641 — darkshadows

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Number	633
Timeline	1968
Narrator	Joan Bennett
Writer	Sam Hall
Director	Penberry Jones
Broadcast	December 9, 1968 (Monday)
Recorded	December 2, 1968 (Monday)
Video	Complete: Disc 67 Collection 11: Disc 3

We have 13 images of Dark Shadows 641

Victoria asks Professor Stokes for help; he tells her the only way to be with Jeff is if she dies, which prompts her to the edge of Widows' Hill.

Synopsis

The great house of Collinwood is calm now, but it is a false calm, for in the neighboring village, a murder has been committed. The torn body lies in the Blue Whale tavern, awaiting discovery, a vicious crime committed by one who is not a man when the moon is full.

Amy awakens in a nightmare, convinced that something has happened to her brother. Victoria tries to comfort her but is unable to. Elizabeth finally decides to call Chris to reassure Amy. Although she is unable to reach him, she lies and tells Amy that Chris is fine and doesn't want her to worry. Victoria feels Jeff's presence again.

Professor Stokes arrives but is unable to provide much comfort to Victoria. He tells her the only way she can join Peter Bradford is to die. Victoria leaves and walks to Widow's Hill alone. Amy hears voices in the night and opens the window and asks who it is. It is the Widows calling from Widows' Hill. She closes the window and calls Quentin. Victoria leaves and goes outside. Amy comes down and says she hears the widows cry. Elizabeth tells Stokes when you can hear the widows on a stormy night someone will die. They find Victoria on Widows' Hill.

Memorable quotes

Elizabeth: (to Amy) You have everyone here.

Amy: He's funny!

Professor Stokes: I beg your pardon?

Amy: I like you.

Professor Stokes: So my appeal extends to all ages now. Good.

Professor Stokes: I am not a wizard, Miss Winters. I don't transport people through time.

Victoria: Is loving insane, Professor?

Professor Stokes: It has been known to be.

Professor Stokes: The only way for you to join him is to die.

Professor Stokes: "Must" is a word I do not recognize. I can or I cannot. I wish to or I don't wish to.

Vicki: Oh, don't hide behind words, Professor.

Dramatis personae

Background information and notes

Production

First of five episodes directed by Penberry Jones.
The nightgown worn by Betsy Durkin will later be worn by Maggie Evans in episode 1091.
Actress Betsy Durkin appears to be left-handed as she starts to write the note.
During the end credits, the set shown changes from Victoria's room to the foyer. This is the first of two times this happens, the other being 657.

Story

The opening narration refers to Collinsport as "the neighboring village" in relation to Collinwood.
INTERNAL MONOLOGUE: Victoria: (recalling Professor Stokes' voice).
TIMELINE: 7pm: Elizabeth and Professor Stokes talk about Victoria.
GHOSTWATCH: Amy hears the widows calling outside her window. Elizabeth tells Professor Stokes the legend that when the widows cry on a stormy night, someone will die (presumably Vicki).

Bloopers and continuity errors

A boom microphone shadow appears over Amy's bed.
When Elizabeth and Victoria enter her room after leaving Amy's room, a loud crash is heard. [Addendum: I believe this is the door banging into the wall and picture behind the door.] Background noise in the studio can also be heard as Elizabeth and Victoria start to speak.
Joan Bennett stumbles over a line: “I think it would be a good idea to ask him for lunch...to have lunch with us.”
Jeff's watch is supposedly stopped at 11:25 (the time when he disappeared), but when we see it in close-up at the beginning of a scene, we hear a ticking noise as if the watch is working. It seems implied, perhaps, that the clock runs when Jeff is present, but later in the episode, when Vicki is talking to Amy about the watch, she talks about it again as being stopped at 11:25. So even if the watch starts again when Jeff is present, its time indication does not move forward?
When Elizabeth and Vicki are talking about Jeff's watch, Betsy Durkin at one point seems to have a bit of trouble with her lines with hesitation and whispering to herself. While this is happening, Joan Bennett is looking off-stage, perhaps at the teleprompter, rather than at Betsy Durkin.
After Amy comes into Vicki's room to ask if she can sleep with her, the door that Jeff seems to have opened begins to close. There is a closing door sound effect before the door actually closes, and when it does close, we hear the actual sound of the door closing.
When the scene shifts from Professor Stokes and Victoria talking in Victoria's room to Elizabeth putting Amy to bed, Joan Bennett has started saying her lines too early, and they are cut off from the beginning of the scene.
After Elizabeth says good night to Amy and we see Amy lying in bed alone, off-stage footsteps can be heard.
In Act I, Elizabeth tells Vicki she is going to invite Jennings to lunch the next day. Act II takes place at 7 in the evening the next day, but no mention has been made of whether Jennings came to lunch. In any case, Amy seems to have completely gotten over her anxiety about her brother.
In Act II, it is 7 in the evening, and Vicki is still fully dressed. However, her bed is completely unmade. In earlier episodes, Vicki mentioned how she was taught at the foundling home to make her bed every morning, a habit she said she continues at Collinwood. Maybe her anxiety about Jeff caused her to forget to make her bed that morning.
Professor Stokes calls Vicki "Miss Winters," although technically she is now Mrs. Clark.
When Professor Stokes "helps" Victoria as they talk, someone wearing yellow is moving to the right of the screen. [Addendum: Could you provide a more precise time marker for this? The only yellow I see when Stokes and Victoria are talking is a chair and a blanket on Victoria's bed, and I don't see anyone moving.]
In the last scene, when Victoria is standing on the cliff edge, as the lightning strikes, the top of the background can be seen.
In the final scene at Widows' Hill, the flat bottom edge of a large prop rock is plainly visible in the foreground, slightly overhanging the moss blanket which represents the cliff’s “edge”. Next to the rock sits a small shrub which, rather than being placed so as to appear to grow from the ground, appears to be sitting in a small urn or bowl, the pedestal-style base of which is plainly visible. Also, at the very end, when Vicki is standing with her foot on a rock, when the lightning flashes, we see the bare studio floor on the right.