260 Eyes Without a Face

[Rupert Pupkin]

the Criterion web site doesn't say if the high-res transfer is connected to Gaumont.
Since the DVD has the scene, Criterion are probably aware of the problem of the Gaumont Blu-Ray (I sincerely hope).

there's a great thread on this great French web site dedicated to SF-fantastic-horror, etc... movies :

http://www.devildead.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

you'll see some screenshots about the missing scene here (so far J.Soulet from Gaumont never replied about this; on devildead forum or on dvdclassik - he was asked too about this missing scene - which is IMHO very important to this movie) :
http://www.western.devildead.com/forum/ ... c&start=75" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


credits to fantomas 2 for these screenshots (from the Criterion DVD)...

[MichaelB]

the Criterion web site doesn't say if the high-res transfer is connected to Gaumont.
Since the DVD has the scene, Criterion are probably aware of the problem of the Gaumont Blu-Ray (I sincerely hope).

One of my most basic tasks when QCing new releases is to check the running time against older releases and thoroughly investigate discrepancies, so I'd be amazed if Criterion hadn't done that too.

[Props55]

Despite the fact that this is a horror film (graphic surgery, bodies dumped and discovered, mauling by dogs) might there not be some censor board restriction (similar to the recently much discussed BBFC animal cruelty statues) regarding the subject of animals used in medical research. If memory serves (and like Mr. Hare's mine serves less each day!) the dogs are delivered for just such an express purpose.

[MichaelB]

Despite the fact that this is a horror film (graphic surgery, bodies dumped and discovered, mauling by dogs) might there not be some censor board restriction (similar to the recently much discussed BBFC animal cruelty statues) regarding the subject of animals used in medical research. If memory serves (and like Mr. Hare's mine serves less each day!) the dogs are delivered for just such an express purpose.

I doubt it, unless the dogs were actually tortured for real on camera, which is the only thing likely to exercise either British law or American animal-rights activists.

For the record, the most recent British release versions ran 90m12s (BFI theatrical) and 86m27s (Second Sight DVD) - the latter translating to 90m03s after PAL speedup has been factored in, with no cuts requested in either case. I assume the discrepancy is down to something along the lines of a ten-second BFI logo, since the Second Sight ident comes right at the start of the loading of the disc, not immediately prior to the main feature.

[martin]

I agree with MichaelB. When I wrote my mini-review a couple of years ago, I really couldn't find any reason for Gaumont to cut this scene - certainly not based on censoring issues. I actually reasoned (without knowing for sure) that perhaps this scene had somehow made it's way onto the Criterion DVD because the US theatrical cut has always been an entirely different cut (and mostly a heavily truncated cut, which somehow defies my reasoning) compared to the European releases. But I really doubt that now. Perhaps Gaumont messed it up?

[Props55]

I suspect you're both right as regards the censorship issue and the missing scene is just an random anomoly.
I was sure such an innocuous scene would pass stateside and even the much more strenuous BBFC but I should have made clear that my curiousity was with regard to any French censorship measures.

What's even more curious to me is that there was a similar situation which came up after the release of the MoC JUDEX several years ago. Someone discovered additional footage (less than a minute or two) of the detective and the kid in a stateside PD release (Sinister Cinema?) which was never really accounted for even after checking the original press and distributor runtimes and matching them to the vault negitive and prints which were the basis for the various region-coded editions released at that time.

Perhaps it's all due to Franju gremlins!

[MichaelB]

What's even more curious to me is that there was a similar situation which came up after the release of the MoC JUDEX several years ago. Someone discovered additional footage (less than a minute or two) of the detective and the kid in a stateside PD release (Sinister Cinema?) which was never really accounted for even after checking the original press and distributor runtimes and matching them to the vault negitive and prints which were the basis for the various region-coded editions released at that time.

It sounds like a similar situation to Salò, where an additional scene popped up in the 35mm print held by the BFI National Archive that is not in any other version that I'm aware of - including the original camera negative stored at Technicolor in Rome, from which the HD master used for various Blu-rays was struck. And I don't think anyone's satisfactorily explained its existence.

[peerpee]

What's even more curious to me is that there was a similar situation which came up after the release of the MoC JUDEX several years ago. Someone discovered additional footage (less than a minute or two) of the detective and the kid in a stateside PD release (Sinister Cinema?) which was never really accounted for even after checking the original press and distributor runtimes and matching them to the vault negitive and prints which were the basis for the various region-coded editions released at that time.

Perhaps it's all due to Franju gremlins!

It was pretty well accounted for, I thought. I received this reply from the film's owner Jacques Champreux, and posted it in the MoC JUDEX thread:

Dear Mr. Wrigley,

I'm very surprised by your mail. I've never heard about another version of « JUDEX » with a different cut like this.
I can affirm that the French DVD and MoC DVD is absolutely conformable to the original negative as cut by Georges Franju himself and Gilbert Natot and kept in the lab Eclair.
The version of « JUDEX » you can see in the DVD is exactly the same as the one that Franju approved and saw in 1963 at the Cinémathèque Française, at the time of the first official screening in the world of that film.
Since, nothing has been changed.
I suppose that, before this official screening, a print was normally established and next after seeing it, a refining out of the cutting of some sequences was decided. And then that refused print has been commercially exploited, without Franju's knowledge. There are no neglectable savings for the producers
It seems to me that the result of the cuts you indicate is to improve the rhythm of the concerned sequences.

With my best regards
Jacques CHAMPREUX

[Props55]

Yes, that's it! Thanks Nick!

So in the case of JUDEX a pre-release cut was purloined and made its way into the collectors greymarket. Perhaps the same for EWaF.

[Stefan Andersson]

davidhare:

Have you seen this discussion over at DVDClassik re: a scene missing from the Gaumont Eyes Without a Face Blu?
http://www.dvdclassik.com/forum/viewtop ... &start=405" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check out posts by "todslaughter". One of them includes screencaps from the missing scene (taken from the Crit DVD), with the dog handler returning a missing dog to Dr. Genessier, who puts it in a cage.

Jerome replied several times to this issue. He says the Gaumont BR is taken from a newer master than the Crit DVD, and speculates that the missing scene may now be missing from 35mm elements also. The newer master = the showing of the film at Cannes in 2009. But the does think that the missing scene is a bizarre issue, so I believe he will be investigating further.

[dwk]

Beaver on the Blu-ray

[Max von Mayerling]

Personally, all I care about is how Blood of the Beasts looks. I'd love to see screen caps of that.

[_shadow_]

I don't see that any online review has commented on whether the scene missing in the Gaumont Blu is present in the Criterion Blu upgrade; the only related indication is the identical runtime with the DVD indicated on DVD Beaver. Can anyone confirm that the scene has been retained from DVD?

[twicebilled]

I don't see that any online review has commented on whether the scene missing in the Gaumont Blu is present in the Criterion Blu upgrade; the only related indication is the identical runtime with the DVD indicated on DVD Beaver. Can anyone confirm that the scene has been retained from DVD?

Having watched this the other day, I can confirm the scene Rupert posted is in the criterion blu release.

[HerrSchreck]

Has anybody around here either seen or heard of a DVD release of the english dubbed cut of the film which went on the road with the sublime The Manster? It was called, as we all know, The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus.

[Orlac]

Has anybody around here either seen or heard of a DVD release of the english dubbed cut of the film which went on the road with the sublime The Manster? It was called, as we all know, The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus.

Sadly not. I'd like to see it, if just for the giggle factor.

[tenia]

Blu-ray.com has posted the review and includes 5 caps of Blood of the Beasts. It is indeed a new restoration but it seems not to be especially overwhelming.

[_shadow_]

You can find the Horror Chamber here, just skip the bookends.