Reviews:
Don't Waste Your Money
Very disappointing...would of been better if maybe Jonathan Frid or another cast member had narratored the mishaps for us. Some of the bloopers are not apparent and have to be pointed out with a little white arrow (boring) and we are just subjected to one scene after another. The outtakes are also disappointing - most of them are of the actors or a stage hand holding the number slate.
OOPS! Lara Parker says "Hollywood" instead of Collinwood.
It seems that most of the main cast has made a blooper during their time on the live soap opera "Dark Shadows" (1966-1971). As the videobox says, "Dark Shadows was videotaped virtually live without stopping the camera". "Modern videotape editing was not yet commonly available". See the entire cast in their most embarassing moments and under pressure of live videotaping, Lara Parker, Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Joan Bennett, Nancy Barrett, Louis Edmonds, Kathryn Leigh Scott, John Karlen, David Selby, Kate Jackson, Jim Storm, Roger Davis, Christopher Pennock, David Henesy and others. Bloopers you will see are the crew in the way, actors flubbing lines, forgetting lines, doors that close by themselves, actors that hit their heads in the doorway, television cameras in the way, boomers in the scene, "Hollywood" instead of Collinwood, actor's trip on something, the fly that insists to be in scenes and bother the actors, good ad-libbing, bad ad-libbing, problems with props, candles that re-light and blow out mysteriously, trees that wobble, earrings that fall off, noises off camera (the crew not being quiet), terrible camera shots and moving sets and sets that fall apart. This tape is only 40 minutes long. My favorite bloopers: Lara Parker when she says "Hollywood. I never imagined that I'd see it", and the orange bottle that shattered by touching it before the actor could use it to pretend to hit the actor in a fight.
Sad
Don't get me wrong; I am a huge fan. That's why I bought the video. But it was mostly a bore and disappointment. Big deal if the actors stumble over some lines or if some candles go out. The outakes were interesting but they seem to only represent maybe 10% of the video.
Very funny, but missing something
This is an incredibly funny video and a must for any DS fan, but the problem is....:The box talks about bloopers and out takes, but there are so many bloopers and not enough outtakes. I love to see when actors have to stop and break character.Alas, that is why this video has 3 stars and not five.
Fascinating viewing, though not for the intended reason...
Bloopers are bloopers -- if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Be they line flubs, accidents, misadventure or the result of downright ineptitude, to watch a blooper compilation of any sort usually amounts to an invitation to extreme repetition. Two important factors distance "Dark Shadows Bloopers" from these pitfalls: the fact that with no facility for retakes, the show had to plough ahead regardless; and the way in which they succeed in offering a rounded overview of the production atmosphere on a unique footnote in broadcast history.The sight of armies of running stagehands, misplaced booms and wayward camera lenses manage to give a lucid insight into the working environment of the "Dark Shadows" studio, which transcends any number of interviews or printed matter. Bloopers, by nature, are a trivial commodity, but by employing them in a way that illustrates the background of the show so well, they gain a value and quality far more satisfying than the sight of a stumbling actor or error in syntax. Complimented with a selection of unbroadcast outtakes, complete with sarcastic stage-hands and Grayson Hall's raucous cackling, for the briefest moment, one finds oneself transported to ABC Studio 16, a cramped rabbit warren buzzing with activity. For that reason alone, "Dark Shadows Bloopers" is a tape I rarely tire of revisiting.
