In 2014 a private collector purchased and shipped an original 35mm print from Italy in order to examine the colour as a means of using it as a reference to personally colour correct the new MGM 4k master and create a "fan version" of the film. A few of us partnered up to work on this project, bringing together both financial resources and individual skills. Scanning a 35mm print at 4k is a costly venture, with many technical hurdles. Doing the due diligence and research is also a time consuming process, which has taken the better part of 2 years.

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Once the print was scanned, it was discovered to be a one of a kind treasure, with new footage and differences not present in ANY home video release (worldwide).

Multiple sources were checked against the print, 8mm films released in the 70's, multiple vhs and pal copies from around the world dating all the way back to the early 80's. The new footage from this particular print simply doesn't exist anywhere else, even on other vintage 35mm Italian prints (more on that below).

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The differences discovered so far on a preliminary examination are as follows:

1. Extra footage (3 new closeup shots) in the early scene where Angel Eyes visits the farmer
2. A fragment of a scripted deleted scene at the end of a reel
3. The complete beating scene (including portions that were damaged on the print MGM used as their reference and included as a bonus feature on DVD and BLU)
4. Various music cue and sound effect differences.
5. Longer character titles in the final scene.

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Secret Fawful said:

I had no idea that this movie was still missing footage. Geez Leone's films were just BUTCHERED.

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Zepp Twofist said:

Yeah. It's a shame. Wonder if anyone is ever going to piece together a complete version of Giu La Testa (or "Duck, You Sucker!" as was the original English title). I think that movie wouldn't be considered his least if it hadn't been chopped up so much.

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Stevey said:

Cool, its one of my favorite films.

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Simo said:

Did you guys know about the A Fistful of Dollars stuff that went down with the US TV version? I actually watched the blu-ray last weekend and the feature about this was fascinating and I had no idea about it.

Basically when A Fistful of Dollars was going to be first aired on American TV in the 1970s, the TV censors and broadcasting station felt the film was "too much" because Eastwood's character killed without remorse and basically got away with everything at the end of the film. So how do they fix this, how can they give Eastwood's character a moral and justified reason for what he does in that film?

Well the network goes ahead and films it's own opening of the movie with Harry Dean Stanton and a stand in for Eastwood, dressed the same but you never see his face, where the American Army drafts Eastwood as a soldier of fortune and sends him on a mission to disrupt and stop the weapons and mule trafficking by ending the 2 gangs in that small town featured in the film. lol It's hilarious and not surprisingly after it aired once it was never aired or seen again until the blu-ray release.

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Secret Fawful said:

There's nothing least about that movie, though. I don't get why people think that. If anything it showed Leone's style evolving into something really interesting.

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Zepp Twofist said:

Awesome. I wasn't a huge fan of the inclusions they made to the mid 2000's re-release, but it's always cool when they can piece together more of the films history.

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Grenchel said:

I'm always amazed when something like this turns up. I hope more of film history can be reclaimed in the future. It's crazy how much is lost.

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The original version was lost for decades after a fire destroyed the master negative and only variations of Dreyer's second version were available. In 1981, an employee of the Dikemark Hospital mental institution in Oslo found several film canisters in a janitor's closet that were labeled as being The Passion of Joan of Arc.[1] The canisters were sent to the Norwegian Film Institute where they were first stored for three years until finally being examined. It was then discovered that they were Dreyer's original cut prior to government or church censorship. There were never any records of the film being shipped to Oslo, but film historians believe that the then director of the institution may have requested a special copy since he was also a published historian.

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Blader said:

I probably wouldn't have minded the new footage they put back in if it weren't for the bad dubbing on Eastwood and Van Cleef's new scenes (Wallach's is a little better, since it's actually his voice, but he's almost 50 years older and he sounds like it).

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En Ex said:

AFAIK Eastwood also participated. Only Val Cleef was replaced due to his passing.

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The Beard said:

One of my top 10 GOATs. The Blu-Ray already looks amazing, but I would double dip for some extra scenes and a 4K transfer.

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The Beard said:

One of my top 10 GOATs. The Blu-Ray already looks amazing, but I would double dip for some extra scenes and a 4K transfer.

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Simo said:

The 2014 re-release is that but some fans think they went a little too far with the greens and yellows for the color timing. Personally though I really liked it, it's the best video and color quality I've ever seen of the film.

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