3.11.2003 19:16
Suomen elokuva-arkisto mainostaa ohjelmavihossaan esittävänsä elokuvasta 92 minuuttisen version. IMDb antaa elokuvalle kirjavan valikoiman kestoja: 91 min / Japan:85 min / USA:82 min (heavily cut version) / USA:83 min (video version) / USA:84 min (unrated version) / USA:85 min (director's cut).
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Lähettäjä: Roy Frumkes [mailto:xxxxxxxx.net]
Lähetetty: 31. lokakuuta 2003 19:47
Vastaanottaja: Kari.Hakkinen@sea.fi
Aihe: Re: Last House On the Left in Finnish Film Archive
Dear Kari,
I would have to screen it to be sure, and you might have someone actually time it while it is being screened. The running time might have been arbitrarily assigned to it by referencing old reviews, and in fact it might not be 92 minutes long.
Perhaps 20 years ago, Wes and I found an uncut print on a shelf in a closet in Sean Cunningham's office. I had a 16mm print of the most grievously edited, "R" rated version, and suggested that Wes look through the 35 print with me, and that we take what he wanted restored, make a reduction negative and print, then cut the new pieces into our 16mm prints. He looked through it, chose some additional shots of violence and mutilation (he did restore some of the intestine scene, but not all of it, which he found excessive), rejected some additional lowbrow comedy with the two cops, and we had these approximately three minutes reduced and put into the 16mm prints. Later, approached by Vestron Video, who had released the 'R' version, I loaned them my 16mm print and they rereleased this longer version as the 'Director's cut', which it was, definitively, and yet Wes had been the editor on the original version as well. But now he was an older, mellower, somewhat different Wes. And this was the version released by MGM.
Given this history of the original and later Director's versions, the idea of a 'complete director's cut' may never be resolved.
Other collector/archivists around the world have claimed to have outtakes from The Last House on the Left, and this may be true. But only I have the original work print footage and rough cut scenes (with his original splices still in them) which he removed during the actual post production process. These were given to me by Wes, right out of the editing bin, in '72, and there were no duplicate copies. I've leased this footage to MGM and to Anchor Bay England, and neither company used even half of what I gave them. David Szulkin, who was co-producing the MGM version, made a 'moral' decision not to use actual sex footage as a courtesy to the cast, who are still living. Anchor Bay England couldn't have used said footage, since the censorship laws in the U.K. are still too severe. But I don't think this footage will interest you, really, since none of it was ever used in either of Wes' cuts of the film.
Keep me informed, if you would, about what your print is like...running time, etc. I'd certainly be curious to know.
Best wishes,
Roy
ps – One more thing; if, in the end, the parents find their daughter at the edge of the lake, and the daughter speaks to them, then it's the lost print. It's still not Wes' definitive version, but it's extremely rare and worth archiving.