LornaHansonForbes

My favorite anecdote thus far has been the story from LOUIS EDMONDS that JOEL CROTHERS would come down to his beach house "THE ROOKERY" (on Long Island?) and try to teach everyone BRIDGE because he LOVED THE GAME and he would get "so adorably frustrated that we weren't catching on..."

I actually spent $32.30 on a copy of BARNABAS AND CO. on amazon and it came a day early- on Sunday!- and I have to admit...I am a little disappointed (ALTHOUGH THERE ARE CERTAINLY JEWELS OF INFORMATION SCATTERED ABOUT HERE AND THERE) it kinda deromanticizes some things, and asserts that DON BRISCOE was straight- on the word of LOUIS EDMONDS no less!) the entry on GRAYSON HALL makes such a point of stripping the reader of the (popular) notion that she was, in reality, a brittle, VOLATILE, closeted lesbian smokestack that I really wish they'd gone all in and LIBERTY VALANCED the LEGEND. I don't want to read that GRAYSON HALL baked cookies, was shy, and kept to herself. I want to read that she had an ALTERNATE PERSONALITY NAMED "DIANE" WHO TALKED LIKE HILDEGARD NEFF AND ONE TIME SHE STABBED A HOMELESS GUY LEAVING THE STUDIO AND HAD TO BE KEPT AWAY FROM SCISSORS AT ALL TIMES,...

I will also say, again as an extremely amateur and un-produced "screenwriter" myself, that the snippets of script pages I have read for HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS, NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS and the DAYTIME SHOW are VERY HEAVY on dictating CAMERA MOVEMENT and SHOTS, ie there is as much in the script about whether someone is IN CLOSE UP or MID SHOT or WHERE THE CAMERA IS POINTED, it's like a PAINT BY NUMBERS for the director on how to block and stage and shoot it, and damned if I entirely know why. I personally feel like it's best to leave that stuff to the Director because hopefully they'll know what the Hell they're doing, THE SCRIPT ITSELF should be action and dialogue and occasionally a suggestion on shot length or camera position when the story really demands it.

1. if you get the chance to go back and re-read the entire looong post, I recommend it, don't be daunted by the inserts of the screenplay, they show up sporadically and can actually be skipped if you need to (I am an amateur screenwriter, mercifully unproduced, so I can "speak screenplay" and i know they are not for everybody) 2. I personally am hardly ever in elevators, I live in a good-sized city, but we're mostly four-story buildings at the highest, and i take the stairs for multiple reasons. So, no worries for me. 3. I 110% understand the fondness for NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS....there is nothing quite like the fascination one feels for a not-completely satisfying, yet promisingLY PREMISED AND/OR ATMOSPHERIC horror movie ESPECIALLY one that has "legendary lost and deleted scenes." I feel the same way about MARK OF THE VAMPIRE and all the HAMMER FILMS and JAWS 3-D

‘Twas MR MILLSTONE who posted it, not I.

I like the VIVIAN PICKLESwig GRAYSON wears in NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS...though I question the (one?) flouncy, tropical print house dress/caftan sported throughout the film by THE TREACHEROUS HOUSEKEEPER CARLOTTA. OH MY, I DID NOT KNOW THE PIC WOULD POST THIS LARGE. "IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER NATURE!!!"

The final verdict of the loooooooong article I posted the link to a few posts ago is: that a full NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS with the restored footage would in all likelihood not be a better film, there would just be more of it.

Damn, JOEL CROTHERS has some PENETRATING EYES! they GLOW!

You may know this already, but Louis Edmonds used to tell a story that he was getting out of his costume one day when they called him and told him that he was needed to tape a scene right then and there. Apparently he wasn’t wearing pants and ran down to the set and they filmed him in a tight close up so that you couldn’t see he was standing there in his BVDs.

below is a link to a loooooong post in re: NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS, ITS MAKING AND THE CUTS in the DARK SHADOWS EVERYDAY BLOG (I am only 1/2way through) they actually dug up the shooting script and fill the reader in on deleted or unfilmed scenes as they critique the movie, it's pretty interesting: https://darkshadowseveryday.com/2018/08/30/night-of-dark-shadows/

although, now that I have (re)seen the ending, I can see why DAN CURTIS ended BURNT OFFERINGS the way he did (this was like a disappointing dry run.)

THANK YOU, I just re-watched it. NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS is one of those movies that i always remember as not having seen in entirety, only to realize right before the end that I have in fact seen all of it...this has now happened multiple times, so I think that in and of itself speaks more harshly of the film than anything else I could say about it. Every time I watch the opening credits with the mellow harmonica music as the white convertible slowly drives down long and winding roads, I- without fail- mutter "MANOS: The Hands of Fate" out loud to no one in particular...

(KIDDING!)

reminds me of playing GOLF with my Dad...

also in the matter of SHAW V. DREYFUSS, I am proud to say that I stand with A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS in saying that I am UNRESERVEDLY 100% TEAM SHAW.

Also also, I saw JAWS on THE BIG SCREEN with the RESTORED SOUNDTRACK and one thing I HAD NOT EVER NOTICED was: IN THE SCENE WHERE THE IDIOT FISHERMAN HAVE CAUGHT THE TIGER SHARK (aka the "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah????") and are stringing it up on the dock as the crowd gathers, we see (in a long shot) THE ORCA sail past in the harbor and we see QUINT at the wheel. What I had never heard before is the fact that QUINT IS LAUGHING UPROARIOUSLY AT THE SCENE (because he knows these yahoos did not get the right shark, because he's QUINT)

I've always known ROBERT SHAW was great in JAWS, which I grew up (was born in 78) watching on VHS and later DVD, and then I went to one of those FATHOM EVENTS and saw it on THE BIG SCREEN and it's one of those wonderful instances wherein the difference between watching a performance on a small screen and a big screen leapt out- BECAUSE I NOTICED THINGS IN SHAW'S PERFORMANCE I HAD NEVER BEEN ABLE TO BEFORE- THINGS HE DOES WITH THOSE STEELY BLUE EYES WHICH WERE ABOUT TWO FEET TALL ON THE 25 (?) FOOT SCREEN and i was EVEN MORE IMPRESSED. QUINT on TV is INTENSE enough, QUINT 20 FEET TALL IS REALLY SOMETHING TO EXPERIENCE!!!!!! More than anything else, seeing JAWS on the big screen reaffirmed my opinion that SHAW gives one of the finest performances ever committed to film.

this is one of those ideas that makes writers JEALOUS they didn't think of it.

what a brilliant idea!!!! 10-1 someone is looking into buying the film rights if they have not already.

Is NIGHT Of DARK SHADOWS airing this month?

Ironically it was the casting and introduction of the character of Pamela Capwell that was the beginning of the end for the show. For some reason the creators had a huge blowout over the actress who was brought in and that led to them being locked out of the studio and the show was taken over by a different producer. The quality suffered and it never recovered. SANTA BARBARA Was also disturbingly obsessed with rape. Especially rape/murder combos. Two popular actresses left the show and both of their characters were raped and then murdered, As opposed to you know their characters just peacefully moving on.

looking back at some of the episodes on youtube, I was taken aback by what a jerk CC was and also there is occasional sexual tension between MASON AND EDEN, maybe that's not how they intended it, but it's TOTALLY how it reads!

plus I mean, he was DEADLY HANDSOME in his prime:

he also had a small role in BODY DOUBLE, which annoyed me because he is 10000 times more charismatic than the lead DePalma chose. He's done some touring with Shakespeare troupes since then, and I'd have to imagine he's great in any number of those parts.