"Meine Lieder-Meine Träume" in Germany |
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| Written by: Udo Heimansberg, Metropol Düsseldorfer Filmkunstkino GmbH, Düsseldorf, Germany | Date: 01.08.2014 |
 I just read the article about
Bradford 2013
and found the comment about the German prints of "THE SOUND OF MUSIC".
This is a very strange story, here it is, how I experienced and heard it:I saw SOM under the German title "Meine Lieder-Meine Träume" (My songs-my dreams) here in Düsseldorf in Todd-AO with a new, genuine uncut print. Six month later, after the film received the "Oscars", they tried again: Same cinema, Todd-AO, uncut except the two nun's songs- they were missing due to pressure of the catholic church (years before "Sister Act"!). In 1972 there was a re-release in Germany under the original title, "THE SOUND OF MUSIC", again in Todd-AO and, beside the two songs, uncut. All these screenings were in our western part of Germany. Later I heard this story (which Robert Wise mentioned in an interview on the DVD): In the southern part of Germany in the Frankfurt branch of 20th Century Fox there was a guy who hated this end of the film (he was reportedly an old Nazi) and cut it off himself. A far relative of Robert Wise (the southern part of Germany was under American control after the war and many American soldiers lived there with their families) wrote to the producer/director about this screening, and their reaction came immediately. The film was completed again and there might have been only a handful of screenings at the time. To proof this: The film and its songs where completely dubbed ´til the end. Also 35mm prints were complete. I saw the film in the first week in its absolute integrated version. On the German Blu Ray today you have this complete dubbed version! We had a lot of "cuttings" during that time: In BATTLE OF THE BULGE the massacre of the american prisoners was completely cut, in IS PARIS BURNING the execution of the communist part of the Résistance was cut and sometimes projectionists did their own, individual cutting: in THE BIG RED ONE one of them cut out all the scenes in a concentration camp, because "there were no concentration camps, that's an invention of Hollywood"... THE KING AND I all the songs except maybe three were cut out, and so on, etc..... I hope, this makes the water clear.... |
More in 70mm reading: Das Vergessene Tal In Innsbruck Widescreen Weekend 2013 Robert Wise - a remembrance Internet link: |
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