Dark Shadows

Dark Shadows (1966)

49 mistakes - chronological order

(4 votes)

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Other mistake: 1968: When David and Amy discover Quentin's sealed room, the youthful performers forget to stop on cue and skip to lines from their next scene. The view cuts to Liz and Roger in the drawing room, but the voices of David and Amy excitedly continue from the set next door.

Jean G

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Continuity mistake: 1967: "Dark Shadows"' taping schedule seldom permitted retakes. Consequently, hundreds of goofs ended up on the air. Perhaps the funniest of them all occurred in a scene inside the Collins mausoleum, where the late Louis Edmonds was supposed to say, "Some of my ancestors are buried here." What came out was "Some of my incestors are buried here." To his credit, Edmonds not only kept his cool, but laughed and corrected the mistake in character.

Jean G

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Other mistake: In episode 367, there is a continuity glitch. Vicki Winters travels back in time from 1967 to 1795 as the result of a 1967 seance gone awry. Vicki is disoriented and confused by her surroundings and is made to lie down and rest in a bed. There, a granny square blanket is placed over her - the exact same one as seen in earlier 1967 episodes at Sam Evans' house, draped over his sofa; the green granny squares around the perimeter of the blanket are a dead giveaway that it's the same blanket. Either there was a mistake made in that they hoped nobody would notice that this same blanket appears over and over again in the series (it appears again in the series in unlikely places in episodes even after #367, as well), or it's a mistake to try to pass it off that this 170-year-old blanket was somehow still in perfect condition in the future, in 1967, at Sam Evans' place. Either way, it's a mistake.

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Factual error: 1966: Ohrbach's, the fashion house that supplied Dark Shadows with costumes throughout its run, suffered the indignity of seeing its name misspelled as "Orhbach's" in many of the 1966 credit crawls.

Jean G

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Audio problem: 1966: While Constable Carter is grilling Burke Devlin, you can hear crew members talking loudly backstage. In apparent annoyance, "Burke" raises his voice and all but shouts his next line.

Jean G

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Other mistake: 1795: A black-and-white cat, supposedly the transformed Joshua Collins, was completely uncooperative in every scene he was in. He always started out on a bed or a chair, but got up and left every time, usually forcing the camera to pull in so that the actors could pretend the cat was still there.

Jean G

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Visible crew/equipment: In the 1795 flashback, as Barnabas confronts Angelique beside his coffin, a crew member in a short-sleeved blue shirt is sitting to the right, and can be seen hastily getting up and moving out of the shot.

Jean G

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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

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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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