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 first quote -

Page 84/Scene 181 - Claire: 'No -- I don't care what you say, I won't leave you here alone.'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 84/Scene 181 - Alex (resigned to it): 'O.K....'

- check out -

Continuing Scene 181, beginning with Alex' reaction to Claire saying she won't leave:

- this post and, again, because this scene doesn't appear in any version of the film, we'll never know if there were any differences...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 84/Scene 181 - Claire: 'What are we going to do? We can't fight her -- She has so much power -- Alex, maybe we should go to Quentin now.'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 85/Scene 181 - Alex: 'I don't know. Let me think.'

- check out -

Wrapping up Scene 181, beginning with today's first quote -

- this post and, once again, because this scene doesn't appear in any version of the film, we'll never know if there were any differences...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 85/Scene 184 - Tracy (frightened): 'What am I doing here?... What?...'

- check out -

And now working up to today's scene:

- this post and to learn that, so far as there being any differences, so little of what's scripted for this sequence is actually in the film as it currently stands, so in many instances it's hard to know if anything might have been different - though there are definitely some differences between what was scripted and what does appear in the film...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 85/Scene 184 - Tracy: 'Quentin!...Quentin!...are you here?'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 85/Scene 184 - Quentin: 'So you came to spy on us, Laura.'

- check out -

And continuing with Scene 184 but using Grayson's version of the script because 1) DC's script doesn't change Samantha to Laura, and 2) for some very odd reason, his script is missing the last two lines on page 85 (The Curse Of PomPress strikes again!!):

- this post and to learn the differences in the dialogue, including unscripted lines, along with differences in the descriptions and directions... I absolutely love the way this scene is shot.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Cut from The CBS Late Movie showing:

• ...
• Tracy has arrived outside the greenhouse, she walks up the stairs, appears inside, calls to Quentin, asks, "Are you here?" and starts to look around

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I finally gave up trying to figure out why my already existing video capture hardware/software would no longer work and I bought some new hardware/software to replace it. So, backtracking to Scenes 129-131, and sort of in the vein of the video I created for Scene 170, I've "recreated" Angelique's hanging using audio from the reel-to-reel tape of the 97 minute releases version of the sequence along with video/stills of much of the missing material. It's certainly not perfect, but I'm happy with it:

And you may wonder why a good deal of the footage isn't up to the quality of the DVD/Blu-ray? Well, that's because the footage taken from the trailers is nowhere near as good as that of the DVD/Blu-ray, so for better consistency the footage I capture from the actual film was captured from the VHS. I also did that so that all the footage would be 4X3 like that from the trailers and not a mixture of 4X3 and 16X9...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

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

- check out -

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

- this post and to learn about the differences in the dialogue, including more unscripted lines, and the differences in the descriptions and directions. And ignore that it says "yesterday's quote" because quite obviously it's today's.

[Uncle Roger]

Granted that I'm not up to date on my execution lore but was it unusual for Angelique to be hanged on the grounds of her own home? I mean, Victoria Winters was sent to the gallows. I suppose that rank does have its privileges.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

   Apparently the Collinses of NoDS preferred to have their hangings be intimate affairs with only family and friends in attendance rather than them being public spectacles. After all, public hangings can be so tasteless, crude and gaudy!! 

But seriously, recall that Vicki had a public trial, whereas NoDS' Gabriel wanted anything but because he feared a scandal. It was only after Laura assured him that there would be no scandal and Rev. Strack informed him that they'd chosen four men from the estate to conduct Angelique's hanging because they'd seen proof of her witchcraft and they'd sworn to keep silent forever that Gabriel agreed there was no other way to deal with Angelique...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Backtracking even further back to Scene 85, I've "recreated" Angelique and Charles in the Tower room and Gabriel interrupting them using audio from the reel-to-reel tape of the 97 minute release version of the sequence along with screen caps to fill in for where the missing footage of Charles and Angelique's more explicit making out would be. Again, it's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.

First up. as per the Laser Disc, this is what the 94 minute version of the film should be like:

But this is what the DVD/Blu-ray release is like:

And here it is with the full audio from the 97 minute version of the film, featuring more banging, a last giggle from Angelique, and an additional line from Gabriel (sadly, you can't hear the more explicit footage of Charles and Angelique making out  ):

(ADMIN: Edited to add Laser video)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another thing I want to revisit concerning Scene 85 is that for the fun of it I checked the subtitles on the Blu-ray to see if they were different from the closed captioning on the VHS. In some ways they are, but in another way they're just as baffling:

...things get a bit wonky after that. We've seen that Gabriel's next line is:

GABRIEL (O.S.)                  I know she's in there.  Now open                  the door.

And that is indeed what he says in the film.

However, all that comes up with the closed captioning is:

...

At least Gabriel's full lines are in the subtitles -

- but this -

...because we've seen today that whereas Gabriel's next scripted line is:

Page 35A/Scene 85 - Gabriel: 'I have come for her, brother.'

But what he actually says in the film is:

Gabriel: 'That's my wife, Charles.'

What comes up with the closed captioning is:

That's seemingly a mix of what was scripted and what was actually said, but really neither. Who knows where/how whoever did the closed captioning came up with it?!

- is still completely wrong -

- and something else that I didn't notice before that's wrong is that the closed captioning has -

- and -

- and the subtitles have -

- but rather than saying "Stop it!" or just "Stop!" Charles actually calls out "Strack!" when he sees Strack enter the tower, and then he follows up with "You touch her and I'll kill you!"

And I wonder if similarly odd closed captioning happens anywhere else in the film? One of these days it might be interesting to watch the film with closed captioning on, which is something I've never done.

I haven't gotten around to doing that. But one day...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video captures)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And one final thing while we're still on the subject of Scene 85 and before I get back to posting about Scene 185, I've often lamented about how I can barely stand to look at the VHS now that I've seen the color corrected Blu-ray version of the film, but perhaps no scene shows how off the VHS is than Scene 85. I mean, just look:

VHS:


Blu-ray:

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

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

- and/or today's quote -

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

- check out -

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

- this post and to learn about differences in the dialogue, including how yesterday's and today's quotes are actually flipped in the film, to learn about the differences in the descriptions and directions, and to learn about notes Grayson has in her script...

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Cut from The CBS Late Movie showing:

• ...
• When it comes to the pool drowning scene only about the first third of the actual drowning was aired because things go from Quentin pushing Tracy under the water for the second time to Quentin standing up and limping away - Tracy coming up and trying to grab onto Quentin's leg/the third dunking/Tracy coming up and trying to grab onto the edge of the pool/and the fourth dunking are all cut

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And speaking of the drowning, here's a still -

(Click here for a 700X529 version)
The Famous Monsters caption for it reads: "Influenced by a malignant spirit, Quentin (David Selby) attempts to drown Tracy."

- of which a slightly cropped copy appeared in the NoDS cover article in Famous Monsters of Filmland #88 Jan. 1972. The Doctor and K9 generously shared a PDF of the article back in Reply #132.