Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Two more posts to revisit with regard to Scene 179:

Several color stills that I'd previously shared:

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Plus, we're also very lucky to have stills from the dream:

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(There are also other color stills of the dream, two of which feature Angelique and Quentin, on page 183 of the PomPress book Return to Collinwood, and I'd be happy to also scan those for anyone who hasn't seen them.)

By request:

Enjoy!

And something supposedly behind the scenes from the shooting of the dream:

The 16 Spec caption for it reads: 'In his present life, "Quentin Collins" (David Selby) is beset by visions
of a former life as "Charles Collins", and a former love--the wicked
temptress "Angelique" (Lara Parker). Here, in one of his visions, the
couple enjoy a very private picnic.'

To my knowledge the only time this has been officially published was as part of a 16 Spec preview of NoDS. And I've mentioned this before, but am I the only one who thinks it looks like Angelique doesn't have any ankles/feet?!

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't know why I didn't think of whipping up something like this last year - but I did this year after I saw the color stills again:

Just a short idea of what might have been...

And as in the past, I used the VHS version of the film because the clip taken from the trailer is the same aspect ratio.

And I made sure to keep the jumpiness in the background music at the beginning of the Tracy outside the pool house footage rather than smooth it over.

 

[Uncle Roger]

Excellent work MB!!🎉🎉🎀🎉🎊

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   I'm glad you like it. 

I've been going back and forth over whether or not I should have had the stills display a bit longer. But I like the way the background music plays over Tracy and the dream (somehow I managed to get the timing nearly identical to way the music plays in the film over Tracy's tossing and turning), so I think I'm going to just leave it alone. Don't mess with good fortune... 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to Scene 181:

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.COTTAGE. Alex and Claire recover and plan.

Normally I would say it's a shame that a scene involving Claire wasn't included in the film (or not even filmed, as in the cases of Scenes 81, 82 & 83), but in this case it's probably a good thing because including Scene 181 would have slowed down/interrupted the suspense/momentum between Tracy in the master bedroom and her appearance outside the pool house...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And something to revisit regarding Scene 181:

Graphics appearing in the slideshow recently -

- and continuing through Tuesday the 17th have been made using different crops of this -

(Click here for a 800X527 version)

- which was shared in the 1992 LA Halloween Fest Program...

The case this time around is that they're lasting through the end of today, Wednesday the 17th...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The other day while I was looking up something completely different, I was reminded by this -

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- which leads me to mention that in DC's script he's added:

178A   SHOTS OF A IN THE TOWER LOOKING DOWN        SUPER EYE SHOTS

...

- which prompted me to want to make an entirely new video because how would it have been possible for the audience to definitely know that Angelique was looking down on the Master Bedroom from the Tower Room if there was no establishing shot to indicate that? Plus, as I'd said, I'd wanted to length the time the stills were on view, so making a new video killed two birds with one stone, as it were. And I added two other stills to the mix to establish the dream.

[Uncle Roger]

Very well done, MB!!!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

  I'm happy with the way it turned out. Plus, I got to learn how to use features of my video editing software like crossfade, overlay and zoom, all of which I'd never had occasion to even think about using before...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Getting back to the subtitles and the closed captioning, when it comes to Scene 184, after Tracy enters the pool house, calls to Quentin, and asks if he's there, in a bit of unscripted dialogue, she calls out to Quentin two more times - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- reflect that.

It's interesting that sometimes the subtitles represent Tracy as calling to Quentin questioningly and others not, but the closed captioning always has Tracy calling to Quentin questioningly. I suppose it's a matter of interpretation...

And I have to say I've always loved the shot of Tracy reflected in the water.

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with Scene 184:

From out of nowhere Tracy hears Quentin's voice ask, "Did you come to spy on us, Laura?" - and she asks in more unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and after she calls out in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and then in the last of these three bit of unscripted dialogue she asks again in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with what would appear in the film to still be Scene 184 even though in the script things have moved on to Scene 185 (more on that in a later post):

After Tracy asks "Where are you?" for a second time, Quentin comes into view and asks "Isn't it enough that you killed her?" - that prompts Tracy to first ask in yet another bit of unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and then Tracy follows that up with more unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles - -

- and the closed captioning -

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Moving on to Scene 185:

After Quentin, thinking she's Laura, asks if she won't ever leave them alone, Tracy tries to point out in more unscripted dialogue that's reflected in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and after Quentin, still thinking she's Laura, vows that she'll never interfere and makes a grab for Tracy's throat, Tracy follows that up by screaming "No, look, it, it's me!" - but the subtitles have -

- and the closed captioning has -

- and Tracy follows that by screaming "Stop it, Quentin, it's me!" - but the subtitles have -

- and the closed captioning has -

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

...

- and the closed captioning has -

...

   As you can see the last closed captioning in the previous post jumps the gun a bit because Tracy doesn't "Oh!" until after Quentin throws her in the water, which is two shots later.

And when it comes to the subtitles, they simply have -

- but the closed captioning has -

- reflecting each scream.

And as I've said, it's fascinating what sounds do and do not get acknowledged because in this sequence there are all sorts of sounds of crickets and water dripping and also footsteps but neither the subtitles nor the closed captioning acknowledges any of them...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Some things to revisit:

Beginning the next scene as scripted (using Grayson's script):

LAURA 185    SAMANTHA - QUENTIN'S P.O.V.                        185        SUBCONSCIOUS MEMORY CUT                                   Laura        It is no longer Tracy but Samantha who stands there,        as he begins to re-enact the moment of her death.        INTERCUT these MEMORY SHOTS throughout the rest of        the scene.        QUENTIN - TRACY        As Quentin slowly moves toward her, Tracy begins to        back away.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 86/Scene 185 - Quentin: 'Isn't it enough that you killed her?...Won't you ever leave us alone?...ever?'

- comes up.

...

And when it comes to the differences in the descriptions and directions, Quentin doesn't actually see Laura until after Tracy asks what's wrong with him -

- and before she makes a gesture of nodding her head no and tries to tell him that it's her.

Wrapping up Scene 185 as scripted (using Grayson's script):

QUENTIN - CLOSE-UP - TRACY'S P.O.V.        Now only a few feet from her, the look of incredible        hate in his eyes burns into the CAMERA.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 86/Scene 185 - Tracy (O.S.) (hysterical): 'Quentin!...Quentin! It's me...It's me...please!...'

- comes up in the script, followed in the script by:

Reaching TOWARD CAMERA, with his face almost in the       lens.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 86/Scene 185 - Quentin: 'No, Laura. I'm going to make sure you'll never interfere again.'

- comes up in the script, followed in the script by:

TRACY - QUENTIN - HAND HELD        As he grabs her and drags her, screaming and kicking,        to the edge of the pool and plunges her into the        filthy dark water.  Holding her head under, she        futilely claws and scratches at his hands and arms.        HOLD ON THIS as her movements become weaker and        weaker, and, finally she starts to sink to the bottom        of the pool.  Quentin then slowly rises and moves        AWAY FROM CAMERA.

End of scene.

And when it comes to differences in the dialogue, yesterday's and today's quotes are actually flipped in the film with Quentin's coming first -

...

...

And when it comes to the differences in the descriptions and directions, Quentin doesn't actually reach toward camera because as we saw in yesterday's capture above, he reaches around Tracy's throat, but his face is -

- almost in the lens - and as Tracy screams "me!...Stop it", it's actually Laura -

- who Quentin sees before he angrily throws Tracy -

- into the water - though one thing I find very interesting is that Quentin's face shifts to almost expressionless as -

- Tracy is about to fall into the water - ... I absolutely love ... Quentin's crazed expression as he pulls back after Tracy stops -

- fighting him.

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