Upcoming DVD Releases

[Jeff Wilson]

I received the new disc of The Trial, and it has the (presumably) complete scene of Joseph K with Paxinou's scientist. Video quality of the scene is excellent; it opens with Hopkins working at a desk after all the other workers have filed out. He finishes his work, looks around, and begins jumping and skipping across the sea of desks, stopping when he is interrupted by Paxinou's entrance. The scene cuts to the two of them walking along the banks of computers and talking. It runs about six minutes and 20 seconds total. Only problem with the scene is this: It has no sound! There are no notes accompanying the scene to let us know if the soundtrack was lost or too badly damaged to use, and no description as to the dialogue.

The second disc includes the edited version from 1984, which runs about 7 minutes shorter and cuts the pinscreen prologue. Both versions of the film have the original English soundtrack, and the full version also contains a French track. French subtitles are not forced. The disc has a photo gallery of 34 photos and the French one sheet, and the French trailer is included. Finally, the documentary on the film and Kafka (but primarily the film) runs 30 minutes and not 38, as stated on the box. It features interviews with Edmond Richard and Sophie Becker, who both worked on the film, as well as a critic and a Kafka scholar.

[Jeff Wilson]

I have added three (!) pages of screen captures from the missing scene. Each page has ten pictures, so if you have a slow connection, you'll have to deal with some load time. Still, I think they give a decent idea of what the scene was like. I won't leave all these up for too long, so look at them while you can. Link to successive pages at the bottom of each page.

Missing Scene Shots

[Harvey Chartrand]

What brilliant footage!
How could Welles have cut this?
How could he have mutilated his own work?
It's great that the Scientist scene has been retrieved, but why didn't they restore the sound? Couldn't they have dubbed the dialogue from the original script?
Apparently, Billy Wilder did the same thing on The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes — cut too much out.
Thanks for posting these astounding images, Jeff. I've printed the pages before they disappear.

[Jeff Wilson]

Yeah, the lack of sound is critical in assessing the scene, and the disc gives no indication as to why sound is absent. I assume it was lost at some point, given its lack of use in the film, but who knows. Anything to place the scene in context would have been nice. It is a beautifully shot scene.

[Jeff Wilson]

I have been clued in to the fact that I had the dialogue to the K-Scientist scene all along, in the script book to the film that was published in 1970. While comparing the dialogue to the actual scene, the two don't match up in some cases, but I have added that dialogue to the screen captures so all can get an idea of what they scene was going to be like. It is a real shame it got cut, as it is a fascinating scene. One note: in the original script, K was to discover the two assistant inspectors still being beaten in the closet before catching up to the Scientist when she leaves. Anyhow, enjoy. Same link above as previous.

Also, my review of the French Quixote disc is up, and it is linked on the News page of the site.

[Jeff Wilson]

You're thinking, what else could possibly be added to this Trial DVD stuff? Well, how about side by side comparisons of the French disc to the Milestone and Filmfocus editions? Yes, we're a full service web site here, and you can see the comparisons at this link. The verdict is pretty clear...

[colwood]

As usual, great info Jeff. You answered two of my question before I got a chance to ask them (was there a printed screenplay? and how does the French version compare to the Milestone version?).

I guess I have a great (and another) reason to get a region-free dvd player.

[sergio]

Is the documentary on the French TRIAL disc subtyitled (in English?) - I bet it isn't and have ordered it anyway, but I couldn't se if anyone had mentioned it before, so I thought I would.

[Jeff Wilson]

The documentary isn't subtitled even in French, so no English, unfortunately.

[colwood]

According to amazon.fr, there is a Region 2 release of the movies Detour and The Stranger (both on one disc) due to be released June 16. Full Screen, English-Mono 2.0. The extras are listed as filmographies, biographies, Cimemascope, The Quizz, and Les fiches techniques. What exactly the last three are and which extras are for which movie I don't know.

Also, the page at amazon show screencaps for the each movie. For the Stranger, the main page cap says Chapters, Versions, Bonus, but doesn't explain them further.

[mteal]

Great stuff from THE TRIAL missing scene, Jeff. I seem to remember reading that Welles said that it should have been the best scene in the picture but wasn't, so he cut it. Also, I think it would have pushed the film over the 120-minute mark, so that may have had something to do with it's elimination as well, since Welles seemed to have a phobia about movies running more then 2 hours. Obviously tho, this scene was a very important moment in his original conception for the film, so it's good to know what it was about and what it contained. I wonder why the computer thought Joseph K. would commit suicide?

[sergio]

I've just got my copy of the French DVD of THE TRIAL - I have to agree with everything that Jeff has already told us about the image quality - it is really quite superb!

I found it hard to remove the subtitles on the full-length version (no problem on the "1984" version) however and had to resort to disabling the subtitle function on my player.

I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere, so apologies in advance, but apart from the missing prologue, what are the differences between the two versions presented on the 2 disc set - and how is this 1984 version a "restoration" if it just cuts the prologue out of it?

Why are there two versions? Obviously, with the exception of KANE, there seem to be multiple versions of all his films, but I don't know what happened here, and as always, would be grateful of any elightenment on offer here.

Many thanks to Jeff for doing such a gret job on this site and for alerting us to this great new DVD.

Sergio

[mteal]

That's a good question about why there are two different versions of the film. Did Orson Welles himself create the shorter version? If not, I don't think I would consider it to be legitimate. I also wonder if Welles offered, or would have offered any illumination on the missing scene if he had completed FILMING THE TRIAL. I guess we'll have to wait for someone to put that into some kind of completed form before we find out.

Looking at the different stills of the empty corporate workplace, with endless desks arranged in groups, I can't help but be reminded a bit of Leni Riefenstahl's TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, where masses of people were arranged in a similar way at Nazi rallies (I think there's a definite anti-fascist subtext to Welles' film). Interesting too, that at one point Welles dissolves from these endless desks directly to shabby-looking apartment buildings, where endless numbers of riffraff live in their little cages.

[colwood]

Has anyone bought the recent Region 2 UK DVD of Citizen Kane and care to share your thoughts? It interests me, though a review of it at dvdreviews.net didn't sound too enthusiastic.

[Jeff Wilson]

My copy of the new Kane disc will hopefully arrive by Saturday (along with the 1966 BBC Alice in Wonderland, which I'm eagerly awaiting, but that's neither here nor there), and I will have a full review and comparison with the Warner release on I get a chance to look through it. I've read good things about it, but we'll see.