BU and Arrow were operating from different sources - Arrow went back to the negative which was supplied from Variety, while BU relied on another source, which was clearly not licensed from Variety.
What if the negative that was provided to Arrow simply did not contain the boat sequence? If it did, then Arrow have got some explaining to do.
But if it did not, then where does it end? Arrow had to rely on what it was licensed to use from Variety; it could have not gone to BU and asked for the first six seconds of footage, especially as BU did not get theirs from Variety.
And in any case, ask yourself this question. If Arrow had gone to BU and asked to use their material for the first six seconds, then would it be as impressive a restoration as it appears? No - the BU presentation, although solid, does have the tinkering that Italian masters have been plagued with in the past. First impressions count - once people saw noise and DNR in the opening, it would not matter about the rest of the film and how good it looked. Arrow would once again get it in the neck about noise and DNR.
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