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Originally Posted by Michael Brooke The UK release was indeed a mere 66 minutes, but on the basis of my research I currently don't believe that this 88-minute version ever existed. The only reputable source I can find is the BBFC database, which also reports a 120-minute version of The Full Treatment, which I'm also convinced never existed.
In the case of The Full Treatment, I know for certain that the UK release version was a whisker under 110 minutes, as that's backed up by both the Monthly Film Bulletin (which calculated running times from physical footage lengths, so is the most reliable source of theatrical running times as you can work them out down to the second) and surviving UK release prints preserved by the BFI National Archive. So my hypothesis is that whoever entered the data when the BBFC first created an electronic database many decades after passing the film simply got a digit wrong - which is much easier to believe than ten minutes disappearing between BBFC acceptance and eventual release. (120 minutes also seems insanely long for a Hammer film - even 110 makes it comfortably one of the longest films they've ever released.)
And I assume something similar happened with Cash on Demand, partly because I've yet to find any actual description of what was cut (believe me, I've looked - and I also liaised extensively with Jonathan Rigby in the run-up to him recording his commentary), but mostly because the film is so tightly plotted that it's very hard to believe that there's a whole extra eight minutes out there. And 80 minutes is a perfectly standard running time for a Hammer film of this vintage.
Of course, if I'm wrong, please let me know - I still have about a month before I have to lock everything down. |
As i was reading your post Michael, it immediately sprung to mind that Hammer just don't release films of 120 mins.
The same goes for so called missing footage from
Cash on Demand. As i was reading i was thinking, 'No, there's nothing cut from the film'. Someone's got it wrong somewhere. You can just tell as you watch that nothings been edited out.