Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 211 is scripted

Picking up the action with the next scene in the sequence:

211    QUENTIN - GERARD'S P.O.V.                          211        As he runs TOWARD CAMERA, Quentin is a dark figure in        the distance.  He still does not see the car. 211    CONTD                                       CONTD  211

And that's when yesterday's first quote -

Page 98/Scene 211 - Quentin (calling): 'Tracy!...Tracy...where are you?'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

GERARD - TRACY        as Gerard still stifles the struggling Tracy, an evil        smile spreads over his face.  HOLD ON HIM as he        watches Quentin.  Suddenly, he lets Tracy go.  Before        she can utter a sound, he viciously slaps her face        and leaps into the car.

And that's when yesterday's second quote -

Page 98/Scene 211 - Tracy (screaming): 'Quentin!'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

Simultaneously with this, Gerard throws on the lights,        traping Quentin in their beam.  Then, to the SOUND        OF GRINDING GEARS, the car ROARS to life.  Quickly,        Quentin turns and runs as the car careens after him.        Just as it is almost on him, he dives into a ditch as        the car hurtles over him, plowing headlong into a        stand of trees.  As Quentin scrambles to his feet, he        sees Gerard running toward the river.        EXT - COUNTRYSIDE - TRACY        as she runs in the direction of the action.

And as far as any difference in the dialogue goes, Quentin actually calls out "Tracy! Where are you?" - and rather than the scripted "Quentin!", Tracy actually shouts "Quentin, look out!" (and more on that below).

And as far as any difference in the descriptions and directions goes, because Tracy and Gerard are still in the jeep and not on the ground, Quentin is watched by Gerard through the jeep's -

- windshield -  and Quentin actually comes to a stop and -

- desperately looks around - and the camera doesn't move to hold on Gerard as watches Quentin because it stays on a 2 shot -

- of both Tracy and Gerard - and unlike how the script indicates that suddenly Gerard lets Tracy go and before she can utter a sound, he viciously slaps her face and leaps into the car, what actually happens is that Gerard opens -

- the door of the jeep and shoves -

- a screaming Tracy out (which is better seen in this -

- rarely seen publicity shot) - and after that is when, as seen in yesterday's second capture, Quentin hears her -

- shout out the warning to him - and while we don't hear the sound of grinding gears as the jeep roars to life (even though DC has a note that Gerard would first hit the motor and then the lights), we do see the jeep's headlights, Gerard driving like -

- a maniac, Quentin's reaction to the jeep's lights coming at him (and yes, "trapping" is misspelled as "traping" in the script), Quentin running from the jeep and diving out of the way, the jeep plowing into a tree, a now terrified Gerard getting out of the jeep -

- and starting to run away, Quentin getting up and then running after Gerard, and Tracy running after them both.

   And so far as "yesterday's" quotes go, they were June 17th this time around.

And you will recall that the still shared above in #31 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting two stills associated with Scene 211:

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First up, the Lobby Card that I'd previously shared -

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(Click here for a 930X738 version)

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- and then here's an extremely rare alternate version of that still -

(Click here for a 700X476 version)

- which I actually prefer - but they didn't consult me when they chose which version to use for the Lobby Card. 

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting another rare still associated with Scene 211:

... another alternative to the Lobby Card -

(Click here for a 700X480 version)

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

Backtracking a bit to revisit how things play in the film as opposed to how they're scripted:

As far as Scenes 206 through 211 go, so much about them is different from how they were scripted. We going to go through them scene by scene. First up, Scene 206, in which things were scripted to take place before they actually do in the film:

So, 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 the truck but he pulls he back inside as she screams - and her screams are acknowledged in both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- and Tracy's screams prompt Gerard to put his hand over her mouth as he shushes her and growls, "Ssh. Ssh. Nah." - and the subtitles acknowledge the shushing -

- but not the growling - and the closed captioning has -

- three shushes and no growl - and once Tracy calms down, she makes a bit of a moaning sound, which only the closed captioning -

- acknowledges - (but if I'm remembering correctly from having seen the 97 minute version, then comes the point in the 97 and 129 minute versions of the film when Gerard moves his hand up Tracy's thigh and toward her crotch - and I made a video with extended audio -

...

- but footage has been cut from the 97 minute version (and the 129 minute version). I don't have the video, but thanks to the audio tape, I do have the audio, so first up -

- when things go to black what should be seen is that after Gerard violently shushes Tracy, she sits still. He whispers to her that if she doesn't yell he'll let her go (though all of that isn't discernible on the audio tape). He then reaches his hand down and "touches" her leg.

...

- to indicate what's missing) - and that's all there is when it comes to how Scene 206 plays in the film - other things that were scripted may or may not show up in a subsequent scene.

More to come...

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisit more of how things play in the film as opposed to how they're scripted:

Next up, Scenes 207 & 208, in which things that were scripted never actually take place:

So, in Scene 207, since the horn has yet to sound, all we actually see is Quentin run down a pathway, come to a stop, and look around.

And when it comes to Scene 208, what we see all depends on the version of the film that's seen, but in any case it's not really at all like what's scripted. What happens in the 94 minute version of the film is the scene consists of Gerard kissing Tracy until she can reach for and push the horn- and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge the horn sounds - (but once again if I'm remembering correctly from having seen the 97 minute version, in that and the 129 minute version, along with more thigh/crotch "action," we actually see Gerard remove his hand from Tracy's mouth, and as she quivers he moves in to kiss her - however, Tracy uses the kiss as a distraction to stroke his cheek simply as a ploy to move her hand so as to be able to reach the truck's horn and push it - and I made a video with extended audio -

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...

- unfortunately, though, none of what I describe as missing is really discernible because all we really hear in the audio is the sounds of the crickets and some breathing - but it does give a good idea of how long the cut footage lasts.) - and the video also shows Scene 209 and the very start of Scene 210, but those won't be dealt with until next time...

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

In the past when the slideshow has dealt with Scene 211 I've forgotten to point out that the still I shared in Reply #1920 is featured in the Italian Lobby Cards. And as I also said back in May when I shared a different card from that set, somehow I feel that still isn't as rare as it actually is because I've seen it in several places on the Internet and it's featured in the Italian Lobby Cards, but so far as I can recall, it's never been officially published anywhere...

The Italian Lobby Card -

- (And it's quite a surprise that whoever colorized the Lobby Card's version of the still got the clothes correct - though that only extends to that part of the Lobby Card because Gerard's truck is the wrong color and the colorized version of the other still is almost completely incorrect!    And apparently, as is often the case with the set, they felt the need to flip both stills.)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

More to revisit to show how things play in the film as opposed to how they're scripted:

And next up, Scenes 209 & 210, where once again things were scripted to take place that actually don't:

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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.

...

So, in Scene 209, Quentin isn't seen running because he's still standing - and what he actually hears is the sound of the truck's horn - and that sound is acknowledged by both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- before Quentin moves off in the sound's direction - and when it comes to Scene 210, Tracy, who is still in the truck with Gerard and not clawing at his face, doesn't call out for help but simply screams - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge that...

More of Scene 210 to come...

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

Move to revisit:

Wrapping up Scene 210 as it actually plays in the film:

After Tracy screams Gerard does not grab one of her hands and then slap her face, but what he does do is once again cover her mouth to stifle her screams - and it isn't until after Quentin, rather than calling out off screen to ask where she is, calls out on screen to Tracy by name, which is acknowledged by both the subtitles -

-and the closed captioning -

- that Gerard does indeed suddenly react to Quentin's calls, but he doesn't clamps his hand over Tracy's mouth because he's already done so - and two things the closed captioning acknowledge that the subtitles do not are, first, that Tracy makes a moaning sound -

- and that once again Gerard shushes her -

More to come...

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[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting Scene 211, with some things being a bit different in the film:

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...

211    QUENTIN - GERARD'S P.O.V.                          211        As he runs TOWARD CAMERA, Quentin is a dark figure in        the distance.  He still does not see the car. 211    CONTD                                       CONTD  211

And that's when yesterday's first quote -

Page 98/Scene 211 - Quentin (calling): 'Tracy!...Tracy...where are you?'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

GERARD - TRACY        as Gerard still stifles the struggling Tracy, an evil        smile spreads over his face.  HOLD ON HIM as he        watches Quentin.  Suddenly, he lets Tracy go.  Before        she can utter a sound, he viciously slaps her face        and leaps into the car.

And that's when yesterday's second quote -

Page 98/Scene 211 - Tracy (screaming): 'Quentin!'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

Simultaneously with this, Gerard throws on the lights,        traping Quentin in their beam.  Then, to the SOUND        OF GRINDING GEARS, the car ROARS to life.  Quickly,        Quentin turns and runs as the car careens after him.        Just as it is almost on him, he dives into a ditch as        the car hurtles over him, plowing headlong into a        stand of trees.  As Quentin scrambles to his feet, he        sees Gerard running toward the river.        EXT - COUNTRYSIDE - TRACY        as she runs in the direction of the action.

...

So, because Gerard and Tracy are still in the truck, after Garard has reacted to Quentin's calls and looked in the direction of them, at first we see through the truck's windshield as Quentin runs across the lawn, and then we see Quentin stop, call out the scripted line minus the "Tracy!" - and that is reflected perfectly in both the subtitles and the closed captioning - and then we see Quentin take several more steps and look around - meanwhile back in the truck the camera doesn't move to hold on Gerard as he watches Quentin because it stays on a 2 shot of both him and Tracy as Gerard still holds her with his hand over her mouth - and unlike how the script indicates that suddenly Gerard lets Tracy go and before she can utter a sound, he viciously slaps her face and leaps into the car, what actually happens is that Gerard opens the door of the truck and shoves a screaming Tracy out - and while the closed captioning acknowledges her screams -

- the subtitles do not - and we then see Quentin as off screen Tracy calls out to warn him - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge that - and while we don't hear the sound of grinding gears as the truck roars to life (even though DC's script has a note that Gerard would first hit the motor and then the lights), we do see the truck's headlights, Gerard driving like a maniac, Quentin's reaction to the truck's lights coming at him (and yes, "trapping" is misspelled as "traping" in the script), Quentin running from the truck and diving out of the way, the truck plowing into a tree, a now terrified Gerard getting out of the truck and starting to run away, Quentin getting up and then running after Gerard, and Tracy running after them both.

End of this particular sequence.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scenes 212 though

And once again picking up the action with the next scene in the sequence:

212    EXT - RAILROAD FOOTBRIDGE - NIGHT                  212        as Gerard runs TOWARD CAMERA, Quentin is in hot        pursuit.  When he reaches the middle of the bridge,        Gerard stops and turns.  Here is where he will make        his stand.  Quentin, now at the foot of the bridge,        starts slowly toward him.        GERARD - QUENTIN'S P.O.V. - HAND HELD        TRUCK IN ON Gerard as suddenly we see he holds a        vicious-looking knife.        WIDE ANGLE        With Gerard in the F.G., Quentin moves carefully        toward him.  Tracy appears in the B.G. near the foot        of the bridge. 213    SERIES OF SHOTS - HAND-HELD                        213        The two are only feet apart when Gerard lashes out. 213    CONTD                                       CONTD  213        Quentin grabs his knife arm and the two begin their        life or death struggle.        THEIR FEET - CLOSE-UP        Both sets of legs are grappling for a firm grip.        Quentin steps backward.  His foot collapses a rotten        board.  As his leg goes through, WIDEN to see Gerard        gain the advantage.  As he presses the knife downward        at Quentin's chest, he is suddenly distracted by the        SOUND OF TRACY'S VOICE.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 99/Scene 213 - Tracy (O.S.) (screaming): 'Gerard!'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

As Gerard looks up, reacting, he starts to spring        TOWARD CAMERA.  It is too late.        TRACY - CLOSE-UP        as she swings a short piece of heavy wood directly        into the LENS.        GERARD - CLOSE-UP        as he takes the blow full in the face, the force of        it drives him backward.  He hits the rickety bridge        railing, falling through it toward the tracks below. 214    LOW ANGLE - UP AT THE BRIDGE                       214        From the tracks, Gerard's body can be seen hurtling        TOWARD CAMERA.  Suddenly, it stops short, as if        caught in mid-air by an invisible net.  There is a        huge flash of light and sparks fly everywhere --        silhouetting the spread-eagle body of Gerard as he        burns to ashes on the high tension wires. 215    EXT - FOOTBRIDGE - NIGHT                           215        as Quentin holds Tracy, Alex and Claire ENTER THE        SHOT and cross to them.  As Alex looks over the side        at the smoldering remains of Gerard.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 99/Scene 215 - Alex: 'Well, it looks like the old BMT will be running late tonight.'

- comes up.

End of sequence.

And as far as any difference in the dialogue goes, Alex' remark about the train running late is dropped in current version of the film. I *think*it does appear in the 97 minute version. So, chances are it's also in the 129 minute version. However, DC's script has a note that Alex would actually say "Well, it looks like the old B and M will be running late tonight." ("B and M" stands for Boston and Maine.)

And as far as any difference in the descriptions and directions goes, unlike how Scene 212 is scripted to begin, Gerard only reaches the footbridge a very short time before Quentin and Tracy do, and as Gerard mounts the bridge Tracy actually tries to prevent -

- Quentin from pursuing Gerard onto the bridge, but Quentin soon pulls away from her -  and the camera doesn't truck in on Gerard to show the knife because adter Geard pulls it out of the front waistband of his jeans (a dangerous place to hide a knife, if you ask me ), there's a close-up -

- of the knife - and obviously after that isn't when Tracy appears in the background near the foot of the bridge because she's already arrived - and in Scene 213 there are no close-ups of Gerard's and Quentin's feet as they struggle - and after Gerard gains the advantage because Quentin has broken a rotten board in the floor, Gerard doesn't actually press the knife downward at Quentin's chest because he presses it at -

- Quentin's face, and he actually cuts Quentin deep enough -

- for Quentin to bleed (shades of Charles' scar - and it's quite interesting how that wasn't scripted) - and it's after that the Gerard raises the knife to finish Quentin off -

- but of course Tracy thwarts that by wacking him with the heavy board - and while in Scene 214 we do see Gerard hurtling toward camera, we don't see Gerard suddenly stop short because his body doesn't get caught in any high tensions wires so, therefore, there is no huge flash of light and sparks and no silhouetting of Gerard's spread-eagle body as he burns to ashes - what we do see is Gerard simply plummet

- from the bridge - after which Quentin stands up and he and Tracy -

- stare down at Gerard's body on -

- the train tracks below - and in Scene 215 I don't know if what Quentin does next strictly qualifies as holding -

- Tracy - and after Claire and Alex arrive on the bridge and look down, it's more like Claire comforts Tracy as the two -

- women walk away, leaving Alex -

- with Quentin - and that's how the sequence currently ends - though if I remember correctly, in the 97 minute version, Alex does deliver his remark about the train and we see Gerard's body again, as in this shot from one of the NoDS trailers:

   And as far as "yesterday's quote" goes, it was June 18th this time around, and when it comes to "today's quote," it was June 19th.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for Scenes 212 through 215:

And now when it comes to Scenes 212 through 215, many things are scripted differently from the way they appear in the film:

So, unlike how Scene 212 is scripted to begin, Gerard only reaches the footbridge a very short time before Quentin and Tracy do, and as Gerard mounts the bridge Tracy actually tries to prevent Quentin from pursuing Gerard onto the bridge, but Quentin soon pulls away from her -  and the camera doesn't truck in on Gerard to show the knife because after Geard pulls it out of the front waistband of his jeans (a dangerous place to hide a knife, if you ask me ), there's a close-up of the knife - and obviously after that isn't when Tracy appears in the background near the foot of the bridge because she's already arrived - and in Scene 213 there are no close-ups of Gerard's and Quentin's feet as they struggle - and after Gerard gains the advantage because Quentin has broken a rotten board in the floor, Gerard doesn't actually press the knife downward at Quentin's chest because he presses it at Quentin's face, and he actually cuts Quentin deep enough for Quentin to bleed (shades of Charles' scar - and it's quite interesting how that wasn't scripted) - and while Quentin's reaction to that cut isn't acknowledged in the subtitles, it is in the closed captioning -

 - and it's after that the Gerard raises the knife to finish Quentin off but of course Tracy thwarts that by whacking him with the heavy board - and Tracy's scripted line of calling out Gerard's name before she does so is acknowledged in both the subtitles and the closed captioning  - and while in Scene 214 we do see Gerard hurtling toward camera - and both the subtitles -

- and the closed captioning -

- acknowledge Gerard's screams - but we don't see Gerard suddenly stop short because his body doesn't get caught in any high tensions wires so, therefore, there is no huge flash of light and sparks and no silhouetting of Gerard's spread-eagle body as he burns to ashes, however, apparently some version of that was shot, but the dummy looked too fake, so it was reshot the way it appears in the film, which is that we see Gerard simply plummet from the bridge - and something that quite interesting because, as I've said the subtitles seem to pick and choose what sounds to actually acknowledge, the subtitles do acknowledge the sound of Gerard hitting the ground -

- though the closed captioning does not - after which Quentin stands up and he and Tracy stare down at Gerard's body on the train tracks below - and in Scene 215 I don't know if what Quentin does next strictly qualifies as holding Tracy because he simply and briefly touches her - and after Claire and Alex arrive on the bridge and look down, it's more like Claire comforts Tracy because she reaches out and touches Tracy's arm - and while the subtitles don't indicate that Claire barely audibly says Tracy's name in a bit of unscripted dialogue, the closed captioning does -

- and after the two women walk away, Alex is left with Quentin - and that's how the sequence currently ends - though if I remember correctly, in the 97 minute version, Alex does deliver his remark about the train - however, DC's script has a note that Alex would actually say, "Well, it looks like the old B and M will be running late tonight," and "B and M" stands for Boston and Maine - and we see Gerard's body again, as in this shot from one of the NoDS trailers

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

An informative post worth revisiting:

I don't know why I decided to look up BMT trains after all these years but I did. BMT stands for Brooklyn Manhattan Transit. It runs as far north as upper Manhattan. Not sure if it ever went as far as Tarrytown but it certainly wasn't as far north as Maine.

You know what's funny? Every time I attended a Tarrytown Fest, I always took the train into NYC on at least one day or night. And sometimes if there were multiple days when there was a series of Fest events that I wasn't really interested in, I took the train into NYC on more than one day or night. But for the life of me, I don't remember what the train line was called. What I do remember, though, and what I'm unlikely to forget is that we had to use gold coins to pay. The train depots actually had machines to convert paper money into coins. And one year when I didn't use all my coins, after I got home I went to my bank to change them back into paper money. The teller thought it was very strange until I explained why I had the coins.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Stills from the sequence that are worth revisiting:

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...

... I want to share two rare publicity stills:

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Oddly enough, I have no memory of where the top one comes from. I can tell from the scan that it came from a magazine article, but for the life of me I couldn't locate which article. Apparently I still have some NoDS stuff around here that I've yet to come across. But given how frequently I seem to come across stuff I've forgotten about, that's probably no surprise to anyone, including me. But what I can say is I know I first came across it as part of the Herald featured in the NoDS Pressbook:

As for the bottom one, I own the still. However that scan isn't a scan of my still because I didn't own a copy in 2016. Apparently it was scanned from some other source, and again, I have no memory of what that source is. Though quite possibly it's located wherever the source for the top scan is. But be that as it may, here's a scan of my copy of the still:

(Click here for a 700X537 version)

You may recall that a colorized portion of that still is featured on one of the Italian Lobby Cards that I shared back in Reply #493...

...

And I still have no idea what the source was for those scans from 2016...

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And yet still I have no idea what the source was for those scans from 2016...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

And another still to revisit:

And finally there's this still from this sequence -

(Click here for a 700X548 version)
Famous Monsters of Filmland saption: "Tracy gets into a fight between Quentin & Gerard
and knocks Gerard off the railing of the bridge."

- a cropped version of which featured in the Famous Monsters of Filmland NoDS article  - it's also part of the Mexican Lobby Card series -

(Click here for a 700X534 version)

And this is also a case where you may recall that a colorized portion of that still, flipped horizontally, is featured on one of the Italian Lobby Cards that I shared back in Reply #493...

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And here is a revisit of that Lobby Card becauseearlier we had shared it to feature the other still that comprises it:

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The Italian Lobby Card -

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And with the exception of Gerard, everybody else's clothes are colorized incorrectly.    But then it's a rarity when they got the colors right for anything...

And you'll recall that still is #33 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

More material definitely worth revisiting regarding Scenes 206 through 215:

... I still have some material I want to share related to the shooting of Scenes 206 - 215.

In this post I'm sharing three behind the scenes photos Darren Gross had shared on his now defunct NoDS Restoration Web site (along with his original captions):

David Selby chatting with
the crew between setups on the set
of NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS.
(Photo courtesy Yvonne David)

I could be wrong, but it looks to me like James Storm is sitting next to Selby.

James Storm puckers up for a kiss after being doused with stage-blood.
(Photo courtesy Yvonne David)


Make-up artist Reginald Tackley liberally applies stage-blood to James
Storm in order to create the effect of a glancing bullet wound. Please note
Alex Jenkins' (John Karlen) as yet undamaged car behind them which
Gerard will later drive off the road. (Photo courtesy Yvonne David.)

It's interesting that they had yet to shoot Scenes 193 - 196 when the second and third photos were taken because, as we know, Gerard doesn't get shot by Claire until after he's forced Alex off the road. But then in films so few scenes are shot in order...

...

Apparently my theory -

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. ...

- holds true because I'd completely forgotten about this part of Darren's caption for the third photo above: "Make-up artist Reginald Tackley liberally applies stage-blood to James Storm in order to create the effect of a glancing bullet wound."