To the Mysterious Benefactor in all his mysterious May Day delight,

Many thanks for including that FAB shot of the Queen of Fabness Herself, Dr. Julia Hoffman, fervently clutching the phone at Collinwood, as gnostic and hieratic as an image in a Wallace Stevens alchemical chapbook.

Wish I had a nice, crisp, large jpg of this image for my very own.

I just love that scene where Julia goes to the Old House and lays down the law to vampy Barn.  And even more I love the scene between Julia and Dr. Lang in the hospital.  I can just see Julia thinking:  "time to get one of Angelique's voodoo dolls out and one of Eric Lang's scarves for a special treat!"

I swear, that scene where poor befuddled Addison Powell blurts out (obviously struggling not to burst out laughing), "He's a vampire, isn't he?" always cracks me up!  ONLY Grayson's dignity and focused saved that scene from degenerating into a Monty Python skit!

Gothick (hoping for a post from HENRY the Magnificent about the new shows!)

Hi Darren, Just a note to thank you again for alerting me to the restoration of Price's Over the Rainbow vocals on the Phibes Rises Again DVD.  I wonder whether the scenes that were cut from the VHS release due to music rights issues were restored as well?  I checked a couple of online DVD reviews but obviously none of the reviewers knew the films well enough to comment.

Good luck with your quest for the Japanese print of hoDS.  I still feel doubtful whether the footage of the Barnabas/Julia walk scene will be recovered there, but perhaps the hanging David scene will be.  I don't know that the Stokes/Willie scene was ever included in ANY print--ditto for the Barnabas/Julia one ...  Obviously, though, you've researched this thoroughly!

I just lent VHS copies (taken from the LaserDisc, in my untutored opinion the best available versions) to a friend for viewing.  He was quite complimentary about NoDS, believe it or not--in my opinion even in its current "trimmed" state it's head and shoulders above hoDS as a film and a theatrical artifact. There ARE characters, there ARE motives, which is more than one can say for hoDS.  About the latter, my friend made a witty comment you might appreciate (or see as the unkindest "cut" of all???):

I have some old trees I'd like to clear off my property, and wonder where the editors of HODS got the *AXE* they edited the movie with! I guess that and a blindfold were all they needed. Dear, I've haven't seen editing that bad since Paul Morrissey made it an art form in the Warhol films. There are times when the soundtrack just DIES.

I did warn him that as it stands, the movie is something of a train wreck... It does remain one of my guilty pleasures, nonetheless!

Steve

How odd that someone was calling that company about hoDS.  Was Dark Shadows ever shown Down Under?   Maybe somebody was looking for a print to show at some fantasy/horror fest?  Were you around when those people wanted to screen a print of it at their drive in theatre, and they were unable to get hold of one?  That was very sad.

This is totally OT, but I wonder whether you have ever run into anyone interested in restoring the 2 Vincent Price Dr Phibes films (AIP productions from the early 70s).  The second one was slashed to ribbons similarly to NoDS--I read at the time that Vincent Price was disgusted because he had to re-loop some of his scenes as the existing dialogue made no sense because of the cuts!  

The movies were slashed a SECOND time due to the fact that AIP failed to pay licensing fees (or whatever they're called) for certain pieces of music used in the soundtrack scores.  So far as I know, the ONLY prints in current circulation of these movies are missing scenes that were still present in TV showings of the 1980s.  

It's a sad situation.  I can no longer enjoy watching these movies because every time I watch them I started ranting and raving about the *&@! cuts.  The last time AMC ran Dr. Phibes rises again was particularly offensive--the underscore for the first sequence in the film was practically inaudible, and bore NO relationship to what was going on onscreen!

What is it about early 70s horror films?  The only available print of Vault of Horror is similarly incomprehensible, though I have read that a complete print was released on Laserdisc in Japan.

Steve

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about the ending of the 1795 storyline, Luciaphil.  For me, the highlight is the scene between Barnabas and Joshua.  The stuff with poor Vicki is almost interminable, especially that scene with Peter Bradford.  Remember the passages in KLS' hoDS diary in response to DC's threat to make Roger Davis her boyfriend on the series?

Onward to 1968!  You know we love Roger & the harpoon.

Steve

Beautifully stated and argued with wonderful clarity, my dear.  I'd suggest you go in for the bar if clarity and integrity did not appear to be the OPPOSITE of the qualities demanded of that profession today.  

I really must screen these episodes soon.  I draw a blank on Ben's scene with Naomi, but it sounds classic.  Can't wait.

Fascinated by your comments about Nathan.  I suppose I read him as a scoundrel from the get-go given how his early scenes with Vicki were played.  I'll watch him with a different eye (OK, here's the time to confess that I often treat him as shameless eye candy when he's onscreen) next time I go through these tapes.

Thanks again for a great little essay on these shows!  And I'm flattered by the dedication (blushing & bowing head)

Steve

Henry dolling,

I think Bathia was calling for "Silas!", eighteenth century Collinsport pizza delivery boy.  (His story was written by the same author as "Johnny Tremaine," only Thayer David played the Sebastian Cabot role.)

After all, exorcism is hungry work, especially when those darned demons keep spitting pre-digested pea soup in your face.

Looking forward to your next wonderful post!

Gothick

Last night I was watching the episode where Garth Blackwood has escaped Charles Tate's botched attempt at knot-tying (obviously Tate was never a boy scout) and is railing at Petofi.  I swear Roger Davis was about to crack up in that scene.  You could see him biting his lip and looking away.  The camera was not on John Harkins (who played Blackwood) and I had the feeling that his hat was askew. Or one of those eyebrows they had pasted on him. Those eyebrows looked like painted dead caterpillars. They were the most horrifying thing about Garth Blackwood!

I also think that Jonathan Frid or Peter Turgeon was about to burst out laughing in the climactic scene where Dr. Woodard tells Barnabas, "Last night I saw your sister Sarah!"  I'm referring to the cliffhanger of that episode; the next day when they restaged the scene, it went smoothly and came out as intended.

Steve