Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another post we need to revisit:

I forgot to mention that in DC's script he's written in an establishing shot of the exterior of the cottage with Claire able to be seen at the window. But as we know, there's no such scene in the film as it currently stands. And considering that the way things play in the film, Claire is first seen entering the Living Room from the direction of the Bedroom and she's not seen pacing the Living Room as scripted, chances might be good that the establishing scene was never shot, or at least was never in the film because it wouldn't have made much sense...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Picking up where we left off with revisiting how Scene 197 is scripted:

...

They both stand stock-still and listen.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 94/Scene 197 - Tracy: 'What did you hear?'

- comes up, followed by today's quote -

Page 94/Scene 197 - Claire: 'I know someone's out there.'

- coming up, followed in the script by:

They tiptoe toward the window where the curtains are        drawn against the night.  TRUCK WITH THEM.  As they        reach the window, they stop.  Then working up her        nerve, Tracy gingerly reaches for the drapes and        very slowly pulls them apart.  FAST ZOOM TO EXTREME        CLOSE-UP OF GERARD STILES, who leers evilly through        the window.

End of scene - though certainly not the end of sequence...

And as far as the differences in the dialogue go, Tracy actually says "Wait a minute. Claire, what did you hear?"

And as far as differences in the descriptions and directions go, the camera doesn't actually truck with Claire and Tracy as they move toward the window because we see them from the front as they begin to move toward it and then we see them from the back practically there - and Tracy and Claire exchange a look right after they -

- reach the window - and it's Claire, not Tracy, who reaches out slowly to grab the drapes, but she actually quickly pulls only one side back -

- to reveal Gerard - and there's no zoom in on Gerard, nor does he have any sort of evil look on his face because he actually -

- looks shocked and surprised.

  And as far as "yesterday's quote" goes, it was on June 10th this time around, and when it comes to "today's quote," it was on June 11th.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Picking up where we left off revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 197:

... after Claire tells Tracy that Alex told her to shoot anyone who tries to come in, Tracy is scripted to ask today's quote -

Page 94/Scene 197 - Tracy: 'What did you hear?'

- but both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning-

- have what Tracy actually says, which is adding an unscripted "Wait a minute. Claire," before she delivers the scripted line.

More to come...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 198 is scripted:

Scene 198 plays differently in the film from they way it's scripted, so first we're going to deal with it completely as scripted:

198    CLAIRE - TRACY                                     198        As they scream with shock, Claire suddenly raises the        pistol, fires point blank into Gerard's face.        GERARD - CLOSE-UP        Screaming with pain, he grabs his face and falls from        sight.                              CLAIRE                  Oh, God, I've killed him. 198    CONTD                                       CONTD  198                              TRACY                  We've...we've got to make sure.        They look at each other, both knowing that they don't        want to leave the comparative safety of the cottage.                              CLAIRE                  We can't...we can't.                              TRACY                  If he's just wounded...                              CLAIRE                       (pulling herself                        together)                  I know...all right...let's go.

End of scene. But as we'll see when we deal with today's quote/capture in the slideshow, and as is already apparent given today's slideshow, some of the lines were actually used in upcoming Scene 199. And as we'll also see, other's were dropped entirely...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 198 actually plays in the film:

When it comes to the dialogue as scripted for Scene 198, Claire's "Oh, God, I've killed him", "We can't...we can't", and "I know...all right...let's go" were all dropped and were not moved to upcoming Scene 199, mostly because, as we'll see, two out three of the lines wouldn't have made sense there. On the other hand, Tracy's "We've...we've got to make sure" and "If he's just wounded..." were moved to Scene 199, and we'll get into how they play there when we get into Scene 199.

But first up we're going to deal with how Scene 198 actually concludes, and much of it is basically similar to how it was scripted to start:

While the camera doesn't switch to a shot of Claire and Tracy because it remains on Gerard in the same way as reply #504's last capture, showing Gerard's look of shock and surprise, we do hear Claire scream at the sight of Gerard, we do see Claire's hand reach up with the pistol and shoot -

- but we also see an unscripted shot of Claire quickly begin to move away from the window and Tracy in shock -

- and while we do see Gerard grab his bloody face -

- we don't hear him scream, and we don't see him fall because the drapes close as soon as Claire lets go of them - and the scene actually closes with an unscripted shot of Tracy comforting Claire -

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting subtitles/closed captioning for Scenes 197 & 198:

And wrapping up Scene 197 and moving on to how Scene 198 plays in the film (more on that in a later post), after Claire delivers today's quote -

Page 94/Scene 197 - Claire: 'I know someone's out there.'

- she and Tracy go to the window where they pull back the curtain, see Gerard, and as things move to Scene 198, Claire screams and shoots the gun - and the screaming is acknowledged in the subtitles as -

- but the closed captioning acknowledges both the initial scream -

- and how the screams continue as Claire turns to Tracy for comfort -

End of Scene 198 in the film - but...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

...

While I was watching a DS ep today as preparation for future installments in the "MUST" slideshow, I came across said Amos Ross ...

Today while watching a different DS ep (Ep #963) as more preparation for future installments in the "MUST" slideshow, I came across the actual tombstone, so I thought I'd share it:

You gotta love it whenever a tombstone is illuminated by lightening! 

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the very start od how Scene 199 is scripted versus how the start of the scene actually plays:

Moving on to how the portion of Scene 199 is scripted before we reach today's quote:

199    EXT - GROUNDS OUTSIDE COTTAGE - NIGHT              199

Yup, that's all we can get into because the beginning of the scene is so different from the way it's scripted to begin.

So, when it comes to the differences in the dialogue, the description and the directions, in the film Scene 199 actually begins with what we saw in yesterday's installment of the slideshow, with Claire and Tracy exiting the cottage and Tracy saying -

"If he's just wounded..."

- which we've already pointed out came from Scene 198 - and then in more dialogue taken from Scene 198, as Claire and Tracy make their way across the bridge from the cottage to the grounds, Tracy then actually says -

"We've gotta be sure."

- and then they make their way to the side of the cottage where Gerard should be -

   And when it comes to "yesterday's installment," it was actually June 12th this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

This post is worth revisiting at this point because -

Has anyone ever wondered if somehow Nancy Barrett's part in NoDS was cursed? I mean, first DC decides not to even shoot what might have been Claire's more interesting material: the shopping excursion with Tracy. Then when it comes to his director's cut DC edits out the Gallery scene where the two portraits of Angelique are discussed, the aftermath of Angelique's attack on Alex, the aftermath of Gerard's (unseen) attack on Tracy and Claire, and Quentin, Tracy, Alex and Claire returning to Collinwood after Gerard's death. Then when it comes to the MGM forced edits DC eliminates Claire helping to rescue Tracy from Angelique, and the entire seance. But then as if all that wasn't bad enough, when CBS shows NoDS, they edit out Claire greeting Quentin at the cemetery, the entire Dining Room sequence, Tracy calling the Jenkins, the Jenkins spotting Quentin outside the pool house and waiting for him to move away before running to go inside, and the most recently covered with Claire desperately hugging Tracy. By the time things get to the CBS version, Claire's part is practically a cameo in which all she's good for is making ham and tuna sandwiches for lunch and making coffee and sandwiches for a late night snack...

- we can say that at least the one thing Claire is proactive about, as opposed to how she's mostly reactive, is how she approaches the cottage window with the intent of shooting anyone who might be there and she does indeed shoot Gerard. And thankfully, especially given how I joked that on CBS Claire was pretty much reduced to making coffee and sandwiches, it's almost amazing that shooting sequence survived CBS' massive edits to make it to air.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 199:

...

And when it comes to the subtitles and closed captioning for Scene 199, believe it or not, once again the subtitles get everything right - however, when it comes to this instance the closed captioning, once again rather than what's actually said in the film, the closed captioning feels the need to correct the grammar -

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Finishing revisiting how Scene 199 is scripted:

Wrapping up Scene 199, starting with how it was scripted to begin:

They are at the spot where Gerard should have been if        Claire killed him.  He is not there.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 95/Scene 199 - Tracy: 'But I know we hit him.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

They look around, knowing he has to be nearby.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 95/Scene 199 - Claire: 'Quick. We've got to get back inside.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

They quickly move to the front of the house.        EXT - FRONT OF COTTAGE - NIGHT        as the two girls run into the SHOT and come toward the        front door.  It is open and the security of the well-        lit interior awaits them.

And when it comes to any differences in the dialogue, Claire actually says "Quick. We'd better get back inside."

And when it comes to any differences in the directions and descriptions, Tracy actually looks around before -

- she delivers her line - and they basically stand in place after that - though as we can see in today's capture, Tracy does give a look behind her -

 - as she begins to move with Claire to get back to the house - however, when they reach the house, the door is not open -

- as Tracy has to reach for it.

   And as far as "yesterday's quote" goes, it was on June 13th this time around, and when it comes to "today's quote," it was on June 14th.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting more of the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 199:

Picking up Scene 199 with the first line that was actually scripted for it, after Claire and Tracy reach the spot where Gerard should have been if Claire killed him but he's not there, Tracy says, "But I know we hit him." - however, what the closed captioning has is -

- with "And" instead of "But."

And that's the last bit of Scene 199 that the closed captioning gets wrong.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 200 is scripted:

...

200    INT - COTTAGE - NIGHT                              200        as the two girls ENTER, Claire SLAMS and BOLTS the        door.  Suddenly, the CAMERA is BLOCKED OUT by someone        stepping between the girls and the LENS.        GERARD - EXTREME CLOSE-UP        Blood running down his face, he leers evilly at them.        They SCREAM as we                                                CUT TO:

End of scene as scripted - though it doesn't quite play out entirely that way.

There is no scripted dialogue, but dialogue is featured in the film. After Claire is heard bolting the door and they begin to come into the cottage, Tracy asks -

"What do you think we should do?"

- to which Claire replies -

"I don't know. I know we hit him."

And when it comes to the differences in the descriptions and directions, I love how the first shot of the inside of the cottage makes it appear as if the clothes hanging on the coat rack are actually a person -

- when I saw NoDS at an indoor theater (I first saw it at an outdoor) some people in the audience visibly jumped at the shot, which is what I'm sure DC hoped -  and unlike how the script says that the camera would be blocked out by someone stepping between the girls and the camera's lens, Gerard is actually first glimpsed as Claire walks by him -

-without seeing him at first - and once Claire has completely passed by is when we hear Tracy and Claire scream and the camera moves in on -

- Gerard's bloody face - and it's worth noting that in the 97 and 129 minute versions on the film, the screams and the shot of Gerard last longer...

...

 

[Uncle Roger]

I have to wonder exactly where Claire shot Gerard. There's a great deal of blood running down his face, yet he seems pretty active in this and the sequences that follow. I realize that the psycho who keeps coming back for more is part and parcel of the genre but it's hardly realistic. Though perhaps expecting anything remotely approaching realism is my mistake. 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I've always presumed that the bullet simply grazed Gerard's forehead. That idea is bolstered by two things: as we can see in one of the screen captures in Reply #1894, after the gun goes off, Gerard grabs his forehead, and in subsequent shots of Gerard there doesn't appear to be any sort of penetrating wound, only a lot of blood. And sure, we know DC has a huge penchant for lots of blood - but even if the bullet just grazed Gerard's forehead there could still be a lot of blood because even minor cuts on the forehead often bleed heavily because the face has many blood vessels close to the surface of the skin. For a change DC probably did something right rather than overdoing it.