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Extended/Alternate Versions Of Films

Started by An tSaoi, February 13, 2010, 10:54:02 PM

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Vitalstatistix

Re Leon. I don't find the extra scenes regarding their relationship in the International version as particularly uncomfortable, just unnecessary. I like how we don't know much about his past in the shorter cut, how the potential sexuality of their relationship is only partly hinted at. It's more subtle, it's more believable, it's more intriguing.

Is it in this version,
Spoiler alert
where Leon admits he's a virgin?
[close]
I may have imagined this. But if it is the case... well of course we may have guessed this, but we don't need to be explicitly told it, in my opinion...

Quote from: biggytitbo on February 16, 2010, 12:43:16 PM
The holy grail for me would be the legendary long version of the best Holmes film ever - The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes featuring 2 extra stories. Apparently one the lost stories only exists as sound and one only exists as film, so I might be waiting a long time.

The Region 1 release of "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" includes what remains of the deleted scenes, the trailer, a photo gallery, an interview with Christopher Lee, and another interview with editor Ernest Walter. I believe the interviews were filmed for the laser disc release in the 90s. As far as I recall, the UK release has the trailer and no other extras.

The deleted scenes are not integrated into the film, and none of them survive intact. We have;

The script and photographs for the original opening sequence, with Watson's great nephew arriving at the bank for the opening of the fabled dispatch box (much as appears in the novelisation of the film by Michael and Mollie Hardwick).

Script, photographs and audio for an early sequence (which must have come directly after the titles) of Holmes and Watson returning to Baker Street on a train, with Holmes deducing the identity of a fellow passenger in their carriage (alluded to in the novel, with a curious mention of carpet slippers). This leads into...

... Script, photographs and audio for "The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room" (though this would come somewhat later in the film than is suggested here).

"The Case of the Dumbfounded Detective" - script and photographs as Holmes reveals how he fell in love during his university days. (This would have come during the northbound train sequence, as Holmes shares a berth with Madame Valladon).

Complete edited film, but with no audio for the ship-bound "Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners" (which has some blurring on screen to censor a pair of naked breasts - apparently MGM policy doesn't allow for extras which would get a higher age rating than the main feature). This sequence is subtitled.

In the interview with Ernest Walters, he reveals that there was at one point some talk of combining the deleted sequences to create a TV special to tie in with the film's release. If only...




biggytitbo

Thanks ColonelVolestrangler, interesting stuff.

Why is the footage missing and incomplete in the first place? That has to be quite unusual for a film made as recently as 1970 by one of the major filmmakers of his time.

Not sure what happened in this case, but film outtakes can be misfiled, scrapped when they're deemed of no use (which is what happened to the "Life of Brian" outtakes when Paragon bought the Handmade back catalogue and were too tight to pay for storing the film cans), or, since Christopher Lee was involved, it may be buried under a motorway bridge support.

I believe there have been several attempts to locate the footage to perform a restoration job - one time by Martin Scorsese, a big Wilder fan - though nothing ever seemed to emerge.

I'd love to see a fully restored version one day, and the scenes (what we have of them) on the R1 DVD are very nice indeed. But I wonder if the film might suffer for their inclusion, if it might have tipped the balance too far into outright comedy in places, as what we have at the moment is as damn near perfection as you can get.

VegaLA

Quote from: Glebe on February 18, 2010, 11:19:52 AM
I think I read somewhere that Romero prefers the theatrical cut. The extended cut has scenes with armed police fighting zombies in an apartment building, doesn't it? Its a while since I saw it. Argento's cut has the gang in the deparment store piling up zobies at one point, I thinlk. I love Goblin's score.

Yeah, Romero cut the film twice, one quick jobby for Cannes then a tighter version for the Cinema release, which is his final definitive cut. The Goblin score is amazing and I have a few of their Soundtracks on CD as well as some updated Techno remixes. The library score from 'Dawn' is also available which includes 'The Gonk' and that one which features the hi hat when Roger and Peter go shopping for the first time. That scene always pulls me into the excitement.

Talulah, really!

Quote from: biggytitbo on February 18, 2010, 01:42:06 PM
Thanks ColonelVolestrangler, interesting stuff.

Why is the footage missing and incomplete in the first place? That has to be quite unusual for a film made as recently as 1970 by one of the major filmmakers of his time.

Don't know if you have ever read this piece by the novelist Jonathan Coe on the film.

It started with a chance encounter, and led to a lifelong obsession. Jonathan Coe on the clues he unearthed, the music he heard, and the friends he made as he pursued Billy Wilder's Sherlock Holmes

biggytitbo

Yeah I've seen that before, a very nice article. He's right about the lost stuff remaining unseen, it's probably nowhere near as good as you'd imagine it to be.

Santa's Boyfriend

Quote from: Papercut on February 18, 2010, 10:48:50 AM
Very good point, I'm partly convinced. There is still something more uncomfortable about it in the longer cut for me though. Maybe just Leon's discomfort, and lack of understanding. Maybe just knowing where the story comes from makes the whole thing a little too creepy.

I hadn't properly considered the effect of trauma on Mathilda's, but that does make more sense of it.

Hmm, her burgeoning sexuality is indicated reasonably well in the shorter version, I probably just prefer that it isn't dwelt on.

Glad I put my argument across well! :-)

It is uncomfortable, no question about it  - and it's a lot more uncomfortable in the longer version, but again for me that's what I love about it.  We're watching something that is fundamentally wrong in our eyes, yet is also very natural.  It's a testament to the writing and also how well Natalie Portman plays the character that she is so utterly believeable, but it's also a testament to the character of Leon that we ultimately know that he will not take advantage of the situation.  He's both a child himself (on an emotional level) and a father figure for Mathilda.  It's a film full of contradictions that actually compiment each-other rather than demolish the suspension of disbelief, which is I think what makes it such a unique film.

I have to say, I agree that the exposition of Leon's past is unnecessary.  I liked seeing them work together, but to me the key extra scene was actually Mathilde asking Leon to sleep with her.  Without that scene, the sexual element of the film is stated but never actually reaches a conclusion, and the sexual tension between them is never released.  It's the heart of the film, and is the most defining moment of their entire relationship.

Believe me, trauma can make you go a little crazy for a while, because you simply don't give a damn about consequences.  I've been there, and I did things I later regretted.  Not massive things, but I can relate to Mathilde's experience, in an abstract, nothing-like-it-at-all kind of way.