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 108/Scene 233 - Carlotta (O.S.): 'No! You must not send her away!'

- check out -

Continuing Scene 233:

- this post and to learn about how, based on a clip in the NoDS trailers, things play differently than scripted, and about note Grayson has in her script...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When I'd put together today's graphic -

- I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I used a screen capture from this -

- versions of which appear in two of the NoDS trailers.

And here's a version of the clip slowed down to 25% of the speed -

- to get a better look at it...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When I'd put together today's graphic -

- I used a crop of this -

(Click here for a 700X557 version)

- rare still...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 108/Scene 234 - Tracy (O.S.): 'Quentin!'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 108/Scene 234 - Carlotta (still hysterical): 'Get out of this house! Take him with you if you must, but get out!'

- check out -

Continuing Scene 234:

- this post and to learn about another note in Grayson's script and also how she commits sacrilege...

And Darren confirmed this:

And if Alex does indeed jump to Quentin's side in the 129 minute version, it will be interesting because for some reason I've only seen stills of Claire and Tracy at Quentin's side.

You are correct.  As filmed, Claire and Tracy jump to Quentin's aide

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And when I'd put together this past graphic -



- today's graphic -

- and an upcoming graphic -

- I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I used screen captures from this -

- which appear in one of the NoDS trailers.

And here's a version of the clip slowed down to 25% of the speed -

- to get a better look at it...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 109/Scene 234 - Alex (calling to her): 'Let go of her, Carlotta! You have no right to hold her back.'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 109/Scene 234 - Carlotta: 'No! -- no!'

- check out -

Picking up Scene 234 where we left off:

- this post - and Grayson's script has more notes, but I held off getting into them until tomorrow's quotes...

And interestingly, when I brought up that I had to use a screen capture from the seance clip to get an image of Alex because I've never seen a still of Alex from the seance, Darren didn't mention that any stills of him exist from the sequence. Though of course, that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any - it could simply be that Darren didn't see my remark. After all, back at that time he was responding to several things, both old and new, that were written in the topic...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When I'd put together yesterday's second graphic -

- I used a crop of this -

(Click here for a 1435X932 version)
NoDS Restoration Web site caption: "(Above) Carlotta interrupts the seance in the
restored climax of NIGHT OF DARK
SHADOWS, a moody gothic set-piece unseen
by audiences until the future release of the
restoration."
Video Watchdog caption: "Grayson Hall interrupts a seance in newly recovered footage from NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971).

- rare still, which Darren shared on his NoDS Restoration Web site, and which appeared as part of an article Darren wrote for Video Watchdog No. 60 from June of 2000...

It's both fun and depressing to read the VW article because reading of the recovery of the missing NoDS footage brings back how exciting it was, but at the same time there was actually optimism back then that a restored version of NoDS could be released as soon as the film's 30th Anniversary in 2001...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 109/Scene 234 - Alex: 'You must let her go!'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 109/Scene 234 - Carlotta: 'Never! I will never let her go!'

- check out -

Wrapping up Scene 234, beginning with today's first quote -

- this post and to learn what Grayson wrote in her script...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And before we move on to the next installment in the slideshow, we need to deal with a few scenes in the script:

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oops - I should have posted this yesterday -

- and as I'm sure you'll recall, it was published as part of Flip's Curse of Dark Shadows article - and that's the only place I've ever seen it...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 109/Scene 238 - Carlotta: 'Stay away from me! Don't touch me!'

- and/or today's second quote -

Page 110/Scene 238 - Alex: 'We don't want to hurt you, Carlotta.'

- check out -

Moving on to the current scene:

- this post and to learn about the differences in the dialogue and the descriptions and the directions...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Two of several stills associated with Scene 238:

The Lobby Card that I shared back in Reply #78:

...

(Click here for a 930X738 version)

...

And an alternate B&W version -

(Click here for a 700X540 version)

More to come...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Two more stills associated with Scene 238:

(Click here for a 700X462 version)

And another version -

Daytime TV caption: "Beliving that Angelique's spirit has been
exorcised, Carlotta prepares to take her own life."
(Though that's not entirely true because, as we know, Carlotta sees a beckoning Angelique on the ground below the tower.)

 - which was published as part of the Daytime TV article I've been sharing several rare shots from, and which is the only place I've ever seen that shot of Carlotta. Also note, as I mentioned previously, the material from that article is credited to MGM, New York. It's quite interesting how so much of what they shared with Daytime TV doesn't seem to have been shared anywhere else...

More to come...

 

[Uncle Roger]

I'm sure that I've mentioned this before but some of my early DS pictures came from MGM. They had a branch of the still department in New York and, though it wasn't common knowledge, you could purchase stills from them. You just needed to give them the name of the actor (if you wanted a headshot) or a brief description of a scene and they would come up with something. The stills cost $1.25 apiece, which was rather high by 1970's prices. But the stills were very good quality and they are still part of my collection. Unfortunately, MGM shut down its New York offices around 1972. I never tried ordering anything from their office in California.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

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

Page 110/Scene 238 - Carlotta (as she looks over the side): 'She needs me.'

- check out -

Wrapping up Scene 238 and moving beyond, beginning with today's quote -

- this post and to learn about the differences in the dialogue, descriptions and directions, and Grayson has yet another note in her script...