Psycho: Cropped shot in the shower scene?

[StephenAlto]

Title: Psycho

Tagline: A new—and altogether different—screen excitement!

Genre: Horror, Drama, Thriller

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, Simon Oakland, Frank Albertson, Patricia Hitchcock, Vaughn Taylor, Lurene Tuttle, Mort Mills, John Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Bacon, Francis De Sales, George Dockstader, Harper Flaherty, Lillian O'Malley, Fred Scheiwiller, George Eldredge, Sam Flint, Virginia Gregg, Jeanette Nolan, Paul Jasmin, Frank Killmond, Ted Knight, Pat McCaffrie, Hans Moebus, Helen Wallace, Robert Osborne

Release: 1960-06-22

Runtime: 109

Plot: When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother. The place seems quirky, but fine… until Marion decides to take a shower.

Hi. I recall that when I watched Psycho on TV as a kid (in the 80s) there was a single shot of Janet Leigh where the very bottom had a black bar. Prob. the lower 6th of the shot. It was either when she was starting the shower or at the end, when she was reaching for the curtain. It might have even made its way to the CED videodisc (which was the first version I owned on home video), but I'm not sure.

Does anyone else recall this? How could that be found again?

Thanks!

 

[Jim*Tod]

As I recall this was intentional to give the projectionists a clear idea of how to frame the film. I think was more obvious in the pan and scan scaled versions shown on tv for decades than subsequent releases in the proper aspect ratio. Anyone have any details?

 

[Lord Dalek]

The oldest home video releases of Psycho were just straight open matte transfers so its more likely than not that the black bar was an aperture plate.

 

[Mark B]

It is extremely noticable on the 1981 DiscoVision Laserdisc. The masking is seen in varying widths to cover Janet's breasts. It first appears when she is turning on the water, face front with the shower head in front of her, and is visible in the shots of her lathering. The most extreme width of the mask is during the shot of her siding down the wall just before she reaches for the curtain. Any shot in which her breasts are not present does not have any masking. The 1984 Laserdisc was a different master and these shots (as well as the final pan in to Norman at the end, which had a mask) were all zoomed in and upward to reduce the visibility of the masking. I saw a very beat up print in a retro cinema once in which they didn't show the film in the correct ratio. The entire frame was projected and this sequence looked ridiculous with the constant change in masking. (Of course, the entire film looked awful open matte.)

 

[Lord Dalek]

It is extremely noticable on the 1981 DiscoVision Laserdisc. The masking is seen in varying widths to cover Janet's breasts. It first appears when she is turning on the water, face front with the shower head in front of her, and is visible in the shots of her lathering. The most extreme width of the mask is during the shot of her siding down the wall just before she reaches for the curtain. Any shot in which her breasts are not present does not have any masking. The 1984 Laserdisc was a different master and these shots (as well as the final pan in to Norman at the end, which had a mask) were all zoomed in and upward to reduce the visibility of the masking. I saw a very beat up print in a retro cinema once in which they didn't show the film in the correct ratio. The entire frame was projected and this sequence looked ridiculous with the constant change in masking. (Of course, the entire film looked awful open matte.)

Yeah apparently the vhs version with screaming Janet Leigh in a bra on the cover is the true open matte one and the later release with just the logo on black is the zoomed in version taken from a reissue print (Paramount is intact on the first release).

 

[Mark B]

Yeah apparently the vhs version with screaming Janet Leigh in a bra on the cover is the true open matte one and the later release with just the logo on black is the zoomed in version taken from a reissue print (Paramount is intact on the first release).

Both of my laserdiscs have the Universal logo at the beginning. I don't have the 1979 CAV 5 sided version to confirm the opening logo on that issue.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Both of my laserdiscs have the Universal logo at the beginning. I don't have the 1979 CAV 5 sided version to confirm the opening logo on that issue.

Well it definitely is on the tape.

 

[StephenAlto]

This is all very helpful! I came to the right place!

This is the videodisc that I had, and the black bars you mention, Mark B, really ring a bell.

The shower scene is not cropped at the bottom for either the Canada '65 doc or the Schickel doc from '76 (the first place I saw the scene).

 

[SeanSKA]

I would assume that the hard masking was used to prevent viewers from seeing that Janet Leigh probably had a very low cut bra or perhaps even moleskin or pasties covering her breasts

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Leigh claimed she wore moleskin over her "vital parts".

Nude body double Marli Renfro says "If you don't see her (Leigh's) face, that's me: the back of my head, my feet, arms, belly button."

I remember seeing an analysis of the scene online and it shows that in some of the angles (where you don't see Leigh's face), that the actress in the shower is definitely nude.

I think this same website also detailed the slight differences in the slightly racier international cut of the film (which has been recently released on DVD in Germany, I think). I think the main bit is when Marion it taking her clothes off (and Norman is watching). There's a bit more footage when Marion takes off the black bra (and more footage of Norman peeping)

 

[Mark B]

If you look at the shot of the hand reaching for the curtain you can clearly see bare breasts. But, the viewer is so focused on the hand that it tends to get missed completely. Definitely Hitch's most cheeky trick on censorship. Well played.

 

[SeanSKA]

If you look at the shot of the hand reaching for the curtain you can clearly see bare breasts. But, the viewer is so focused on the hand that it tends to get missed completely. Definitely Hitch's most cheeky trick on censorship. Well, played.

Having watched this film at least 25 times or more (on TV, on the big screen at Radio City Music Hall, and on practically every video format), I'm always surprised that shot got past te censors in 1960 in a major studio film

 

[Cineman]

Leigh claimed she wore moleskin over her "vital parts".

Nude body double Marli Renfro says "If you don't see her (Leigh's) face, that's me: the back of my head, my feet, arms, belly button."

I remember seeing an analysis of the scene online and it shows that in some of the angles (where you don't see Leigh's face), that the actress in the shower is definitely nude.

I think this same website also detailed the slight differences in the slightly racier international cut of the film (which has been recently released on DVD in Germany, I think). I think the main bit is when Marion it taking her clothes off (and Norman is watching). There's a bit more footage when Marion takes off the black bra (and more footage of Norman peeping)

You can see the A-B comparison of the original theatrical cut of the three sequences in question and the one that has appeared in virtually every revival theater screening and home video version since the early 1970s on YouTube. Look for "PSYCHO UNCUT!"

There were 1,000 copies of the original theatrical version of PSYCHO released on blu-ray last year in a very impression box set, including all sequels, from a company called Turbine. I have one. I ordered it from Amazon.

IMO, the bits from those three sequences that were removed in the late 1960s DO make a difference. A big difference. They are not insignificant. For a number of important audience manipulation and practical plot point reasons, the uncut version is a notably better, more emotionally powerful version.

For one example, the taming down of what Norman and "we" see through that peephole right up to the split second that it cuts away in the original version loses much of the lurid titillation in the edited version that Hitchcock intended to literally "strip tease" us into a state of unblinking attention as Marion steps into the shower just moments later. Subconsciously, we think we might now finally get a glimpse of what we were denied by a single frame in the earlier scene. So we are watching that shower scene, every move, every new angle, every shot before the knife appears more intently in the hope of getting more "sex." But then we get something horribly different instead. That is where much of the shock and horror of that shower scene came from in its original theatrical release. We get some of it in the cut version. But nothing like in the original theatrical version.

I just watched my blu-ray of it on my home theater system with a young lady in her 20s who had no knowledge of what PSYCHO was all about, never seen it or any of its sequels. When Norman and "we" watch Marion through that peephole, she let out an audible gasp when Marion shrugged off her bra and Hitchcock cut away from it at the last second. Uncut, it is still a powerful and disturbing moment. Almost as powerful and daring today as it was in 1960.

With a similar modern audience, the cut version passes by practically unnoticed. I have seen people who have never seen PSYCHO start reaching for their smartphone to check their messages after the cut version of that peephole scene comes and goes. But not this time, not with the uncut version. Her attention was riveted to the screen for the next scene, when Marion goes about her business to take a shower. Exactly as Hitchcock intended way back when.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

You can see the A-B comparison of the original theatrical cut of the three sequences in question and the one that has appeared in virtually every revival theater screening and home video version since the early 1970s on YouTube. Look for "PSYCHO UNCUT!"

I think that this website is where I saw that comparison (which has the YouTube comparison embedded). It was announcing the release of the German boxset in 2018.

There were 1,000 copies of the original theatrical version of PSYCHO released on blu-ray last year in a very impression box set, including all sequels, from a company called Turbine. I have one. I ordered it from Amazon.

Looks like it's the same boxset that came out in Germany (but with English-language packaging).

I imagine the US and German "Legacy" boxsets are the only instances of the full, uncut version ever being released on blu-ray anywhere?