mrs. Castle and Sarah ENTER.        Sarah is still crying. 125    CONTD                                     CONTD   125                              MRS. CASTLE                  Lie down on your bed, angel.  Please                  stay here.  There's nothing we can do.        She turns to leave.  Sarah runs to her.                  Sweetheart, get into your bed and                  pull the covers over your head.                  Whatever you do, please stay away                  from that window.        As she EXITS, TRUCK IN on and anguished Sarah.

End of scene.

And as far as the dialogue, the directions, and the descriptions go, there's no way to know if anything is different because, as I said, this scene doesn't appear in any version of the film.  And obviously it's yet more Sarah material that DC decided not to include in the film, either by never shooting it or leaving it all on the cutting room floor...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

With regard to Scene 125, Darren Gross posted on his Restoration Web site:

The following is a list of scenes that are still lost and which are not present in the 129 min version recovered in 1999.

...

INT.SARAH’S BEDROOM. Mrs.Castle tells Sarah not to look.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Carlotta's narration of the start of Scene 126 is also unscripted. She says: "Finally the rain stopped and a cold wind swept the grounds. It was then I saw her, high in the tree, a rope around her neck. Reverend Strack stared up at her, his face a mask of hatred." - and the subtitles -

- acknowledge that.

Next up, the closed captioning...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing Carlotta's unscripted narration of the start of Scene 126, now with the closed captioning (with new screen captures) -

- acknowledging it...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Beginning to revisit how Scene 126 is scripted:

Moving to the next scene in the current sequence (using Grayson's script again because DC didn't changed the names):

CUT TO: 126    EXT - BACK OF COLLINWOOD - DAY - HIGH ANGLE       126        The rain has finally stopped.  A heavy ground mist        now swirls about the great hanging tree.  Angelique        stands on a branch high up in the tree, a noose        about her neck.  She is held by two of the men.                         Strack        Gabriel, Quentin, Trask and the other two men stand        below.  Samantha and Mrs. Castle watch from the        veranda.  Laura

And that's when today's quote -

Page 63/Scene 126 - Strack: 'Angelique Collins, you have been condemned as a witch and you must die as a witch. Let your soul be returned to the pits of darkness forever more.'

- comes up.

And when it comes to differences in the dialogue, Scene 126 actually begins with another unscripted voiceover from Carlotta and it says "Finally the rain stopped and a cold wind swept the grounds. It was then I saw her, high in the tree, a rope around her neck. Reverend Strack stared up at her, his face a mask of hatred" - and it isn't until the voiceover concludes that Strack delivers his lines, which are actually "Angelique Collins, you have been condemned as a witch and you must die. But your spirit will not live after you. For your earthly remains will hang here until your spirit returns to the pits of darkness forever more" - and one of the interesting things about that is that during Quentin's created dream due to the enforced cuts, Strack actually does say "Angelique Collins, you have been condemned as a witch and you must die as a witch", so for some reason or other DC decided to drop the "as a witch" part in this scene. And shouldn't "forever more" actually be spelled as one word: "forevermore"?

And when it comes to differences in the directions and the descriptions, the scene doesn't quite begin with a high angle shot because, as can be seen in the following capture -

- it would seem to be a ground level long shot that lasts as long as the voiceover speaks about the rain and the wind - and there is no visible ground mist - and if one looks closely there are actually five of Strack's henchmen present in the shot: two atop the platform in the tree, one standing by at the bottom of each of the two ladders, and another (though he can barely be seen due to the size of the capture) standing off to the right of the henchman that Angelique scratched - and as can be seen in this next capture, it's much clearer that Angelique and the two men are standing on a platform -

- rather than on a branch in the tree (think of how dangerous that would have been for the actors, especially with them being so high up in the tree - and Lara Parker actually commented on how dangerous it was to shoot as it is, but more on that at a later time), and that shot lasts as long as the voiceover takes to mostly describe Angelique in the tree - and as can be seen in this third capture, it's then that a high angle crane shot is used -

- to show the vantage point from higher in the tree - and it's quite clear in that capture that Mrs. Castle and Laura are not watching from the veranda - and the fifth man is also able to be seen a bit better if one spots the rope around Angelique's neck and traces it down from the tree to her. The three of them may actually be seen better in today's capture -

- what with the fifth man in the foreground and Mrs. Castle and Laura in the background.

   And so far as "today's quote" goes, it was March 26th's this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The first post to revisit the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 126:

As Carlotta's narration ends in Scene 126 Rev. Strack begins to speak by saying, "Angelique Collins, you have been condemned as a witch..." - and as we can see in Reply #907, the subtitles do acknowledge him addressing Angelique by name - however, the closed captioning -

- does not.

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

   And the reference to Reply #907 refers to Reply #1626 this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

As was revisited back in Reply #1628, Strack's opening lines to Angelique have some unscripted elements added: rather than simply saying "Let your soul be returned to the pits of darkness forever more," he actually says, "But your spirit will not live after you. For your earthly remains will hang here until your spirit returns to the pits of darkness forever more." - and the subtitles -

- acknowledge that.

Next up, the closed captioning...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with the unscripted elements added to Strack's opening lines to Angelique in Scene 126, now with the closed captioning (with new screen captures) -

- acknowledging it.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The second post to revisit the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 126:

...

And after Strack promises that Angelique's spirit will not live after her (whoa, how wrong is he?!!), he next begins to explain his supposed rationale for why that is by saying, "For your earthly remains will hang here..." - and the subtitles also acknowledge that - however, the closed captioning has -

- with "For" and "earthly" missing for some reason...

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post worth revisiting:

...

And that's when today's quote -

Page 63/Scene 126 - Strack: 'Angelique Collins, you have been condemned as a witch and you must die as a witch. Let your soul be returned to the pits of darkness forever more.'

- comes up.

And when it comes to differences in the dialogue, ... And shouldn't "forever more" actually be spelled as one word: "forevermore"?

It's good to see that, unlike whoever typed the script, whoever was responsible for the subtitles -

- and whoever was responsible for the closed captioning -

- both realized that "forevermore" is actually spelled as one word.    Something to compliment rather than find fault...

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing to revisit how Scene 126 is scripted:

Given today's graphic, it's probably obvious that today's quote -

Page 63/Scene 126 - Angelique: 'As I die, so shall all of you. For that will be my legacy --'

- is dropped in the film. And ever since reading the script I've found that bit of dialogue to be very interesting for two reason:

• In a bit of upcoming dialogue in this scene Strack refers to Angelique's "threats," yet we never hear her make any.
• And seemingly cursing everyone would certainly appear to add more evidence that Angelique really is a witch.

So why keep Strack's reference to the threats but drop the actual threat? I suppose only DC knows. But again, it might have been because DC wanted the "Is she or isn't she a witch?" question to be rather ambiguous. Who knows? 

And of course, there's no way to know if anything about the quote might have been different in the film when it doesn't appear in the film.

But changing the subject entirely, I want to share an article from the NoDS Pressbook that relates to what we're covering in the script now. If you've never seen the article or read Lara Parker's comments elsewhere (they've been quoted in a few places), you'll probably enjoy them:

(And unfortunately none of the photos in the NoDS Pressbook scan very well.    But that's probably related to the fact that they were designed to be printed in a newspaper or magazine and apparently the process for formatting photos that way doesn't play nicely with the way scanners work.)

And finally, one thing that I just realized while I was posting all this is that in the photo of Angelique's hanging in the Flip article Angelique's hands are not tied behind her like they are in the film. Not that that's an important realization, it's just interesting. Or at least to me it is.    Normally we see people with their hands tied before the noose is put around their necks and not afterward because tying their hands first prevents them from interfering with the placing of the noose. But then, who knows if that photo is from the preparation to shoot the scene or even a possible rehearsal...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace rescanned article)

  And as far as "today's" graphic and quote go, they were March 27th's this time around.

And this is the graphic that's referenced:

Page 63/Scene 126 - Angelique: 'As I die, so shall all of you.
For that will be my legacy --'

And as you may have noticed, I rescanned to NoDS Pressbook article. The photo still isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than it was - and as is obvious from the scan, that photo is #39 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio.

And the photo referred to from Flip's article can be seen in Reply #1331. (Clicking on the link to the larger version of the page will eliminate the artifacts in the photos.)