The Immortal Story on DVD & Blu-Ray

[Roger Ryan]

edmoney wrote:
Can anyone summarize what was cut in those 4 minutes and the reason for the cuts?

Wich2 wrote:
Ed, I would think those cuts might have been for the French TV broadcast? Does anyone know if they are sticklers for the one-hour block, as American TV is?

I originally figured as well that that 1-hour timeslot was the reason for cutting the four minutes, but I just re-watched the Francois Thomas interview on the Criterion set, and I didn't pay close enough attention the first time, because it seems that I was way off in assuming the French and English versions on the Criterion set were the same, aside from the language. According to Mr. Thomas, the French version runs only 50 minutes, eight minutes shorter than Criterion's English version, and twelve minutes shorter than the English version on TCM and the Madman DVD. Furthermore, the French version features about twelve minutes of shots that are different from the English version. So the French version alone makes the Criterion set worth getting.

Yes, the French-language version is definitely cut further. I believe the whole Clay speech about "my name is a million dollars" was deleted, for example. I'm also pretty sure the "twelve minutes" of alternate shots are all close-ups or medium close-up shots where Welles had the actors say their lines in French. Although the entire film is post-dubbed, it appears Welles shot each dialog scene twice; once in English and once in French so the lip movements would match. On the wider shots (where it would be more difficult to discern correct lip movement) or ones where the actor's back was turned towards the camera, he didn't bother to shoot two versions. The one advantage of the French-language edit is that it's the only version to have the full sound effect of the seashell dropping out of Clay's hand - on the shot of the sailor returning to the bedroom to gather his things, you can hear the seashell hit the floor. The two English-language versions delete this portion of the sound effect and simply "cut in" to the sound of the seashell rocking back-and-forth on the floor on the hard cut to the seashell doing just that. Actually hearing the seashell hit the floor is an important cue to set-up the close-up of the rocking shell, so I feel the deletion of that sound effect in the English-language versions was simply a mistake.

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks for the info, Roger. Yes, most of Clay's pitch to the sailor at dinner was gone. Perhaps Welles was dissatisfied with the French actor's delivery of it.

Welles shooting two different versions of dialogue scenes for dubbing purposes sounds logical, but apparently, his English version didn't do a satisfactory job of matching the lip movements to the sound for some American critics. The original NYT review described the dubbing as "terrible." I was distracted by it myself the first time I saw the film, but I've gotten used to it over the years. Lipsync doesn't seem to be much of an issue with the French version.

Also, the French version has subtitles that are interestingly different from what is said in the English version, sometimes simpler and more clear in meaning. In addition, when Virginie calls Levinsky "The Wandering Jew", that line is in the English version, but in French, so non-French speakers can have no idea what was just said!

Clay dropping the seashell has always reminded me of Kane dropping the glass ball. Maybe they can put the dropping sound back into the English version sometime, along with Clay saying, "Rosebud.".

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