Problems with I Love Lucy - Season 4 "See Post #44" (1 Viewer)

[Steve...O]

Thanks to ScottR for the info on the sets. It's a credit to Mr. O that he is giving 100% effort to making these releases so special.

Steve

 

[Gary OS]

This is an unfortunate development (but it's becoming an all too common issue for tv on dvd releases). It certainly hasn't stopped me from buying this set, but it is a little discouraging.

Gary "It would be great if Greg could get this resolved" O.

 

[ScottR]

Great news for Season 6....Gregg Oppenheimer has decided to stay on the project!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

If he let major errors slip through on Season 4, is this really such great news?

 

[PaulP]

So no news on this issue?

 

[Garysb]

I saw this set at Tower Records and on the back it does say all 30 uncut episodes . So if some episodes are cut would Paramount issue corrected discs ?

 

[Joe Lugoff]

I can't decide whether to answer:

Don't hold your breath;

or:

In your dreams.

We're still waiting for WHV's corrected "Tom and Jerry" discs.

 

[JohnMor]

I beginning to doubt that there was ever a problem with cuts on this set. Despite repeated requests in several online groups, no one has been able to confirm specific cuts with screen captures or transcriptions of any missing dialogue. This all seems to stem from a review on Amazon.com which then got mentioned on LucyFan.com but it sort of died there. No "follow-up" from Gregg Oppenheimer, etc. And no one has reported it to the Alterations List on TVShowsOnDvd.com which I find very telling. I'm certainly not saying my memory is infallible, and I no longer have access to the Columbia House tapes to verify, but I also don't remember any missing footage and/or dialogue from these episodes.

 

[MatthewA]

Can someone check running times on the set, please?

 

[Larry.P]

The cuts are DEFINITELY real. The Columbia house tapes are edited as well. The problem is that, like the other shows where cuts were restored, the footage hasn't been seen since the first airing. For years CBS thought these prints were uncut.
I compared "First Stop" to my VHS copy of the original 16mm film. Here is the exact scenario for "First Stop":

At the 1:32 mark on the DVD episode, the scene fades out after Lucy says "You know I've been thinking about those pralines for so many miles I just gotta have some."

In the original episode, the scene does not fade and Lucy sees another series of signs. This "cut" scene lasts about 30 seconds:
LUCY: "If your whiskers... won't behave... take a tip use..." (SILENCE)
ETHEL: "Use What?"
LUCY: "I don't know. The last sign was missing. We'll never know now"

Then comes Fred's line:
"How bout something to eat, I'm hungry", which is where the DVD resumes.


On the DVD, the scene at the 4:25 mark is missing some initial dialog.
On the 16mm print it goes as follows:

ETHEL: "Rick are you gonna drive all night? I'm so hungry my head's starting to ache."
FRED: "We should've eaten a long time ago."
ETHEL: "Well Barney Olefield wanted to make a few more miles before dark"
RICKY: "Well thanks to me we're 50 miles closer."
LUCY: "Yeah, to starvation."
The DVD picks up after this with Ricky's line "Hey, I think I see some lights"

At the 4:39 mark on the DVD, the scene transitions to Skinner's place while Ricky is saying "Yeah, I'm hungry too".

On the 16mm version, Ricky continues talking and we see the car pulling in to Skinner's. There is also more dialog as they get out of the car:

LUCY: "Here we are."
ETHEL: "Oh boy!"
LUCY: "Whoo, we eat! Oh boy it feels good to stretch!"
RICKY: (GROANS) "Man I'm tired!"
ETHEL: "But you drove a good race Barney"
LUCY: "Cmon, cmon, let's eat."
FRED: "Food, food."
Then they walk into the restaurant. This is where the DVD picks up.

I also verified that there is a small amount missing from the beginning of "Tennessee Bound". I don't have copies of any of the other episodes in question.

By the way, i looked up Barney Olefield. He was a wartime aviator.

Hope this info helps.

 

[TravisR]

I'm kinda with John on the 'edited episodes' thing for this release (that doesn't mean it's not possible though). It seems like every TV DVD more than 10 years old automatically has people saying that "It's edited!" but proof doesn't always seem to surface.

Seriously, how many TV titles have you read about in the past two months that are supposedly edited but then the rumor dies when no one has any evidence of it? The real shame is that it's like the boy who cried wolf so when a title is actually edited, it may be overlooked by people who are sick of hearing the same "It's edited!" whine.

EDIT: After looking at Larry's last message that he posted when I was typing. Eventhough it does look like the ILL episodes are edited, I still think my overall comments about the boy who cried wolf are valid.

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

I'm pretty sure the reference is to Barney Oldfield, an auto racing pioneer who set many speed records in the early 20th-century. Later in the century, the joke could have been, "Well, Mario Andretti wanted to make a few more miles before dark."

 

[ScottR]

The episodes are edited and "The Fashion Show" is a botched transfer (not so on the Columbia House tapes.)

 

[JohnMor]

Larry.P: Thanks for that. That explains why my memory of the CH tapes sorta fits with the DVDs.

 

[Garysb]

So there still has been no comment from Paramount or Gregg Oppenheimer about this issue? I believe the Museum of Radio and Television has many but not all the I Love Lucy shows
which have the original openings and commercials. I don't think the missing footage is lost.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

To me, this implies that there ARE problems -- not that there aren't.

If everything was fine, he'd rush to say so. I believe he found out that they did screw up with Vol. 4 and he's laying low. But I tend to be a cynical pessimist.

But then Larry.P's post confirms that there is missing footage.

My theory is that the first scene Larry.P transcribed was cut originally because it's a kind of commercial for Burma Shave (that's why Lucy didn't read the last line, so the product wouldn't be mentioned -- but everyone knew back then that Burma Shave advertised with rhyming signs on the highway.)

The second and third scenes were probably cut because they contain the dated reference to Barney Oldfield -- not Olefield -- who was very famous at one time for being a race car driver:
http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com...field_main.htm

Whatever the reasons they were ORIGINALLY cut, they definitely should have been restored for the DVD release, which claims to be completely uncut!

 

[brad_Y]

Just a note, (to make sure my account is working)

Season 5 will be released on Aug. 16th..... $38.49 on Amazon.

Two words: GET IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ScottR]

Check lucyfan.com for updates......basically, the episodes were cut for re-broadcast and the scenes thrown out by CBS. Gregg Oppenheimer assumed everything was there, but later checked his 16mm prints, and sure enough bits were missing. He is is the process of checking, frame by frame, every 16mm print against the Season 4 boxed set and notating all changes. He will then take this info to CBS/Paramount. He said fixing this is his top priority.

 

[Dave Farley]

Sorry for what may be well-known questions and answers among I Love Lucy fans, but I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to this series.

I thought all episodes from all seasons of this series were edited many years ago for syndication and the edited footage was lost forever, with the exception of Gregg Oppenheimer's 16mm copies? Is that true? If so, did they use the 16mm copies to restore the footage for the three previous DVD sets? Can you notice the difference in picture quality during those scenes on the DVDs?

Or, were complete 35mm copies located for most of the episodes?

As I was told earlier in the thread, the first three seasons on DVD have the uncut episodes. I was just wondering how they accomplished that.

 

[Nick_TV]

Any new information about Gregg Oppenheimer looking into the cuts on the season 4 dvd set and whether we can get replacement dvds?

I ask partly because I believe there is a little problem with the episode "Ricky Has Labor Pains" on the season 2 dvd set. When the original ending (featuring the lucy & desi cartoon characters) was restored to the end of the episode, it cut a second or two of footage off. I taped this episode off Nick-at-Night when they were showing the show uncut. At the end, Lucy & Ricky fight for the spoon and Ricky wins the first 2 times, but then the 3rd time there is a greater struggle over the spoon and Lucy finally wins and I believe you actually see her eating it. On the dvd, it fades out before you see Lucy eating the 3rd scoop. I could be wrong, but I believe this scene was faded out to soon. Can anyone confirm or deny this?