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A bit of Star Wars archaeology: The 16mm print of Star Wars with the mono audio mix

ManaByte

Gold Member

Back in 2018 someone uploaded the 16mm print of Star Wars to Internet Archive but was found and posted to Reddit this week. Pay attention to Beru, this version is the mono mix that has the alternate takes that Lucas dubbed over later for the stereo audio mixes. The takes used in the stereo mixes are what were used for every version released since 1977.

Also the Stormtroopers searching the streets of Mos Eisley have different audio takes. Forgot about that one as well. There are a lot of small differences in the mixes, but Beru and the Stormtroopers are the most noticeable.
 

ManaByte

Gold Member
Is this completely without Lucas' later annoying tamperings?

No, this is his first tampering.


JW Rinzler, in his 2007 book The Making of Star Wars (page 291), says: "The first mix sent out with the film, at the last possible second was the six-track Dolby stereo version, but the first mix also had the most errors. Next up was the two-track stereo, which was derived from the six-track, yet there was still no time at that stage to make any changes."

The mono mix was still being prepared when Star Wars opened. It's what Lucas was working on when he and Marcia discovered there were crowds outside Grauman's Chinese Theater, where the film was showing.

Ben Burtt recalled (in Rinzler's book, p293-294): "George, [editor] Paul Hirsch and I and everyone in the crew sat down and made a list of the things we didn't like in the stereo mix. Then we tried to achieve every one of those things on the mono."

Some voices sounded different. A couple of voices actually were different. There were some different sound effects and even some totally different lines of dialogue.

Since the mono mix contained various tweaks from the other version, it was said to be Lucas's preferred version in many ways. And when the LP The Story of Star Wars came out (co-produced by George Lucas), even though it was in stereo, the dialogue and effects were based on the refinements made in the mono mix.

When the film was first released on home video, the soundtrack was that of the original 35mm Dolby Stereo prints. But in 1985, Ben Burtt started to make some changes, and put back in some elements from that mono mix. Ever since then, we have listened to a succession of mixes that were never exactly like any of those 1977 prints.
 
Is this completely without Lucas' later annyoing tamperings?
George Lucas is a beast and needs to be stopped.

Love his tampering

Do it some more

Do It Netflix GIF by Jessica Jones
 

Trilobit

Member
Unrestored editions.

I tried checking out some of the despecialized version, but there are several. Each with their own strengths, one with some alterations included, one with the original color style and one slightly altered to look better. All of them in 4K.

I couldn't choose so I decided to watch something else.
 
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