Hidden Hollywood - Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1997)

a fine look back at how we really were

Hidden Hollywood Volume 2 More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults gives us another ninety minutes of deleted footage that was intended for a movie's theatrical release but instead was left to languish on the cutting room floor. Again, as with the first volume of this two disc series, some of the footage was cut rather mercifully from the final version of a film; but much of it was cut for the wrong reasons.

For example, musical numbers were typical victims when a film ran too long. It was the consensus that a musical number could be cut without damaging the plot; and sometimes they were right. On the other hand, there is a wonderful Charleston dance sequence from Roxie Hart that never should have been cut.

We see just about every star getting some of their best work discarded from the films they starred in. Even the remarkably talented Olympic medalist skater Sonja Henie had some of her best work cast onto the cutting room floor. There is another, more lengthy sequence that is excellent entertainment starring W.C. Fields with Margaret Dumont and Phil Silvers that was cut from Tales Of Manhattan. What a shame! In addition, look for footage of Alice Faye singing so sweetly in a musical number cut from Rose Of Washington Square. We also see The Ritz Brothers in action as a great comedy team at Fox studios.

There's also an emphasis on film restoration in this second look at discarded footage found the vaults at 20th Century Fox studios. We see computer technicians using graphic design programs to restore tears on old, fragile film and we also see how early color film could turn pink with time. At the time this movie was made in 2000, some restoration of color footage was still prohibitively expensive but I hope that by now cheaper technology has already been able to help us restore and cherish old footage from the vaults.

My only complaint about this DVD is that we only get discarded footage from the vaults at 20th Century Fox studios. If the musical numbers here are good can you imagine what MGM studios might have been able to release to us on DVD? I hope one day we can see much more previously discarded footage from all the movie studios.

Overall, this is an excellent retrospective on DVD of just how hard people work to restore lost movie footage, much of which is actually very entertaining. Joan Collins mostly narrates this rather than hosting it; and the countless clips, sequences and more reveal that not just the trash wound up on the cutting room floor.
December 29, 2007

rare and exciting indeed !!!

Hidden Hollywood gives us ninety-one minutes of mostly rather good material that wound up cut from films only to lie on the cutting room floor. As host Joan Collins correctly points out, we're lucky we have at least this much! Many early films were simply thrown out; and Hollywood studios never cared about preserving their films until they could sell them to television. How sad! However, what we do get on this DVD is a wonderful 91 minutes of footage from the vaults at 20th Century Fox studios.

Joan Collins introduces the show are then we're off! We get very rarely seen footage including Katherine Hepburn's first screen test from 1932, a host of musical numbers shot both in black and white as well as color, and dramatic scenes considered extraneous or just too objectionable for the times. Most regrettably we see excellent cut footage of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson cut from the film Café Metropole in which Bill was to play himself. Ouch! How that must have hurt him.

In fact, no star was truly immune from having their best work cut from a film at 20th Century Fox. Betty Grable footage is here for us to admire; it really should have been included in the final cut. There's footage of Marilyn Monroe doing a musical number with male dancers to support her and I especially liked the Shirley Temple sequences that were cut from her films.

Look also for great footage of Jimmy Durante conducting a vaudevillian team with his nose (!!!), Shirley Temple dancing up a storm with Jimmy Durante, and Ethel Merman performing a number from There's No Business Like Show Business.

We also learn that 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck believed there was always something that could be cut from the film. He believed that audiences would "get it" anyway. Sometimes he was right (they mercifully pulled a Bert Lahr number that just plain stunk) and many times Zanuck was wrong as I point out in this review.

The DVD comes with no extras; all we get is scene selection. However, the quality of the archival footage is remarkably clear and I feel fortunate to have been able to watch this movie on DVD.

My only complaint is that the footage we see is only from 20th Century Fox. I would have loved to see what MGM studios and Warner Brothers cut out from their movies. I am very disappointed; and I will make this a four star review because of this disappointment.

Nevertheless, if you want a great view of what really good material there was that still never made it into the movies that were so popular before the age of television, you can't go wrong with this DVD. Sure, it's only from the vaults of one movie studio but this is a lot better than nothing! I highly recommend this for classic film aficionados, film students and people who enjoy the arts in general.
December 28, 2007

TWO GREAT CARMEN MIRANDA OUTTAKES!

In the 1940s B&W musical FOX film, "DOLL FACE" Carmen Miranda had
one of her production numbers cut from the film due to the censors at that time. "She's Always True To The Navy" was the song Carmen sang with a lighthouse as a hat and wearing a very sexy outfit, this and another musical number of hers that ended unfortunately on the cutting room floor is presented here uncut and a joy! Not only Miranda but many great stars of Hollywoods Golden age is featured on this outstanding DVD...a real treat! May 10, 2006

More jigsaw pieces .... and better

Following the original "Hidden Hollywood", this DVD gathers more outtakes from the films of Fox and the fascination continues with how they fit into the films and why they were removed. Joan Collins is back and narrates with her superb soft English accent and perfect diction.

In most if not all cases, the cuts were not "Director's cuts". Darryl F Zanuck exercised great control over the Fox product and most cuts were made between preview and release, usually for running time reasons, slowing down the action or sometimes due to censor objections.

The outtakes contain comedy sequences as well as musical numbers. The highlights of the former are Danny Kaye singing "Begin the Beguine" offkey from "On the Riviera" and W C Fields long lost sequence from "Tales of Manhattan", a really hilarious skit which should have been released as a short film. Of the latter, Alice Faye's rendition of "I'll see you in my Dreams" captures her vocal and visual appeal perfectly. She stands in front of a piano with a back up quartet and sings - no special effects, no embellishment, just raw talent. She is memorable.

The prints of the outtakes are pristine since they have been cut from original negatives. In fact, if they were inserted into the films, sometimes they would be better than the surrounding film! February 22, 2006

Pieces of the jigsaw

Darryl Zanuck, head of production at Fox, was famous for his editing skills. This DVD contains outtakes from many famous Fox films, trimmed sometimes for censorship or even political reasons or maybe simply to reduce the running time.

If you know the films, you can mentally piece the outtakes into the originals. Some of the numbers are pretty awful such as Bert Lahr's incomprehensible song. Others are memorable like Jimmy Durante's number with Shirley Temple and Alice Faye's "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". It is also amusing to see the performers grimace and pout as the camera starts to roll. The DVD is a gold mine to the film buff and since the material has been taken from original negatives and restored, it is in great condition.

The DVD is partly documentary as narrated by Joan Collins. Whatever you might think of Collins as a performer, she has a beautiful English accent with perfect diction. Her delivery is music to the ears and the script is informative but succinct. February 22, 2006

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