8mm Forum: Different Digest Versions

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 17, 2012, 10:49 AM:

I have a couple of digests in my collection and have different versions of both of them. The first is The Sound of Music which has different editing of the 'Do Re Me' number and different versions of the wedding sequence. I also have The Jolson Story and one of the versions has an extended montage sequence of Jolson's songs in the middle of the film. Was it common for the studios to change the editing of their digests over the years?

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 17, 2012, 11:11 AM:

Hi Paul, yes sometimes the studios did this with releases like
THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD that was a different edit
to the 4x200s in the UK.likewise with the Columbia 400' film
THE PROFESSIONALS the UK edit was totally different to the US
and didn't have the narrator! Combined they make a very good
condensation of that film which has a running time of 30 mins .The editions of the well known releases
were different in the German editions,some being twice the length.

Posted by Colin Robert Hunt (Member # 433) on July 17, 2012, 02:38 PM:

The Sound Of Music was released first in Britain and the quality was not good. Everybody went for the American print which was far better but with a differant edit, from the British cut. The British cut was reported in Moviemaker Bill Davison review I think. He reported the British print had scenes were cut into a better edit and to go for the USA print.Portland films here in 79 sold both copy version on the changover. I made sure it was the Americon version I bought. At the time there was various other versions of digests printed here and the better prints ones in the USA.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on July 17, 2012, 07:24 PM:

Is it true that The Sound of Music was the all time best selling digest worldwide?

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on July 18, 2012, 05:40 AM:

I would have thought "Star Wars" for sure, especially with all the different versions (200,400, etc).

I think you almost have to take Star Wars out of the competition all together, because of its popularity. Then, I could see "Sound of Music" possibly being the best-seller, due to its broad appeal.

I believe its been discussed before, but I think there are also different versions of Columbia's "Tommy" 400 foot digest.

James.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 67) on July 18, 2012, 06:40 AM:

There are also two versions of Castle Films' Son of Frankenstein...with slightly different scenes.

Posted by Colin Robert Hunt (Member # 433) on July 18, 2012, 02:58 PM:

Star Wars was available long before the film release here in the UK. Only 1 reel, but contained a good digest and quite a revolation in obtaining a decent film. I think Star Wars was a good seller on the later 400ft version. A later 400ft made it a great cutdown. Using the 1st release 1 reeler that contained more of the Obi speach made a nice 36 min cutdown after reediting. Have this myself and now after all these years I still think it's a really nice example of Super 8 showing today.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on July 18, 2012, 03:15 PM:

I didn't realise that there was another Columbia edit,I know that
Iver released this film,then did a different version again.I have
the Columbia & Iver edits, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I was
besieged back in the day by people wanting to see STAR WARS
even if it was only ten minutes,those were the days Colin,if only
the bits we were given had had the quality of the German prints.
I hadn't realised that the SON OF FRANKENSTEIN had a different
version in the 200' clip.Which if you take the beginning makes a
great intro for the U8 400'.Well spotted Gary.Why do they do
this?Some of the Castles were nice clips,others not so,
PIRATES HAVEN and the two SHENENDOAH clips spring to mind.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on July 22, 2012, 06:45 PM:

Mary Poppins the Super Nanny has two different edits between
the silent and sound editions.

What I found unusual is that the silent version has a longer
musical sequence than the sound version. This is where Mary is singing in the
mirror, and the mirror sings back. That additional 20 seconds should not
have been trimmed from the sound edition and instead where it was left in silent version.

There are other sequences in the silent version. Sliding up the banister, and the
clothes tree that is pulled out of Mary's carpet bag are some of the additional scenes.

The silent print has superimposed titles.

Both prints are on SP stock, and the color has turned a deep orange brown.

[Frown]

Here is a discussion that was posted several years ago, regarding a title that
sold the most digests:Silver Streak

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on July 22, 2012, 08:21 PM:

I have two different edits of Columbia's 200' super 8 sound THE GIANT CLAW. One is slightly longer, both have no splices.

Posted by Joe Balitzki (Member # 438) on July 22, 2012, 08:26 PM:

I do wish a 400' version was released of "The Giant Claw"; parts of it are a bit abrupt in the 200' digest. Surprising too, that there is no Columbia logo since there isn't one at the end of the film.

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