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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Feb 4, 2020 2:01:01 GMT
Now, pay attention.Yes, you. I'm talking to you!I've been a very silly boy and I told a couple of people in confidence about my stumbling on some mute Pythony things (mute outtakes and rushes from Season 3) that I saw in the Huntley Archive. They weren't there a few months ago, so it's either a very recently acquired film, or they didn't list it, or their search engine was been lazy or Arthur Negus was holding it. The word is, they're not on the Norwegian Blu-Ray, they're not well-known about. And then word got around that they were about. A round and a bout. sounds like a boxing match, doesn't it? (c) ( INTERLUDE) Sorry for the break in typing. A load of Vikings came in extolling the virtues of Spam and I had to shoo them away with a pole. The Pole is uninjured. There is an injured Hungarian, but that's because his hovercraft is full of eels. And....I'm sorry. Where was i? Oh, the Python outtakes and rushes. it would be even better if you could watch them, right, even if they are mute? Oh, all right then, but I don't expect the Spanish Inquisition. www.huntleyarchives.com/preview.asp?image=1005679&itemw=4&itemf=0001&itemstep=1&itemx=9Up until I saw this yesterday, stumbling upon the earliest known footage of Emergency Ward 10 had got me excited, but that will have to wait for another time and another day. In the meantime I suggest we spend a minute or two remembering Reggie Maudling and his award-winning Lemon Curry.
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Post by martinogorman on Feb 4, 2020 15:54:33 GMT
This is amazing, Ray, once again excellent work! I've only had a quick skim through it and it appears to be murky cuts of film inserts from Shows 3, 4, 7 and 9 of series 3. They're not trims as the majority of it appears in the TX version of each show, would this be for cutting purposes?
There are a couple of "unseen" gags in there, which are exciting for Python obsessives like myself and a few outtakes.
- 00.13 - the uncut intro to Show 9, which is supposed to including the It's Man arriving late for his big moment - both the Nude Man and the Announcer were "cut to too early" and this just continues the joke.
Unfortunately, the gag is mainly sound based as the script describes: "CUT TO EMPTY FRAME. SILENCE. RUSTLING LEAVES. BIRDSONG. THEN THE SOUND OF A CAR COMING UP. SKIDS. DOOR SLAMS. LOTS OF WHISPERING. FEET RUNNING. WHEN HE APPEARS ON SCREEN, THE IT'S MAN LOOKS AT HIS WATCH BREATHLESSLY AND SAYS 'IT'S…'. HE IS ADJUSTING HIS CLOTHING. "
- A cut section (15.08) of the Algon sketch at the end of the show that was CSO'd into the VT, which sees Carol Cleveland (it is Carol, isn't it?) chased Benny Hill-style by a robot across the surface of the planet. Where have I seen that robot before?
- 12.45 Cleese walking down the beach in Jersey runs a bit longer and he stamps on another imaginary "thing".
- 15.37 - what appears to be the unedited rushes from the Lifeboat sketch in Series 3, Show 7 aka the most uncomfortable filming of Terry Jones' life. Unfortunately, we don't get to see him throw up over the side of the boat as he recalled in "Monty Python Speaks".
- 18.20 - unedited rushes of the intro to the Merchant Banker sketch - we get to see Terry J get up after being hit over the head with the big hammer. Ian Macnaughton turns up at 19.00, giving Terry some direction.
- 19.39 unedited rushes of the "Housewives of Britain" bit from Show 6. More Terry Jones coming out of character.
- 21.01 Clean, unedited version of the climax to "Sam Peckinpah's Salad Days" in Show 7 - this played under the end credits. In the TX'd version, the film crossfades at the end, presumably to remove the shot of Eric Idle looking for direction. A Bernard Wilkie production.
- 23.28 The "Money Programme" opening titles from Show 3. Nice.
- 24.20 The It's Man and the Announcer from Show 2 (and I think Show 3).
- 24.56 "Erisabeth L" film insert from the beginning of Show 3, runs a bit longer at the end.
- 26.07 The "Restaurant In The Jungle" inserts from Show 3 including Ken Russell's Garden Club from Show 3, which also runs a bit longer I think. I'm pleased to see the "Great Expedition" Crystal Palace joke is present and correct.
- 31.40 Brief section of stock footage from The Lost World (1925), presumably a cut joke.
- Ends with the clean version of Idle wittering on that appeared under the end credits.
It's nice to see in light of the sad death of Terry Jones as we get to see him working hard for the cause of being silly.
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Feb 5, 2020 12:11:34 GMT
The word is, they're not on the Norwegian Blu-Ray, they're not well-known about. Ray, The only material here that isn't in the Python archive is the section from 15:32 - 22:58 which are rushes/trims. Of that, 1' 24" is the camera pointing at the deck of the boat from 'The Money Programme', 1' 57" of the end of 'Salad Days', slow motion shots of blood spurting from Eric Idles chest and some earlier takes (1' 24") from 'The War Against Pornography' featuring Terry J and a sledgehammer. The alternative 'Merchant Banker' takes are from 'Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror' and account for 1' 22" of material. That is the most interesting. All of the other material is in the Python archive and all of it from superior original rehearsal prints. These were the basis for the restoration of series 3 with the exception of ep 2 (no prints) and eps 1, 11 & 12 where we had the original A&B negs and prints. The material of most interest to Python aficionados is the material from 'The Nude Organist'; the 'It's' man is longer as Martin O'Gorman has pointed out and this was considered for use as an extra, but I felt that we couldn't deliver the material as intended in the time we had, as the soundtrack would have to be reconstructed based on the original script. That would have to be overseen by the Pythons, and there was more important material we had to get approval over. Similarly with the planet Algon material with the robot. Incidentally, there is way more content on the rehearsal films, which are truncated massively in the Huntley footage. For example, there is a further 87 seconds of footage of the surface of Algon, also unused in the final show. In addition as others will no doubt spot, the opening titles for The Money Programme are truncated, but intact on the Python Archive rehearsal print. There is a bigger point here though about what constitutes a recovery/discovery etc... It's nice to find the bits that didn't end up in the show such as, for example, lost bits of animations or entirely unknown/unseen sections which helps us understand how the humour was honed in the edit. But in general, none of this material constitutes lost footage. If it was considered thus, I would be keeping the rushes to everything I shoot today in the hope that someone may believe they have found gold twenty or thirty years from now. Whilst I do keep rushes, I curate that content carefully, but none of it could ever be considered lost. There are of course some notable exceptions such as, for example, the Christmas Day edition of 'Horne a Plenty'. I discovered a colour recording of the rehearsal, despite the fact that the show went out in black and white. There was one VT insert (in black and white) that was used in the final show and of course Ed Doolan recorded the TX sound off-air, but the actual show wasn't kept. So we have a good idea what it looked like and we can make something of that, but these are rare exceptions. So let's not get carried away over some trims and it goes without saying (except I will) that Huntley won't be able to profit from the film. Kind regards, Paul
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Post by martinogorman on Feb 5, 2020 13:12:26 GMT
Thanks for the update, Paul. I understand that it's not "lost" in the sense of "it went missing from the main programme".
I consider trims like this to be similar to the rehearsals or early versions of Beatles recordings that you get on the "Deluxe" box sets - you get an idea of how the team arrived at the final version. And in the main, you agree with their editorial decisions.
A brief glimpse of Ian Macnaughton giving Terry Jones how to be hit over the head lessons is always nice to see, however.
On another note Paul, I'm still interested in hearing about the Norwegian Blu-Ray Box Set restoration - will head over to that thread with a question.
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Post by Ray Langstone (was saintsray) on Feb 5, 2020 21:29:31 GMT
The word is, they're not on the Norwegian Blu-Ray, they're not well-known about. Ray, The only material here that isn't in the Python archive is the section from 15:32 - 22:58 which are rushes/trims. Of that, 1' 24" is the camera pointing at the deck of the boat from 'The Money Programme', 1' 57" of the end of 'Salad Days', slow motion shots of blood spurting from Eric Idles chest and some earlier takes (1' 24") from 'The War Against Pornography' featuring Terry J and a sledgehammer. The alternative 'Merchant Banker' takes are from 'Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror' and account for 1' 22" of material. That is the most interesting. All of the other material is in the Python archive and all of it from superior original rehearsal prints. These were the basis for the restoration of series 3 with the exception of ep 2 (no prints) and eps 1, 11 & 12 where we had the original A&B negs and prints. The material of most interest to Python aficionados is the material from 'The Nude Organist'; the 'It's' man is longer as Martin O'Gorman has pointed out and this was considered for use as an extra, but I felt that we couldn't deliver the material as intended in the time we had, as the soundtrack would have to be reconstructed based on the original script. That would have to be overseen by the Pythons, and there was more important material we had to get approval over. Similarly with the planet Algon material with the robot. Incidentally, there is way more content on the rehearsal films, which are truncated massively in the Huntley footage. For example, there is a further 87 seconds of footage of the surface of Algon, also unused in the final show. In addition as others will no doubt spot, the opening titles for The Money Programme are truncated, but intact on the Python Archive rehearsal print. There is a bigger point here though about what constitutes a recovery/discovery etc... It's nice to find the bits that didn't end up in the show such as, for example, lost bits of animations or entirely unknown/unseen sections which helps us understand how the humour was honed in the edit. But in general, none of this material constitutes lost footage. If it was considered thus, I would be keeping the rushes to everything I shoot today in the hope that someone may believe they have found gold twenty or thirty years from now. Whilst I do keep rushes, I curate that content carefully, but none of it could ever be considered lost. There are of course some notable exceptions such as, for example, the Christmas Day edition of 'Horne a Plenty'. I discovered a colour recording of the rehearsal, despite the fact that the show went out in black and white. There was one VT insert (in black and white) that was used in the final show and of course Ed Doolan recorded the TX sound off-air, but the actual show wasn't kept. So we have a good idea what it looked like and we can make something of that, but these are rare exceptions. So let's not get carried away over some trims and it goes without saying (except I will) that Huntley won't be able to profit from the film. Kind regards, Paul Thank you Paul, if 6 minutes and 7 seconds of it wasn't in the Python archive and is now known about I am happy enough with that.
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