Big_Bopper Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Its his best movie. altho others might like Detour & The Black Cat. I think I have 5 different versions of Bluebeard - so I'm somewhat of a fan of the movie. Bluebeard has been vandalized so often that there is not one print that is complete. All 5 of my copies have been tampered with. If that is the case then Ulmer made a greater movie than he thought. Let's talk about the TCM version. Blurry - Its from France as it has Fin at the end. If you recorded it - the cuts occurred during the puppet show. Whoever it was who cut it had good reason to. The main idea of the puppets is the love of the two puppets being expressed and mephistopheles doing his evil best to destroy their love. John Carradine worked the devil puppet & during a certain part in which his puppet is off stage decides to see if the girl he invited was there. He looks thru a hole & sees Lucille. Its a judas hole. That is what is called whereby ladies can be seen undressing. Half of the judas hole was cut (in the TCM version) So much for the theory TCM shows uncut movies. Jeanette Lebeau (jean Harlow) his first victim Renee got too uppity so she had to take a swim After the puppet show Renee who was the voice of Margeurite has a showdown with Carradine & is bumped. But Carradine got careless & left a clue thereby his goose was cooked. Francine tried to out fox Bluebeard. But she was too slow to catch on Took 6 days to make. It has to be the greatest low budget movie ever. Photographed by Eugen Shufftan - It has a german expressionist style. Think I'll buy another version. 5 is not enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Bopper Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 I recorded my first tape of Bluebeard off USA Night Flight. It was a great print - best I have ever seen. you can buy it here: (go for it) http://www.ioffer.com/i/usa-night-flight-presents-bluebeard-w-1987-commercials-44016801 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Bopper Posted December 9, 2014 Author Share Posted December 9, 2014 For those unfamiliar with Bluebeard, Hollywood at that time (WWII) allowed movies about psycho killers. Fox made Hangover Square, The Lodger & I Wake Up Screaming all starring Laird Cregar. MGM made Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde and Picture of Dorian Gray, There are many other examples. Bluebeard was a great success as it was based on a true story. If you look at picture #3, this is not in the movie. What you see is Carradine open his eyes real wide & you hear a scream. Its possible the censorship folks forced Ulmer to make a cut. Its a dissolve. So you are getting your moneys worth of info with a scene not shown. I'll be passing around a hat later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Faiola Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 The ROAN DVD is from a 35mm print and features some great extras, including color footage of the puppet theater set and an interview with a collector who still has the puppets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 The ROAN DVD is from a 35mm print and features some great extras, including color footage of the puppet theater set and an interview with a collector who still has the puppets. Is the ROAN DVD version a different version then the one TCM showed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Faiola Posted December 10, 2014 Share Posted December 10, 2014 I've never watched BLUEBEARD on TCM, so I couldn't say. My guess would be that they are different masters. TCM gets many of its PD films from some ill-named org called The American Film Museum. Oy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Bopper Posted December 10, 2014 Author Share Posted December 10, 2014 The TCM version is from a dvd package of Ulmer movies. The print is from Cinemateque Francaise. You can tell by two things. At one point it says Surete General which dissolves into State Police. The TCM version does not dissolve. It just says Surete General. The End on the french version (TCM) says Fin. I have the Roan version. It really is the best But the print used by Night Flight is better. 5 versions: Alpha, Sinister Cinema, Ulmer pack (tcm), Night Flight, Roan Buy all 5 NOW! Setup 5 tvs with 5 dvd players and watch all 5 at the same time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Bopper Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 I said I own 5 different versions all of them are vandalized. there are frames missing thus causing a jump cut. and the black portions between scenes is missing. it disrupts the rhythm. usually if a film is located outside the usa most likely it will be free of vandalism. England has saved alot of prints of movies trashed here. buy them all. you'll be glad you did. ulmer's wife said Fromkess did not want Ulmer to make Bluebeard. They argued alot she said. & fought over the puppet scene. Ulmer hired puppeteer Bill Brown who had the actual puppets. They were stolen and when he got them back Marguerite & Faust were ruined. Only mephistopheles was intact with costume. He said when they filmed it he was not told there was going to be fire used. He leaned forward and the fire came up fast & burnt his eye brows. Ulmer's wife said Eugen Schufftan was amazing. He did so much on the movie & got no credit at all. She said Ulmer loved Erdody's music - a brilliant musician. Used him on every movie. In Bluebeard he utilised Pictures at an Exhibition at certain moments. Some have said there is too much music. The entire movie is the Schufftan process - matt painting on glass. Its called the Schufftan process but the man could not be accepted into the hollywood union. for cinematographers. he practically invented the art! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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