Robert Aldrich

[knives]

Does anyone have any information on The Greatest Mother of Them All? From what I can gather it is an incomplete film, but there doesn't seem to be any definitive talk about it.

[Lighthouse]

In Germany in the 80s a version of Ulzana's Raid was shown on TV which combines every scene from Aldrich's US and from Lancaster's European version. It runs about 112 min. I'm normally not a follower of "the longest available version is the best" idea, but here it is the from me preferred version which should be released on disc.

[feihong]

I saw World for Ransom last year, and liked it quite a bit. Dan Duryea gets a plumb "hero" role in which to show off a sense of wounded nobility very unusual in his rogue's gallery of whining villains. He even gets to blow away a bunch of bad guys a la John Wayne. Very nice production design, and the street scenes are teeming with life. Some nice character work. And the script is very interesting, with a lot of tart touches. I especially liked the last line, given to the flower seller: "Love is a beautiful flower. But you cannot buy her."

A very nice movie. Hustle moved me quite a bit also, when I saw it earlier in the year. A nice performance by Catherine Deneuve, and Paul Winfield does his typically precise work.

[Forrest Taft]

Walter Hill on Robert Aldrich: "Anarchic Instincts".

[Forrest Taft]

Anyone here knows the difference between the various versions of Twilight's Last Gleaming, and which one is the "official"? Imdb lists three runtimes: 146, 123 and 91 minutes. A user on the blu-raydotcom forum also mentions an extended 3-hour TV cut. I bought the German blu-ray from EuroVideo and it was a 114 minute version (the cover says 117 minutes though...), but I understand the Olive release is the longer 146 min version. Surprised that there are differences between the EuroVideo and the Olive releases, as both companies have licensed the HD restoration from Bavaria films, and both include the same Fiction Factory doc as a special feature.

[Grisbi]

The Olive Films version is 144 minutes, and is the original version that Aldrich fought (and won) to have released in theaters and the one that flopped. So, I guess the "official" version. I believe that Aldrich cut a couple of small scenes with Vera Miles at the very last minute which probably accounts for the two minute discrepancy with the historical "146 minute" credit. After the film tanked it was released in multiple butchered versions overseas and these are almost certainly the shorter running times. There is no three hour version; the "extended 3-hour TV cut" you refer to is simply one of the bootlegs that circulated for years, taken from Japanese television, and is the original theatrical release. I assume it's always been referred to as three hours because it took up a three hour block of television time that had to accommodate commercials, but it is definitely not a three hour version of the film.

Have no idea the deal on the EuroVideo release. My guess is the running time on the cover may simply be wrong. If it's the Bavaria restoration it should be the 144 minute version.

[Forrest Taft]

No, I watched it last night, and it was 114 minutes long, yet the Bavaria Film logo is on the cover. Pretty disappointing...I'll probably pick up the Olive eventually.

[Lighthouse]

Euro video released obviously only the German theatrical version, which runs 118 min (or 114 min in Pal).

If they really used the 144 min master they most likely cut it down to match with the German dub. But being a Blu the 114 min runtime is still a bit strange compared to the 118 min theatrical release.
Whatever, the release is a missed chance.

[domino harvey]

I know Aldrich has a reputation like fellow producer director Preminger of pushing boundaries of what he can get away with but I was truly shocked by the very long topless nude scene in 1959’s the Angry Hills, a scene presumably filmed with European release in mind but in all other manners a Hollywood studio scene in execution. Legit surreal to see Robert Mitchum in this stage of his career looking sheepish as a stripper flaunts her stuff around him