Where are these roadshows? (1 Viewer)

[JosephGC]

If I am not mistaken, the Robert Wise film "Star" opened with a roadshow engagement,, but did poorly. Before it made it to general release, the studio pulled it back, chopped it up horribly, and gave it the nutty title, "Those Were the Happy Times". Fortunately, the film - which is rather good - can be seen on DVD the way it was meant to be presented.

I saw STAR in general release and all that was missing was the Intermission. I do not recall the shorten, re-titled version ever playing in the NYC area.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by JosephGC /t/325135/where-are-these-roadshows#post_4002370
I saw STAR in general release and all that was missing was the Intermission. I do not recall the shorten, re-titled version ever playing in the NYC area.

I was at the opening night showing of Star! in Charlotte which was its premiere Carolinas roadshow engagement. It had already lost "My Ship" and "Someday I'll Find You" from the London/New York opening engagements (couldn't understand why those songs were on the soundtrack album but not in the movie), and by the time Those Were the Happy Times turned up, several other numbers like "Limehouse Blues" were gone along with most of the wrap-around scenes with Gertrude Lawrence in the screening room watching the documentary of her life on film.

As I remember from Variety reports, Star! ran about three months in roadshow before poor business pulled it from release.

 

[lark144]

Whether or not the music and other parts would be cut varied greatly on the film itself. For example, to my knowledge all theatrical releases of Ben-hur conformed exactly to the original roadshow release.

I saw Ben Hur at a neighborhood theater roughly a year after the film played roadshow engagements downtown, and the film was not only missing the overture and exit music, but also the prologue concerning the birth of Christ. The curtains opened with the silent MGM lion, then went directly to the credits.