EXCLUSIVE: 1776 Audio Interview with Director Peter H. Hunt and Mini-Review of Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Mark-P]

Shorter version exists to be kind to people's bladders in a theater where you don't have a pause button.

Yeah because that extra 3 and a half minutes is a real bladder buster!

 

[Moe Dickstein]

And yet, it is still the reason.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

...and for the record....


As far as I remember....


The original theatrical release did not have the animated (drawings) opening.


The film opened in the bell tower and John Adam's descent down the stairs is where the opening credits took place.


The Director Cut (shorter) doesn't reflect this.

 

[waltodonnell]

Another review


http://j-entonline.com/blu-ray-dvd-reviews/blu-ray-reviews/1776-directors-cut-a-j-ent-blu-ray-disc-review/

 

[Josh Steinberg]

...and for the record....

As far as I remember....

The original theatrical release did not have the animated (drawings) opening.

The film opened in the bell tower and John Adam's descent down the stairs is where the opening credits took place.

The Director Cut (shorter) doesn't reflect this.

I loved that original opening - I missed that in the DVD cut.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Not sure what you mean about animated drawings? There's an animation of the eaglet and the egg in the trailer. The main title with the non animated drawing was restored to all versions post 1972, so afaik that should be identical in both versions on the BD.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Not sure what you mean about animated drawings? There's an animation of the eaglet and the egg in the trailer. The main title with the non animated drawing was restored to all versions post 1972, so afaik that should be identical in both versions on the BD.

Animated was the wrong word to use and the only one I could think of at that moment.


If memory serves me correctly, the VHS release of the film (which I am guessing was a representation of the final theatrical release) did not have the sequence with drawings at the start of the film. The film opened with John Adams in the bell tower and the "1776" title appeared as he descended down the stairs.


I could be wrong. However, that's how I remember it.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Thats absolutely correct. 2 titles only, over adams descending the stairs.

 

[waltodonnell]

Another review, this one more detailed. The most interesting part is the description of who's in the 4 additional screen tests.


http://www.dvdmg.com/1776.shtml

 

[BarryR]

For the record, I recall the bell tower opening when I saw 1776 at NYC's Radio City in 1972.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

For the record, I recall the bell tower opening when I saw 1776 at NYC's Radio City in 1972.

Thank you, Barry. Been trying to get an answer to that.


As I recall, the original cut of the film opened with the Bell Tower and the credits played as Adams ascended down stairs.


The VHS release opened the same way.


So, when was the drawn musical opening added? Wasn't that on the Pioneer laserdisc?

 

[John Maher_289910]

Another review, this one more detailed. The most interesting part is the description of who's in the 4 additional screen tests.


http://www.dvdmg.com/1776.shtml

This reviewer seems to have no concept of what a musical is.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Thank you, Barry. Been trying to get an answer to that.


As I recall, the original cut of the film opened with the Bell Tower and the credits played as Adams ascended down stairs.


The VHS release opened the same way.


So, when was the drawn musical opening added? Wasn't that on the Pioneer laserdisc?

A friend of mine saw the drawn musical opening at a test preview screening of the film in Phoenix before it opened in 1972. Apparently when the film was shortened to its final release length, the credits were changed to the bell tower opening (which I've never seen since I first saw this film on the Pioneer laserdisc).

 

[Rob_Ray]

This reviewer seems to have no concept of what a musical is.

Yes, I've never understood why people who don't like musicals and love to freely admit as much constantly in review after review, insist on reviewing them nonetheless. Let someone who understands and appreciates the genre review them.

 

[BarryR]

A friend of mine saw the drawn musical opening at a test preview screening of the film in Phoenix before it opened in 1972. Apparently when the film was shortened to its final release length, the credits were changed to the bell tower opening (which I've never seen since I first saw this film on the Pioneer laserdisc).

Interesting, because I was surprised by the illustrated opening when I saw it years later.

 

[MatthewA]

Yes, I've never understood why people who don't like musicals and love to freely admit as much constantly in review after review, insist on reviewing them nonetheless. Let someone who understands and appreciates the genre review them.

Quoted for truth. No critic or reviewer would ever get away with attacking any other form or genre, but for some reason it's okay to systematically dismiss musicals?


And because of that, Hollywood has been forced to pander to musical-haters with mixed results at best whenever they get the urge to try and "revive" the genre. This is why so many of the numbers in Chicago look like something out of Man With a Movie Camera.* This is why we got an autotuned Annie.** This is why they still feel the need to cut pre-existing and well-loved songs after they're actually shot and replace them with nothing.***


*Whoever directs OK Go's music videos might be a good fit for a film musical. They manage to do a lot of Rube Goldberg-like stunts in one take.
**I'm sure we haven't seen or heard the last of her. We'll probably see a live TV production by no later than 2030.
***Some of the people who didn't like Disney's Into the Woods called it "disjointed." What the HELL goes on at the editing suites in that studio?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

*Whoever directs OK Go's music videos might be a good fit for a film musical. They manage to do a lot of Rube Goldberg-like stunts in one take.

That would be Trish Sie, who already has the equivalent of a modern-day movie musical under her belt: Step Up: All In. As a side note, Ms. Sie is also OK Go vocalist Damian Kulash's sister.

 

[Rick Fisher]

purchased my first home theatre system in 1999 with the assistance of bloggers on this site and it's time for an upgrade.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Quoted for truth. No critic or reviewer would ever get away with attacking any other form or genre, but for some reason it's okay to systematically dismiss musicals?

I think it happens to a certain degree with superhero, sci-fi, and horror movies, but I agree that a lot of reviews of musicals seem to include a variation of the line "I don't like musicals, but...", it definitely seems to happen more with the musical genre than any other.


I didn't agree with every single review Roger Ebert ever wrote, but I loved that part of his philosophy was (paraphrasing here), "does the movie succeed in doing what it set out to do"? I think that's forgotten too often by critics. Not everyone is going to like everything, but if you have disdain for whatever the genre the movie you're about to review happens to fall in, maybe you shouldn't be reviewing that movie. It doesn't do any favors for the public reading the review, it wastes the critic's time, and I'm sure it must be incredibly frustrating for the filmmakers who spent all of that time and money and effort making the movie. I find it hard to take any review seriously where the reviewer says they automatically don't like whatever the genre the movie happens to be. I don't care if it's not "realistic" that people sing at John Adams to sit down as the movie begins - it's damn entertaining and that moment has stuck with me more than plenty of other more "realistic" portrayals of history.