Happy 50th Anniversary, Night of Dark Shadows

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting another still related to Scene 222:

A rare still associated with Scene 222:

(Click here for a 700X612 version)

It's interesting to me that there are several stills of Quentin and Tracy from this sequence down in the basement, and there's this one of Tracy solo, but I've never come across any of Quentin solo. Though, of course, that's not to say they don't exist...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Continuing to revisit the sequence with how Scene 223 is scripted:

...

223    INT - BASEMENT CORRIDOR - NIGHT                    223        As Quentin reacts to the SCREAM, he runs to the door.

And that's when today's quote -

Page 103/Scene 223 - Quentin: 'Tracy!'

comes up, followed in the script by:

TRACY (O.S.) Quentin!

...

...

QUENTIN                  Yes, I'm here.  Are you O.K.?                              TRACY (O.S.)                  Yes!                              QUENTIN                  The damn thing's stuck.  Push                  on the inside --        As he starts to pull on the handle.

...

   And as far as "today's quote" goes, it was July 3rd this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 223 actually plays:

...

And as for the dialogue, in the film it's switched around. First we see Quentin and hear Tracy scream for him -

"Quentin!"

- (not simply scream) - and then, as in today's capture/quote, we see/hear Quentin call to her -

"Tracy!"

And as an aside, once again I never noticed something until I was getting captures for the slideshow. Can you spot it in this post? If not here's a capture from an upcoming moment from Scene 223 that should help:

Getting back ..., when Quentin reaches the door, he actually says -

"Trace? Are you all right?"

- and to that, as scripted, Tracy replies off screen -

"Yes."

- after which Quentin puts his candelabra down - and after we see Tracy -

- inside the room, things shift to Quentin frantically trying to pull the door open and he actually says -

"But the damn door's stuck. Push on the inside."

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

...

... and for some reason the dialogue at the beginning of Scene 223 is switched around - as both the closed captioning and the subtitles show, first we see Quentin and hear Tracy scream for him (not simply scream) -

- though the subtitles also jump ahead to Quentin's response, while the closed captioning has it separate -

- and when Quentin reaches the door, and what both the closed captioning and the subtitles acknowledge, is he actually says -

- though the subtitles also jump ahead to Tracy's off screen scripted reply, which the closed captioning acknowledges separately - after which Quentin puts his candelabra down - and after we see Tracy inside the room, things shift to Quentin frantically trying to pull the door open and he actually says, "But the damn door's stuck. Push on the inside." - and the subtitles acknowledge that in its entirety, but for some reason the closed captioning has the first part as -

- dropping the "But."

More of the sequence to come...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the answer to that question:

...

And as an aside, once again I never noticed something until I was getting captures for the slideshow. Can you spot it in this post? If not here's a capture from an upcoming moment from Scene 223 that should help:

...

The only thing that seems noteworthy to me is a continuity problem with candle flames.

That's pretty much it. As we can see in the following capture, when Quentin calls out -

"Tracy!"

in Scene 223, his breath blows out the candle nearest to him - but in the same scene when he shows up after having rushed to the door to the room where Tracy is trapped, all the candles on his candelabra are once again lit -

- so I guess we're supposed to believe that as Quentin was rushing to the door, he was also relighting the candle!! 

It's amazing how much one can miss when one is really into a scene and not paying attention to the little details...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 224 is scripted:

... dealing with Scene 224 as scripted ...

224    INT - SMALL ROOM - NIGHT                           224        It is almost in total darkness as Tracy pushes hard        against the door. 224    CONTD                                       CONTD  224                              QUENTIN (O.S.)                  Come on, Trace.  Harder --        HOLD on Tracy as suddenly ALL THE SOUND IN THE ROOM        BEGINS TO DIMINISH.  The SOUND OS QUENTIN'S STRUGGLING        AND AD LIB URGING at the door gets SOFTER AND SOFTER        as Tracy begins to react to the oppressive dead air.        TRUCK IN TO HER CLOSE-UP as she senses another pre-        sence in the room.  She turns to look TOWARD CAMERA        and, as in the cottage, the SOUND TRACK COMPLETELY        DROPS OUT.        ANGELIQUE - TRACY'S P.O.V.        On the other side of the room, materializing before        Tracy's eyes, is the mist-like ghostly figure of        Angelique.        TRACY - CLOSE-UP - SLOW MOTION        as she opens her mouth to scream, not a sound comes        out.

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Piking up with what different in the film, after Quentin says, "But the damn door's stuck. Push on the inside," at the end of Scene 223, Scene 224 starts off when -

- Tracy tells him an unscripted -

"I'm pushing."

- to which Quentin, who's actually on screen, tells her -

"Come on. Try harder --"

- but, again unscripted, she tells him -

"I can't."

- and then, unlike how the script says Quentin's struggling and ad lib urging at the door will get softer and softer as Tracy begins to react to oppressive dead air in the room, what actually happens in the film is that slowly a strange luminescence starts to appear in the room and Tracy begins to -

- react to it - and after she turn to look in the direction it's coming from, we actually see Tracy -

- scream in terror - and it isn't until after that that we see Angelique has -

- materialized in the room - and after Tracy slides along the wall -

- but there is no escape, Angelique moves closer and closer and closer -

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting the subtitles/closed captioning for Scene 224:

Continuing the sequence with Scene 224:

...

So, after the end of Scene 223 when Quentin tells Tracy to push on the inside, Scene 224 begins as scripted with Tracy pushing, however, as both the subtitles and the closed captioning acknowledge, she replies to Quentin with an unscripted -

- to which Quentin, who's actually on screen, slightly reworks what's scripted as, "Come on. Try harder --" - and that's reflected in both the subtitles and the closed captioning - but then both the subtitles and the closed captioning acknowledge that she replies to him with an unscripted -

- and then, unlike how the script says Quentin's struggling and ad lib urging at the door will get softer and softer as Tracy begins to react to oppressive dead air in the room, what actually happens in the film is that slowly a strange luminescence starts to appear in the room and Tracy begins to react to it - and after she turns to look in the direction it's coming from, rather than see Angelique yet, what we actually see is Tracy scream in terror - however, only the subtitles acknowledge that no sound is heard in the room -

More of the sequence to come...

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Stills to revisit regarding Scene 224:

A still associated with Scene 224:

(Click here for a 560X700 version)
The Famous Monsters of Filmland top caption reads:
"SCREAM,
TRACY,
SCREAM!"
The bottom caption reads: "What she (Kate Jackson) sees is enough to drive
her crazy!
The Daytime TV caption reads: "Tracy screams as she sees the spirit of
Angelique approach her in kill attempt.

A cropped and horizontally flipped version appears as part of Famous Monsters of Filmlands' NoDS article, and a cropped to just a head shot version appears as part of Daytime TV's NoDS article, the article I've already shared several photos from (and there are two rare ones to still come...).

And an extremely rare version of Tracy screaming appears as part of -

- the Herald featured in the NoDS PressBook...

...

And you'll recall that the first still is #40 in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scene 225 is scripted, most of which is only in the 129 minutes version of the film:

... moving into the start of Scene 225:

225    INT - BASEMENT AT DOOR - NIGHT                     225        Here the SOUND IS NORMAL, so thatQuentin, who is        pulling at the door, reacts in horror to the SOUND        OF TRACY'S SCREAM.  Wildly, he pulls at the door,        SCREAMING.                              QUENTIN                  For God's sake, Tracy!  What                  is it, Tracy!  Answer me!        Suddenly Tracy's SCREAM stops abruptly as Alex and        Claire ENTER THE SHOT, running toward Quentin.                              CLAIRE                  Where's Tracy?                              QUENTIN                  Help me with this door!        As Alex grabs the handle with Quentin, they both start        pulling.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 104/Scene 225 - Quentin: 'She's in there! We've got to get her out!'

comes up.

And as for the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions, we'll deal with them in an upcoming post.

But before I end this post, ... in the Scene 225 portion of the script in this post, there is no space in "thatQuentin" like there should be.

  And so far as "yesterday's quote" goes, it was July 4th this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting some questions, namely:

Given that we don't hear her scream in the film, I've often wondered if Tracy's scream in this TV Spot for NoDS -

- is Kate Jackson's actual voice or if it's just some generic sound effects scream? When it comes to the other screams in the spot, it's hard to tell if Claire's scream is Nancy Barrett, the scream when Gerard gets shot is all about Claire in the film and we don't even hear Gerard scream, but the scream in the spot when Gerard falls from the bridge is not the same scream heard in the film. So, chances are it isn't Kate Jackson. But who knows?

...

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Another discrepancy between versions of the film that's worth revisiting:

Check out these two videos:

The Blu-ray/DVD version:

And the VHS/Laser version:

There is a difference between them but it is subtitle. So subtle that I didn't even notice it until this time around. See if you can spot it without me having to point it out... (Hint: if you haven't figured it out by the time you've watched the first half of both videos, you've missed it. But I've made the videos go longer than that for a related reason...)

...

(ADMIN: Edited to replace VHS video with Laser video)

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Revisiting how Scenes 226 and 227 are scripted:

...

226    INT - ROOM - NIGHT - SLOW MOTION                  226        Tracy lies on the floor, barely moving, completely        enveloped in the white mist.  THERE IS NO SOUND. 227    INT - BASEMENT AT DOOR - NIGHT - NORMAL SOUND     227        as Quentin and Alex, in a last desperate effort        finally yank the door open.  The light pours into        the room as they run in.  The white mist which        envelopes Tracy disappears.  She lies there, her        eyes vacant with shock.  They bend to her as Quentin        cradles her in his arms.

And that's when Friday's quote -

Page 105/Scene 227 - Claire: 'Oh, my God, it was the same thing!'

comes up, followed in the script by:

As Tracy begins to come out of it, she begins to sob.

And that's when yesterday's quote -

Page 105/Scene 227 - Tracy: 'It was so horrible...she was here!...she was here!'

comes up, followed in the script by:

Quentin looks around the room.

And as for the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions, there's no way of knowing if anything is different in the 129 minute version. The only part of the above excerpt from the script that currently appears in the film is Tracy on the floor after the white mist has disappeared and an obvious cut to Quentin kneeling down to revive Tracy and cradle her as she sobs. (But unlike as scripted, those two bits of Scene 227 appear after Scenes 237 and 238, which are currently cut to right after Quentin begs Tracy to answer him in Scene 225. But more on that once we've reached Scenes 237 and 238 in the script...)

...

And once again Grayson has notes in her script even though Carlotta doesn't even appear in Scenes 226 and 227, and once again they deal with Carlotta's reactions to what's happening to Tracy (though how she knows is anyone's guess - well, unless she has more of a psychic connection to Angelique than we're completely made aware). And the notes deal with how excited Carlotta is that Tracy is about to be gotten rid of, but then with the disappointment of Angelique being defeated.

  And as far as "Friday's quote" goes, it was Friday, July 5th this time around, and when it comes to "yesterday's quote," it was July 6th this time around.

 

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A post to revisit with regard to July 5th's graphic because -

...

- I'd used a crop of Claire from this rare still -

(Click here for a 1000X780 version)

- which so far as I'm aware has never been published anywhere...

(Note that David Selby is wearing his coat again - and Nancy Barrett is also wearing one...

...

And note that still is not the one from Scene 227 that's included in the NoDS Editor's Portfolio, it's an alternate still, more of which exist, as we'll be revisiting before too long...

It's also one of the stills that I first came across back in the '90s on one of my shopping trips to Jerry Ohlinger's in NYC.

 

[Uncle Roger]

That's where I got my copy as well. I used to visit Jerry's several times a year and purchased a ton of DS stuff, as well as an equal amount of photos of Deborah Harry and Nancy Sinatra. MB, did you ever see the post-it that one of the staff had put next to a photo of TLATKLS? It read: Will not sign this.