The *Real* Barbarella on DVD? (1 Viewer)

[Robert DH]

(leaving the post-movie politics out...)

As I understand it, "Barbarella" exists in three forms...

A) The uncensored Euro-cut from 1968, containg about 5-7 minutes of extra footage... including a lesbian kiss and possibly a boiling oil scene). A character is listed in the credits, Captain Sun, who does not appear in the movie on DVD or VHS, which implies he was in the censored-out scenes.

B) The censored-for-American-audiences version from 1968.

C) An even more censored version released ca. 1976 as "Barbarella, Queen of the Galaxy" with all the sexual content removed. I suspect this print runs about 12 1/2 minutes.

D) The version in home video and DVD release, which is B, but given the title of D. In other words, the only available version is the 1968 censored version, but given the 1976 even-more-censored version's name.

Obviously, what I'd like to see is the A version on DVD, complete with any surviving extra scenes, and hopefully extras of (if still extant) Jean-Claude Forrest's artwork for the movie set designs (or the set blueprints, as in the laserdisc of "The Day the Earth Stood Still"). I have been looking for over 2 years now for imagery of the spacecraft, with an eye towards building a replica model. As it is never seen from the side or rear, except at extreme distance, I am stuck!

If the extras available are not much, perhaps a simple photo gallery of the 95 publicity photos taken would do. I forget the photographer's name, but he is listed in the Starlog article and I know that he was (or is) a Magnum photographer.

It's considered "cool" to sneer at this movie, but it was a forerunner of today's comic adaptations, it was a very influential movie in that a name actress did significant nudity.... and it is as Sixties as a movie can get!

Bring it on, Paramount! Restore the uncensored version and put it on DVD!

 

[Paul_Scott]

well, i love this movie and would purchase such a package in a heart beat.

i'm also thankfull the current disc looks as nice as it does.

 

[larry mac]

I am under the impression that Jane Fonda acquired the rights to this movie and therefore the original will never be made available.

 

[Robert DH]

If she had the rights to it, would *any* version of it be available?!

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

Urban legend, plain and simple.

Jane Fonda does NOT own BARBARELLA, Bill Cosby is NOT sitting on LITTLE RASCALS shorts.

Allen Klein IS, however, dead set against releasing the Jodorowsky films he owns. But that's for another thread.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I'd be interested in the original cut of Barbarella.

 

[Mark Oates]

I don't claim to be any sort of expert on "Barbarella", but I have done some research on the subject. As far as I know, the only difference between the original US and the original European release was in the main titles (which obscured more in the US print). There are stills of a mildly lesbian scene between Barbarella and the Black Queen, but AFAIK the scene was cut before release. A lot of the promotional material for the film appears more risque than the movie itself. The entire Dildano sequence was also reshot with David Hemmings after the original sequence with Italian actor Antonio Sabato (and Ms Fonda in the nude) turned out to be a dud.

You're right about the longer title being used on the packaging of the current DVD, but the print in use is the full 98 minute cut.

 

[Partick Sar]

Some good info there Robert. I am also by no means an expert of the movie but I saw it at 5 Points walk in theater in Huntington Beach, Ca. in Nov., I think, of 1968. Taking a guess I would say there is about 15 minutes of missing scenes cut from the movie I saw to make the 98 minute version.

I really would like to find a more complete version.