Great find! I'm so glad to see information like this unearthed, not just about silent films, but about one of my favorite filmmakers of all time, Harold Lloyd.
This is wonderful! And it's the first I've ever heard of a surviving foreign version. Until now, it was easy to believe that Harold's print of Safety Last! was the only one in the world, and was scanned for the Criterion Blu-ray release. I would love to watch the foreign version all the way through, if ever possible. I have seen foreign and domestic versions of The Kid Brother. Medium shots or close ups were shot with one camera, so there are differences, and the domestic negative clearly received the best ones.
Very interesting find,Dave! i've seen foreign versions of Chaplin and Keaton shorts and features.but i never any foreign version of Harold's features (his two and three reelers, though).i wish this was served as an bonus feature on the criterion collection edition of this great silent comedy!.
Nice work Dave, not nerdy at all. It’s always nice to find something new on these old classics. Just think if you had the whole film in the offset print you could present this in 3D.
HL was one of the first to pre-screen his films to a small audience chosen at random and to edit out or in based on the feedback - he even had people with a clipboard count the laugh rate at gags. There are probably lot's of alternatives - most lost to posterity.
If I had to guess, I'd say they used different takes mostly when it was only practical to film with one camera due to angles or confined spaces such as in the van. It also would reduce the amount of times the same negative would have to be used for reprints
The only one I have a theory on is the fire hydrant. While mostly it would make sense to keep the two cameras close together, for an insert like this they might just say "Doesn't matter about matching the angle, just make it a recognizable fire hydrant."
I'm thinking these could be simple mistakes, probably by the foreign editor. I assume that the foreign editor would have the original foreign negative and would have an American print to see where to cut. To save time he/she would look at the first few frames on the American print and the last few frames. When a take on the negative matched at the beginning and end frames they would assume they had found the same take on the foreign negative that was on the American print. Negative cutting was pretty laborious work so not having to go through every take and just using the beginning and end frames as a reference guide would end up saving hours. That would be my guess/hypothesis. I don't think they would hire a foreign editor to make any changes to the film.
The footage from the second camera is cut into a second negative, which is sent to Europe and they make prints of it there to be shown in cinemas. If there is only one negative, they would have to do all duplication in U.S. and ship hundreds of prints overseas.
These images are from different takes, no studios would produce two different versions of one film,of course they used different cameras to see which one would come out best the rest is for editing department.
Ha. Very interesting observation. Inexplicable, too. It's as if they shot the whole film twice, scene for scene, ignoring the continuity errors. But why? Get Dick Tracy on it.😂
![Post-Production Explained - Each Step of the Post-Production Process [Stages of Filmmaking, Ep 4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qKPHNWEV5_o/mqdefault.jpg)
Great find! I'm so glad to see information like this unearthed, not just about silent films, but about one of my favorite filmmakers of all time, Harold Lloyd.
I can't get out of my mind the possibility of using these prints to create a 3D version of Safety Last! That would be incredible.
This is wonderful! And it's the first I've ever heard of a surviving foreign version. Until now, it was easy to believe that Harold's print of Safety Last! was the only one in the world, and was scanned for the Criterion Blu-ray release. I would love to watch the foreign version all the way through, if ever possible. I have seen foreign and domestic versions of The Kid Brother. Medium shots or close ups were shot with one camera, so there are differences, and the domestic negative clearly received the best ones.
Thanks Richard. I've sent you an e-mail. Suzanne says she's already created a 3D tinted version of the climb!
Very interesting find,Dave! i've seen foreign versions of Chaplin and Keaton shorts and features.but i never any foreign version of Harold's features (his two and three reelers, though).i wish this was served as an bonus feature on the criterion collection edition of this great silent comedy!.
Glad you have so much time on your hands, like Harold. 😁
I wish! 🙃
Nice work Dave, not nerdy at all. It’s always nice to find something new on these old classics. Just think if you had the whole film in the offset print you could present this in 3D.
Now there's an idea! 😁
Just like the accidental 3D films of Georges Méliès and La Fantome 3D, the 3D version of The Phantom of the Opera.
Hello. I have converted Safety Last. The end climb in 3D and tinted color a few years ago
@@suzannelloyd7242 can we see that, sounds amazing.
@@suzannelloyd7242 WOW! Wonderful news Suzanne. Were you pleased with the results? I'd have thought it would need a lot of TLC to match it up ok.
Keen eye, Dave. Fun stuff, as always. Thanks!
Thanks Steve!
HL was one of the first to pre-screen his films to a small audience chosen at random and to edit out or in based on the feedback - he even had people with a clipboard count the laugh rate at gags. There are probably lot's of alternatives - most lost to posterity.
If I had to guess, I'd say they used different takes mostly when it was only practical to film with one camera due to angles or confined spaces such as in the van. It also would reduce the amount of times the same negative would have to be used for reprints
Besides using different cameras, they used different editors for the export versions too.
The only one I have a theory on is the fire hydrant. While mostly it would make sense to keep the two cameras close together, for an insert like this they might just say "Doesn't matter about matching the angle, just make it a recognizable fire hydrant."
This foreign version was released in Sweden on September 17,1923,one day after the general release of why worry?.
I'm thinking these could be simple mistakes, probably by the foreign editor. I assume that the foreign editor would have the original foreign negative and would have an American print to see where to cut. To save time he/she would look at the first few frames on the American print and the last few frames. When a take on the negative matched at the beginning and end frames they would assume they had found the same take on the foreign negative that was on the American print. Negative cutting was pretty laborious work so not having to go through every take and just using the beginning and end frames as a reference guide would end up saving hours.
That would be my guess/hypothesis. I don't think they would hire a foreign editor to make any changes to the film.
Was the "international camera" using a different type of film?
If not, what was the point?
Two different masters to edit, because the team knew that European tastes were different from American ones.
The footage from the second camera is cut into a second negative, which is sent to Europe and they make prints of it there to be shown in cinemas. If there is only one negative, they would have to do all duplication in U.S. and ship hundreds of prints overseas.
One print looks a lot better. Is the better one the newly found Italian print?
That's the U.S. version. It's been restored and released on blu-ray by Criterion
These images are from different takes, no studios would produce two different versions of one film,of course they used different cameras to see which one would come out best the rest is for editing department.
Where did you find this italian copy?
Can you do a completion of Harold Lloyd’s best bits please
I'd love to... if only I had the time!
0:00-0:09 Harold is watching us… run!
Ha. Very interesting observation. Inexplicable, too. It's as if they shot the whole film twice, scene for scene, ignoring the continuity errors. But why? Get Dick Tracy on it.😂