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Topic: ABC Releases...How uncommon are they?
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Timothy Ramzyk
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 220
From: Milwaukee,WI,USA
Registered: Nov 2006
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posted October 27, 2014 12:46 AM
I thought Spiral Staircase still plays well, but the missing footage is a shame since there was enough room on the reels for a complete print. Erroneously the box refers to it as ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S
One of my guilty pleasures is the Robert Aldrich produced WHATEVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE? Which in amusing BABY JANE variation, this time with Geraldine Page bonking maids on the head with a shovel to pilfer their money. It's also trimmed of a good scene where Page tries but fails to kill the neighbor's dog who been poking around in her garden/cemetery. It still holds together in the edited version though. ABC released it letterboxed.
The ABC features I remember were,
FOR THE LOVE OF IVY, STRAW DOGS, PARADINE CASE, THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN, THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE, THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY?, SUSPICION & DUEL IN THE SUN.
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Timothy Ramzyk
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 220
From: Milwaukee,WI,USA
Registered: Nov 2006
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posted October 27, 2014 12:38 PM
Running times seemed a lot more liquid in the days before VHS, IMDB, and cable movie channels exposed the trims.
Many, many TV stations would cut title that ran under 80 minutes down to fit a 90 minute space, or simply allow the film to progress during the commercials.
I does seem absurd to me now that you'd whack 6 minutes out of a film that would fit nicely on the the reels without cuts.
As I recall ABC ads stated that only their color titles were "slightly edited" whereas the B/W features were intact. We now know even the B/W movies were cut, and if cutting color films that ran over 100 minutes down to eighty is "slight" editing, I'd beg to differ.
I used to think the 3-reel abridgments were an interesting animal. If well done they still felt like seeing a feature, yet still managed to leave one feeling a bit rushed through and cheated.
I remember my mother feeling that both 200ft. and 400ft. titles were "a waste of time and money" since they could never give much more than a taste of the feature.
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted October 27, 2014 12:58 PM
On the plus side, the ABC black and white prints that I have seen, have been excellent quality, nice and sharp with good contrast.
People seem to either love or hate digests. I think the MGM musical digests were all excellent, particularly the 2 x 400's, and usually included all the famous musical numbers in complete form, which is really what you wanted to get. Digests of Drama's were obviously much less satisfactory, although Columbia put out some impressive efforts, once they decided to get rid of the narrator!
My favourite digests these days are the Derann black and white prints of the Busby Berkeley musicals, which are really excellent, and of course have not faded like most of my color digests.
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Panayotis A. Carayannis
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 969
From: Athens,Greece
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted October 28, 2014 12:04 PM
Here are scans of the ABC catalogue with running times referred.But they are erring.PARADINE CASE is in 5x400 reels in its original box,.Four reels are full and the fifth only about 300 ft,about 90 minutes total.REBECCA is complete at 130 minutes, and not 104 as stated.My copy is in 2x800 and 1x1200 reels.
They all sold for $189.Mind you that PORTRAIT OF JENNIE and THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE were released complete, in the good old standard 8 days,in England. But,no version of JENNY,english or american,has the color ending. 
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