Kanny Daye
Grip
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2012
- Messages
- 18
- Real Name
- Joseph Marten
Until today, Anthony Manns „The Glenn Miller Story“ remains much beloved as one of James Stewarts finest films and is well-remembered by Swing music fans all around the world. The more surprising it is, that nobody seems to be aware that the movie is only available in a truncated version wolrdwide today. Five scenes are missing in total which were all intact on the films initial release in 1954.
Although I searched the whole internet about the censorship of the Glenn Miller Story, I didn’t find anything about it. Highly surprising for a film of such polpularity.
I do not have the exact US censorship records but the British and the German ones. In the UK, the BBFC records dating December 10, 1953 give a length of 10.452 feet which is 3186 meters which is 116‘27 (NTSC) and 111’47 (PAL).
The West German FSK approved the film January 27, 1954 in a length of 3151 meters which is 10.338 feet which is 115‘10 (NTSC) and 110‘34 (PAL).
The current Universal dvd master has a length of 112’15 (NTSC) and 107’45 (PAL) which would correspond a length of only 3071 meters or 10.075 feet. So it's very obvious ca. 3 ½ minutes are missing.
All the missing scenes deal with Glenns search for his special sound and his resignation when he is unsucessfully and faces obstacles in a particular way. All scenes also show, how Helen encourages Glenn repeatedly not to lose track of his vision in finding the new sound and her tireless effort to help Glenn to make his vision come true.
I can only assume the five scenes were most probably excised from all circulating prints when the film got a re-release with re-mixed Stereo Soundtrack in 1985. As far as I know, the footage is missing on all official video and dvd releases wordwide. It was last seen on German TV in the early 80s, when an original 1954 German movie print of the film was used for TV showings.
The film was re-dubbed into German in 1985 to enhance the soundtrack to Stereo for the German theatrical re-release. The re-dubbed German version misses out the five scenes as well. In the 90s, the vintage German 1954 dub track was matched to a new international video master to improve the video quality. Since then, also the version with the 1954 German dub track (which is also present on the European dvds) misses out the footage. These are clear hints to me, that the removal of the scenes has to do with the theatrical re-release.
Now here you get the five scenes – the dialogue has been translated back into English from the 1954 German dub track:
Missing Scene #1 - End of the conversation between Glenn and Helen in the Park
ca. 21 minutes into the film
H: Ehmm
G: How do you know?
H: Oh, I do not know, it‘s just kind of an idea. No, it's more than a hunch. It's almost a feeling. You know, if someone wants something from all his heart, really wants it, completely out of the innermost - then it succeeds. And therefore you will manage.
G: Oh, eh, Helen, I really wanted to tell you so much and eh did I say anything to you now?
H: No, not really.
G: But you eh you know it anyway, don’t you? Or should I ...?
Missing Scene #2 - Part of the conversation between Glenn and Helen in a car
ca. 30 minutes into the film
H: I‘m having a look at my new man. The man I didn’t see or hear from for the past two years.
G: Do you like him?
H: Yes, almost think so. He, he just calls me and immediately I’m running up like being crazy.
G: Well I do not think you were crazy.
H: I don‘t know. Don‘t you think our love story went quite very unusual?
G: Unusual? What do you mean?
H: Well, for example in the church, when you promised to love me that came to me very surprising.
G: Surprising? Why?
H: Well, you didn’t mention it before.
G: Was that really necessary? Didn‘t you know?
H: Yes, but it happens that a woman likes to hear such words very much...
G: Oh, I've always known that you love me right from day one ...
H: Well then you knew much more than I knew then ...
G: Yeah
Missing Scene #3 - Part of the conversation between Glenn and Helen in front of the locker
ca. 42 minutes into the film
H: The night Ted Healy drove me to Denver, he has asked me a question. With full justification. Why do I hang on to you so terribly. I did not know then. But now I know. You had a goal, something new. A goal that you will probably never reach. Glenn to me this meant more than if you had made millions or perhaps were a big movie star. But I'm probably wrong. Glenn, are you aware that you have never spoken again of your goal since we‘ve been married?
Missing Scene #4 - Part of the conversation between Glenn and Helen at the bedside
ca. 55 minutes into the film
G: Yes, of course, we'd bad luck, but so had many others. I've always fooled myself about us being different, but we were not different, we were just like thousands of other bands.
H: But you learned a lot.
G: How not to make it, yes! But I, I still have not found what I was looking for for years. I don‘t know. I do not find that sound. I'm back at the bottom.
H: Then we just start all over again.
G: No, no. Never again a new band!
H: Glenn, I don’t want to hear from you such a thing. As you've been looking for this sound for so long, so desperately, you will have to continue to do so. Regardless of what is to come.
G: Is that your belief?
H: Yes, of course. And if you don’t go on I feel ashamed for you.
G: For me I can understand if necessary because I'm stubborn. But you have nothing of it.
Missing Scene #5 - Part of the conversation between Helen and Shripman at bedside
ca. 58 minutes into the film
S: Well, what kind of a goal does he have? To establish a band like anybody else, I suppose.
H: No, just not like anybody else. That‘s the characteristic about his goal. He, he wants a band with a special sound, a very personal sound. That's what‘s important to him. He wants a good band and not just a couple of good soloists.
S: That's not such a bad idea Mrs Miller, I’m interested. The band could become a kind of institution. If you have a style that appeals to the youth – such a band may possibly stand ground throughout, the musicians are indifferent - it runs all by itself. H: That's exactly the thing Glenn wants.
I really wonder why the scenes have been cut and nobody has protested the films' incompleteness yet. Yes, we know that the film lacks accuracy as a biography and Helen Miller had quite an influence on the script and the production. Sometimes the movie even was called „The Helen Miller Story“ sneeringly. But censoring it really goes overboard. I assume the Glenn Miller Estate is Helen-friendly so a censorship demand from that direction seems quite unlikely.
I love the movie and I think it's a true classic that deserves to be preserved in its entirety. As there is no information available on these issues anywhere, I registered to share the information here. I’m afraid, already too much time has passed so anybody could remember.
Did anybody ever see the five missing scenes in English language on TV or on a video release prior to 1985?
Although I searched the whole internet about the censorship of the Glenn Miller Story, I didn’t find anything about it. Highly surprising for a film of such polpularity.
I do not have the exact US censorship records but the British and the German ones. In the UK, the BBFC records dating December 10, 1953 give a length of 10.452 feet which is 3186 meters which is 116‘27 (NTSC) and 111’47 (PAL).
The West German FSK approved the film January 27, 1954 in a length of 3151 meters which is 10.338 feet which is 115‘10 (NTSC) and 110‘34 (PAL).
The current Universal dvd master has a length of 112’15 (NTSC) and 107’45 (PAL) which would correspond a length of only 3071 meters or 10.075 feet. So it's very obvious ca. 3 ½ minutes are missing.
All the missing scenes deal with Glenns search for his special sound and his resignation when he is unsucessfully and faces obstacles in a particular way. All scenes also show, how Helen encourages Glenn repeatedly not to lose track of his vision in finding the new sound and her tireless effort to help Glenn to make his vision come true.
I can only assume the five scenes were most probably excised from all circulating prints when the film got a re-release with re-mixed Stereo Soundtrack in 1985. As far as I know, the footage is missing on all official video and dvd releases wordwide. It was last seen on German TV in the early 80s, when an original 1954 German movie print of the film was used for TV showings.
The film was re-dubbed into German in 1985 to enhance the soundtrack to Stereo for the German theatrical re-release. The re-dubbed German version misses out the five scenes as well. In the 90s, the vintage German 1954 dub track was matched to a new international video master to improve the video quality. Since then, also the version with the 1954 German dub track (which is also present on the European dvds) misses out the footage. These are clear hints to me, that the removal of the scenes has to do with the theatrical re-release.
Now here you get the five scenes – the dialogue has been translated back into English from the 1954 German dub track:
Missing Scene #1 - End of the conversation between Glenn and Helen in the Park
ca. 21 minutes into the film
H: Ehmm
G: How do you know?
H: Oh, I do not know, it‘s just kind of an idea. No, it's more than a hunch. It's almost a feeling. You know, if someone wants something from all his heart, really wants it, completely out of the innermost - then it succeeds. And therefore you will manage.
G: Oh, eh, Helen, I really wanted to tell you so much and eh did I say anything to you now?
H: No, not really.
G: But you eh you know it anyway, don’t you? Or should I ...?
Missing Scene #2 - Part of the conversation between Glenn and Helen in a car
ca. 30 minutes into the film
H: I‘m having a look at my new man. The man I didn’t see or hear from for the past two years.
G: Do you like him?
H: Yes, almost think so. He, he just calls me and immediately I’m running up like being crazy.
G: Well I do not think you were crazy.
H: I don‘t know. Don‘t you think our love story went quite very unusual?
G: Unusual? What do you mean?
H: Well, for example in the church, when you promised to love me that came to me very surprising.
G: Surprising? Why?
H: Well, you didn’t mention it before.
G: Was that really necessary? Didn‘t you know?
H: Yes, but it happens that a woman likes to hear such words very much...
G: Oh, I've always known that you love me right from day one ...
H: Well then you knew much more than I knew then ...
G: Yeah
Missing Scene #3 - Part of the conversation between Glenn and Helen in front of the locker
ca. 42 minutes into the film
H: The night Ted Healy drove me to Denver, he has asked me a question. With full justification. Why do I hang on to you so terribly. I did not know then. But now I know. You had a goal, something new. A goal that you will probably never reach. Glenn to me this meant more than if you had made millions or perhaps were a big movie star. But I'm probably wrong. Glenn, are you aware that you have never spoken again of your goal since we‘ve been married?
Missing Scene #4 - Part of the conversation between Glenn and Helen at the bedside
ca. 55 minutes into the film
G: Yes, of course, we'd bad luck, but so had many others. I've always fooled myself about us being different, but we were not different, we were just like thousands of other bands.
H: But you learned a lot.
G: How not to make it, yes! But I, I still have not found what I was looking for for years. I don‘t know. I do not find that sound. I'm back at the bottom.
H: Then we just start all over again.
G: No, no. Never again a new band!
H: Glenn, I don’t want to hear from you such a thing. As you've been looking for this sound for so long, so desperately, you will have to continue to do so. Regardless of what is to come.
G: Is that your belief?
H: Yes, of course. And if you don’t go on I feel ashamed for you.
G: For me I can understand if necessary because I'm stubborn. But you have nothing of it.
Missing Scene #5 - Part of the conversation between Helen and Shripman at bedside
ca. 58 minutes into the film
S: Well, what kind of a goal does he have? To establish a band like anybody else, I suppose.
H: No, just not like anybody else. That‘s the characteristic about his goal. He, he wants a band with a special sound, a very personal sound. That's what‘s important to him. He wants a good band and not just a couple of good soloists.
S: That's not such a bad idea Mrs Miller, I’m interested. The band could become a kind of institution. If you have a style that appeals to the youth – such a band may possibly stand ground throughout, the musicians are indifferent - it runs all by itself. H: That's exactly the thing Glenn wants.
I really wonder why the scenes have been cut and nobody has protested the films' incompleteness yet. Yes, we know that the film lacks accuracy as a biography and Helen Miller had quite an influence on the script and the production. Sometimes the movie even was called „The Helen Miller Story“ sneeringly. But censoring it really goes overboard. I assume the Glenn Miller Estate is Helen-friendly so a censorship demand from that direction seems quite unlikely.
I love the movie and I think it's a true classic that deserves to be preserved in its entirety. As there is no information available on these issues anywhere, I registered to share the information here. I’m afraid, already too much time has passed so anybody could remember.
Did anybody ever see the five missing scenes in English language on TV or on a video release prior to 1985?