Author Topic: And Now The Return of Another New Slideshow (Sort of), Part 2 [**Now featuring alternate versions of scenes - see replies #18,#21,#23,#49,#64,#69,#76,#88,#90,#100,#105,#107,#115**]  (Read 87947 times)

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Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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Wrapping up DC's script's Scene 21, beginning with today's quote, Maggie's reaction to Roger not wanting to go to the Old House to look for David -

Page 9/Scene 21 - Maggie: 'You are incredible, Mr. Collins.’'

- coming up, followed in the script by:

       They stare at each other.  He is speechless with rage.
       She turns and exits.


End of scene - and end of sequence.

And when it comes to the dialogue, the descriptions, and the directions for this scene, we have no way at this point of knowing how things actually played out because the scene was left on the cutting room floor and the footage was apparently destroyed. But I would practically kill to have been able to see the expression on Roger's face at the end of this scene!!

Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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And now for the original draft's version of Scene 21:

21     Willie races from the house.  Roger stares after   21
       him.  Then he turns to Maggie.  CAMERA TRUCKS
       into TIGHT TWO SHOT.

                                 ROGER
                 You seem to be unable to avoid
                 trouble, Miss Evans.

                                 MAGGIE
                 You didn't have to fire him.




21     CONTD                                        CONTD 21

                                 ROGER
                 And your attitude leaves much to
                 be desired.

                                 MAGGIE
                 You've been against me ever
                 since I came here.

                                 ROGER
                 Then why do you stay?

                                 MAGGIE
                 That's a question I'm beginning
                 to ask myself, Mr. Collins. Quite
                 frequently.

       She starts for the door.

                                 MAGGIE
                I'm going to the old house to look
                for David. Would you like to come
                with me?

                                 ROGER
                            (at the window)
                No need to go there.  The storm's
                going to start again.  He'll come
                back before it does.

                                 MAGGIE
                You are incredible, Mr. Collins.

       They stare at each other.  He is speechless with
       rage.  She turns and exits.


And the first change in DC's script's version was only necessitated because of the location change from Willie's cottage to the stable. Who knows why Roger's first line was dropped? And the changes to Roger's other line near the end of the scene might be do to the deemphasizing of the storm - or better still, because they wanted to make Roger look like more of bastard. Perhaps the rest remains basically to exactly the same because they felt those parts are perfect as they are. But at any rate, none of it much matters when DC decided to leave the scene on the cutting room floor...

Offline Uncle Roger

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Too bad this stuff was not in the final cut. It firmly establishes Roger as a bastard and shows that Maggie isn't quite a pushover. And, as with other incarnations of DS, the scenes before Barnabas arrives are some of the best stuff.
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Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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I really don't understand why all the scenes leading to Maggie making her decision to leave had to be cut. Sure, the "Hanging David" stuff contributes to her decision, but, as we'll see with Scenes 68 through 68C, and as can already be easily seen with Scene 21, they can also stand alone without any of that. The only excuse I can see DC giving is that in his opinion they slowed down all the action and mayhem surrounding the release of the occupant of the coffin, and to a lesser degree, David terrorizing Maggie at the Old House. But hello, it's actually nice to slow things down a bit here and there to give the audience a breather and to show who your characters actually are. But character stuff just wasn't what DC was about with this film - for him it was all action and mayhem and then later the blood and gore and to hell with character. And when it comes to the mainstream press, the film got some pretty bad reviews because of it. But I'm sure DC could have cared less about that - especially because the horror press lapped up every bit of blood and gore with a spoon... Though many of the actors, particularly Jonathan Frid, shared the mainstream press' view, with Frid once criticizing the film as "one sledgehammer scene after another" - and that was while he was supposed to out promoting it! But then, if I was one of the actors and I saw that some if not most of my best character stuff ended up getting cut, I would have been upset too...

Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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Setting up the new scene:

22     EXT:  CEMETERY - NIGHT                             22

       LONG LENS SHOT of the dark, gloomy, ancient cemetery.
       though the rain has stopped, there is the DISTANT
       RUMBLE OF THUNDER.  Suddenly, from the trees, a shadowy
       distant figure appears.  He carries a flashlight.
       There is a flash of lightning.  CAMERA SLOWLY ZOOMS
       into a TIGHT SHOT of Willie, trying to read the note.
       He flashes the light on a MAUSOLEUM.  CAMERA PANS with
       light to the marble facade of the pediment which tops
       the mausoleum.  We see, carved, the THREE GRACES.


And that's when today's quote -

Page 9/Scene 22 - Willie (OS) (reciting from the paper): 'The three Graces spin high above.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:



22     CONTD                                        CONTD 22

       WILLIE

       He runs to the iron gate of the mausoleum.  He opens
       the gate and enters.


End of scene - though just the beginning of the sequence.

And as far as any difference in the dialogue goes, as was the case before, Willie actually reads "The Madonnas rest high above."

And as far as the directions and descriptions go, there is no indication of thunder of lightning - and we immediately see a shot of Willie in the cemetery -


- with his flashlight - and after searching around a bit, he takes out his bottle of liqueur -


- but seeing that it's empty, he throws and smashes it against a nearby wall - and then we actually see Willie running -


- through the cemetery - and soon he reaches something that -


-makes him quite excited - whereupon he takes out the paper, and after reading the first line, he shines his flashlight on the Madonnas -


- on the pediment - and after putting the paper back in his pocket, he moves to the iron gate as scripted.

Offline Uncle Roger

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I like the movie but it would definitely benefit from better character development. Who are these people? How are they related to each other? And why should the audience care? Fans of the show could fill in some of the blanks but moviegoers had their work cut out for them.
Interesting (to me, anyway) that this is the only incarnation of DS that starts with the heroine already employed at Collinwood. No money in the budget for filming on a train?
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And now the only reason I'm posting Scene 22 from the original draft is because, as with other scenes we've seen, the original version is a bit more descriptive:

22     EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT                              22

       LONG LENS SHOT of the dark, gloomy, ancient cemetery.
       Ivy covers the crumbling tombstones. Though the rain
       has stopped, there is the DISTANT RUMBLE OF THUNDER.
       Suddenly from the trees, a shadowy, distant figure ap-
       pears.  He carries a flashlight.  There is a flash of
       lightning.  CAMERA SLOWLY ZOOMS into a TIGHT SHOT of
       Willie, trying to read the note.  He flashes the light
       on a MAUSOLEUM.  CAMERA PANS with light to the marble
       facade of the pediment which tops the mausoleum.  We
       see, carved, the THREE GRACES.

                                 WILLIE(O.S.)
                          (reciting from the paper)
                 The Three Graces spin high above.




22     CONTD                                        CONTD 22

       WILLIE

       He is so excited, he ignores the WARNING CLAP OF THUN-
       DER the flash of lightning, and runs to the iron gate
       of the mausoleum.  CAMERA TRUCKS with him.  He opens
       the gates, then the huge doors, enters.


Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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Fans of the show could fill in some of the blanks but moviegoers had their work cut out for them.

To say the least, which is one of the biggest complaints the mainstream critics had with the film.

Quote
Interesting (to me, anyway) that this is the only incarnation of DS that starts with the heroine already employed at Collinwood. No money in the budget for filming on a train?

I suppose they figured they didn't want to deal with Maggie's story/background, so the easiest way to avoid that is to have her already ensconced and working at Collinwood. That's one of the few thing I don't have a problem with.

Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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Dealing with the new scene:

23     INT:  MAUSOLEUM - NIGHT                            23

       CLOSE UP of Willie's face as he enters.  He is fright-
       ened.  The CAMERA TRUCKS IN BACK of him and PANS what
       he sees with his flashlight:  the two marble caskets
       in the center of the room.  The wall with the indi-
       vidual vaults and, high above the door, a CARVED STONE
       DOVE.


And that's when today's quote -

Page 10/Scene 23 - Willie: 'The Lion's head watches the dove.'

- comes up, followed in the script by:

       Quickly, he jerks his flashlight's beam to the oppo-
       site wall.  WHIP PAN to the LION'S HEAD, with the ring
       in its mouth.  DOLLY IN TO CLOSE UP.

                             WILLIE (OS)
                 And in the womb beneath the hill,
                 The secret flame glows bright and still ...

       WILLIE

       He frowns, shaking his head, not knowing what to do.
       CAMERA PANS him as he walks around tentatively.  He
       settles against the wall.  His eye falls on the lion's
       head and the ring.  He touches it.  It moves.  He is
       surprised.  He pulls the ring out of the mouth.  There
       is the SOUND OF A WALL MOVING.  He releases the ring,
       as SHOT WIDENS.  The wall is a secret door that has
       opened.  Willie slowly, tentatively approaches it.
       He stands in the dark opening, shining his flashlight
       inside.


End of scene - though just the beginning of the parts inside the mausoleum.

And what's interesting as far as the dialogue goes, Willie actually reads "The Lion's head watches the dove", which is what he actually said in Scene 19 and which is actually written on the paper when we see him read from it in Scene 22 (though it's weird that in Scene 19 it's scripted as "The Lion's Head looks down at the dove" and the last lines are scripted as "And in the womb beneath the Hill. The secret fire glows bright and still", yet they're scripted as "And in the womb beneath the hill, The secret flame glows bright and still", which is also how they read on the paper in scene 22. Although, Willie saying those last lines is dropped in this scene.

And where do we start with all the differences with the directions and descriptions? We do not see a close-up of Willie's face when he enters the mausoleum because we see him full body, descending stairs -


- and shining his flashlight around while the camera is quite obviously in front of him and not behind him, as scripted - and once he enters the crypt, two marble caskets are nowhere to be seen because it's a room with -


- vaults on the walls - and after Willie discovers the lion's head, there is no dolly in to a close-up of it, and he simply goes over to it and almost immediately, which is when it's actually in close-up -


- pulls the ring in its mouth (if there was any frowning, shaking of his head, not knowing what to do, walking around tentatively, settling against the wall, and eventually Willie's eye falling on the lion's head and the ring, all of that was cut) - and we also don't see Willie slowly, tentatively approach the door or stand in the dark opening, shining his flashlight inside because he simply smiles excitedly -


- and moves to go inside -


And even though it won't be a part of the slideshow this time around, Willie reciting the last two lines of the clue was a part of the original hoDS slideshow -


hoDS: Scene #23 - Willie (Off Screen): 'And in the womb
beneath the hill, A secret flame glows bright and still.'

- because they're included on the Fest's 1999 Movie Calendar of quotes for January 12th.

And believe it or not, with just a couple of exceptions for a bit more descriptive phrasing, the original draft of Scene 23 is nearly exactly the same as it appears in DC's script, so I'm not even going to bother to share it. One thing, though, is that the scene concludes by saying that there is a zoom in to a close-up of Willie before he goes through the door because presumably his flashlight has apparently revealed something inside, but that was dropped in both DC's script and the film...

Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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We need to deal with two dialogue free scenes before tomorrow's entry in the slideshow comes up:

24     INT:  SECRET ROOM - WILLIE'S POV                   24

       On a marble stand there is a very old coffin, criss-
       crossed with heavy chains.

       WILLIE - MEDIUM ANGLE

       as he enters the secret room he flashes his light
       along the coffin surface.  His face is greedy, shrewd.
       The jewels must be in there.  Willie walks slowly to
       the coffin, touches the chains.  They are very secure.

                                               CUT TO:




25     CROWBAR - CLOSE UP                                25

       CAMERA PULLS BACK.  Willie strains to break the chains.

       CHAINS

       as they snap.  CAMERA PANS them to the floor, then
       PANS UP to Willie.  He is very tense, nervous. 

       WILLIE'S HANDS

       as they touch the coffin lid.  CAMERA TRUCKS BACK as
       he starts to push up the CREAKING coffin lid.  When
       the lid is up, Willie looks down.  We do not see what
       he does as CAMERA FAST ZOOMS to Willie's horrified
       face.  A hand grabs him.


End of scene - and end of sequence. However, it definitely needs to be pointed out that in the film Scene 25 does not play after Scene 24 because in the film at this point things jump around. As always, the slideshow will be following along with the order as scripted - but in the film Scene 24 jumps all the way up to Scenes 38 and 39 to Scenes 41 through 44A to Scenes 25 through 37 and then back in order to Scene 52 and onward. And yes, obviously Scenes 45 through 51 are missing - and that's because in DC's version of the script they no longer appear. However, unlike other instances when there has been scenes omitted from the scripts, this time around copies of Scenes 45 through 51 do indeed appear in the original draft and we will get into them after we conclude Scene 44A in DC's script. (And it's also interesting to point out that two lines of dialogue from Scene 46 were actually included in the original hoDS slideshow because they appear on the Fest's 1999 Movie Calendar.)

And obviously, since there isn't any dialogue in Scenes 24 and 25, we have nothing to get into on that front.

But as far as any differences with the directions and descriptions go, in Scene 24, after Willie shines his flashlight around the darkness of the secret room, before he goes over to the coffin, he discovers a torch on the wall -


- and lights it - and Willie grunts in anger as he also discovers that the chains on the coffin -


- very secure - and in Scene 25,  it isn't until after Willie pushes off  the chains that he opens the coffin's lid - and as DC added to his script, after opening the lid, a hand -


- reaches out of the coffin to grab Willie's throat, though there is no fast zoom to Willie's face.

And speaking of how Scene 25 concludes in the film, ever since first reading the script I've been quite surprised that the grabbing of Willie's throat isn't actually scripted, given what an iconic moment it is in the daytime show...

Offline Uncle Roger

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MB, has it ever been established if that was Frid in the casket? I know that George DiCenzo doubled for him in several sequences but is that Jonathan's hand?
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Offline Mysterious Benefactor

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Scene 25 was shot on March 23rd, the first day of shooting, before Frid arrived at the Lyndhurst location (his first day of shooting was supposed to be March 24th but they never actually used him - so his first day was actually the 25th when they shot Barnabas' walk with Maggie with Julia spotting them from her vantage point atop the tower). The shooting schedule listing for Scene 25 has Cast Working as WILLIE, Barnabas double.

Offline Uncle Roger

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I'm sharing the original draft's versions of Scenes 24 and 25 more for an opposite reason as to why I've been sharing the original draft's scenes: not because of what was more descriptive in the original draft, but rather because of what's missing in the original draft - particularly when it comes to DC's script's Scene 24:

24     WILLIE'S POV - INT. SECRET ROOM                    24

       On a marble stand there is a very old coffin, criss-
       crossed with heavy chains.  They are very secure.




                                          DISSOLVE TO:

25     INT. SECRET ROOM - NIGHT                           25

       CLOSE UP of the CROWBAR attempting to break the chains.
       CAMERA PULLS BACK. Willie strains at his work.

       CHAINS

       as they snap.  CAMERA PANS them to the floor, then
       PANS UP to Willie.  He is very tense, nervous.

       WILLIE'S HANDS

       as they touch the coffin lid.  Then with a sudden now
       or never move, he starts to push up the CREAKING coffin
       lid.  When the lid is up, CAMERA TRUCKS BACK as Willie
       looks down.  We do not see what he does as CAMERA FAST
       ZOOMS to Willie's horrified face.


It's also interesting that it was originally a dissolve to Scene 25 rather than a cut. I honestly think the dissolve would have been a better way to show the passage of time. But as it is the film actually switches to Scenes 38, 39, and 41 through 44A with Maggie at the Old House between Scenes 24 and 25, so using a dissolve versus a cut is immaterial...

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Dealing with the new scene:

26.    INT FIRST FLOOR CORRIDOR  NIGHT

       Daphne and Liz.

                  DAPHNE
              I'm ready to leave. Unless
              you want me to help look for
              David.

                  LIZ
             It's not necessary. I'm sure
             everything will be allright.

                  DAPHNE
              I hope so, Mrs. Stoddard. Oh=
              I left the first of the month
              checks for you to sign. I may
              be late in the morning.


And that's when today's first quote -

Page 11A/Scene 26 - Liz: 'Let me send you home in the car'

- comes up, followed by today's second quote -

Page 11A/Scene 26 - Daphne: 'I drove this morning. Thanks, anyway. Goodnight, Mrs. Stoddard'

- coming up, followed in the script by:

     LIZ
Goodnight.


End of scene, which also happens to be a rewrite, as we'll soon see...

And as far as the dialogue goes, the first thing Daphne actually says "I'm ready to go" - and the first part of Liz' actual reply is "Oh, that won't be necessary" - and when it comes to the first part of Daphne's reply, she simply says "I hope so", dropping the "Mrs. Stoddard", and she actually ends that bit with "I may be late tomorrow" - and when it comes to today's first quote, Liz actually asks "Would you like me to send you home in a car?" - and to that Daphne actually responds "Thank you, I drove" before she starts to leave but hesitates and then actually turns back to ask an unscripted -


"Are you sure there's nothing I can do?"

- to which Liz replies with an unscripted -


"Nothing. Thank you, Daphne."

- and it isn't until then that Daphne wishes Liz goodnight and Liz does the same to her. And yes, all the irregular spacing for the dialogue and the missing periods and even that equal sign are exactly how things appear in the script.

And there aren't any directions or descriptions in the rewrite, so obviously there's nothing to get into there. However, though the scene does indeed start off with Liz coming down the last few stairs into in the first floor corridor -


- soon she enters the office where Daphne -


- sits at the desk - and after Daphne tells Liz that she drove, as seen in today's second capture -


- she leaves the office and we get a close-up of Liz -


- watching after her.