Russell Potter's query about LAWNMOWER MAN and the discussion of varying
music on different releases points to a general problem that is not at the
top of most people's minds.  Unlike printed material, film and video are
very flexible and can be altered without undue costs (compared to the cost,
say, of reprinting a book to include a different chapter).  Films and tapes
are constantly re-edited for various purposes; shortened for tv release or,
less commonly, lengthened for tv release.  >Godfather< and >Godfather II<
were re-edited by Coppola into a straight chronological telling of the tale
for its first tv release.  This version may also be available at your local
video store.
 
Sometimes material showing more (or less) skin is edited for the sensitivities
of various overseas markets.  On occasion, "the director's cut" is released
as a videocassette (I suspect this is what happened with LAWNMOWER MAN).
 
Even films are not always (or ever, really) the same in subsequent runs as
on first run.  There are considerations of theatre conditions, age of print,
degradation of the image with duplication into other-than-original formats
(e.g., 16mm print of 35mm original, but that's not the only instance).
 
Also, every editing room has a splicer so that projectionists have been known
to clip a favorite scene or simply splice together film around damaged footage.
 
Or, color film degrades variously as it runs through different projectors.
The result is that the color and saturation are different on re-run than with
pristine prints.  This latter is sometimes noticeable at sub-sub-run when
a damaged reel is replaced with one from another cannibalized print.  The
color often jumps drastically between reels since they have had different
histories of projection.
 
Aren't you sorry you asked?
 
The real message is that there is NO such thing as an original, except THE
original, shown under identical conditions.  People who saw the first run
showcase showing of STAR WARS with 70mm print and Dolby sound saw a different
show than the rest of us who saw it in our local with 35mm prints and older
sound technology.  And certainly different than what we would see if we
went to the local video store.
 
Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia
<[log in to unmask]>  <PRYLUCK@TEMPLEVM>