18 replies to this topic

[Grindelwald]

[COLOR=orange] First of all, hello to you all! I am a new member to this site and would be pleased by any warm welcome of any Bond fan, since I am addicted to this phenomenon since I first watched THE SPY WHO LOVED ME at an age of ten (ooops, yes, I am defenitely one of the older members here ) . But cut the crap and on with the topic's issue...

I was just wondering wether the first cut of a mere three hours of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE will ever be released on dvd. It did surprise me how little information the first dvd-release enhanced about this long edit of epic proportions from supervising editor Peter Hunt. I believe it was primarily cut down for commericial reasons only, cause a three hour version would never allow sufficient screenings a day a theatre. Complete scenes were cut and shots were trimmed to bring the running time down to only two hours. I am sure that many fans are curious which materials were cut. I myself would love to see a restored version at theatres first and of course followed by a double disc special edition of both versions on dvd, if....only the first edit still exists!

Does any forum member know by any chance if the first cut was preserved? And how long do we have to wait to get a look at the cut Peter Hunt ment to be? I am sure it would be far more interesting than the final version (since Peter Hunt was an incredible craftsman, and yes, I think OHMSS is the best Bond movie ever, although not my favourite).

[ComplimentsOfSharky]

Never heard of this. Do you know what kind of scenes were cut??

Welcome to CBN, you'll surely find many people who admire OHMSS and I for one place it in my top 3 so I doubt you'll shock many people.

[K1Bond007]

I don't know, but it'd be nice. Don't know about YOLT being 3-hours, but Thunderball was originally 4 and 1/2 hours according to Variety. It was the reason why the film got delayed a few months in '65 (noted in The Legacy by Cork). I'd love to see the 2 or so hours that we never got to see.

[Grindelwald]

I tried to find some info on the internet, but other than it being mentioned on this review site http://rinkworks.com...wice.1967.shtml I could not find yet. I read decades ago (don't ask me which book or article, I can't remember)that the transformation scenes of Bond into a Japanese Ninja were heavily cut (the fisher island scenes).

[Gri007]

I don't know, but it'd be nice. Don't know about YOLT being 3-hours, but Thunderball was originally 4 and 1/2 hours according to Variety. It was the reason why the film got delayed a few months in '65 (noted in The Legacy by Cork). I'd love to see the 2 or so hours that we never got to see.

Never knew Thunderball was 4 and half hours. shame it got cut.

[Turn]

I think the original source for saying the original cut of YOLT being three hours was from Stephen Rubin's The James Bond films. There was another thread recently that said a lot of Rubin's information was innacurate. Besides that, I can't recall hearing anything about any deleted scenes from YOLT when I have for most of the other films in the series.

I also find it very hard to believe there could have ever been a three-hour cut when it's been reported there weren't that many cut scenes because some of those early films were working on tight budgets and they couldn't always afford to film things that wouldn't end up on film. Beyond that, I understand they didn't save any of the scrapped scenes from back then anyway.

So, no, I doubt there will ever be a 3-hour cut of YOLT. I'm not sure EON will ever endorse a director's cut of any Bond film. But we have a better chance of seeing longer versions of recent films such as TWINE or DAD, which seem to have a lot of extra scenes that were cut and actually saved.

[marktmurphy]

I find it hard to believe that the producers would be unprofessional enough not to realise how much they were shooting. It seems a bit hard to swallow.

[K1Bond007]

I don't know, but it'd be nice. Don't know about YOLT being 3-hours, but Thunderball was originally 4 and 1/2 hours according to Variety. It was the reason why the film got delayed a few months in '65 (noted in The Legacy by Cork). I'd love to see the 2 or so hours that we never got to see.

Never knew Thunderball was 4 and half hours. shame it got cut.

A proper joke here would include a reference to "Never Say Never Again".

No wonder it was cut, am I right

[Grindelwald]

You all seem to forget how much Peter Hunt had to struggle for his OHMSS. Among possibly some other small countries only theatres in the USA were able to show the full length feature. In Europe all the release prints were cut by almost 15 minutes, deleting the whole scene in wich Bond steals some paperwork by using a device whilst he's reading the playboy. Cause Huge Heffner was (and always has been)co-financing (secretly)the Bond movies (a huge fan he is!), the full-length was probably admitted in the States. Also some other shots were edited out to allow for more screenings.

Futhermore, it is load of crap to believe that the producers would not have allowed for the so called unnecessary extra scenes. Producers are not in full control of materials shot all the way. Especially from Thunderball on, when the Bond budgets could became the biggest in the film industry at the time (!!!)(till the early seventies where budgets were clearly cut on LALD and TMWTGG), allowing directors to shoot on a large scale...is just a little naive/simple to think only scenes were shot which made it in the final cuts. Load of bull that is. Think twice guys and please don't yell things that just aren't true. I've been on sets myself (many times for being a camera-assistent) and know that lots of materials are shot which d

[WC]

3 hour version? What extra stuff does it have, and how does it add to the plot? I am curious.

[doublenoughtspy]

Welcome Grindlewald.

First, the man's name is Hugh Hefner, NOT Huge Heffner.

Second, he has not been co-financing the films. Has he helped promote Ian Fleming and Bond over the years? Yes. But not co-financing - secretly or otherwise.

Now, on to the YOLT three hour cut. Hunt was brought in after another editor did the rough cut.

I think what people are mistaking here is the difference between a rough cut and a final cut. A rough cut might have multiple takes so an editor or director could choose between the better ones.

It would also included longer establishing shots, longer fight scenes, and more expository dialog - all to be tightened later.

Even at Bond's height - no one was stupid enough to believe a 4 or even 3 hour Bond film would work.

Bond directors weren't hired to create David Lean style epics - they shot economically as possible - especially Guy Hamilton.

Yes, there are some stills from a couple unused Thunderball scenes - and with all the continuity mistakes it's obvious they shot plenty of material.

However, I haven't heard of many stills, contact sheets, or scripts with unused YOLT scenes, but that doesn't mean none exist. I just find it curious that if whole sections are missing from the film that Bond scholars wouldn't have turned up anything by now.

[Hotwinds]

Welcome Grindelwald,

I never heard that before about YOLT or TB (from another post).
It would be a dream come true for me if somehow by some miracle, that footage has survived. The only way to know for sure is to get ahold of the editors if they are still alive as I think both directors are dead now. I know for sure TY is.

[COLOR=orange] First of all, hello to you all! I am a new member to this site and would be pleased by any warm welcome of any Bond fan, since I am addicted to this phenomenon since I first watched THE SPY WHO LOVED ME at an age of ten (ooops, yes, I am defenitely one of the older members here )     . But cut the crap and on with the topic's issue...

I was just wondering wether the first cut of a mere three hours of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE will ever be released on dvd. It did surprise me how little information the first dvd-release enhanced about this long edit of epic proportions from supervising editor Peter Hunt. I believe it was primarily cut down for commericial reasons only, cause a three hour version would never allow sufficient screenings a day a theatre. Complete scenes were cut and shots were trimmed to bring the running time down to only two hours. I am sure that many fans are curious which materials were cut. I myself would love to see a restored version at theatres first and of course followed by a double disc special edition of both versions on dvd, if....only the first edit still exists!

Does any forum member know by any chance if the first cut was preserved? And how long do we have to wait to get a look at the cut Peter Hunt ment to be? I am sure it would be far more interesting than the final version (since Peter Hunt was an incredible craftsman, and yes, I think OHMSS is the best Bond movie ever, although not my favourite).

[Grindelwald]

Hello DoublenAughtYspy!

The mistyping of Hugh in Huge was a deliberate one and by co-financing I was not meaning co-producing...To help a production(by promoting or by product placement as in OHMSS)is nothing but investing small or larger sums of money and in my vision that is co-financing. Furthermore, mr. Playboy himself was never mentioned on any credits (at the beginning or end of any movie), so me calling his support secretly was only ment for this being so.

Also, I am talking here about the first finished cut for release purposes.I am aware of rough cuts and working prints, but that was not what I ment. The three hour version HAD BEEN JUST A VERSION, but the producers did not allow for this to happen for it being commercially impossible...They stroke the two hour limit (as they tried to do with OHMSS)...

Both Terence Yound and Peter Hunt have sadly passed away, so among some others posssible director Lewis Gilbert (if he is still alive of course) could answer this question...

[Loomis]

Even at Bond's height - no one was stupid enough to believe a 4 or even 3 hour Bond film would work.

Bond directors weren't hired to create David Lean style epics - they shot economically as possible - especially Guy Hamilton.

Sounds reasonable, but then again you never know. Granted, this is a very different era, but John Woo's original cut of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II supposedly clocked in at three-and-a-half-hours (final cut, that is, not rough cut - well, first final cut, I guess).

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE runs for 116 minutes, and while I doubt that it was ever envisaged as a three-hour affair, I have no problem believing that it may have originally been intended to last another 20 minutes or half an hour, which would have made its running time roughly comparable to that of the 140-minute ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. No, Bond was never David Lean, but, still, in 1967 the series was at its "widescreen epic" (kicked off with THUNDERBALL) peak. If someone had suggested making YOLT two-and-a-half hours long, I doubt that the automatic response would have been: "What? You must be mad!"

As for a DVD release of an expanded YOLT or another Bond film, it strikes me that Eon - for whatever reasons - most definitely does not go in for alternate editions, directors' cuts, and so on. A pity.

[Turn]

Even at Bond's height - no one was stupid enough to believe a 4 or even 3 hour Bond film would work.

Bond directors weren't hired to create David Lean style epics - they shot economically as possible - especially Guy Hamilton.

As for a DVD release of an expanded YOLT or another Bond film, it strikes me that Eon - for whatever reasons - most definitely does not go in for alternate editions, directors' cuts, and so on. A pity.

I was pretty amazed we got deleted scenes from DAF and TLD in the last wave of DVD releases. It seemed a little surprising then they never allowed deleted scenes for DAD.

Honestly, I thought those little making-of things got way too technical and I've never watched them again on the DVD. I'm sure if you asked people whether they'd rather see deleted scenes or how the title sequence was shot or behind the scenes of a video game, I think I know how they majority would answer.

[Scottlee]

YOLT is actually one of the few Bond films in dire need of being made longer to actually turn it from being good into brilliant. There are far too many instances in the film where I think - "woah, the plot has leaped forward a bit here".

However, I doubt we will ever see a 3hr version on DVD. We may get one or two deleted scenes on a future cut, but an entire hour of extra footage? Can't see it.

Edited by Scottlee, 24 September 2005 - 01:53 AM.

[Kingdom Come]

It has often been discused on this site re three hours cut of YOLT. As far as I know Hunt had little imput into the editing of this film, though as you said, he did supervise. The assembly of 'little Nellie' looks like it could have been an idea of Hunt's! I'm rather glad his 'style' is mostly absent from the film as YOLT is my fav Bond film.

User Grindlwald, I've been to Grindlwald! little village overlooking Lauterbrunnen Valley - same valley OHMSS was partly filmed and close by to Piz Gloria.

[Grindelwald]

Hello Kingdom Come, I never realised this whole 3-hour edit was discussed many times before on this forum, and from reading the answers to this topic I know now many members doubt this long edit ever existed at all, but I am sure it did, since it was mentioned in different reliable sources. Anyways, I've never been in Grindlwald, but since OHMSS is the ultimate best Bond movie for me (although SWLM is my fav, which could be seen as a superb remake of YOLT and spoofed by Moonraker, all from the same director ), I thought it to be a nice nickname. I guess the locale was pretty cool, since the outdoors locations look very spectacular in the film and are one of the finest in the whole series.

Edited by Grindelwald, 25 September 2005 - 01:21 PM.

[Colossus]

I would be enthralled for a 3 hour version of YOLT