[ChristopherM]

UK websites are reporting that MGM will release an R2 DVD of "Billion Dollar Brain" on 6 September 2004. Presumably the studio has either secured the music rights, or else the film has been redubbed. Does anybody know which?

In his book "Starring Michael Caine" David Bishop reported that a video release of "Billion Dollar Brain" seemed unlikely because of music clearance problems with the Beatles song "A Hard Day's Night". This was bad news for Harry Palmer fans like myself. While not a great movie by any standards, "Brain" is the third of the five Palmer films and the only one not yet available on DVD.

I for one would love to complete the collection, and would even prefer an appropriate redub (if necessary for legal purposes only, of course) to no version at all.

(Note to Administrator - Please move thread to Regional DVD area if more appropriate, but I thought the news might be of broader interest)

[LarryDavenport]

Both Image and A&E cleared the music rights for "All You Need Is Love" in the last two episodes of The Prisoner, so I don't know why MGM (or whomever has the US rights) can't get AHDN cleared.

[LarryDavenport]

I see Billion Dollar Brain is due out from MGM on October 6 (Yeah!)

[Guido Bibra]

The R2 disc has the beginning of the offending scene (with A Hard Day's Night playing) removed - about 40-45 seconds have been cut. Nothing very important, but a missing scene is a missing scene. It's possible that the upcoming R1 will be the same... but let's wait for reviews.

[LarryDavenport]

I'll still buy it. It's only $10.

[Guido Bibra]

There's no reason not to buy the new R1 just because part of the scene might be missing! I certainly didn't want to discourage anyone to buy it - on the contrary I think it's great that the movie is finally going to be available in R1.

[walter o]

Considering it was never even released on video in the states, it's a miracle we are getting a widescreen DVD release. But why cut the scene? Couldnt they rescored it?

[LarryDavenport]

At this point we don't even know if the scene was cut.

[PatH]

5 Harry Palmer films? Please list. Thanks!

PatH

[PhilipG]

Never heard of the IMDB, Pat?

The IPCRESS File (1965)
Funeral in Berlin (1966)
Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Bullet to Beijing (1996)
Midnight in St. Petersburg (1996)

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Quote:

At this point we don't even know if the scene was cut.

According to Guido Bibra above, it was indeed cut, at least for the R2, which certainly doesn't bode well for the R1 release, does it?

[RichardCrowther]

A sum total of 31 seconds is removed from the R2 version, comprising six shots and the beginning of a seventh.

The footage lost is as follows:

The edit begins at 42m 27s (at 25fps), once Palmer has knocked on the cabin door to gain entry. We should cut inside at this point and see and hear the following:

Shot 1. - A Hard Days Night blares on the soundtrack as we are confronted with a close-up of a TV set. We then pull back to reveal Palmer entering the room.

Shot 2. - Close-up of the "A Hard Days Night" LP on a turntable. We pull back from this to see a chicken flapping about and two men arguing over two LPs - Rubber Soul and A Hard Days Night.

Shot 3. - Cut back to Palmer witnessing this in bemusement.

Shot 4. - Cut to close-up introduction of the man we will come to know as Basil, who is sitting at a table and turns to greet Palmer.

Shot 5. - Cut back to a reaction from Palmer.

Shot 6. - Cut back to the two men, who now appear to be fighting over a rabbit one of them is holding.

Opening of Shot 7. - Palmer begins to move over to where Basil is sitting, at which point we hear the sound of a stylus being removed from a record, and the music abruptly cutting off, just as a chicken flaps across the screen and startles Palmer.

The DVD rejoins the shot at this point, at what would be 42m58s, as Palmer walks gingerly up to the man sat at the table and asks if he is Basil.

Nothing substantial is lost, but the sequence is a wonderfully surreal moment and, without Basil's first welcoming gestures it does seem a tad odd that Palmer would select the right man first time, given the number of people in the room.

So, as can be seen, it would very difficult to redub the shots in question since it would mean that 1) at the very least the second shot would have to be removed, since it clearly shows that A Hard Days Night is on the turntable and 2) it would mean unpicking the other sounds effects in the sequence, then overlaying them on to the newly chosen song. Too much work, I suspect, for a title not likely to sell more than a few thousand copies.

Quote:

Both Image and A&E cleared the music rights for "All You Need Is Love" in the last two episodes of The Prisoner, so I don't know why MGM (or whomever has the US rights) can't get AHDN cleared.

Because neither Image nor A&E needed to clear it. Some enterprising individual cleared the track in question (which actually only featured in the last episode of the series) in perpetuity at the time the programme was made, meaning it can be released with the song intact forever. The same situation surrounds an episode of UFO, which contains The Beatles track "Get Back", again, cleared in perpetuity, so there will never be any question of it having to be redubbed. If only this were the case for every film and TV series.