Question about Ken Films

[Gary Sayers]

Did Ken Films put out slightly different versions of their 200ft B/W silent releases over the years?

I only ask as I was looking at super 8 subjects on youtube today and I noticed the Ken release of 'War of the Worlds' had been uploaded by Clinton Hunt. I love this cut-down (first film that I ever bought in the mid 1970s), so I took a look.

I was totally surprised to find that there was around 40 seconds of footage at the start that was not in my copy. Basically, there is the Paramount logo, followed by some of the WWI and WWII footage that's in the feature pre-title. There's also a brief cast list and other credits. The rest of the reel is identical to mine.

I double checked my reel (which I purchased brand new) and there are no splices (I knew this but I checked anyway), so there's no missing footage.

Has anyone else made a similar discovery on any Ken films release or indeed, does anyone else have the 'War of the Worlds' and if so, does it have the same footage as the one on youtube?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NUUukAtyo4

[Carter Bradley]

Hi Gary. I had never seen the "War of the Worlds" digest, but found it to be a terrific edit. Thanks for the youtube link.

My only experience with various Ken Films' edits of the same title is with my copies of "The Sound of Music" (400' color/sound). When originally released in 1976, Kens' edit was choppy at best, with a huge jump cut in the last few lines of "Do-Re-Mi!" Probably about 1978 a new, much more professional edit (including extra scenes and dissolves, etc.) replaced the original one. I "lucked out" as I owned a B&H projector which somehow allowed a magnetic force to come into contact with the film's sound strip, causing an uneven soundtrack. At first I thought some of my sound films were defective. I mailed my TSOM copy back to 560 Main Street, Ft. Lee, NJ, and the replacement was the superior, newer edit.

[Graham Ritchie]

I have the 3/400footer Marketing release, the DVD plus the later blu-ray and have never seen that 40 second footage. My guess is that someone has edited some old war footage to that film, hence the fact its silent footage. I could be totally wrong, but I don't think that 40 seconds worth is part of the actual feature or even on the release trailer.

[Graham Ritchie]

PS...Its a bit faded but I up loaded this short extract from it to you-tube a while back

[Osi Osgood]

I don't remember actual different footage, but on the STAR WARS 200ft digests, there are two different beginnings. On one, there are the black backgrounds with white lettering and the Fox logo music. There is another one without the music at the beginning, but with a still Star Wars logo against a star space, and then, right into the usual digest.

[Gary Sayers]

Carter, you definitely got lucky there and that also proves the point that Ken Films did indeed issue re-edits of their releases. Thanks for that information.

Thanks for that also Osi.

Graham, the WWI and WWII footage is certainly part of the original feature. It's a kind of pre-title bit with the narrator earnestly telling us about mankind's previous big wars before the 'War of the Worlds' title comes onto the screen. Just checked my DVD to see if I wasn't getting mixed up and there it is.

I think from Carter's and Osi's experience, the youtube upload must be a later, re-edited version of this release.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Gary,

My two prints of the 200' War of the Worlds digest are exactly the same as the print that Clinton uploaded. I have come across a few silent Ken Films releases that are slightly different and I believe this stems from two practical reasons as opposed to "artistic" re-editing.

1) Negative damage - It's possible that a section of the negative was damaged, so Ken shortened or removed a particular scene.
2) Reducing printing costs - As film stock got more expensive, I think Ken decided to lose some of the footage to save money.

I have striped and added audio to many of Ken's digests that were released only in silent versions. I have seen two different versions of Trog where one of the shots of Trog coming out of the cave had been shortened. There were no physical splices in this shortened print.
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein also has a version that is slightly shorter.

As opposed to Clinton's (and my) version of WOTW being a later release, I think your print is a later release after Ken figured they could save money by losing that early sequence.
I also remember that as a kid, I bought War of the Worlds the first week it was out in stores! And yes....it is one of their best edits, and relatively easy to add the original audio to...as opposed to the chopped up mess that is Moon Zero Two!

[Gary Sayers]

Hi Doug, I think your second reason may be the most likely, as this 'additional footage' occurs both before and after the title, so probably not due to negative damage (though not totally impossible). Cost cutting usually comes into play with most businesses at some time and I guess chopping 40 seconds per reel off would soon add up to a decent saving in film costs overall.

When I first saw the youtube upload, my first thought was that maybe my print was a faulty one. I could have bought into this idea if it wasn't footage missing from either side of the title.

I once owned two prints of Walton's release of 'The Live Ghost' std 8 sound and one had slightly more footage in it. Walton were well known for making slight edits to save money and I guess the same applied to other 8mm film companies.

As for the 'War of the Worlds' print, I bought it from Mailmaster films in the UK in either late 1974 or early 1975 but I don't know when it was first released. When did you buy yours, Doug?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Gary,

I believe I bought War Of The Worlds sometime in 1973. It was only a short time away that Ken would make the jump to color & sound with the 200' Planet of the Apes films in 1974.

[Gary Sayers]

Thanks Doug.

And that's a really neat advert. Those were the days!

[Graham Ritchie]

That's interesting Gary I will have to watch the dvd/blu-ray again