Hi MSC, and anyone else who's still reading this topic,

I did watch the episode in question last night (and then wound up watching most of the following episode as well--but if I decide to comment on the latter, I'll do it in the appropriate thread).  I think the highlight for me was the scene between Mrs Johnson and Harry.  (Ironically, a few evenings before, I had been test-driving the Collectors Series second set which had just arrived, and happened to view the scene where Carolyn first suggests to Liz that Mrs J would just love to work at Collinwood; I'd forgotten what a delicious scene it is when Liz arches her eyebrows, quirks her lips and says "Sarah JOHNSON?" as if she were the last person on earth she'd want to have underfoot at the Great House!)

I recently watched a Something Weird twofer (She-Man and The Sins of Rachel) and something about Craig Slocum's acting really evokes the atmosphere of sleaze and moral decay (maybe decay isn't the right word--think a stained sofa with sagging upholstery and tattered fabric) a lot of those late Sixties miniscule-budget productions radiate in spades.  But in this scene with the brilliant Clarice Blackburn, Slocum's shifty-eyed equivocation actually works really well.  I thought again there was a slashy subtext when Sarah was quizzing Harry about why Joe would be living at Collinwood since he has "his own place to live."

My roommate was watching when Joe was wandering the woods semi-barechested and speculated that he was probably out there looking for action...

cheers!  G.

Hey MSC, You've really intrigued me and I need to revisit this episode.  I love watching Clarice and Louis chew the scenery, and watching Joel thrash around with his shirt off appeals to my perverted sensual lechery (a hothouse bloom, delicately nurtured).

From what Craig Hamrick wrote in the original edition of Big Lou (I never was able to get hold of the revised edition), I'd say that Louis Edmonds was about as openly gay as it was possible to be in 1968.

I'd be hard put to identify one specific moment as "the gayest ever" scene on DS.  Some of Count Petofi and Aristede's scenes were really, really out there.  I don't think you're much of a Petofi fan.  I also think that Julia moaning and flailing for "Tom" was epically gay in the Tennessee Williams sense of Blanche du Bois standing in for all the gay men in the audience of A Streetcar Named Desire.  (Somebody once commented that what really caused the eventual Gay Liberation movement was Tallulah Bankhead's turn as Blanche in a production that I think happened in Florida.)  I also find the scenes where Barnabas is one-on-one with Chris agonizing over his "affliction" to be very slashy, although that may not be what you intend with the adjective "gay."

cheers, Gothique.

(edited by admin)

Hope somebody can help.  I saw some of  the Chiller network b'cast of hoDS at a friend's place down in Connecticut--I think she had it on Tivo or something seriously, but I don't think she is equipped to make a DVD-R for you from it, if she even still has it.  Be aware that they are running it with commercial interruptions, and I think there were some minor cuts.  It's hard to be sure because we were talking through a lot of it, and talking AT the screen part of the time (e. g. my friend hollering to Barn when he was being dumb with Julia--"buy a clue!").

best, Steve

My personal fantasy is that the photos of Joel Crothers from the Seventies continue with less and less clothing until he is wearing nothing but a thong.  Now, that's MY idea of a Dream Curse!

Of course, my REAL fantasy would end with a happy, smiling, uh ... *festive* Joel *cheeky grin* in his best outfit, i. e., his birthday suit...

I think it's past time for the bulging Lieut. Forbes crotch floatie to make its next spectral appearance!

G.

Thanks, Darren, for sharing the details about the Technicolor print you screened of hoDS.  It's too bad that DVD reviewers don't seem to pay as much attention to inaccurate color palettes as they do to screen ratios--but such is life.

The shot of Carolyn slumped on the floor discovered by Mrs J looks somehow specially filtered or graded on the videotape I have (which is derived from the laserdisc).  Whatever technique Ornitz used for that shot really packed a visual punch, I thought.  I appreciated your remarks comparing his work on hoDS with his previous work on Boys/Band. 

My congratulations to you on presiding over such a triumphant event!

best wishes,

Steve

What a wonderful evening.  Even if not a technicolor wonder, being able to see hoDS in a film print as opposed to a projected DVD or other formatted disc must have been a wonderful experience.

I never saw NoDS in the theatre (we were out of town the one week it played in my local cinema--I remember well the poster showing up and how excited I was), and I'll admit I actually contemplated coming to SF for these screenings.

I remember the scene David describes with Angelique and Charles at the pf. and Laura coming in.   That is marvelous that the soundtrack has been fully restored!  A wonderful coup for Darren!

My personal guess is that it will be three to five years before Depp Shadows is completed and released (more likely to be five years, I would guess, given the schedules of Depp and Burton), and it will be a shame if we have to wait that long for Warners to release the 1970s feature films on disc.  But you know how the suits are.

G.

For those who care--this was not a stage play, but an hour long drama transmitted in the "Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre" anthology series in October 1965.  The stars were Shelley Winters and Jack Hawkins. 

According to a recent notice on an IMDB board, episodes of the Chrysler Theatre are currently being broadcast on a new TV network, the "Retro TV Network."  Apparently there was an old syndication package from episodes of this show that was making the rounds back in the 1980s under a title something along the lines of Universal Star Theatre.  I suppose time will tell whether this episode eventually shows up.  I have contacted a number of vintage TV collectors and sales people over the years about this and nobody has ever had it.

G.