294

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Number	290
Timeline	1967
Narrator	Alexandra Moltke
Writer	Gordon Russell
Director	John Sedwick
Broadcast	August 10, 1967 (Thursday)
Recorded	July 21, 1967 (Friday)
Video	Complete: Disc 33 Collection 3: Disc 1

We have 5 images of Dark Shadows 294

Sarah visits Maggie at Windcliff Sanitarium and helps her escape.

Synopsis[]

Teaser

There is a terrible secret at Collinwood. It is the secret of one who must forever walk the night, of one who has already struck terror into the heart and mind of an innocent girl. But there are barriers that have kept the secret from being known, barriers that have kept the girl from revealing the evil that threatens many others.

In her room at Windcliff Sanitarium, Maggie Evans stares out of the barred window and laments not being able to return home. Sarah calls her name, and Maggie is overjoyed to find the little girl in the room with her. Sarah apologizes for not having found Maggie sooner, and promises to help her go home.

Act I

Sarah relates having made a new friend in David Collins, and his belief that Maggie is dead. She reiterates her promise to take care of Maggie and help her leave Windcliff. Giving Maggie her doll, Sarah instructs her to go to the door and call for Nurse Jackson. The nurse enters the room to find Sarah sitting on the bed singing London Bridge. Maggie seizes her chance and escapes, locking Nurse Jackson up in the process. When the nurse turns back to Sarah, the little girl has disappeared. Meanwhile, Victoria Winters, Burke Devlin and Barnabas Collins visit the House by the Sea which Victoria has become enamored with. Burke's suspicions toward Barnabas continue to grow.

Act II

While exploring the house, Burke expresses reservations about Victoria's enthusiastic wish to look through every room. Barnabas waxes lyrical about the beauty of the place bathed in moonlight and candlelight. He offers to search upstairs for clues to whomever might have owned and built the house. Meanwhile, Sarah is escorting Maggie through the woods. Maggie is terrified being outside again, but Sarah comforts her. Maggie wonders how the little girl managed to get in and out of the locked room. Sarah, however, only has cryptic answers. Holding hands, the pair sing London Bridge as they continue through the trees.

Act III

An hour has passed, and Burke suggests leaving. He resents the fact they're having to wait on Barnabas to come back downstairs before they can do so. Victoria points out that Barnabas likes the house more than he. She berates her beau when he intends to ditch Barnabas and let him find his own way back to town. Barnabas reappears, having found a gift for Victoria upstairs: a monogrammed handkerchief. Burke glares daggers in Barnabas' direction.

Act IV

Burke, Victoria and Barnabas stop in at the Blue Whale for a drink. While Barnabas goes to the bar, Victoria and Burke discuss Seaview and the past. Barnabas returns, complimenting Victoria on her taste in the house. She confesses she could feel happy living there for the rest of her life. Burke proposes a toast to the house. Suddenly, the whole room falls into stunned silence as Maggie wanders inside. She takes one look at Barnabas, and promptly faints.

Memorable quotes[]

Sarah: It's your very best friend.

Maggie: (laughs) You're really here.

Sarah: Of course I am. I'm sorry I took so long, but I didn't know where to find you. I just kept looking. I just kept listening so very hard, and I began to hear you. And I found you at last. And I'll help you go home.

Maggie: (happily) Oh, Sarah. (she hugs Sarah)

Barnabas: Mr. Devlin is a man with little patience for the past.

Barnabas: Perhaps the past isn't as far behind us as we sometimes think.

Maggie: You know, Sarah, there's something that I don't understand.

Sarah: What is it?

Maggie: Well, in the hospital room, there were bars on the windows and the door was locked. Now, how did you get in?

Sarah: Do you really want to know?

Maggie: Yes I do.

Sarah: The same way I got out.

Maggie: All right. But when I left the room, I locked you in with the nurse. Now how did you get out?

Sarah: The same way I got in.

Maggie: (laughs) Oh, Sarah. You know, you're a funny little girl.

Sarah: I never heard you laugh before. You should do it all the time. You have a nice laugh.

Dramatis personae[]

← Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins →
← Kathryn Leigh Scott as Maggie Evans →
← Anthony George as Burke Devlin →
← Sharon Smyth as Sarah Collins →
← Alexandra Moltke as Victoria Winters →
← Bob O'Connell as Bob Rooney (uncredited) →
← Alice Drummond as ← Nurse Jackson (uncredited) →

Background information and notes[]

Production[]

This was the final episode of the original series to be taped in black and white.
The set design for the front parlor of the House by the Sea has previously been used for the Garner & Garner Collinsport branch office of Frank Garner (148) and originally for Roger's office at the cannery (45).
From Danny Horn's blog "Dark Shadows Every Day": "According to Jim Pierson’s 1988 book Dark Shadows: The Introduction of Barnabas [a fan-published episode guide published by the Dark Shadows Festival in 1988], the original script for this episode included a truck driver, who picks up Maggie on the road and drives her to Collinsport. The truck driver was written out of the revised script, possibly because there were already six speaking parts in the episode, which is usually the limit. So Maggie ends up walking the entire 100 mile journey in one night.]

Story[]

GHOSTWATCH: Sarah's ghost appears to Maggie.

Bloopers and continuity errors[]

Every time we have seen Maggie since her institutionalization, she has been wearing a nightgown, even when she is being treated by Dr. Hoffman. For no apparent reason--especially since it is nighttime--she is dressed in nice street clothes and street shoes while sitting in her room.
Maggie seems to have made miraculous improvements in her condition in this episode. Last time we saw her, she still spoke in rudimentary ways (even childlike at times) and expressed much confusion. In this episode, aside from her presumed continued amnesia, she speaks in a fully coherent, adult way with Sarah.
In Maggie's room at the sanitarium, as Sarah leads Maggie to the door to call Nurse Jackson, a boom mic shadow settles over the bottom portion of the window.
After Nurse Jackson unlocks the door, she keeps the key in her right hand. This means that Maggie has no way of locking the door from the outside and that the nurse could easily get out by simply using the key that is in her hand.
As Nurse Jackson pulls on the locked door, the supporting stage wall buckles visibly, causing the picture on the wall to the right of her to wobble noticeably.
As Victoria and Burke approach the window of the house by the sea and he talks about the schooner with three masts, there's the reflection of a person walking past in the glass of the window (from the left side of the screen to the right.)
Anthony George trips over a line: "And here's the famous view of the sea...where you'll see...saw the three-masted schooner..."
In the Blue Whale, as Burke is "timing" Victoria as she wonders about the owner of the handkerchief, Bob the bartender can be seen standing behind Burke holding a tray with their drinks, awaiting his cue to deliver them.
Barnabas should have easily seen Maggie come in the door of the Blue Whale, just as Victoria did, since he is sitting at a right angle to the door with a clear view of it. But Barnabas merely stares straight ahead at the wall and doesn't see Maggie until Victoria says her name.
Something seems to have gone wrong in the final scene. Before Maggie enters the Blue Whale, all the characters stop speaking, the jukebox abruptly stops, and there is an overly long pause when no one says anything.