A lot of you have written in lately asking what I thought about the world of cinematography and if cinema could ever replicate the days of 'live-on-tape' television productions as preserved on kinescope vis a vis, the daily soap-operas - which my mom always referred to as her 'stories.'
I saw the new 'Dark Shadows' movie the other night at an advance screening the day before the movie opened. Originally, I was going to see it on the opening weekend anyway with the kids, having subjected them to childhoods spent under the watchful eyes of 'Barnabas Collins' - but when presented with the opportunity to be there before everyone else, along with twenty others in the theatre than night, I jumped right in at the chance of seeing it early and invited my girlfriend Mavis. I was in high-school when 'House of Dark Shadows' played at the Palace Theatre in Windsor and distinctly remember thinking at the time about how nice it would be to experience all this magic with a real live girl sitting next to me.
SPOILER ALERT - I am a fan of the show. You will not read anything negative in this review. Because even though in Tim Burton-fashion, the movie gets pretty stoopid near the end, I think the film-makers treated it all with the reverence and honour that one would pay to a soap-opera from half a century ago.
For me to give my blessing on this latest incarnation is saying something. I was there in it's first run on TV from 1967 to '72. Unlike later-day fans like Tim Burton amd Johnny Depp (neither of whom are in their late fifties,) I WAS one of the those kids 'who ran home from school every day to catch 'Dark Shadows.'
I spent (I hate to use the adverb 'wasted') my puberty by being obsessed with that show. I bought '16' and 'Tiger Beat' magazines just for the glossy pin-ups of its star, Jonathan Frid - while other kids my age were reading 'Playboy,' 'Cars - Inside and Out' and 'Cracked' (having become too sophisicated for 'Mad.'
This was the mid-sixties. I like to think of that era as the true 'Golden Age' of Television. 'Green Acres' done by the same people who did 'Beverly Hillbillies.' I' Dream of Jeanie' done by the same people who gave us 'Bewitched.' 'Mr. ED' by the same people who gave us 'Francis the Talking Mule' and 'My Mother the Car',The Munsters' done by the same people who created 'Leave It to Beaver.' 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' done by the same people who ripped off James Bond. And 'Get Smart' by the smartest people in Hollywood. It was a glorious time to be a kid whose best friend was 'Mr. Television.'
'Dark Shadows' came in at the end of that period. And it was just plain weird. And mezmorizing. When I think back, I think I was hypno-tized. As Stephen King once noted in his history about horror cinema 'Danse Macabre' - One tuned into 'Dark Shadows' every day, convinced that things could not become more lunatic. And yet, somehow they did."
But for me, the real attraction was Jonathan Frid as the reluctant vampire 'Barnabas.' Forty years later, it's okay to say I had a man-crush on him - although I definitely would kick him out for eating crackers in bed.
But I was in my very early teens and it was more than that. Previously, my only real male role-models when it came to romance had been Illya Kurakin from 'U.N.C.L.E' and Jed Clampett from 'The Beverly Hillbillies.'
With his Old-world mannerisms and deeply-ingrained Canadian charm, Jonathan Frid gave me an example of sensitivity, unrequieted love and Love long worth waiting for. In short, Jonathan Frid showed me HOW to treat and respect the Woman love.
Well, of course in real life, when it comes to that heart/underpants stuff we all find our own style. When it comes to women, I'm no more 'Barnabas' than Jonathan Frid. And probably just as clueless. Just the same, I've been happily married for 35 years and I think Mr. Frid deserves some of the credit for that.
... I shall not speak here about the new 'Dark Shadows' movie. Other than to say I like it. I have a HUGE emotional investment in this story and just the fact that it was made by Depp/Burton is a validation that I didn't waste my entire pubuerty.
Of course the die-hard fans hate it but I take no back-seat when it oomes to 'Dark Shadows' fandom and if it has my blessing, that's the best three-thumbs-up recommendation I can give it. They forget that they weren't making it for US. If they had, all 1600 of us would go see it. There was a prime-time weekly resurrection by original creator Dan Curtis in 1990 with a big budget, great production values, Academy Award actor Ben Cross as 'Barnabas' and the same old plot. After the second episode people stopped watching and it was cancelled not long after.
I have not read any of the reviews and do not intend to until after the DVD-release. It's certainly not the greatest movie in the world (that would be tie between 'Ed. Scissorhands' and 'Casablanca') - but I will say this - if I read one more shorthand synopsis by a lazy journalist who has never even seen the original show in which they label it as "campy" or "low-budget" I will projectile green bile vomit. And do it again.
Number one - low-budget? ALL the soaps back then were low-budget. They were sponsored by laundry-detergent companies, not Vidal Sassoon.
And as far as 'camp' goes - back then, the actors and the audience and certainly the kids who ran home from school took the show seriously.
One of the best things about being a writer-guy is that it gives you access to meet and talk to people you would normally never get the chance to in your regular social circle. I got to talk to Mr. Frid a few times and even though he hated the work involved and the lack of privacy that goes with it, this is what he rather romantically said about the show -
"I think that show really did have something. It strived and reached for the stars quite a bit - and fell flat on its face a lot of times. But it did strive to reach for the stars often and every once in a while, that show coalesced into something really quite beautiful. It was almost like Brigadoon, it was very Never-never land."
