Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows: The Beginning Collection 2

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3 star:		(1)
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Following it's landmark premier in 1966, the first-ever gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows, settled into its afternoon timeslot to haunt viewers with is unique blend of romance and terror. Unfortunately, viewership dwindled steadily, despite excellent stories and equally fine acting, which are clearly demonstrated in this latest boxed set of remastered DVD episodes from MPI Home Video.

The Beginning Set 1, reflecting the first 35 episodes of the series, introduced the characters and eerie atmosphere created by innovative sets and unforgettable original music that was the hallmark of the show for its five-year run.

The Beginning Set 2, which collects the next 35 episodes, builds on that foundation by further developing the main characters and adding some new ones.

Burke Devlin, portrayed with animation and realism by Mitchell Ryan, has returned to Collinsport a rich man after being away for 10 years. He spent the first five years in prison after being convicted in Collinsport of manslaugter. He had spent the succeeeding years years abroad amassing his fortune before returning, embittered and angry, to his hometown.

In these episodes, Burke begins to unravel the truth behind the crime for which he was falsely convicted, and strategizes to take over the Collins Family's vast financial holdings, including the family estate of Collinwood.

Victoria Winters, played to perfection by Alexandra Moltke, finds herself drawn to Burke, then embroiled in a bitter feud with Carolyn Stoddard, portrayed by the incredible Nancy Barrett, who inexplicably decides she no longer wants her steady but "boring" boyfriend, Joe Haskell, but would rather try to seduce the volatile Burke.

As a result, Joe, played by the late Joel Crothers, begins to develop romantic feelings for waitress Maggie Evans, played by Kathryn Leigh Scott. (Cast Note: Mark Allen, the actor who originated the role of Maggie's father, Sam Evans, is now replaced by actor David Ford, who brings a depth and likeability to the character as never before.)

David Collins, the young son of Burke's arch enemy, Roger Collins (who testified against Burke at his trial,) is given a crystal ball by Burke and "sees" the disappearance of Bill Malloy, manager of Collins Enterprises and Cannery. Malloy, who has begun to believe that Burke was innocent of the manslaughter charge, had been investigating and had asked to meet with Burke, Roger and Sam that night to discuss what he had found. Instead, Malloy's lifeless body is found washed up on the rocks by Widow's Hill.

Talented actress Clarice Blackburn joins the cast as Malloy's housekeeper Mrs. Sarah Johnson, who eventually becomes the live-in housekeeper for the Collins Family at Collinwood. This set also features the debut of the brilliant actor, Thayer David, who took over the role of Collinwood ground's keeper Matthew Morgan. Mr. David would go on to play some of the show's most memorable characters during the remainder of the series' run.

Special features in this set include: Interviews with Moltke, Ryan and Conrad Fowkes, who portrayed attorney Frank Garner.

These early episodes occur prior to the arrival of the vampire, Barnabas Collins, played by the gifted Jonathan Frid. Series Creator, the late Dan Curtis, decided to "go all the way" into the supernatural in an attempt to save the show from falling ratings. It worked. Once Frid joined the cast, the show skyrocketed to iconic status. Many fans who began watching once Barnabas became a fixture on the show, never saw these early episodes, so it's wonderful to have them finally available on DVD, to see how it all began!! Besides, there's plenty of gothic intrigue in these episodes to satisfy anyone.

Bring on Set 3!!

Dark Shadows became fodder for my pre-teen imagination enough to be one of the kids who ran home after school, out of breath to sit on the edge of the couch and watch every second of eerie goings on at the Collinwood mansion....evil abound with ghosts, werewolves, phoenixes, zombies....a schoolage boys delight. The show had centered its story by then around a sympathetic figure in the guise of one 175 year old vampire Barnabas Collins and the misadventures of his dysfunctional wealthy family.

The Beginning Collection 2 continues the early pre-Barnabas Gothic storyline of governess Victoria Winters trying to find out HER beginnings and family origins after she has accepted a position as governess to the strange and rather disturbed 10 year old David Collins. Victoria (quite ably played by Alexander Moltke) is a perfect femme fatale mix of Jane Eyre and Nancy Drew desperately trying to uncover the mystery of her parentage for she was an orphan growing up in New York who all her life receiving a stipend of money mysteriously from Bangor, Maine not 50 miles from Collinsport where she is summoned out of the blue to become a governess and companion at the Collins Estate/Collinwood....little does she know the mysteries and dangers that await her around every corner of the haunted 40 room mansion....the story continues for another 35 black and white episodes.....Matt Morgan, Collinswood's surly caretaker warns Vicki to mind her own business and tells her tales of ghosts that haunt the spooky mansion such as Josette Collins, wife of an early settler. Bill Malloy, manager of the Collins Fishing Fleet tries to force a meeting between Roger Collins and Burke Devlin to resolve the manslaughter case that wrongfully convicted Burke to years in prison, but this has its own dire consequences....soon Victoria and Carolyn spot a body floating in the shallows beneath Widow's Hill and Victoria has strange premonitions....Roger bribes Sam Evans to leave town to prevent Burke from prying further with his investigation....a mysterious ghostly figure emerges from the Old House......BOOOOOOOOO!!! Great fun just in time for Halloween......ghostly and atmospheric, of the non-gore kind.....you will love Dark Shadows, great family fun!! A+++++++++++++++

Both Volumes 1 and 2 of the dvd set Dark Shadows: The Beginning are superlative. Why the "prelude to Barnabas' appearance" was omitted for release for so long, and thought of as BORING by reviewers, is beyond me - there are over 200 episodes to catch up with prior to the vampire's story, and so far we only have 70 of those episodes available.

I was immediately engrossed. The ambience of the perpetually overcast late afternoon, evening, or night-time lighting of the house perfectly set the mood for this gothic classic. This had to have been the classiest daytime drama ever in the history of televised soap operas. For forty years, denied by my parents to ever even glimpse a segment of Dark Shadows, I had longed to see the very program I had been forbidden to watch as an impressionable, easily frightened kindergartner - and now I realize why! The deliberate pacing of the story; the snobby, reserved Collins family with their grim secrets; the haughty interchanges as Liz and Roger sip their sherry and bicker over how to handle despised little David or the snoopy governess Vicki only broach the eerie tangle of situations as the plot slips more and more compellingly toward the supernatural. Finally - a middle aged woman with her husband in the next room! - I was honestly as much frightened as thrilled when I watched as Josette's ghost crept out of her portrait in the Old House. What a delicious way to wrap up Part 2 of this set, and how eager I am to have 3 and 4 become available as soon as possible! I hope they hurry with releasing those volumes which catch up to 211, the first of the Barnabas episodes. Audiences need more than just an explanatory preamble about Vicki, Maggie, Burke, Willie, and the Collins family. I rate this and Vol. 1 of the Beginning most highly. Most spooker movies and television shows come nowhere near to the class and panache of this 1966 series - even as it disintegrated into campy cultishness and often ridiculousness by 1971, it still holds its allure for audiences a generation later.

The Dark Shadows Beginning Collection II focuses much attention on Bill Malloy, the Collins family Fishing Fleet Manager. Out of his love for Elizabeth and her family (not her brother Roger though), Bill does his own investigation into the cause of Burke Devlin's imprisonment 10 years prior. Was Burke Devlin falsely accused of a crime and a real criminal still at large? That question was what Bill set out to find. After much research, he wanted to bring his findings to 3 gentlemen: Burke Devlin, Sam Evans, and Roger Collins. The storyline has focused on these characters and what they know or don't know about Burke's imprisonment from the onset. Unfortunately, before Bill Malloy can share his findings, he disappears. Later, Victoria Winters and Carolyn Stoddard find his body washed up beneath Widow's Hill. Was the killing an accident, suicide, or murder? That question becomes the focus on the second half of the set. David Collins, Roger's son, receives a crystal ball from Burke Devlin that reveals to him who Bill Malloy's killer is as well as some events that will happen in the future. At the end of this DVD set, the viewer gets to see the first real image of the much talked about Ghost of Widow's Hill, Josette Collins. The camera work for this apparition was truly spectacular as was the entrance of Josette to all of us waiting to see her. I highly recommend this set to those that have watched the first Beginnings Collection set and to all Dark Shadows fans. Even if you have never seen Dark Shadows, I think you will be able to pick up this storyline if this is your first set. I do highly recommend getting the first collection though as well. Enjoy!

Finally MPI realized that the audience for Dark Shadows wanted all the shows including the first story lines before Barnabas. Now we have them to complete the series.

I would recommend this DVD collection. I was 3 and a half when Dark Shadows premiered. I honestly don't remember Barnabas Collins, because I had entered school by the time he appeared. I do remember the earlier days. It's fun to recognize actors, music and backdrops. It's also fun to hear the announcements such as "Tune in to Bewitched tonight when Aunt Clara conjures up an extra child during her babysitting duties." There are nine episodes per disc. Each runs about 20 minutes. It's a solid mystery story line without the overblown sex of today's soap operas. The "imperfections" from a more live TV experience are refreshing to watch in our day of airbrushing and digital mastering. When I mention that I'm watching the series inevitabley friends say, "Can I borrow it?"

Though this second collection of pre-Barnabas episodes is more than a year away from the time traveling period of the soap, through it I have become transported back into time myself. At the end of a particularly frustating day with everything coming at me at unspeakable rates, I can come home, dim the lights, curl up on the couch with my remote and with a couple of clicks travel back to the year of my birth. Though I was a just a baby when the series first aired, I feel as if I watched it myself long ago because as I was growing up I heard so much about it from my mother and my older brother. They were addicted, and now I am too.
This collection, while sticking to classic slow revealing gothicism, seems to move along slightly faster than collection number 1. We have a murder, Vicki's continuing search for her roots, Carolyn's tormenting of "good ole Joe" with her infatuation with Burke, Roger's witty evil style, Sam Evan's self destructive drinking, etc. It's such fun. And David is awesome. He has a crystal ball from which he claims he gleans all kinds of nasty information that's right on the mark.
The collection is full of missed cues and line fumbling but this only makes it endearing. I love these Collinsport people. And, Oh yeah, the eerie happenings are already beginning here though many fans seem to discount much of the supernatural events preceeding Barnabas (aside from David's interaction with the ghost girl that comes much later than these episodes). The unseen crying ghost is at it a couple of times along with much talk of the ghosts of Collinwood and I actually got a chill down my spine when the Collins family album has it bookmark slide independently from its text to reveal the page on Josette Collins.

this is the second collection in the 'dark shadows-the beginning'series.these collections are not like the ones that feature barnabas,angelique,ect.that is to say,primarily supernatural.it seems that the series began with the intent of being different from other soaps of the period by focusing more on off-the-beaten-path storylines with a hint of supernatural elements.this means that,like the usual storylines,the show has to be developed over time.it's interesting and enjoyable to see the characters grow as the situation(s)develops.it gets better and better.i love this series,and i am so grateful to have been around when it originally aired.to all dark shadows fans,buy this...you can't lose.

"Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Collection 2" delivers 35 or so episodes from the earliest run of this classic soap, which was the first daytime drama to inject supernatural and outright horror elements into its storylines. These early episodes contain only the most subtle supernatural elements, however, relying instead on gothic staples: Governess Victoria Winters is still wondering about her true origins and her suspicion that her new employers are somehow connected to her past; and past Collinwood resident Burke Devlin continues his plotting against the Collins family, thinking them responsible for an unwarranted manslaughter conviction years before.

There's not much movement on the Victoria Winters plotline this time out, but there's much attention paid to Burke Devlin and his efforts to uncover the truth about the crime that was- in his view- unjustly laid at his feet years before. The latter plotline picks up further steam when a Collins family confidante- its fishing fleet manager Bill Malloy- turns up dead after apparently uncovering the truth about the Devlin episode. Amidst the building drama of the Devlin/Malloy situation (Devlin still hounding the Collins family, everyone else trying to figure out who killed Bill Malloy), the set concludes on a chilling, outright supernatural note, as the ghost of Josette Collins, who died tragically in the late 18th century, makes a memorable entrance.

The Devlin/Malloy plotline is more interesting (and certainly less predictable) than the "Who tampered with the brakes of Roger Collins' car?" storyline in "Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Collection One", though I'm hoping it draws to a resolution during the early going of the third set of these early episodes. Even an innovative soap like "Dark Shadows" tended to draw things out in those days.

But the third set will indeed be an inevitable purchase for me. Whether it's resolved or not, I want to see further developments in the Burke Devlin storyline and am definitely curious where the producers are going with the ghost of Josette Collins.

Like the first set of these earliest "Dark Shadows" episodes, "Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Collection 2" features crisp, clean black & white episodes and a handful of modest but interesting special features.

I have enjoyed going back to see the beginning episodes. Such great acting by David Hennesy as the little boy, David Collins; so believably evil yet sweet and the character of Roger Collins plays off him so well. Such strong emotions of father and son hatred and love. Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard is excellent. Very enjoyable, highly recommended.