Uncut version of "A Night at the Opera" in Hungary?

[Mikael Uhlin]

Hi!

It seems as if Racz Tamas is about to make a great discovery in
the Hungarian National Film Archive;

See http://www.marx-brothers.org/marxology/

/regards
Mikael Uhlin @ Marxology

[william...@aol.com]

On Jun 25, 12:54 pm, Mikael Uhlin <u-l...@telia.com> wrote:
> Hi!
>
> It seems as if Racz Tamas is about to make a great discovery in
> the Hungarian National Film Archive;
>

> Seehttp://www.marx-brothers.org/marxology/

>
> /regards
> Mikael Uhlin @ Marxology

This is really exciting news. I am going to try and send this link to
George Feltenstein, who is in charge of the classic film library at
Warner Brothers, Bob Gitt, who heads the film restoration at U.C.L.A,
and Leonard Maltin, who once told me years ago when I was trying to
locate a uncut copy of ‘Horse Feathers” in France; “Any newly
discovered frame of film with the Marx Brothers is real find.”

Cartoonguy

[eva]

"Any newly discovered frame of film with the Marx Brothers is a real
find". That's a very good thing to hear, I've found about roughly 30
frames of film, so I am probably doing real good. Thank you Mikael
for spreading the news, and thank you Cartoonguy for contacting these
people. I hope we could somehow get the rights to get the film out,
and transfer it to DVD. We need help badly.

Regards

Rácz Tamás

[william...@aol.com]

Okay, my update in regards to this subject; I have spoken to Bob Gitt,
and have sent a letter with a link of the article to George
Feltenstein, Leonard Maltin, and also to Ned Price and Bill Rush, who
do the film restoration for Warner Brothers. Now we play the wait and
see game. I will keep all posted as to any new developments.

Cartoonguy

[Beaver Lad]

In article
<9f0be955-86c1-476e...@s50g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>,
<"william...@aol.com"> wrote:

======================

Fascinating. Thank you!

[william...@aol.com]

Reply from Leonard Maltin;

Hi... Naturally this sounds like a great find, and I hope the folks at
WB will follow through as you suggest. I took the liberty of
forwarding your note to my old friend Joe Adamson, the Marx Brothers
scholar who works at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Joe explained to me years ago that the print we all know was cut--and
not terribly well--for a reissue in the late 1940s or early 50s. For
some reason MGM decided to remove all references to Italy--including
the opening scenes of the picture! The Academy has a continuity script
of the complete Night at the Opera that we all hope to see some day,
and it's disappointing that this Hungarian version doesn't seem to be
it. Still, any new snippets are great to have. Thanks for letting me
know. cheers, Leonard

[Beaver Lad]

In article
<446b5838-12a2-4dd9...@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>,
<"william...@aol.com"> wrote:

=========================
Thanks for that, William.

An uncut NIGHT AT THE OPERA would be very cool. (The one I most hope
turns up intact is HORSE FEATHERS.)

[eva]

Thank you for transmitting Leonard Maltin's reply. Certainly he is THE
movie critic. But I have an arguement.
As you all know what I've found was only two sentences, and two shots
of singers, and not the 4 minutes long intro which contains the street
singing intro. However "A night at the opera" was cut at least TWICE
after it was filmed. The first time it was shown to an audience it
flopped, and Thalberg cut out some scenes to make it better paced, and
tighter. I think that the street singing intro was cut then. If the
print I've found would be the one which has all the italian references
eliminated, than they should've cut these two sentences too, like in
the DVD version. I've only seen the first reel, but the print they
have supposed to be 95 minutes long. So there must be something
additional in the other reels too.

I only wrote this to show that this print should be preserved somehow.
And I am hoping that one day we will get the rights to do so.

Regards

Rácz Tamás

[william...@aol.com]

I spoke with Joe Adamson from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences this afternoon, and he was wondering if the print from the
Hungarian National Film Archive was in English, or was it dubbed?

Cartoonguy

[eva]

It was in English, with Hungarian subtitles. Funny thing he should ask
this. There was the scene where Harpo hands Lasparri a note from
Gottlieb "May I see you?", in this version he gave a note saying
"Podria verlo?" which is the same thing in Spanish. Also "Una noche en
la ópera" was written on the end of the reel. I think that this was a
copy of a Spanish print to which they added Hungarian subtitles.

Regards

Rácz Tamás