Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Uncle Roger]

It's also quite telling that while Alex and Quentin connected almost immediately but Claire states that she spent quite a bit of time trying to figure Quentin out. She doesn't indicate that she ever did.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

When it comes to the subtitles and closed captioning for Scene 21:

Before we even get into the dialogue, the closed captioning has this notice -

- and even though they're scripted to take place at the end of Scene 21 and at the beginning of Scene 22, the first two lines in Scene 21 are actually Tracy's "How much land is there" and Quentin's "Oh, only about 200 acres" - and both are acknowledge correctly by both the subtitles and the closed captioning - though while the closed captioning don't identify the characters by name, interestingly, the subtitles have -

- and while the subtitles don't acknowledge that Tracy laughs at Quentin's response, the closed captioning does -

- and then when it comes to the first bit of unscripted dialogue, both the subtitles and the closed captioning-

- acknowledge Quentin's line - and unlike the script, he's not indicating Collinwood but a boarded up building that they're about to pas by - also, Tracy's dialogue about the garret and Quentin's about being an heir are dropped in the film.

More to come...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Speaking of the boarded up building that Quentin points out -

- I've always loved this publicity shot of Lara Parker as Angelique that's taken with the urn in front of that building:

And speaking of Quentin's dropped line about being an heir, it was featured in the Nods section of the original Movies Slideshow -

NoDS: Scene #21 - Quentin: 'No one can afford to paint
unless he is an heir.'

- because it's the third NoDS quote featured in the Fest's 1999 Movie Calendar, on which the Movies Slideshow was based.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with the subtitles and closed captioning for Scene 21:

As they continue up the driveway, what Tracy actually says is "You know, it's really incredible that you were around for all those years and I didn't even know you" - though the subtitles drop -

- the "You know" part - and when it comes to the closed captioning, it has the first part as -

- and while the subtitles have the last part correctly, the closed captioning has -

- and Quentin explains "You wouldn't have liked me then. I was mean and surly" but with no reference to him being poor - and while the subtitles acknowledge what Quentin says perfectly, the closed captioning has -

- and while once again the subtitles don't acknowledge that Tracy laughs at a response from Quentin, the closed captioning does -

More to come...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And wrapping up:

Soon afterward Tracy delivers an unscripted "It's gonna rain" (it actually did begin to rain on the day that parts of this sequence were shot) - and the subtitles get that line correctly -

- though of course the closed captioning must correct the grammar -

- and then rather than how her line is scripted Tracy actually says "I still can't believe it's really Collinwood" - and both the subtitles and closed captioning get that perfectly - though Quentin's line about getting the directions right is dropped - and Tracy's last line for Scene 21 is another reworking of something scripted and she actually says "You can't even see the house from here" - and the closed captioning gets that correctly - but the subtitles have -

- and soon after Scene 22 begins Quentin stops the car and says an unscripted "Here it comes. I'm gonna put the top up" with regard to it beginning to rain - and while the subtitles acknowledge that perfectly -

- the closed captioning has -

- once again insisting on correcting the grammar - and Tracy's reaction "Oh...Quentin!" at first seeing the front of Collinwood is also dropped in the film.

 

[KMR]

It's also quite telling that while Alex and Quentin connected almost immediately but Claire states that she spent quite a bit of time trying to figure Quentin out. She doesn't indicate that she ever did.

How very interesting, Uncle Roger! What you and MB said makes me want to watch the movie again sooner rather than later, with those things in mind.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I think I've mentioned this before, but it really is a shame that Claire's remark about Quentin is made in the never shot shopping excursion into town sequence. But as I definitely know I've said before, character scenes were hardly a priority with DC!    (And as I also definitely know I've said before, hoDS suffers because of it!!)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post to revisit:

And speaking of Quentin putting the top up, here's a fairly rare still associated with that part of Scene 22 -

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

 - though a somewhat cropped version has been shared as the back cover of the Fest's 1999 Movie Calendar and a small B&W and cropped version appears on page 22 of the Movie Soundtracks' booklet...

...

 [/nods]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've mentioned before that I love how NoDS actually opens with what could easily be considered DC's tribute to the opening of Hitchcock's Rebecca which is mostly mixed with the arrival of the newly married de Winters to the Manderley mansion. But of you've never seen Rebecca, you may be unaware as to how some aspects of the opening of NoDS really do resemble Rebecca. So, here are some videos to illustrate the point:

Rebecca Opening	Rebecca Arrival

NoDS Arrival

I hadn't watched Rebecca in a long while and I'd completely forgotten that it also rains as the de Winters arrive at Manderley just as it does as the Collines arrive at Collinwood. Now I'm beginning to wonder if it was just serendipity that it really did rain as the opening of NoDS was being shot or if DC planned it with the help of the local fire department, as he did with the shooting of the funerals for hoDS and NoDS?

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 23 is scripted to play:

...

23     EXT - COLLINWOOD PORTICO                          23        as the car ENTERS THE SHOT and pulls up in front        of the house.  Quentin and Tracy both get out and        starts to unpack the back seat.

And that's when Friday's first quote -

Page 7/Scene 23 - Tracy: 'What do you bet I turn into one of those women you see in House & Garden.'

- comes up, followed by Friday's second quote -

Page 7/Scene 23 - Quentin (still busily unpacking): 'I can see it now, Mrs. Quentin Collins in her fashionable jeans at her 18th-century rosewood desk making out the menus for the week.'

- coming up, followed by the script continuing with:

She starts laughing.

And that's when Saturday's first quote -

Page 7/Scene 23 - Quentin: 'Oh, there is a housekeeper, you know.'

- comes up, followed by Saturday's second quote -

Page 7/Scene 23 - Tracy: 'Oh, great! I bet she looks just like Mrs. Danvers.

- coming up, followed by the script continuing with:

QUENTIN I'm sure she does.

And that's when Sunday's first quote -

Page 7/Scene 23 - Tracy: 'Well, at least it solves one problem. She can probably do everything and I'll just simply lounge around arranging flowers.'

- comes up, followed by Sunday's second quote -

Page 7/Scene 23 - Quentin: 'And loving me.'

- coming up, followed by the script continuing with:

23     CONTD                                    CONTD    23                              TRACY                  And loving you.        Quentin starts for the rear of the car to open        the trunk.

End of scene.

And so far there are still no differences between the way DC's and Grayson Hall's scripts are written. However, in DC's script he has added a notation that the opening of Scene 23 where the car pulls up to the house will be shot from the interior of the car and through the window.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Before we get into the differences in the subtitles and and mostly the closed captioning for Scene 23, as I'd mentioned in Reply #1166, DC added a note to his script that the opening of Scene 23 where the car pulls up to the house will be shot from the interior of the car and through the window - gee, I wonder where he got that idea:


NoDS through the windshield with the wipers going.

Rebecca through the windshield with the wipers going.

I'm sure he just pulled it out of thin air in a moment of inspiration, right? Yeah, right. But it does play even more into a "tribute" to Hitchcock's Rebecca

But anyway, the dialogue for Scene 23 kicks off with Tracy actually saying "What do you wanna bet I turn into one of those women you see in House & Garden" - but the subtitles have -

- with simply the "you see" dropped - however, the closed captioning has -

- and to that Quentin's reply actually starts off with "Yeah. I can see it now" -  and the subtitles get that perfectly - but the closed captioning has -

- with the "Yeah" missing.

More to come...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Picking where we left off, the second part of Quentin's actual response is "Mrs. Quentin Collins in her fashionable jeans sitting at her 18th-century rosewood desk making out the menus for the week" - and the subtitles get that perfectly - and the closed captioning would have gotten it perfectly if the "18th" part of "18th-century" in the middle part of it had displayed, but it didn't -

- but it could be the case that with different settings it may display, just as different settings caused the missing "any" to show up in Quentin's line "I didn't mean any of it, though" back when we were dealing with the closed captioning for Scene 170 (I'll have to check things out when I get the chance) - then changing the subject Quentin actually mentions "We have a housekeeper, you know that?" - and again the subtitles get that perfectly - but the closed captioning has -

- and to that Tracy says "Oh, great. Bet she looks just like Mrs. Danvers" (deliberate Rebecca reference!  ) - but the subtitles -

- adds an "I'll" - and the closed captioning -

- drops the "Oh, great" but adds an "I" - and Quentin's reply as scripted is "I'm sure he does" - and both the subtitles and the closed captioning get that right - and after that Tracy actually adds "Well, that solves one problem. She can probably do everything. And I'll just sit around arranging flowers all day" -  and the subtitles -

- simply drop the "Well" from the first part- and the closed captioning -

- drops the "And" from the last part - and to that Quentin adds "And loving me" - and once again both the subtitles and the closed captioning get that right.

End of scene.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

... the closed captioning would have gotten it perfectly if the "18th" part of "18th-century" in the middle part of it had displayed, but it didn't -

- but it could be the case that with different settings it may display, just as different settings caused the missing "any" to show up in Quentin's line "I didn't mean any of it, though" back when we were dealing with the closed captioning for Scene 170 (I'll have to check things out when I get the chance) ...

Well, I tried all sorts of settings but couldn't get the "18th" to display mo matter what I tried. So, I decided to see what the closed captioning decoder in the TV I'd used to shoot those videos off of might do. At first the display was even worse because not only didn't the "18th" display, but "18th-c" didn't -

- but then I reminded a bit and played it again and this showed up -

- still no "18" but that was the best. Who knows why the "18th-c" part of that caption apparently has some glitch that causes it to play games? But it's hardly something I'm going to spend more time wondering about...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scenes 24 through 27 are scripted:

...

CUT TO: 24     EXT - QUENTIN - TRACY - HIGH ANGLE                24        CAMERA THROUGH SECOND FLOOR STAIRWELL WINDOW as        if someone is watching.  From this angle, Quentin,        back is to the CAMERA so that his face is not re-        vealed.  As he turns to say something to Tracy,        revealing his face, ZOOM IN TO CLOSE-UP. 25     EXT - SECOND FLOOR STAIRWELL WINDOW - DAY         25        Angle from below reveals Carlotta observing the        scene.  ZOOM IN TO HER CLOSE-UP as she reacts. 26     EXT - COLLINWOOD - DAY - MEDIUM ANGLE             26        as Quentin closes the trunk and in one quick        motion sweeps Tracy off her feet, intending to        carry his bride across the threshold. 27     INT - SECOND FLOOR STAIRWELL - CARLOTTA - DAY     27        TRUCK IN TO HER CLOSE-UP as she watches them.

...

And so far there are still no differences between the way DC's and Grayson Hall's scripts are written - however, in DC's script Scenes 25 -27 have a box drawn around them and a big X in the box, which means that DC didn't intend to shoot them. But despite that, or more likely before she was aware that those scenes weren't going to be shot, Grayson Hall added a note in her script that reads "See that it's him at last the answer to the dream".

...

... there's something that's different and correct in the VHS version of the film (well, correct to a point because the color timing is still off when it comes to the VHS) but unfortunately different and not correct in every other version. And that would be Scene 24:

VHS:

Every Other Version:

At least those other versions have the sound of the car door shutting...

...

The background music is certainly correct when it comes to the VHS' version of Scene 24, but the way the scene is shot is definitely very different from how it's scripted. First off, the scene down at the car is shot from a tower window, not a stairwell window, made even more obvious by the fact that the exterior of the stairwell is actually seen in the shot. And there is no zoom to a close-up of Quentin.

And as things stand in the film, because Scenes 25 through 27 were never shot, we don't actually see Carlotta until Scene 28. However, it's not as if nothing was added to replace the missing Scenes 25 through 27 - and we'll see that in an upcoming post featuring unscripted material...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Starting to deal with the subtitles and the closed captioning for the unscripted material that replaced never shot Scenes 25 through 27:

At first Tracy is seen and then Quentin as they make their way to the door to the vestibule - Tracy looks inside, and as the closed captioning reflects, she says -

- though the subtitles do not acknowledge that - and as the subtitles show, Tracy follows that up with -

- as does the closed captioning -

- but as the subtitles show, Quentin steps up to the door and says -

- and the closed captioning reflects the same -

More to come....