Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 32/Scene 82 - Claire: 'You know, that's what I felt when I first met him in Paris. He was so ... so super moody. He and Alex always connected. But I spent the first month just trying to figure him out.'

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Wrapping up Scene 82 as Claire and Tracy window shop and talk about Quentin's lack of getting work done:

- the first part (up to Claire's first quote) of this post...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And here's the third as well as another one of the rare stills to preview Scene 85:

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

You may have been sensing a theme with the first three.    But even though today's is the last of that set, we'll certainly continue to see stills of Charles and Angelique making out because the majority of the stills from Scene 85 focus on that. But when it comes to tomorrow's, it has a significance that the ones I've shared so far do not...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 32/Scene 82 - Claire: (contd) 'Those eyes always seem to see so much. And then everything becomes a kind of private thing. But that's what's so great about him. Don't you like dark brooding men of mystery?'

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Wrapping up Scene 82 as Claire and Tracy window shop and talk about Quentin's lack of getting work done:

- the second part (including and past Claire's second quote) of this post...

And as I said back then:

... nothing here was ever shot. And that's a shame because it not only showcases the Claire/Tracy friendship, it gives background on the Jenkins/Collins friendship and some insight into Quentin. But then we all know that DC rarely met a character oriented scene that he didn't want to drop...

But just to help try to picture what these scenes might have been like, here's a candid still of Kate Jackson and Nancy Barrett relaxing with each other between scenes:

[Uncle Roger]

Did Claire ever figure out Quentin? There's a genuine connection between Claire and Tracy that doesn't seem to be there between her and Quentin.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

    You know, that's a very good question. Outside of the scene in which Claire waves to Quentin when she finds him outside the cemetery and then the scene at the Jenkins cottage, Claire and Quentin never really interact. You're right that their relationship doesn't come close to the genuine connection between Claire and Tracy.

Now, there is a bit in the script during the cottage scene where Claire kisses Quentin and says, "Lovely having you here," but that was dropped in favor of Claire simply saying something completely innocuous about lunch, so as the film stands in the cottage they don't interact at anything but a surface level. I wonder if that was a decision made to reinforce that Claire still hadn't bonded with Quentin in a way what was dropped could have indicated? I suppose only Nancy Barrett herself or her NoDS script could answer that if she indicated why the change was made, but I've never seen a copy of her script.

[Uncle Roger]

Claire seems to be one of the least developed characters in NODS. I do recall her saying in an interview that because Claire didn't have a lot to do, that made the work harder.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

    The shopping excursion certainly seems like it would have been some of Claire's best stuff in the film had it actually been shot. But alas...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And if this fourth still looks familiar -

(Click here for a 1400X1098 version)

- that might be because it was used as inspiration for both versions of NoDS' A poster:

It's interesting, though, that Angelique's arm is on the outside of Charles' arm in the poster's artwork, yet it's on the inside of his arm in the actual still. It's also interesting that Angelique is semi-transparent for the color version of the poster, implying she's a ghost, yet she's human in the actual still and doesn't appear transparent in the B&W version of the poster...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 33/Scene 83 - Claire: 'Hi, Gregory, I'm back.'

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Setting up the Gregory scene::

- up to the first quote in this post...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's the fifth as well as one of the rare stills to preview Scene 85:

(Click here for a 1400X1124 version)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 33/Scene 83 - Gregory: 'And I have a mattress ticking jumper you'll live in the rest of your life --'

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Setting up the Gregory scene::

- after the first quote in this post...

You'll also learn a bit about mattress ticking...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This sixth still to preview Scene 85 has taught me a lesson I never really knew.

(Click here for a 898X593 version)

Perhaps naively, I assumed that a still shot in color was printed in color and obviously those shot in B&W were printed in B&W. However, apparently the above still was shot in color but that version of it was simply printed in B&W because a cropped color version was published on page 69 of the DS Companion -

- and a different cropped color version was used as part of the NoDS section of the gatefold of the hoDS/NoDS laserdisk -

(Click here for a 1000X572 version)

(And how interesting is it that 3 of the 7 NoDS stills used are from scenes that aren't even in the film?!)

(ADMIN: Edited to add a better version of the gatefold stills)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

If you want to learn about or refresh your memory concerning the background of today's quote -

Page 33/Scene 83 - Claire: 'Alex won't let me wear those knickers. He said if he had wanted to live with an 1890 newsboy he'd have found one.'

- check out -

Continuing with Scene 83, beginning with the 9th's quote, which is Claire's reply to Gregory's claim he has a jumper that she'll really like:

- up to the first quote in this post...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And just so you'll be able to put a face to who might have been Gregory had his scenes actually been shot, here are the two actors of whom it's been reported were considered (Keith Prentice and Michael Stroka) and one that some fans have said they would have liked to have seen in the role (Louis Edmonds):

[Uncle Roger]

Louis would have been magnificent as Gregory!!!!