Is everyone for sure that the 16mm version is the full X-rated version?
Larry Karaszewski said during his episode of The Movies That Made Me that he was told there never was an X-rated version. He said he got his information from "the world's biggest Frank Perry fanatic" (could this be the member "frankperryauthor" on the second page who is writing a book about Perry?). Skip to 27:17 if you want to hear him talk about it, but I'll quote some of what he says here: "he [the Frank Perry fanatic] says they thought it was going to be rated X, so the ads and the materials were made up for it being an X, but they were late getting it rated, so they actually ran the ads in the New York Times as an X. It got an R, but the movie was doing well... so for the next couple months of the showing they just let the X lay there."
In the same podcast, Karaszewski also confirms what Dandy Fop suspected above about the last surviving print - half of it is the edited TV version, but the last reel is unedited.
Last edited by Dylan on Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Is everyone for sure that the 16mm version is the full X-rated version?
In the same podcast, Karaszewski also confirms what Dandy Fop suspected above about the last surviving print - most of it is the edited TV version, but the last reel is unedited.
Even then, it was strange as the 16mm version is two reels, but the change between the two versions occurs about 10-15 minutes into the second reel, leaving about the last thirty minutes (or maybe less) of the film the uncensored version. It's been two-and-a-half-years, but I believe the projectionist told me the markings and film stock were also different between those two parts and that my theory made sense, so it must've been cobbled together after the print was dropped from 35mm to 16mm.
The Elegant Dandy Fop wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 8:34 pmEven then, it was strange as the 16mm version is two reels, but the change between the two versions occurs about 10-15 minutes into the second reel, leaving about the last thirty minutes (or maybe less) of the film the uncensored version. It's been two-and-a-half-years, but I believe the projectionist told me the markings and film stock were also different between those two parts and that my theory made sense, so it must've been cobbled together after the print was dropped from 35mm to 16mm.
Very interesting, and this might help to explain why WB apparently doesn't want to rely on this print for a DVD/blu-ray release. It would be a major compromise. But I would then think that they could just transfer the final scene from the 16mm print and edit that into whatever TCM aired (again, though I don't have either version at my disposal, I vividly recall the TCM version being the same version released on Key Video until the final scene, so I hesitate to call the TCM print a "TV version," but it's definitely an "alternate version"). But then there does seem to be some kind of aspect ratio issue as well, as cited by WB on Facebook years ago. If Last Summer was actually shot in 1.66:1 and not open matte, then they can't smoothly combine the 16mm material with the TCM print, which was 1.33:1.
What a mess. And so unfortunate that such an amazing film only survives in what seems to be an unreleasable state.
domino harvey wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 4:31 pmPlay It As It Lays is with Universal and numerous boutique labels have deals with the studio, so Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins’ presence means one of them will get to it so long as materials are in good enough shape
To very belatedly respond to this, Play It As It Lays has been on Indicator's radar for some time - they've already done The Swimmer and Diary of a Mad Housewife - but, as surmised, it's materials that are holding things up.
I wish I knew what was going on with Indicator. After I recorded the commentary tracks for The Swimmer and Diary we did talk about doing Play It As It Lays after. But that was 2 years ago now. They did tap me to record a commentary track for the 4K version of Carnal Knowledge, which I did, and which I was paid for, but again it's now been almost 2 years and there's been no sign of that coming out either. I would love to see Play Lays come out on home video, which would be a first. I'm not sure what condition the 35mm print of Last Summer is in that I located several months ago. But I did let the folks at the Academy know about it. The biography is still coming! I lost a year and a half of work due COVID since the university where Frank's archives are sitting at wouldn't allow me to visit during the pandemic. In the meantime, myself and a certain screenwriter who loves Frank and Eleanor are currently editing a book of interviews with Frank and Eleanor. My hope is that it will be a primer to the biography. Best - Justin Bozung
I was very relieved that this was the case with Russ Meyer's The Seven Minutes (it was Fox's 4:3 SD master or nothing), where cropping to 1.85:1 had a dramatic impact on the compositions (really blah in 4:3, with tons of irrelevant headroom, but they properly zinged when framed correctly) - but more recently we had to leave Rosie Dixon Night Nurse in the 4:3 framing as it was clear that it had been cropped at the sides. There was more evidence of this than just a cropped reel-change marker, but that alone was pretty clinching!
I always thought that Play It As It Lays may have had legal issues like a number of other Universal films from that era. What a shame that the materials are not up to snuff. I’ve seen a beautiful archival 35mm print that was presumably struck after their vault fire, but that obviously doesn’t indicate what shape their OCN is in.
There was a recent museum exhibit on Joan Didion and how her works utilize California history at the Hammer Museum, and even the brief clips of the film looked like they were from a 4th generation VHS, and the film looks the same in her nephew Griffin Dunne’s documentary on her. I think the bootlegs of it out there hail from airings of it on the Independent Film Channel around 2000.
frankperryauthor wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2024 11:34 am In the meantime, myself and a certain screenwriter who loves Frank and Eleanor are currently editing a book of interviews with Frank and Eleanor. My hope is that it will be a primer to the biography. Best - Justin Bozung
Does their name rhyme with “Carrie Shezoowni”?
:-$
If Warner Archive does release LAST SUMMER, it would be great if they could include Perry's, DUMMY, as an special feature or sister release that month since they own that one, and have already released a MOD DVD version of the TV Moive.
A screening of the BFI Archive's unedited 35mm print of "Last Summer" is scheduled at BFI Southbank (Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE1 8XT) on June 13, 2025.
Yep, that's the 35mm print I discovered was sitting at the BFI early last year. When I inquired last year, they told me that they weren't sure of its quality, but if they're showing it it must be good.
frankperryauthor wrote: Thu Apr 10, 2025 5:21 pm
Yep, that's the 35mm print I discovered was sitting at the BFI early last year. When I inquired last year, they told me that they weren't sure of its quality, but if they're showing it it must be good.
Thanks for all your work and sharing of information Mr. Bozung. I wasn't sure if this was the same print that you discovered.
The BFI has about six prints of Last Summer in its archive, but the listing I have for the Film on Film screening says "this 35mm print from the BFI National Archive does show very considerable wear, and has faded with a blue cast, but it offers a vanishingly rare opportunity to see one of the essential, yet missing, films of its era". It's also notable that the film was cut by the BBFC on its release, but no precise details of what cuts were made have surfaced, so "unedited" is not entirely accurate.
Someone I know has researched a lot of BBFC cuts from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. This is what the BBFC cut from Last Summer in 1969 for an X certificate. I don't know how spoilery this might be, so I've put it in spoiler tags just in case: Spoiler
Classified ‘X’ for theatrical release in 1969 after the following cuts:
DR5 - Remove the CU of Rhoda’s bikini pants being removed and the CU of Dan taking off his swimming trunks.
Remove the backview shot of the naked Dan as he goes down on to the woman.
So it would be interesting to see if these are in the print the BFI shows next month.
I've requested cuts information from the BBFC several times now, and generally they reply within five working days. They have very surviving records from the 1950s, let alone earlier, but you should be good from the 1960s onwards.
Those are the same cuts it received in US as well. However, it was never released in the US with that X-rating. The confusion here in the States comes from the fact that it had been submitted to the MPAA once and gotten the X, but after those cuts it was given the R. The myth arose about the X version being released, is due to the fact that Allied had already printed up the marketing materials with the X rating. Frank had been tinkering with the edit all the way to the preview. The NYC preview gave critics that orig press material, and it went out to a few channels across the US, even though, it was reprinted and redistributed in the subsequent weeks. It was a small indie film with a $750,000 budget. Allied was also on the edge of going bankrupt around this time too. The Perrys had to sue Allied in the mid-70s to get paid all that was due them following the success of the movie. All of this is how (in the US) we see newspaper ads for the film in several different cities saying it's rated X and R at the same time, in the same week of release.
