Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another post relayed to Scene 84 that's definitely worth revisiting:

... a video of how the score in Scene 84 on the DVD/Blu-ray has an obvious cut -

(Cut made at 7 sec.)

- that the VHS doesn't -

- and that's because the scene was obviously rescored after the cut footage was removed, and as such the score is slightly different on the VHS than it is on the DVD/Blu-ray release. The full score that should play and does play in the 129 minute version is like this -

- because approximately 20 seconds was cut from the 129 minute version to help to shorten it per James Avery's order to DC. And what was cut has been discussed before, often with regard to this part of ProfStokes' post listing what recovered footage was shown at the 2004 Fest -

..., Quentin discovering a sketch that Charles had made of Angelique, ...

-and as a reminder we actually see this sketch in the footage that is still in all versions of the film, but because the VHS shows much more at the bottom of the film's frames, it's much more visible on the VHS than it is on the DVD/Blu-ray. Last year I'd shared versions of both -

...

...

- and because I didn't have working video capturing software at the time, I had to share a photo I'd taken on a TV from the VHS. But now that I do have working video capturing software, this is what the VHS actually looks like -

(Click here for a 880X661 version)

...

...

But now that I have the Laser Disc, again it's quite interesting how much sharper the Laser Disc (a capture from which I've added to reply #245 and reposted above in reply #1366) is compared to the VHS -

Laser         VHS

- particularly notice the difference in the mirror's reflection and the candles in the candelabra....

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Beginning to revisit how Scene 85 is scripted:

We're going to handle things a bit differently for this next sequence because when it comes to the beginning of Scene 85, it's different in the film from the way it appears in both Grayson's and DC's scripts - especially DC's. And the fascinating thing is that DC's script contains a major rewrite, yet none of the rewritten part made it into the film. But to kick things off, ... the beginning of Scene 85 appear in Grayson's script:

DISSLOVE TO: 85     INT - TOWER ROOM - 1800 - DAY                     85        SUBCONSCIOUS MEMORY CUT        Transistion is made HOLDING on the portrait and        changing the color quality to that of the previous        segments.  HOLD ON THIS as the first part of the        dialogue is played O.S. 85     CONTD                                    CONTD    85                              ANGELIQUE (O.S.)                  You're never going to finish it.                              CHARLES (O.S.)                  Is that a prophecy?        RACK FOCUS to the B.G. where Angelique and Charles        are embracing.                              ANGELIQUE                  No - I just won't let you go.        They laugh and kiss again.  There is a POUNDING        ON THE DOOR.

And so far as the differences in the dialogue go, ... everything is different in Scene 85.

...

And as for what the actual differences in the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions are when it comes to Scene 85, that will wait until an upcoming post... But yes, "Transistion" is misspelled that way - and in both Grayson's and DC's versions of the script...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting more of the beginning of how Scen 85 is scripted:

When it comes to DC's script, Scene 84 and the setting and first descriptions of Scene 85 are exactly the same as they are in Grayson's script, so I won't repeat them. Things get very different once DC's script reaches its Page 35:

(Revised 3/31/71) 85     CONTD                                        CONTD       85                            ANGELIQUE (O.S.)                  We can't stay like this forever.                  You must finish the picture.                            CHARLES (O.S.)                  Why?  We have all the time in                   the world.        RACK FOCUS to the B.G. where Angelique and Charles        are embracing.                            ANGELIQUE                  We haven't.  You must finish it                  because when you do, you will give                  me the most marvelous gift of all -        Charles looks at her, not understanding.                  this time life will imitate art.                  I know you merely planned to paint                  it to torture her, but that's not                  enough.  My darling, you must do it.                            CHARLES                  No.                            ANGELIQUE                  Don't you want us to be like this                  always.  Must we constantly be                  leaving each other?  How can you                  hold Laura?  How can you touch her?                            CHARLES                  When I do, it's you I hold, it's                  you I caress.                            ANGELIQUE                  We are in each other's souls, Charles.                   We can't escape it.        They kiss.                  You will make the picture come true.                            CHARLES                  Yes.                            ANGELIQUE                  Then you must paint, my darling.                  Tonight.  It must be done.        There is a POUNDING ON THE DOOR.

And when it comes to the dialogue, as I'd mentioned previously, none of it is in the film as scripted - and it's not really even in the film exactly as the changes that were made to some of the crossed out parts. Speaking of which, notations in DC's script make the following replacements in the dialogue:

• Angelique's "you must do it" is replaced with "you must bring the painting to life"
• Charles' "No" is replaced with "But why - we have each other - that's all that counts - she doesn't even exist for me"
• The entire section of dialogue beginning with Angelique's "Don't you want us to be like this always? ..." right through to Charles' ending with "... it's you I caress" is not only crossed out but X'd out and it's all replaced with Angelique saying "As long as she's here, we could never really have each other"
• And Angelique's "You will" is replaced with "I want you to"
• And after Angelique's "make the picture come true", "Please - promise me" is added.

And as for what the actual differences in the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions are when it comes to Scene 85, that will still wait until an upcoming post... But one thing I will say now, or rather ask is if I'm the only one who comes away from reading DC's version of Scene 85 with the impression that Angelique is actually encouraging Charles to kill Laura?

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting some followup posts to above:

It certainly sounds that way to me.

I'm sure you're right, MB.  It all leads up to the very ending of the movie.

...

But getting back to DC's version of Scene 85, I almost wish the rewrite had been the way things played out on screen. It certainly would have been far more sinister than the way things do play out, which is much more ambiguous (though there may really be a reason for that - one that we'll get into after dealing with the whole script). And the way things were originally written in Grayson's script is positively dull by comparison to both the film and the rewrite.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Three posts definitely worth revisiting:

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

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

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

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

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]

At the time I posted this -

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

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

- I didn't realize the still had been used on the back cover of the NoDS DVD/Blu-ray packaging -

(Click here for a 1000X1411 version)

(Click here for a 1000X1163 version)

- though neither shows as much as the actual still, with the Blu-ray version showing the least.

(Also, I never realized Lara Parker's billing isn't what it should be based on the opening credits. She should be third after Grayson Hall and before John Karlen, yet she's after Nancy Barrett, which, probably not coincidentally, is how she's billed on the posters. But everyone else is billed in the exact order they are in the opening credits. Odd. But I'm sure there was some reason...)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another post worth revisiting:

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]

More posts worth revisiting:

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

(Click here for a 1400X1124 version)

And here's the other still that I said I'm aware of that has both a B&W and color version:

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]

Revisiting how the actual beginning of Scene 85:

The way Scene 85 actually begins in the film isn't with the transition in Scene 84 from Quentin's view of the unfinished painting to a view of it in 1810 because, like several other instances of the subconscious memory scenes, things actually cut to a close-up of Quentin -

- staring and blinking his eyes, and from there they go to the subconscious memory of the painting in 1810 -

- and from there the camera doesn't rack focus to the background where Angelique and Charles are embracing because the camera actually slowly pans from the painting to them, by first showing their reflections in a mirror as they make out, all kisses and moans -

- and then the couple themselves as they become -

- a mass of entwined body parts.

And whereas the 18th's slideshow's quote -

Page 35/Scene 85 - Angelique: 'You must finish it because when you do, you will give me the most marvelous gift of all -'

- comes from DC's version of the script, what actually happens in the film is Angelique declares (with regard to Laura) -

Angelique: 'As long as she's here in this house, I can't be
happy.'

- which is most certainly strongly implied in the rewrite in DC's script, but isn't said outright as such. And rather than the 19th's slideshow's quote -

Page 35/Scene 85 - Angelique: 'We are in each other's souls, Charles. We can't escape it.'

- which also comes from DC's version of the script, though from a much later point in the scene, what actually happens in the film right after Angelique's remark (with regard to Laura) is that Angelique then asks Charles -

Angelique: 'Bring the painting to life, Charles. Please -
promise me.'

- which is a reworked version of something that was added by DC to his script near the end of the rewrite - though without being within the context of everything that was dropped from the rewrite, neither of Angelique's lines in the film take on the sinister tone they would have otherwise had had the majority of the rewrite been included in the film.

But after the rewritten section, things in Scene 85 return to basically what is written in both Grayson's and DC's scripts, and that's that after the pounding on the door is heard, it's followed in the script by:

(Revised 3/31/71) 85     CONTD                                          CONTD        85

And that's when today's quote -

Page 35A/Scene 85 - Gabriel (O.S.): 'Charles, I want to talk to my wife.'

- comes up and is delivered exactly that way in the film.

And Today = November 21st this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another post worth revisiting:

I like today's photo.  I know you can't see "anything" but as you know, I have a vivid imagination.

winking,

G.

I just knew someone was going to remark on today's capture. 

But at least one good thing about the VHS/Laser version of the film is that Charles' head doesn't get cut off:

DVD/Blu-ray:

VHS/Laser:

(ADMIN: Edited for better comparison and to add a Laser capture)

April 21st = November 22 this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with how Scene 85 is scripted:

Picking up Scene 85 where we left off, after Gabriel pounds on the door and asks to see Angelique:

They smile at each other but don't answer.                            GABRIEL (O.S.)                  I know she's in there.  Now open                  the door.        Finally, Charles decides to answer.                            CHARLES                  For more of your dreary moralizing?                   You try my patience, brother.                            GABRIEL (O.S.)                  For the last time!  Open the door!

And that's when today's quote -

Page 35A/Scene 85 - Angelique: 'Let him in.'

- comes up and is also delivered exactly that way in the film.

And as far as any differences in the dialogue go, well, that all depends on which version of NoDS one is watching. If it's the 129 recovered version or the 97 minute R-rated version that was mistakenly released in August of 1971, all of it is delivered exactly as written. If it's the version available online via Amazon and iTunes and possibly other places, or on DVD and Blu-ray, it's all but Gabriel's "For the last time! Open the door!" (though even though much of the dialogue is there, the accompanying correct footage that coincides with it is not). And if it's the 94 minute version available on VHS and which played in most areas of the country in 1971, then Charles' "For more of your dreary moralizing? You try my patience, brother" and  Gabriel's "For the last time! Open the door!" are missing.

And as far as the differences in the descriptions and directions go, Charles and Angelique do a lot more than smile at each other while they don't answer. Actually quite a bit more, depending on the version of the film one sees.    But here we're working with the 94 minute version, so all we see in it is Charles and Angelique kiss before he gets up and Angelique tells him to let Gabriel in. And I do have to say that that chaste version of what goes on between Charles and Angelique always strikes me as funny because all it looks like Charles does is pick a piece of lint from Angelique's cleavage - but if you've never seen what actually takes place in the longer versions, you might be quite surprised when you do see it!    Though keep in mind that it's '70s' R-rated, not X-rated. 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post related to Scene 85 that's definitely worth revisiting, especially because it's been edited to add new media:

And also keep in mind with regard to Scene 85 in the 97 (and 129) minute film, Darren Gross posted on his Restoration Web site -

A brief summary of all the scenes missing from the 93.5 minute version which were present in the 97 minute prints follows.

...

2) In Quentin's flashback in the tower, Charles and Angelique's kiss is more explicit. Angelique throws her head back and laughs mockingly as Charles kisses her neck and the unseen Gabriel hammers angrily at the door. GABRIEL: I know she's in there now open the door !(this is also present in the short version, but I have retained it to give the next line context) CHARLES: For more of your dreary moralizing ? You try my patient brother. GABRIEL(pounding, furious): For the last time - open the door !

...

- and -

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)

...

 

[Gerard]

You know, after reliving the plot of NoDS several times through MB's dissection of it, I finally realized that Charles and Angelique weren't star-crossed lovers, but real skanks.  No wonder they turned into vitriolic spooks - if they wouldn't fight spook-and-nail to remain Earth-bound, they both would've ended up spending eternity shoveling coal.

Gerard

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Charles and Angelique weren't star-crossed lovers, but real skanks.

If that's true - and I'm not saying that it is or it isn't - but if it is, then the film proves skanks win in the end... 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing with how Scene 85 is scripted:

...

They look at each other and as Gabriel continues to        POUND, Charles crosses to the door and opens it,        but just a crack, revealing a very nervous Gabriel.

And that's when today's quote -

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

- comes up.

And as for what's different about the dialogue, Gabriel says something completely different because what he actually says is "That's my wife, Charles", which I think is a much better line.

And as for what's different from the descriptions and directions, Charles does cross to the door, but after he goes down the stairs and unlocks it, he actually kicks it completely open and then steps back to reveal Gabriel. And Gabriel doesn't look particularly nervous - a better description is that he looks angry. (There's no hint of the nervousness Gabriel will display in a sequence which chronologically takes place before the tower room scene but is a sequence we have yet to see in the film because it doesn't come up until Scenes 119 & 121.)

And before we leave these moments in the film, I do have to say that even more than three years after first posting about it, I still can't believe that it took me so long to really pay attention to that sketch:

I never really ever paid much notice to the sketch that's hanging on the wall near the door when Charles answers the door to Gabriel. And I have no idea how I actually could have paid little attention to it, particularly in the VHS version of the film where it seems to show up more prominently for a longer period of time:

Apparently one can easily presume that Angelique wasn't always as, uh, overly dressed as she was when she was posing for Charles' unfinished portrait.    And apparently this is yet further proof that no matter how often one watches something (and I've watched NoDS so many time that I lost count long ago) one can still pick up things on even more repeated viewings. 

(ADMIN: Edited to add better images, including a Laser Disc capture)

April 22nd = November 23rd this time around.