Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for the beginning of Scene 200:

... After Tracy comes in the entryway and the sound of Claire bolting the door is heard, and it's interesting that neither the subtitles nor the closed captioning acknowledges that sound, and they begin to come into the cottage, the closed captioning shows that Tracy asks -

- and the subtitles also show that as well as Claire's response -

- which the closed captioning also then shows -

- and an interesting thing about that screen capture is that before I was picking something out to use for this post, I'm not sure I ever noticed that Gerard's shadow appears on the wall behind Claire before Gerard himself does - but then noticing such things is what happens when you go through a scene frame by frame...

More to come...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for the second half of Scene 200:

Picking up where we left off with Scene 200's unscripted dialogue, the subtitles then have Claire asking -

- but the closed captioning doesn't acknowledge that at all, and the funny thing is that whoever did the closed captioning isn't the only one to miss that line because I'm pretty sure I've missed it until I saw it come up in the subtitles - and after they see Gerard, they scream, which comes up in the closed captioning as -

- but the subtitles only acknowledge Claire's scream -

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting a vedeo I made adding the cut sound from Claire and Tracy's screams at seeing the bloodied Gerard:

And speaking of those screams, here's how Scene 200 currently plays in the film -

- but in the 97 minute version (and the 129 minute version) as one can hear in the video below, Tracy's and Claire's screams last approximately 2 seconds longer and the camera stays on the bloodied Gerard (sadly, I don't have that footage) as he lunges toward them -

- (yes, I've changed my mind because contrary to what I wrote back in 2016 I now believe he does indeed lunge toward them because when one examines Gerard frame by frame one can see that at the end of what's currently in the film he does begin to move toward them...)

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting two stills associated with Scene 200:

...

First up, this one -

(Click here for a 700X548 version)
Famous Monsters of Filmland caption: "James Storm as Gerard is caught red-faced. The red is blood."

- a cropped and horizontally flipped version of which was shared as part of the Famous Monsters of Filmland NoDS article.

And this one -

(Click here for a 700X453 version)

- a cropped and horizontally flipped version of which was shared as the cover for Famous Monsters of Filmland issue:

...

...

And of course you'll recall that the first still in #42 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Oops - I forgot that I also wanted to mention that B&W still appears on one of the Mexican lobby cards -

- and it seems to have in part inspired the Spanish Argentine NoDS poster -

- and what's interesting about that poster is that its copy correctly says Angelique was hanged:

In Spanish Ahorcada means "hanged person." In fact, the copy is quite similar to the US poster. Roughly translated (by Google - I took French in school) it says "HANGED AS A WITCH 200 YEARS AGO... THE RETURN FROM THE TOMB IS THE BEGINNING OF LUST." But rather than "Night of Dark Shadows," the film had the title "THE SINISTER CURSE" in many Spanish speaking countries...

...

And the reason why I crossed out "Spanish" above is that we learned that posted was not the Spanish poster - it was used in countries like Argentina, Columbia and Venezuela.

And oddly enough I've never included that it's used around most of the world on the cover of the DVD/Blu-ray releases, including the Spanish release -

(Click here for a 424X620 version)

- which features the actual title NoDS had in Spain - as well as their menu -

(Click here for a 960X540 version)


(Click here for a 960X540 version)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post worth revisiting:

Before we leave the previous sequence, I want to share a bit of trivia about how the shooting of Gerard was done. According to Director of Photography, Richard Shore, the production had to go to unusual means to accomplish it. Claire's gun was loaded with blanks (obviously - James Storm might have had just a slight problem with real bullets ) but they had to make it look like the bullet went through the window when Claire shot Gerard. So, believe it or not, just off-camera they had a crew member armed with a sling-shot and a b.b., they then placed a sheet of plexiglass in front of the window to protect Nancy Barrett from both the b.b. and the shattering glass, and then when the time came to shoot the gun, Nancy fired it, the crew member fired the b.b., thus shattering the glass, and finally James Storm took a rag soaked in stage blood and slapped it to his face. Voila!

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 201 is scripted:

Moving on to Scene 201, as I indicated with this graphic in the slideshow -

- the scene as it plays in the film is not at all as it's scripted -

... the scripted version:

201    EXT - RAVINE - NIGHT                               201        as Quentin runs along the road toward CAMERA.  He        suddenly reacts at the sight of broken trees and ripped-        up turf.        RAVINE - QUENTIN'S P.O.V.        There, in the ravine, Alex' car, almost demolished,        lies on its side as Quentin ENTERS THE SHOT, climbing        down the ravine toward it.        EXT - CAR - NIGHT        as Quentin approaches the car, Alex can be seen in        fairly good shape, but trapped in the car.                              ALEX                  Quentin!        as Quentin grasps the door                                               CUT TO:

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 291 actually plays out:

...

The scene starts off similarly to what's scripted, with Quentin running through the grounds (not along the road) -

- and coming toward camera - then when he spots something (though not broken trees and ripped-up turf), he runs across the road in its direction and calls out -

"Alex!"

- and the camera pulls back to show Alex sitting on the ground (not trapped inside his car on its side) and propped up against his car (which has crashed into a tree earlier - not fallen down a ravine) -

- and smoking a cigarette - and when Quentin reaches him, obviously he doesn't have to grasp the car door to get Alex out, Quentin simply kneels beside Alex, who tells him -

"That crazy son of a bitch - he almost killed me."

- to which Quentin asks -

"Gerard?"

- and Alex answers -

"Yeah, Gerard."

   And because everything about Scene 201 was so reworked, I used the unscripted "That crazy son of a bitch - he almost killed me." as June 15th's quote.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 201:

...

The scene does indeed begin with Quentin running along the road toward CAMERA - but what he suddenly reacts to is seeing Alex (though we don't see Alex quite yet) and in an unscripted moment Quentin calls out to him, as both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge - and as Quentin gets closer to him we see Alex sitting on the ground up against a tree and smoking a cigarette, probably something that would never get into the film today, though it's debatable if Alex' unscripted explanation of his circumstances still would - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge that explanation.

More to come...

...

 

(Ah, it's so much fun to post while lightening illuminates the room around you (as I mentioned in another post, there's currently a raging thunderstorm going on here). Though I suppose it wouldn't be as much fun if a lightening strike fried my Internet and PC.    So I guess I should shut down...)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting a still:

A still associated with Scene 201 -

(Click here for a 700X1126 version)

- which has been shared on page 198 of the 35 Anniversary DS Memories book.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the remainder of the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 201

Wrapping up the unscripted dialogue in Scene 201:

After Alex says he was almost killed, Quentin asks him if it was Gerard - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge that - and Alex confirms Quentin's assessment - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge that.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 202 is scripted (and Scenes 203 through 205 are not):

Moving on to yesterday's scene. And as the graphic I put up for the slideshow indicated, it's a scene that does not appear in the film as it currently stands - however, it's not on the list of unrecovered footage - so, it, or some variation thereof, may very well be in the 129 minute version:

202    INT - COTTAGE - NIGHT                              202        as Claire, lies sobbing on the floor.  Her face is        bruised, her hair disheveled.  The room shows signs        of a struggle.  Suddenly O.S., the SOUND of the        front door opens.  As Claire looks up in fear,        Quentin and Alex, a little worse for wear, ENTER.        Alex quickly crosses to her as Quentin looks for        Tracy.                              QUENTIN                  Where's Tracy?

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 96/Scene 202 - Claire: 'It's Gerard...he's got her. He tried to kill us...he tried to kill us...'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

203-                                                       203- 205    OMIT                                        OMIT    205

And as per usual, right now there's no way of knowing what might actually be different in the scene as it might appear in the 129 minute version of film...

And I do wonder what Scenes 203 through 205 might have been at one time. But I guess we'll never know...

   And so far as "yesterday's scene" and "yesterday's quote" go, they were June 16th this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting something regarding Scene 202:

... graphic for Scene 202 -

- was made by somewhat cropping a version of this still -

(Click here for a 880X700 version)

- which to my knowledge has never been officially published anywhere. I first came across it when I bought a copy from Ohlinger's in 1996...

...

And when it comes to Scene 202, Darren Gross wrote on his NoDS Restoration Web site:

A selection of scenes cut from the 129-minute version that have been recovered:

...

In the cottage, Quentin and Alex find a sobbing, terrified Claire who tells them that Gerard attacked them and abducted Tracy.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scenes 206 through 210 are scripted:

Moving through the next several scenes ...:

206    EXT - RIVER ROAD - NIGHT                           206        as the jeep APPROACHES CAMERA, it turns off its lights        and parks in the cover of some trees.        INT - JEEP - NIGHT        as Gerard looks over at a terrified Tracy, she cringes 206    CONTD                                       CONTD  206        from him against the door, her eyes luminous with        fear.  Then slowly moving toward her, he places his        hand on her leg and starts running it up her thigh.        Suddenly, she claws at him as he, growling like an        animal, pulls her to him.  Viciously he crushes his        face to hers.  During the ensuing struggle, he in-        advertently hits the horn. 207    EXT - COUNTRYSIDE - NIGHT - QUENTIN                207        In their search they have split up.  As Quentin, now        alone, reacts to the DISTANT HORN, he looks about,        then moves off in the direction of the SOUND. 208    INT - JEEP - NIGHT                                 208        as Tracy puts up a valiant struggle, Gerard suddenly        reaches for the door.  Opening it, he throws her out        of the car and onto the ground.  As she tries to        scramble to her feet, he jumps on top of her.  Then        clutching her face with both his hands, he brutally        forces his lips on hers. 209    EXT - COUNTRYSIDE - NIGHT                          209        as Quentin runs through the night TOWARD CAMERA, he        suddenly hears the SOUND OF TRACY'S SCREAMS O.S.  He        stops for an instant, looks around. 210    EXT - GROUND NEAR JEEP - NIGHT                     210        Tracy is clawing at Gerard's face, as she screams.                              TRACY                  Help!  Help!        Gerard, grabbing one of her hands, viciously slaps        her face.  Then he suddenly reacts to the DISTANT        SOUND OF QUENTIN'S VOICE.                              QUENTIN (O.S.)                  Where are you?        Before she can answer, he clamps his hand over her        mouth.

And as far as any difference in the dialogue goes, Tracy's "Help! Help!" is dropped because she simply screams - and rather than the scripted "Where are you?", Quentin actually calls out "Tracy! Tracy!"

And as far as any difference in the descriptions and directions goes, there's quite a bit different in the film. In scene 206, after Gerard pulls into the trees, shuts off the truck (again, not a jeep) and turns to her, Tracy tries to get out -

- of Gerard's truck but he pulls he back inside as she screams -

- prompting him to put his hand -

- over her mouth as he shushes her and growls, and then she -

- calms down (and at this point is when in the 97 and 129 minute versions of the film Gerard moves his hand down Tracy's thigh and toward her crotch) - and in Scene 207, we simply see Quentin come running down a path -

- after which he just stops -

- and looks around - and Scene 208 is nothing like scripted because it opens with Tracy and Gerard kissing (although, if I'm remembering correctly, in the longer versions we actually see Gerard remove his hand from her mouth, and as she quivers, he moves in to kiss her) -

- until Tracy can reach for and -

-  push the horn - and then in Scene 209, Quentin actually reacts to hearing the horn in the distance and then he moves off -

- in its direction - and then Scene 210 is nothing like scripted because it begins with Gerard stopping Tracy from -

pushing the horn - after which Gerard grabs a screaming Tracy and once again puts -

- his hands over her mouth - and as Quentin runs through the countryside -

- calling out to Tracy, that gets the attention -

- of Gerard - and after Tracy makes a low moaning sound -

- Gerard shushes her again.

And unfortunately, because much of Gerard's part ended up on the cutting room floor, it remains mostly unclear in the film that the reason Gerard sets his sights on Tracy is because Quentin replaces him in Angelique's, uh, affections from the very first night that Quentin arrives at Collinwood.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting stills associated with Scene 208:

...

First up, this one -

(Click here for a 1039X800 version)
16 Spec Magazine caption: "While fleeing from the horrors of the house, Tracy runs straight into
the evil arms of Gerard - who has murder on his mind! Does he succeed?
Does Angelique succeed in ruining Quentin's life? See Night of Dark
Shadows - and find out the truth!!"

- which first shared as part of an article in 16 Spec Magazine - it's also part of the Mexican Lobby Card series -

(Click here for a 700X527 version)

- and while it was still active on the Internet, Collinwood.net shared this extremely rare version -

...

You will also recall that the first still is #32 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio.