Customer Reviews

Dark Shadows: The Beginning, Vol. 5

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This boxed set from the iconic Classic TV soap opera Dark Shadows represents the next to the last set of episodes before the fabled appearance of 175-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins.

MPI Home Video should be congratulated for continuing to release these less familiar and seldom seen episodes onto DVD.

In this boxed set, containing 35 episodes that first aired in 1967, the first-ever seance in soap opera history is held! Seances and other supernatural events became a staple of this unique soap opera throughout the remainder of the fantastic series.

The Collins family is continuing to cope with the unexpected return of Roger Collins' wife, Laura Murdock Radcliff Collins, whose presence becomes even more mysterious, supernatural and - very dangerous.

Roger (Louis Edmonds) had told his young son David (David Henesy) that his mother was dead, but she had actually suffered a mental breakdown and was confined in sanitarium. Since being released, she apparently had been living in Phoenix, Ariz., unbeknownst to the Collins family.

Without warning, Laura (Diana Millay) returned to Collinwood and demanded full custody of her son. Roger's sister, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Joan Bennett) steadfastly refused, and was inexplicably stricken by what appears to be a trance. The family also learns that a woman, identified AS Laura Collins, was found burned to death in Laura's apartment in Phoenix three days prior to Laura's arrival at Collinwood.

Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke), Collinwood governess, becomes so uneasy about the frightening events surrounding Laura that she decides to do everything in her power to prevent David from seeing his mother. She joins forces with Dr. Peter Guthrie (John Lasell), a psychic investigator, who has come to Collinwood to investigate these odd occurrences.

In this boxed set, artist Sam Evans (David Ford) continues to be tormented and compelled to paint the beautiful Laura in a setting surrounded by flames - with young David by her side. Laura threatens Sam, saying she would ensure that he'd never paint again if he didn't stop and destroy the painting of her and David. Soon after, Sam falls asleep, dreams of Laura's eyes, then awakens to find real flames in front of him. He reaches to put out the fire and badly burns his hands. On the other side of the room completely away from the fire, the portrait of Laura and David has been burned through!

In an attempt to find more out about Laura, Victoria and Guthrie hold the seance to contact the ghost of Josette Collins, who has helped members of the Collins for more than 100 years.

Bonuses include interviews with Millay, writers Ron Sproat and Malcolm Marmorstein, and author/horror expert Leonard Wolf.

These early black and white episodes take place prior to the arrival of the reluctant vampire, played by the gifted Jonathan Frid. Frid joined the cast at Episode 211, which first aired 04/18/67. Almost immediately, the show skyrocketed to international iconic status. Many fans who began watching once Barnabas became a fixture on the show, never saw these early episodes, or when they were syndicated for a short time.

Dark Shadows-The beginning Collection 5==We are now well into the Supernatural-Joan Bennett and Louis Edmounds carry the story lines-The rest of the young cast our beginng to show their acting chops as their characters take shape. The casting is good and the scripts are sharpe. Black and White was the best way to go here creates a perfect atmosphere for the story line.

I don't know why MPI didn't release Dark Shadows from the beginning of the series; the first year is definitely worth watching. The early warring with Burke Devlin seemed a bit dragged out until the murder of Bill Malloy. The Beginning Volume 5 is very suspenceful as we watch the 2nd supernatural plot line of the series play out. Not only is it good in it's own right, but it is an important background story for when Laura reappears in the Barnabus years. I've enjoyed these early episodes very much, they are a must for any Dark Shadows fan. Dark Shadows has a cinematic quality to it that has not been rivaled by any other soap opera in television history. The special effects were very advanced for the 1960s. I guarantee that fans of the suspence/horror genre won't be dissapointed either.

This was way better than I expected! Really got me hooked. Can't wait for the next collection to come out! The phoenix lady rocks!

I love Dark Shadows. The actors are wonderful. I like the mistakes they make and how they just work on through it on tape - They don't freak out and they don't laugh. Much better acting really than today's soaps when they just do a re-take. The suspense is wonderful.The ghosts are great. I loved Laura Collins. I had forgotten how spooky it really was. I like it even more now than when it originally aired but I do remember rushing home to watch it every day when I was a kid. The interviews with writers and actors really add to it and it is very interesting.

Any discussion of Dark Shadows: the beginning vol. 5 must begin with Laura Collins. When Laura arrives in Collinwood it seems that her story will be a familiar one: An estranged spouse returns after a long absence to complicate the lives of her former family but, as we shall see, Laura is anything but ordinary.
No sooner does Laura begin to establish a relationship with her son, David; than the boy begins to have nightmares about his mother. The strangness of these nightmares is troubling to both Victoria and Elizabeth and they begin to doubt whether David should have anything to do with his mother.
Even more troubling is the news Roger Collins receives from the Phoenix Arizona police, a fire has occured at his wife's former apartment and a body discovered there is identified as that of Laura Collins!
By this time, Elizabeth has had enough and orders Laura out of Collinwood. After returning from this task Elizabeth suddenly becomes ill and cannot remember where she was or what just happened. After being confined to her bedroom, Elizabeth is visited by Laura and placed in a trance.
As the events of Vol. 5 move to a conclusion Dr. Peter Guthrie, a para-psychologist, is brought in to unravel the mystery of Elizabeth's illness. Dr. Guthrie believes Laura is a supernatural being whos designs on David are anything but motherly and sets out to prove his theory by opening the grave of an ancestor of Laura's that is buried in a local cemetary.
Fans will enjoy the suspence and mystery of these events as they progress and they will also enjoy Laura Collins herself, as well as Diana Millay the actress who plays her. Laura was Dark Shadows first great villian and Millay plays her with just enough malice to make her intimidating without being totaly unsympathetic.
As extras, Vol. 5 contains interviews with Diana Millay. Dark Shadows writer Ron Sproat, and horror expert Leonard Wolf.

This is the volume that I purchased last month. I have been trying to get the episodes pre Barnabas. I recommend these as you get to know these characters first. And the intro of the characters, up until Barnabas Collins appears. Played by the ever impressive Mr Jonathan Frid. This show is and always will be a cult classic to me. I was not born until '73 however. When the episodes replayed on the scifi channel back in the 90's I fell instantly in love with the show. My parents remembered Dark Shadows and have always been a fan. So I was pleased to be able to start the collection of the beginning pre-Barnabas for them to view as well.

This collection is delightfully reminiscent of the great series that brought much entertainment to many folks.

In this volume of the cult classic, Dark Shadows started to find success by making its new supernatural elements more intricate. A missing corpse, a psychic investigator, seances, ghosts, and a touch of the absurd all help to create the best volume of the series to date. Diana Millay's Laura character takes center stage as the charming and single-minded supernatural creature with a wide array of powers that she takes great pleasure in using to get her own way. Surprisingly dark and creepy for daytime TV--no wonder it stood out amidst the other soaps.

Although this is part of the series nearly led to its early demise, any Dark Shadows fan especially those of us in our 50's who have been collecting the after Barnabas CD's will enjoy these episodes. It is an excellent introduction to the charactors, a great example of early TV production and a perfect preface for the episodes that follow.