Restored SPARTACUS OCT 6. (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan Perregaux]

"XXX-scope" sounds like something that may have been playing all up and down the street at Times Square in the 70's.

 

[Paul Rossen]

Robert,



Does the deleted scene explain why Julius Caesar has a different robe on when he and Gracchus are outside the Senate talking about what had just happened in the Senate chamber? Is there any chance we’ll ever see that scene? Also, I believe I read that in the deleted scene they talk about “Fourth Ward” which helps explain what Crassus is talking about to Caesar in the bathhouse scene.

Yes, that is so. Later in the film when Crassus' has just said goodbye to his protege Glabrus he is in the vestibule that houses all of the togas etc of the senators. Apparently this would have been the location of such a scene. Whether it was filmed is anyone's guess.


Spartacus went through numerous rewrites and reshoots and it's really a shame that these scenes don't exist.


1. Slaves cutting down Draba's body...after the revolt.

2. Original scene of Crassus talking to his generals prior to the battle stating that Spartacus has defeated 9 Roman armies. A glimpse of this scene is in one of the previews.

3. Battle Map designed by Saul Bass.(Don't know if Alex North scored this or not).

4. Varinia giving birth. (Scored by North)

5. Spartacus actually being dragged away and crucified after killing Antoninus. (Scored by North)

6. First meeting between Biatitus and Gracchus is longer including conversation with 2 slave women. Photos confirm scene.

7. Crassus exiling Gracchus is longer(per script).


Spartacus was originally planned to be told in flashback with the first scene the aforementioned scene with Crassus talking to his generals stating that the defeat of his army will mean the defeat of Rome. Since the producers didn't feel they had substantially shown these 9 battles even with the deleted map scene they went back a year later and re filmed the scene as it is now in the film.

 

[Robert Harris]

Is the scene from the Criterion DVD where Varinia first shows up in Spartacus's cell and Batiatus is shown looking down spying with someone else still included? I remember when receiving the Criterion DVD that it would be cool to have extra scenes, but once having seen it I'm happy it was taken out since it changes the whole mood between Spartacus and Varinia.

That was a shot that, for whatever reason, was an alternate for UK release.

I'll try to post the still missing material within the next week.

 

[Alan Tully]

Now down to $15 on Amazon. Universal may spend a lot of time & money on these releases, but their prices are always very reasonable.

 

[Jim*Tod]

Have there been any announcements of public screenings of this new restoration in conjunction with the new blu ray release in October?

 

[battlebeast]

Just watched this film for the first time. What an amazing film! Loved it!! Kirk Douglas was outstanding; in fact, so was the entire cast. Shame this film wasn't nominated for Best Picture, and Kirk Douglas certainly deserved a nomination, too.

Gorgeous. Beautiful. Universal did an amazing job!

But one thing that was a very pleasant surprise was seeing Mr. Harris' name FIRST under "restoration team" (as a consultant) at the end. It was also nice to hear him on the featurette about restoration.

Mr. Harris, if you read this, I'm curious... was Stanley Kubrick difficult to deal with back in 1989/90 when the film was first restored?

Now I want to get the Criterion DVD so I can hear the commentary by Kirk Douglas and Mr. Harris.

I watched the interview with Kirk Douglas... he's so strong in the film and when you see him in this interview he looks so weak. It's sad, but I understand, being 101 and all.

 

[Robert Harris]

Just watched this film for the first time. What an amazing film! Loved it!! Kirk Douglas was outstanding; in fact, so was the entire cast. Shame this film wasn't nominated for Best Picture, and Kirk Douglas certainly deserved a nomination, too.

Gorgeous. Beautiful. Universal did an amazing job!

But one thing that was a very pleasant surprise was seeing Mr. Harris' name FIRST under "restoration team" (as a consultant) at the end. It was also nice to hear him on the featurette about restoration.

Mr. Harris, if you read this, I'm curious... was Stanley Kubrick difficult to deal with back in 1989/90 when the film was first restored?

Now I want to get the Criterion DVD so I can hear the commentary by Kirk Douglas and Mr. Harris.

I watched the interview with Kirk Douglas... he's so strong in the film and when you see him in this interview he looks so weak. It's sad, but I understand, being 101 and all.

Why would you think Mr. Kubrick might be difficult.

He was a pleasure. Without a doubt the most technically adept filmmaker with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work. Understood problems. Discussed potential, highly technical fixes.

And when discussions of the tech problems of the day were complete, wanted to know how the Yankees were doing...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Why would you think Mr. Kubrick might be difficult.

He was a pleasure. Without a doubt the most technically adept filmmaker with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work. Understood problems. Discussed potential, highly technical fixes.

And when discussions of the tech problems of the day were complete, wanted to know how the Yankees were doing...

That was the Bronx upbringing coming out of him. My type of guy as a life-long Yankee fan who started watching baseball when Mickey and Roger were doing their thing.

 

[titch]

I just saw the restored blu ray for the second time since I purchased it, and it looked fabulous upscaled to 4K. I really miss Robert Harris' commentary that was on the Criterion laserdisc. It was one of Criterion's very best commentary tracks - not only with Robert Harris's detailing his great restoration efforts, but also with Kirk Douglas, producer Edward Lewis, Saul Bass, Peter Ustinov and novelist Howard Fast. The other commentary track, featuring a reading of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's correspondence of advice to the filmmakers after seeing a rough cut, as well as alternate orchestrations by composer Alex North, are fascinating. I still have the laserdisc but no longer have the player connected to my home theatre set-up.

 

[battlebeast]

Why would you think Mr. Kubrick might be difficult.

He was a pleasure. Without a doubt the most technically adept filmmaker with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work. Understood problems. Discussed potential, highly technical fixes.

And when discussions of the tech problems of the day were complete, wanted to know how the Yankees were doing...

Mr. Harris, I meant no disrespect... I had heard and/or read about Stanley Kubrick being difficult sometimes, and I was just wondering. I'm glad to hear that he was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.

I look forward to hearing your commentary.

 

[Robert Harris]

Mr. Harris, I meant no disrespect... I had heard and/or read about Stanley Kubrick being difficult sometimes, and I was just wondering. I'm glad to hear that he was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.

I look forward to hearing your commentary.

You have it wrong. I’m difficult

 

[Paul Rossen]

You have it wrong. I’m difficult

At the time of the restoration were there any discussions on digitally correcting errors such as Tony Curtis clearly wearing jeans in one of the scenes...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just saw the restored blu ray for the second time since I purchased it, and it looked fabulous upscaled to 4K. I really miss Robert Harris' commentary that was on the Criterion laserdisc. It was one of Criterion's very best commentary tracks - not only with Robert Harris's detailing his great restoration efforts, but also with Kirk Douglas, producer Edward Lewis, Saul Bass, Peter Ustinov and novelist Howard Fast. The other commentary track, featuring a reading of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's correspondence of advice to the filmmakers after seeing a rough cut, as well as alternate orchestrations by composer Alex North, are fascinating. I still have the laserdisc but no longer have the player connected to my home theatre set-up.

The Criterion DVD version is still in print, and there's currently a 50% off sale at Barnes & Noble.... I love the new Blu-ray and that's the version I watch when I want to see the movie, but I also bought a new plastic case that can hold multiple discs in the space of a single Blu-ray case, and I tucked the Criterion DVD version inside there with the new Blu-ray. Those are two of my very favorite commentary tracks, like, desert island stuff.

I had heard and/or read about Stanley Kubrick being difficult sometimes

I obviously never met the man. But I have studied his films for over twenty years now, and read most of what's out there on him. The sense that I get of him wasn't that he was intentionally difficult; I don't think he was one of those big shot, huge ego guys that enjoy making people around them miserable for his own amusement. That wasn't his schtick. What I think is that whenever he got to work on a project, he was enormously passionate about what he was working on, and expected everyone that worked with him to have that same level of enthusiasm and attention to detail that he did. I think most people enjoyed working with him for that reason, but for a select few people who preferred to come into work, punch the clock, and not put any more than the bare minimum of effort in, those were the people who had issues with Kubrick.

 

[battlebeast]

You have it wrong. I’m difficult

I'm glad I'm wrong about Mr. Kubrick, but I'll just say this... difficult or not, you're a pretty decent guy around these pages, so thank you again!

 

[titch]

You have it wrong. I’m difficult

Good to hear! Something I always wondered your opinion about, regarding Stephen Faber's essay on the back of the Criterion laserdisc, where he states: "Spartacus is not quite in the same league as Lawerence of Arabia". I would counter that it most certainly is in the same league! They are both thrilling and thoughtful, huge, spectacular productions, panoramic large-format cinema packed with visual detail which continue to wow new audiences more than half a century after they were made. Although Spartacus was not initially a personal project for the director, it is an astounding testament to Kubrick, that he was able to take over someone else's production, with no more delay than the weekend he was given the job.

 

[Robert Harris]

Faber or Farber?

I agree that Spartacus is not in the same class as Lawrence.

 

[CarlosMeat]

Lawrence my be in a class by itself....