Holy Grail of "lost" films (1 Viewer)

[ahollis]

Also:The lion’s share of the criticism against Porgy and Bess originates from the late 1950s, when MGM turned Porgy and Bess into a major Hollywood picture. The film would introduce a much wider national audience to Porgy and Bess than the novel, play, or Broadway opera had reached; it would also premiere at a particular historical moment when a civil rights movement was just beginning to consolidate. Playwright Lorraine Hansberry, appearing on a Chicago talk show with Otto Preminger, the film’s director, articulated the most widely disseminated critique of Porgy and Bess. Hansberry insisted that the characters in Porgy and Bess were stereotypes which “constitute bad art” and result from an artist who “hasn’t tried hard enough to understand his characters.” Furthermore, the opera/film was rife with exoticism:“Over a period of time, [we] have apparently decided that within American life [there is] one great repository where we’re going to focus and imagine sensuality and exaggerated sexuality, all very removed and earthy things—and this great image is the American Negro.”When Preminger asked Hansberry if she thought the production ill-intentioned, Hansberry replied:“We cannot afford the luxuries of mistakes of other peoples. So it isn’t a matter of being hostile to you, but on the other hand it’s also a matter of never ceasing to try to get you to understand that your mistakes can be painful, even those which come from excellent intentions. We’ve had great wounds from great intentions.”http://www.courttheatre.org/m/article/the_porgy_and_bess_controversy/

Well it was Samuel Goldwyn that produced the film and Columbia released it. No MGM involved. The major problem was with the Gershwin Estate in they did not like the fact that an American Opera was turned into musical they also had problems with some of the casting decisions. The entire production was snake bite from the first. It was to be Goldwyn's last production, directors were changed, and the sets burned down adding to the cost. While it is not the American Classic that some people perceive it to be, it certainly is worth a Blu-ray just watch Sammy Davis Jr, Pearl Bailey, Dorothy Danbridge and the classic Sidney Portier

 

[Dave MJ]

—"The Jitterbug" from The Wizard of Oz

This would be my holiest of holy grails. All of the lost cut footage from Wizard of Oz. There were 2 large scale production numbers cut and lots of trims to existing scenes.

 

[Vahan_Nisanain]

My holy grails:

—The original premiere version of 2001: A Space Odyssey (IIRC, Kubrick was the one who ordered the cuts in the first place)
—The original pre-reshoot version of 54, similar to the OutFest cut assembled on tape in 2008.
—The first verse of "Easy Street" from Annie (1982), as well as other cut scenes shown in the PBS making-of documentary.
—"A Step in the Right Direction" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks, as well as any audio tracks that as of now only exist as inconsistent-at-best redubs
—Numerous cut-and-reshot scenes from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
—The 12 minutes of The Black Cauldron cut by Jeffrey Katzenberg
—"Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You," filmed for The King & I but cut (some of the other numbers were only recorded for the soundtrack album, according to the expanded CD liner notes from the 1996 laserdisc box set)
—The original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons
—The longer UK cut of The Muppet Movie, last scene on a UK VHS tape in 1987
—Two cut songs and a bunch of dramatic scenes cut from The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band. Robert B. Sherman called the studio "horses' asses" for cutting it.
—The song lyrics to two songs in Pete's Dragon that are, as of now, only heard on the soundtrack album
—The uncut print of A Star is Born (1954); to think all this wasted time could have been prevented if they'd just credited Arick for finding the uncut A Streetcar Named Desire.
—Richard Williams' original intent for The Thief and the Cobbler. He's in his 80s, so time is of the essence.
—The original preview cut of The Watcher in the Woods that Anchor Bay tried to restore when it held the license, but was prevented by Michael Eisner.
—"The Jitterbug" from The Wizard of Oz

Matthew, I do not know if this counts or not, but how about the original RKO Distribution logo for Song of the South? I always wonder how it looked like.

I think it is the only Disney film, in which the RKO references have NOT been restored as of this writing.

 

[ljgranberry]

Since I began this thread, the one thought keeps coming back to me - what other industry would be so cavalier about its heritage and past as the film (and TV) industry? No way the recording industry would treat its old catalog so cavalierly.

 

[bigshot]

Wanna bet?! The only reason a lot of recordings survive is because copies that were sold retail were preserved by collectors. Masters at record companies are in the same sorry state as film.

 

[SilverWook]

That's exactly what happened. I worked at one of the initial engagement theatres (I believe there were only 10 or 12 locations that premiered it) a year later and talked to the head projectionist about it. Warner Bros sent a courier to each location on opening night or the next morning with instructions on the exact footage to cut from the last reel and the courier had to leave with the footage afterwards. That accounts for why there was a visible splice in that scene in those theatres that weekend until they received a new final reel a few days later where the cut was printed in. The story he was told by WB was that Kubrick ordered the cut too late for them to print a new last reel in time to get them to those opening locations.

Thanks for the info. I find it interesting the actors who played the nurse and policeman in the deleted ending remained in the credits.

Speaking of the closing credtis, the earliest home video transfer has them in same blue as the opening credits. I had an old Japanese Laserdisc with the same thing.

 

[ljgranberry]

Wanna bet?! The only reason a lot of recordings survive is because copies that were sold retail were preserved by collectors. Masters at record companies are in the same sorry state as film.

We can only hope then that collectors will be the saviors of a lot of these "lost" films. I still hold out hope that AMBERSONS is being safely stored in someone's private collection somewhere.

 

[battlebeast]

I never watched Metropolis in the vain hope that the missing footage would be found. Then, one beautiful morning... I read the IMDB. and my heart skipped a beat. I darn near cried. I hooted and hollared. IT WAS FOUND!!!

I love the movie. It is a favorite of mine.

I hold out this same hope for Ambersons and The Patriot. we have to have hope. "Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things."

One day I will get to see The Patriot and Ambersons.We all will!

 

[bujaki]

I am missing 2 lost films from Lubitsch's American period: Kiss Me Again (1925) and The Patriot.
The complete cut of Arrowsmith would be another amazing find; as would The Magnificent Ambersons, of course.
I'd love to see the lost silent version of The Great Gatsby, just to see how a contemporary version of the story was treated on film.
King Vidor's Billy the Kid in 70mm, as well as Kismet (the only version out of 4 that I haven't seen).
Murnau's Four Devils.
Anything by Stroheim mutilated by any studio and reconstructed to his original vision.
There are just so many missing films that sometimes we have to be grateful for what we do have.

 

[RolandL]

My personal holy grail is Joseph L. Mankiewicz's six hour director's cut of Cleopatra (1963).

Mankiewicz wanted to release two three-hour films, Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra. The studio, however, wanted to capitalize on the Taylor and Burton affair ("Le Scandale", as Burton dubbed it), and because Burton is barely in the first half of the film and the couple might not be together when the Antony film was finally released, Zanuck forced Mankiewicz to release it as one film, and two hours of character development was left on the cutting room floor. A worldwide search in the 90's yielded only a few things: What would have been our first glimpse of Elizabeth as Cleopatra, divining the future, and an extended version of the entrance into Rome.

For those who want to learn more about what this film could have been, check out my friend's web site here. He uses the original script and photographs to piece the film back together.

Cleopatra was the top grossing film for 1963.

 

[Cine_Capsulas]

I still hold out hope that AMBERSONS is being safely stored in someone's private collection somewhere.

Here in Brazil, possibly.

 

[Broadwayboy]

Before MGM filmed PRIVATE LIVES with Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery, they apparently filmed the original stage production, starring Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, so that the stars of the movie could study it. I would LOVE to see that film!

 

[t1g3r5fan]

The original cuts of MGM's Freaks (1932) & The Red Badge of Courage (1951) before the editors took the scissors to both of these classics.