Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another discussion worth revisiting:

Great shot of Strack today.  Thayer was so perfect in that role.  Of course, I know Jerry would have nailed it, too, but the nuances would have been quite different.

Great shot of Strack today.

Yes, I love that capture as well:

Page 61/Scene 121 - Strack: 'He must learn the lesson of
the damned. He shall watch her die.'

Thayer was so perfect in that role.  Of course, I know Jerry would have nailed it, too, but the nuances would have been quite different.

As undoubtedly interesting as it would have been to have seen Jerry Lacy as Trask, I can't even begin to imagine NoDS without Thayer David's Strack. 

Well, MB, I'm sure you can guess how I feel about Thayer's presence in the movie.  Given what a huge fan I am of every moment he was ever onscreen...

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how a dropped scene in the sequence is scripted:

Dealing with the next two scenes in the sequence (using Grayson's script):

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122    INT - CORRIDOR - DAY                              122        SARAH'S P.O.V.        Strack               Laura        Trask, Gabriel and Samantha stand at the head of the                                           Strack        stairs.  As the four men appear, Trask and Gabriel        lead them up to the tower leaving Samantha stand-        ing alone.                          Laura

...

... Scene 122 is another that is dropped from all versions of the film - though if it had appeared in any version of the film, like Scene 85 (Angelique is taken from the tower), not four, but only two of Strack's henchmen would have shown up.

...

Moving to the next two scenes in the current sequence (using Grayson's script):

123    SARAH - CLOSE-UP                                 123        Her eyes are wide with fright.

And that's when today's first quote -

Page 61/Scene 123 - Carlotta's Voice: 'I don't know how long I stood there. It seemed like hours...'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

DISSOLVE TO: 124    EXT - CORRIDOR - SARAH'S P.O.V.                  124                              Laura        as Mrs. Castle joins Samantha.

And that's when today's second quote -

Page 61/Scene 124 - Carlotta's Voice (Contd): 'Finally, my mother joined Laura and the two of them waited...suddenly the silence was shattered by the terrifying sounds from above and it was then that I saw her.'

- comes up.

And as far as differences in the dialogue go, as has probably already been surmised from the graphics for today's slideshow, neither Scene 123 nor the beginning of Scene 124 appear in the film as it currently stands, so there's no way of knowing if there might be differences in the dialogue. The scenes may not even appear in the 129 minute version. I don't recall seeing them during Darren's presentations - but with so much recovered footage being covered, it's hard to remember exactly everything, especially when Darren has to pick and choose what he shows and some recovered bits have only been shown once. For what it's worth, Scenes 123 and 124 are not included on Darren's list of the scenes/trims that weren't recovered. But then, it could also be that they aren't on that list because they were never shot. One thing that is known, though, is that, as per usual, Grayson crossed out Samantha's name in her dialogue for the start of Scene 124 and wrote in Laura's name.

And as far as differences in the directions and the descriptions go, again, with nothing that's covered here being in the film as it currently stands, there's no way of knowing if anything might be different.

And yes - Scene 124 is listed as an exterior in the script even though it should be listed as an interior...

   And so far as "today's" quotes go, they were yesterday's, March 21st's, this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another comment worth revisiting:

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That's a wonderful two-shot of Laura and Mrs. Castle in today's presentation.  One I don't recall at all.  I'm so glad they did include Clarice in this film.

And here's that graphic/caption -

Page 61/Scene 124 - Carlotta's Voice (Contd): 'Finally, my
mother joined Laura and the two of them waited...suddenly
the silence was shattered by the terrifying sounds from
above and it was then that I saw her.'

- which was part of yesterday's slidshow...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning (with new screen captures) for Scenes 121 & 124:

And when it comes to the loudest clap of thunder at the end of Scene 121 and into the beginning of Scene 124 (Scenes 122 & 123 are not in the film), the closed captioning reflects the sound -

- unlike the subtitles...

And in a similar situation to what I showed in Reply #1584 when it came to Laura's remark as she, Strack and Gabriel enter the Gallery, when it comes to Angelique descending the stairs, you can see above that she's barely seen when it comes to how my VCR decoded the text to acknowledging the thunder, whereas when it came to the text that was decoded with the TV from which I shot video, acknowledging the thunder remained on view until Angelique had indeed come into view -

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(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Carlotta's narration of the start of Scene 124 is unscripted. She says: "She walked down the stairs so proudly. They were all afraid to touch her. I suddenly knew I would never see her again. I ran to her. I couldn't let her go." - and the subtitles -

- acknowledge it all almost perfectly, but more on that later...

Next up, the closed captioning...

 

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Continuing Carlotta's unscripted narration of the start of Scene 124, now with the closed captioning -

- acknowledging it, though not always correctly, and also more on that later...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning (with new screen captures) for Scene 124:

For Scene 124 part of Carlotta's narration is "They were all afraid to touch her. I suddenly knew I would never see her again." - and the subtitles completely reflect that - however, the closed captioning has -

- with "all" and "suddenly" missing for some reason...

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(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing to revisit how the subtitles/closed captioning deal with the opening narration of Scene 124 (with new screen captures):

When it comes to the subtitles and closed captioning, obviously we've seen and will continue to see them use variations of what's actually said in the film, but rarely do we see them skip entire lines. However, for Scene 124 they do indeed do that.

First up, after Carlotta's narration where she says, "I ran to her," Sarah screams, "No! No!" before Carlotta's narration continues with, "I couldn't let her go." - and we saw that in the subtitles' version of the narration - but the closed captioning jumps from -

- right to -

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(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

To be continued...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

More revisiting of how Scene 124 is scripted:

Continuing Scene 124 (using Grayson's script):

Strack        Trask and then the others file down the stairs.        Angelique stares coldly ahead, holding herself aloof 124    CONTD                                     CONTD   124        from her persecutors.  One of the men holds a        blood-soaked kerchief to his face.  Charles is the        last to appear.  He has already resigned himself        to her fate.  As they are about to go down the        next flight, Sarah suddenly runs in, throwing her        arms around Angelique's waist.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 62/Scene 124 - Sarah: 'No! No! I won't let you take her! She is good! She is good!'

- comes up.

And as far as differences in the dialogue go, playing over the outset of this section of the scene is actually unscripted voiceover by Carlotta: "She walked down the stairs so proudly. They were all afraid to touch her. I suddenly knew I would never see her again. I ran to her. I couldn't let her go" - though whether or not that was always planned as a continuation of the scripted voiceover from earlier in the scene or as a replacement for it when the earlier part of the scene wasn't included in the film, who knows? (It has been mentioned that  after the marathon editing session David Selby and John Karlen were called in to dub new stuff to help to make what remained make more sense, but I've never seen it mentioned that Grayson also was.) - and the end of the unscripted voiceover actually plays over Sarah's lines, which are actually "No! No! I won't let you take her!" with the "She is good! She is good!" part completely dropped. (Though it may have been shot but was simply cut because right after Sarah says that she won't let them take Angelique, the camera switches from shooting like today's capture -

- and focuses on a close-up of Charles that we will see as part of tomorrow's slideshow.

And as far as differences in the directions and the descriptions go, there is actually a clasp of thunder as the film makes the switch from Scene 122's proclamation by Strack that Charles shall watch Angelique die to Scene 124 and Carlotta's unscripted voiceover regarding how Angelique descended the stairs - and the interesting thing is that Angelique seems to stare at Laura almost the entire time she walks down the stairs, and the smug look on Laura's face, as can be seen in the following capture -

- is absolutely priceless as Angelique reaches Laura in the second floor corridor! And if looks could kill, Laura might have been dead there and then given the way -

- Angelique looks at her. And what's also interesting is that as Angelique moves away from Laura, she has a slight smile on her face -

- as if she already knows her impending hanging will be far from the end. Though one other thing is that we don't see one of Strack's henchman, presumably the one Angelique scratched in Scene 85, holding a blood-soaked kerchief. In fact, we haven't even seen him in the scene at all yet - and the explanation for why that is will be coming in a future post...

And there are no notes in either DC's or Grayson's script for any of this section. In fact, there are no notes for any of Scene 124. Though one thing I haven't mentioned yet is that the end of Scene 124 is different/longer in DC's script from the way it is in Grayson's - and we'll deal with that once we've reached the 22nd's installment of the slideshow...

And to give you something else to look forward to, on the 23rd I'll be sharing the very first article published for the film that features photos taken of some of the first scenes shot for the film. It you've never seen the article, you might be surprised which scenes were soon to be shot after shooting began with Angelique's funeral...

   And so far as "today's quote" goes, it was yesterday's, March 22nd's, this time around, and the reference to the 22nd's slideshow will be the 25th's this time around...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting discussing Monica Rich:

I'll be interested to see how much Sarah Castle has to do in the original script. From what I understand, most of her footage was cut by DC before the film was submitted to MGM. I don't suppose there's much way of knowing how many scenes were actually filmed.

I can't understand DC's problems with Monica Rich.  I thought she was very effective in what we do see.  Her closeups were incredibly intense and poignant.

Considering some of the adult performers that he put up with (and in some cases, embraced), DC's issues with Monica seem very perplexing.

I'll be interested to see how much Sarah Castle has to do in the original script. From what I understand, most of her footage was cut by DC before the film was submitted to MGM. I don't suppose there's much way of knowing how many scenes were actually filmed.

We'll be dealing with all of Sarah's scripted scenes. But beginning with the following post, so far we've only seen that practically all of her stuff was dropped from Scene 56 (Angelique's funeral):

But there doesn't seem to be any info about whether or not the dropped material was ever shot or DC simply cut around it. However, I believe there is such info when it comes to some of Sarah's upcoming scenes, so I'll try to track it down...

I can't understand DC's problems with Monica Rich.  I thought she was very effective in what we do see.  Her closeups were incredibly intense and poignant.

Considering some of the adult performers that he put up with (and in some cases, embraced), DC's issues with Monica seem very perplexing.

I agree with you both. But perhaps it was as simple as michael c related in another topic: DC and Monica simply didn't get along...

Now that we're getting to the scenes with Sarah Castle, I suppose that this is as good a time as any to inquire about Monica Rich. I've heard stories over the years that DC was unsatisfied with her performance and cut out or simply did not film a lot of her scenes. The script, as published by KLS, doesn't really give Sarah a significantly larger part. Rich's imdb page doesn't list any credits other than NODS. Did Sarah have a larger part in an earlier script? And just how bad an actor did you have to be for DC to edit your part down?

Grayson's script is earlier than DC's and Sarah's part is the same in both. The interesting thing so far as cuts go is that in the scripts Sarah has more to do in Scene 56 (Angelique's funeral) but none of it is in the film. Also interestingly is that scene is a somewhat rewritten version in DC's script yet Sarah's part is still the same. And even more interestingly is that Scene 56 was the first one shot for the film so one might presume that not having worked with her yet, DC would have shot Monica Rich/Sarah's part - but if he did and it wasn't that he just didn't bother to shoot it (he could have deemed it an unnecessary character moment, which would have certainly been in keeping with how he operated), it ended up on the cutting room floor. And as we'll see in the upcoming Scenes 118 through 131 (1810 flashback), there are several instances where Sarah material is not in the film, not even the 129 minute version. In fact, there's one entire scene that is not in any version of the film...

As for how bad an actor someone had to be to have their part edited down, I never thought Monica gave a bad performance in any of her surviving material in the film, so I question how bad she could have been if what's missing really was shot. I agree with what Gothick had to say back in 2016:

I can't understand DC's problems with Monica Rich.  I thought she was very effective in what we do see.  Her closeups were incredibly intense and poignant.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting more of how Scene 124 is scripted:

Continuing Scene 124:

Mrs. Castle tries to disengage the child.

And that's when today's first quote -

Page 62/Scene 124 - Mrs. Castle: 'Please, Sarah.'

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

Page 62/Scene 124 - Sarah: 'Don't let them do it, mama! I love her so.'

- coming up.

And as far as differences in the dialogue go, Mrs. Castle actually says "Sarah, please" - and Sarah's quote is dropped from the scene, and again, who knows if it was shot or not, though as we'll see below, given the editing, it may have been shot but simply cut.

And as far as differences in the directions and the descriptions go, even though neither the script nor any notes from DC indicate it, Mrs. Castle's line is delivered off screen while, as can be seen in today's first capture -

- there's a close-up of a very forlorn Charles on screen, so who knows if the switch to Charles was because DC didn't like Monica Rich's work in those moments or DC simply wanted to insert a Charles close-up rather than just have him in the background, as he'll be seen in tomorrow's capture (and here's -

- a sneak peak). But Sarah's quote from today is not the first bit of Sarah's stuff to not appear in the film as part of Scene 124, and as we'll see when I post about tomorrow's quote, it won't be the last. Though one thing we do know for sure is that DC did express his dissatisfaction with Monica Rich's work, so take from that what you will...

   And as far as "today's" quotes go, they were yesterday's, March 23rd's, this time around, and the reference to the "tomorrow's capture" is actually today's, March 24th's, this time around...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing to revisit how the subtitles/closed captioning (with a new screen capture) skip entire lines during Scene 124. Where we left off last time in Reply #1614 is how Carlotta's narration ended with her saying in reference to Angelique, "I couldn't let her go."

...

- and then Sarah continues with "I won't let you take her." - but the closed captioning skips that and jumps right to Mrs. Castle saying -

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(ADMIN: Edited to replace TV video screen captures)

And interestingly enough, the closed captioning actually display's Mrs. Castle's line before she even says it and it also disappears off screen before she says it...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Two stills of Charles that are related to Scene 124 and that are definitely worth revisiting:

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(Click here for a 660X666 version)

- a rare still of Charles that I'm not aware of being shared ...

Another one of the rare stills I rediscovered on CD several months back. This one had been posted back in the late '90s to the AOL DS' Image Gallery:

(Click here for a 650X829 version)

I have to confess that nowadays I have no idea what The Dark Shadows Foundation was, if I ever knew. I tried Googling and came up with zilch, so chances are either it doesn't exist anymore and/or it doesn't have an online presence...

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

Concluding revisiting how the subtitles/closed captioning skip entire lines during the opening of Scene 124:

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On the other hand, the subtitles include Carlotta's narration, as well as all of Sarah's lines, but strangely enough jumps from -

- right to -

- skipping Mrs. Castle's line - and interestingly enough, Angelique actually says, "Darling, don't cry," without the "Please." - could the subtitles have picked the "Please" up from the end of Mrs. Castle's line? - Who knows?

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Still revisiting how Scene 124 is scripted:

Continuing Scene 124:

Still clutching Angelique, Sarah cries bitterly as        Angelique bends to her.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 62/Scene 124 - Angelique: 'My darling, don't cry. Sarah, dear, don't cry, please. It will be just as if I'm away for a little while.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

SARAH                  But they said...they were going to...        She looks at Charles.                  Charles...don't let them --        She cannot finish, her sobs break out again.

And as far as differences in the dialogue go, what Angelique actually says is "Darling, don't cry. Sarah, dear, please don't cry. It'll be just as if I've gone away for a little while" - but all of Sarah's dialogue and everything that surrounds it is dropped from the scene once again, and once again, who knows if it was shot or not, though as we'll see below in this post too, given the editing, it may have been shot but simply cut.

And as far as differences in the directions and the descriptions go, we don't actually see Sarah crying bitterly because she seems to be sobbing - and even though neither the script nor any notes from DC indicate it, as can be seen in the following capture -

- a close-up of a disgusted looking Strack is actually seen while Angelique reassures Sarah that it will be just as if Angelique has gone away for a little while, and like Charles' earlier close-up, who knows if Strack's closeup was inserted because DC didn't like what he got from Monica Rich or simply because DC wanted to insert a Strack close-up?

   And as far as "today's quote" goes, it was yesterday's, March 24th's, this time around.