Pre-Order The Lost World (1925) (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I found out that the title cards on this release have been altered to make them less racist. The "Brazilian" porter's dialogue has been cleaned up to eliminate the dialect.

Though I have no personal interest in this film, I must say that I am not particularly happy that this practice continues -- particularly for the fact that this is not going to be a huge release which is mostly geared towards collectors. In any event, film history should not be erased for the sake of being politically correct.

 

[smithbrad]

Just my opinion, but to me there is a history angle and an entertainment angle. We have plenty of other avenues through past newspapers and news reports, documentaries, and non-fiction literature to ensure a correct recollection of history is maintained in an unaltered fashion. I don't look for my entertainment to fulfill that responsibility, especially given that it can be presenting information in a biased fashion. Granted it is mimicking social values of the time that is working its way into the entertainment, but it isn't in my view necessarily an accurate reflection, nor was it typically the intent to be the focus of the entertainment. We are all the time discussing how movies and TV shows sometimes distort events to try and provide an engaging story, so to can it present inaccuracies in social aspects of the times under the guise of entertainment.

I can fully understand the desire to maintain an art form in its original perspective, and I'm really not trying to start a debate, but I see the negative aspect of PC brought up from time to time, and wanted to just share my side. As an adult I can watch older movies and TV shows and understand the period, that doesn't mean I don't grimace from time to time. However, it's hard to monitor everything my kids see on TV. We have set times we watch together and I will stop and explain things that I believe are no longer proper thinking. I wouldn't want to prevent my daughters from the opportunity to enjoy old family shows from the 50's that have many excellent values to be shared, at the same time I wouldn't want them to think a woman's place is just in the home as commonly portrayed. And for other types of social inequalities I'd rather they learn them from studying history, or in an educational environment, or talking with me then to try and understand it based on how presented in a fictional form of entertainment. Children have a way of watching things over and over and they are a sponge to what they are presented with. As a result, I have been known to edit out various items from movies from time to time if it is something they may watch many times (e.g., Holiday Inn, as an example).

I don't necessarily need my entertainment censored, but I also don't mind a few PC changes, as mentioned in this case, that could be considered fairly obvious considering our current social climate, and I definitely don't mind these minor tweaks within entertainment that can be shared across all age groups when it has no bearing on the enjoyment of the story. Obviously, a workable solution would be to just offer both options through branching, but financially that isn't always an option. I'm in no way trying to change the opinions of others, but just trying to share a different perspective and my reasoning behind it.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think that's a very reasonably perspective and well stated opinion.

My parents did something similar when I was a kid - they'd hook up two VCRs and dub a version of a movie for me minus a violent scene or whatever. In general, my parents restricted my viewing to age appropriate titles, but they weren't opposed to being like, "We think you'll like this movie and 99% of it is appropriate, but I'd prefer you not seeing that shot of a bloody fist going through a glass window." Or sometimes they'd make an edit if we watched a movie as a family and I winced or looked away from something - that way six year old me could watch something over and over. I understand why that probably sounds awful to some, but I don't think it's any different than broadcast networks editing films for air.

As an adult, I can watch older movies in their context and it's usually fine. I generally have an easy time putting my brain into that mindset. My wife sometimes has a harder time doing that with certain programs. (With her, it's usually not over outdated non-PC stuff. It's when two characters meet and immediately fall in love twenty seconds later that she usually can't buy.)

 

[Rodney]

I agree with Ron's post above.
I also don't like that someone feels the need to sanitize entertainment for others, whether it is movie inter titles or works by Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

Having said that, I am still purchasing this release and expect to enjoy it immensely!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

All of what I said above notwithstanding, if there is only to be one release, I'd prefer it to be as close to the original release as possible.

 

[Ahab]

Who gives a s***. Once you change history...we're doomed!

History is changed all the time. It's changed by the right and the left.

In any case, the human race is not doomed because a few intertitles are changed in a silent film.

 

[bigshot]

If you want to know what the title cards actually said, it's pretty easy to find out. I'm actually more critical of recreated title cards when originall ones exist than I am of re-working wording that is deemed to be racially insensitive. There is a graphic quality to original title cards that I value. And having an immaculate generic title card pop up in the middle of ones with normal film damage pulls me out of the film and puts the focus on the title card, not the movie.

 

[ahollis]

If this was a sound film, would it have been redubbed? I doubt it. So the intertitles should be the original. IMHO.

 

[Paul Penna]

On a Classic Horror Film Board thread film historian Jack Theakston talks about the title cards (link below):

"While it is true that the dialogue is in the Kodascope editions, those titles don't represent what was in the original film, because compared with what information we do have (cue sheets, fractured continuities, extant prints), almost all of the titles in the Kodascope editions are replaced."

http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum...LD-1925-and-1960-Special-Edition#reply-120977

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Jack Theakston was very close with David Shepard and got his info straight from the late Mr. Shepard.

 

[bigshot]

David Shepard said that he himself made the decision to change the cards in Lost World because he thought they were inappropriate for a modern audience. It was a deliberate choice. It wasn't restoration.

Aholis, title cards are changed quite a bit in video releases, but usually because of translation issues. One of the recent Keaton shorts collections had titles that had been translated from English to French and then back to English again. I don't know why they didn't just refer to the original cards on a US print, but they were sourcing from a French print and figured it didn't matter. It turned out that it did, because the original cards had puns and verbal humor that were unique to English.

 

[ahollis]

Aholis, title cards are changed quite a bit in video releases, but usually because of translation issues. One of the recent Keaton shorts collections had titles that had been translated from English to French and then back to English again. I don't know why they didn't just refer to the original cards on a US print, but they were sourcing from a French print and figured it didn't matter. It turned out that it did, because the original cards had puns and verbal humor that were unique to English.

I certainly understand that title cards were changed for foreign release, just as sound films were redubed into other languages. Your example is a good point that the intertitles should be left as they were originally presented.

 

[revgen]

I watched this last night. Wow. Fantastic film and beautiful picture. This film was definitely shot to seen on a huge screen, so I had to sit closer to my TV than I normally do. According to the booklet, only one scene from the original 1925 release is missing, and that's the scene where the cannibals attack, but other than that, this film is almost complete in it's original form. This release deserves serious consideration for Blu-Ray of the year.