Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows (1966)

49 mistakes in show generally - chronological order

(4 votes)

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Revealing mistake: In the pilot episode (?). When old man Barnabas bends over Maggie's bedside to bite her, the strings holding his bald wig in place are visible, including the stubble, and wave of fake black wig hair. (01:19:29)

eaglegrad16

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Revealing mistake: 1967: Barnabas and Vicky are talking in Collinwood's foyer when a great deal of noise starts interrupting the scene from backstage. You can hear coughing, several bumps and crashes, shouts, and finally, a fire extinguisher going off. Meanwhile, the distracted actors are completely blowing all their lines - but the unstoppable taping goes on.

Jean G

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Continuity mistake: Over the course of many Dark Shadows episodes set in the year 1795, Countess Natalie Dupres' dark, distinct, three-dimensional facial mole changes sides from left jaw to right jaw, briefly vanishes altogether, then returns as a faint, painted beauty mark on her right jaw.

Charles Austin Miller

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Audio problem: 1897: Quentin challenges Barnabas by pulling a decorative sword from a wall display and pointing it at his throat. Unfortunately, the display wasn't all that well attached to the set wall. Though the camera pans away, you can hear a loud clunk as the piece falls, followed by the loud crash of shattering glass as it strikes and breaks a table lamp. You can also see the actors struggling very hard to keep straight faces as they continue with their lines.

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1970: Barnabas fends off a werewolf by striking at it with his silver-headed cane. Unfortunately, the cane bounces off the resilient werewolf and hits Barnabas in the head. (Jonathan Frid reportedly had to have a few stitches afterwards.)

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1967: Burke mangles his line to Vicky, and instead of telling her to get off her history kick, says, "I just think you should get off that hickory stick for a while."

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1967: A persistent fly insists on clinging to Barnabas' forehead as he plots to kill Dr. Hoffman. He tries to ignore it, tries walking briefly out of camera range, then comes back and tries shooing it away on camera, but it keeps coming right back.

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1795: Reverend Trask is attempting to perform an exorcism when a (demonic?) fly aims straight for his mouth. He has to interrupt his incantation long enough to blow it away.

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1967: The death of Sam Evans didn't play out according to the script. That's because the cameraman accidentally knocked the teleprompter off (with a loud crash), causing the dying "Sam" to sit up and yell "Where is it?!" "Maggie" ad libbed, "Never mind, Pop. It's going to be OK." Poor Sam then had to expire without delivering any poignant last words to his grieving daughter.

Jean G

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Revealing mistake: 1968: When the psychic enters Quentin's haunted room, she stumbles over the wire used to "ghostly" open the door, and has to grab onto the gramophone table to keep from falling. The table almost falls over with her, but she manages to stay upright, barely.

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1968: The now-vampire Angelique kneels beside Barnabas' chair to tell him he belongs to her now. When she tries to get up, her long white gown catches on something, causing her to muff her next line a bit as she gives the fabric an annoyed tug to free it.

Jean G

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Revealing mistake: 1966: Elizabeth is thwarted by a set door that refuses to open when she tries to make her exit. She struggles with it, tugging several times, but winds up just standing there, exasperated, until the scene ends a few merciful seconds later.

Jean G

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Continuity mistake: 1967: Barnabas selects a treasure from a jewelry chest while bad guy Jason spies on him through a window. Willie is supposed to put the chest away, but when Jason later breaks in to steal it, the chest is still sitting on the table in plain view, so Jason has to pretend not to notice it. The break-in scene is recapped the next day, only this time, the chest is no longer on the table.

Jean G

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Visible crew/equipment: 1795: Angelique throws open a set of double doors to find Jeremiah's ghost in the hall. She cries out and steps back, and to the right of the screen, you can see a crew member's hand enter the shot to pull one of the doors open further.

Jean G

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Revealing mistake: When "Dark Shadows" did its version of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," the Hyde character, John Yaeger, had prosthetic nose trouble during a fight scene. His rubber schnoz came unglued and nearly fell off. He was subsequently given a nose job.

Jean G

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Revealing mistake: 1967: The apparently miscued Burke enters the foyer set through a door and starts across the stair landing. You can then hear the director say, "Try it again," and he turns, goes back out the door and comes in again.

Jean G

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Revealing mistake: 1967, episode 86: Roger is late for a meeting because actor Louis Edmonds, forgetting he had another scene, had gone to his dressing room and undressed. Because it was "live tape," the other actors had to awkwardly ad lib until Edmonds could throw on a shirt and be hustled onto the set, whereupon one camera zoomed in tight on him and stays there for his solo shot making a toast. You can hear the stress in the other actors' voices as they stifle laughter. They're trying to play an oh-so-serious scene with an actor wearing a shirt, a tie, and boxer shorts.

Jean G

Angelique: Let me give you one word of advice, Dr. Hoffman. The pursuit of Barnabas Collins can lead to nothing but misery. He is a cold, harsh, unresponsive man."
Dr. Julia Hoffman: Who made him that way?

More quotes from Dark Shadows

Trivia: Barnabas is typically seen wearing a gold ring with a large black onyx stone on his right hand (as also depicted in both of his portraits). However, depending on the requirements of the camera shot, the ring occasionally appeared on his left hand (as when Barnabas reached from his coffin to strangle Jason McGuire, for one example).

Charles Austin Miller

More trivia for Dark Shadows

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Question: Which 1967 episode or what specific story line has Louis Edmonds in close-up because he didn't have time to put his pants back on?

Pkelly

Answer: It's probably episode 193 (even though the slate at the beginning says 58). It's the episode with Sam demanding that Roger return his paintings. Three clues from the Dark Shadows Companion and from the comments of Kathryn Leigh Scott and Louis Edmonds all agree that 1) Scott is in the episode and is done for the day prior to Edmonds without his pants; 2) Edmonds is wearing a smoking jacket, and 3) Edmonds is leaning on the mantle (which is actually the cabinet where the liquor is, because the fireplace mantle is too high to lean on and the bench in front of it prevents getting too close to). There are several "breaks" in the lengthy scene where commercial were probably inserted, and all of the shots are above the waist. The previously mentioned episode 54 has Edmonds in a suit and Scott isn't in the episode; episode 54 doesn't have Edmonds or Scott; and episode 86 only has Edmonds in a suit.

Lou Edmonds was a consummate actor and would not forget that he had a lengthy scene to perform. Rather, in Episode 86, Edmonds more understandably forgot that he had to perform one last 15-second scene (a simple toast). He had removed his shoes and pants before he was reminded of the final, brief shot, and he hurried back to complete it.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: There seems to be some confusion among Dark Shadows fans as to the episode: Some claim it was Episode 54, while others claim it was Episode 85. However, the scene actually appeared in Episode 86. Louis Edmonds (as Roger Collins) thought he had completed all his shots for the day and was removing his costume when he was reminded that he had one more shot. With only seconds to spare, Edmonds hurried back to the set without his pants or shoes (some whispering and shuffling is heard in the background just before the camera goes live). Whereupon, with an amused expression, Edmonds pours himself a brandy and strolls across the study before delivering his last line, a toast: "Miss Victoria Winters, no matter where you are." The shot was slightly adjusted to only cover Edmonds from the elbows-up.

Charles Austin Miller

Thank you so much! I had it narrowed down to 3 episodes and the actual one was among them. Thank you again.

Answer: Yes...episode 193 is the only episode to include all three clues (character Maggie appears earlier, character Roger is in a smoking jacket, and lastly, he has brandy in hand and elbows are atop the liquor cabinet. It the last scene in the black and whit episode where Sam Evans is demanding that his paintings back from Roger. And if you keep your eyes on Sam, you will see him glance downward twice at Roger. This eoisode is in Collection 6, disk 2 and even though it's listed in the Dark Shadows Companion as episode 193, the slate at the very beginning says episode 58.

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