The Exorcist

[OgamiittoMcJ]

Originally Posted by Aclea

But do you have the original book written for that big box set that got pulled at the last minute and replaced by a quick cut and paste by Kermode because of yet another pissing contest between Blatty and Friedkin, the latter in full on Fahrenheit 451 mode?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362568563...84.m1555.l2649

Originally Posted by Aclea

Four different cuts of The Fear of God and, thanks to Friedkin throwing a hissy fit, two different books. The original book never made it into the boxed set anywhere after Friedkin demanded the entire 75,000 print run be burned (he actually asked for the burning to be videoed, but I doubt that happened). The small consignment for the 1998 UK theatrical release escaped (it was supposed to be sold at the Warner Village or used as competition prizes) but never made it to any boxed set. The design and pictures are identical, the text and interviews completely different except from a couple of places where Kermode just copies parts verbatim but unattributed.

There's a review of it on Amazon UK and a discussion about it on the captainhowdy.com forums.

http://captainhowdy.com/forums/topic...llsmer/page/2/

no didn't know about any of that
so thanks for posting info and links
did you get that book then ? or you just knew about it ?

[Agent Kay]

I have the Kermode book and the Laserdisc, I take it I am missing out then

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by OgamiittoMcJ

no didn't know about any of that
so thanks for posting info and links
did you get that book then ? or you just knew about it ?

I was working at WHV in the States at the time of the 75th anniversary promotion and it was one of the titles I was working on. The fallout from the Friedkin/Blatty handbags at dawn was that only two of the six titles that were going to get boxed sets - that and Enter the Dragon - got released, with The Searchers, Bullitt, Dirty Harry and The Music Man all cancelled.

It basically came down to Friedkin persuading Blatty not to co-operate with the book, then Blatty demanding the book be pulped because he wasn't involved - at which point Friedkin demanded it be kept - only for Blatty to be reminded that he'd pulled out of the interview, actually reading the book and deciding that he liked it. At which point Friedkin, who never read the book*, decided it must make him look bad and demanded it be publicly destroyed and Kermode write a new one. This then magnified into what is euphemistically described as a talent relationship issue between the two, with Friedkin - who was supposed to be making a Sonny Liston biopic at Warners until he demanded a $110m budget but more importantly was married to the head of production at Paramount - having the better cards.

It's just one of many examples of Blatty starting fires so he could put them out and be the hero of the day only for them to get completely out of control, which the history of Blatty's dealings with Warners and other studios is just littered with. The most interesting thing about it was watching Friedkin still manipulating many of the people from the film a quarter of a century on: for example, Owen Roizman had some incredible onset footage that made Friedkin look particularly bad during a couple of serious accidents which he was going to licence until Friedkin convinced to ask for $250,000 for it knowing it was more than the total budget for the entire restoration and home video release. He just had a knack for knowing which strings to pull even with people who didn't like him, so it was amazing we were able to get the Lalo Schifrin score through.

* When the lawyers were going through his issues with the book with Friedkin on a conference call, they included several things that weren't actually in the book to see if he had bothered to read it and it was clear he hadn't. The irony is that he comes out of the book fairly well.

[Aclea]

You know, thinking about it, the whole business with that book is like a dry run for what happened to Paul Schrader on his Exorcist prequel...

[Bumblefeet]

From the earlier home video releases that golden CD with the unused Lalo Schifrin score was probably the best extra feature to surface. I managed to buy the CD seperately and the regular soundtrack album as well but I hardly every play either because the music is just so intense.

I currently own Exorcist as part of the US anthology set. I would definitely get a UHD release for it alongside Exorcist III.

[OgamiittoMcJ]

Originally Posted by Aclea

You know, thinking about it, the whole business with that book

4 people have watched that orig book now and one has sold in last 24hrs
you on commission ? or are you the seller ? lol only joking

[jacobvongunten]

I was the one who bought it after reading this thread

[ghidorah]

Just bought one as well.

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by OgamiittoMcJ

4 people have watched that orig book now and one has sold in last 24hrs
you on commission ? or are you the seller ? lol only joking

Note to self; don't forget to send seller an invoice for commission first thing tomorrow.

[TsMkLg068426]

Originally Posted by The Fallen Deity

I've got the complete anthology BD set and the 1997 DVD.

Tbh as much as I love the film, that's all I really need until the inevitable UHD release comes out.

Who knows if that will ever happen depends on WB or if Shout Factory starts releasing 4K UHD movies not just Documentaries.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Aclea

I was working at WHV in the States at the time of the 75th anniversary promotion and it was one of the titles I was working on.

Any idea why Warners point blank refuse to include original audio tracks on films where 5.1 remixes have been made. It started with the DVD-era and continues unabated to this day.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Any idea why Warners point blank refuse to include original audio tracks on films where 5.1 remixes have been made. It started with the DVD-era and continues unabated to this day.

Annoys me as well, especially the fudged up Dirty Harry remixes

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Any idea why Warners point blank refuse to include original audio tracks on films where 5.1 remixes have been made. It started with the DVD-era and continues unabated to this day.

It started as a big thing with laser disc. Sometimes it was down to the directors doing remixes. At the time the default policy was to get the filmmakers involved in transfers whenever possible to get them to help push the format, which usually means them doing what they would have done with the latest technology and rethinking the sound, but sometimes older mono or original stereo tracks simply weren't usable due to deterioration (with the tapes for Schifrin's score, even after baking them we had just one pass to transfer them before they became unusable). The trouble is that over time remixing becomes the default corporate policy.

[The Fallen Deity]

Warners do sometimes include original audio mixes but it's not a common occurrence.

In fairness though regarding The Exorcist, the theatrical cut's 5.1 mix is actually very close to the mono mix.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Aclea

It started as a big thing with laser disc. Sometimes it was down to the directors doing remixes. At the time the default policy was to get the filmmakers involved in transfers whenever possible to get them to help push the format, which usually means them doing what they would have done with the latest technology and rethinking the sound, but sometimes older mono or original stereo tracks simply weren't usable due to deterioration (with the tapes for Schifrin's score, even after baking them we had just one pass to transfer them before they became unusable). The trouble is that over time remixing becomes the default corporate policy.

That it did, sad stuff

[Aclea]

What goes around comes around: now it's Kermode's turn to have his work dumped by Friedkin on the Cruising disc.

[pferreira]

Originally Posted by Aclea

What goes around comes around: now it's Kermode's turn to have his work dumped by Friedkin on the Cruising disc.

Why? What did Friedkin say?

[Captain Mustard]

This thread was very helpful. I bought this version, too!

[kristoffer]

This made me want to rewatch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb3h...ature=youtu.be

So I ordered the old 2 disc UK set.
Is the third disc any good? I couldn’t find the 3 disc version in the UK any longer.

[Si Parallel Universe]

Sorry I'm lost.. what is the best UK disc to order on blu ?