The lost frame of ESB

I know this is a silly thing to devote a thread to but I thought what the heck.

In every video transfer and as much as I know every theatrical presentation of the 35mm cut of the film, one frame is missing. (including all the SE's)

For those who don't know what I'm talking about...

missing frame causing a minor jump cut

With all expertise around these parts when it comes to film, why did this happen? Is it a leftover error from Lucas' panic cut? Was it a naked guy who suddenly showed up for this frame or was it a good old fashion error of the negative cutter? In the old transfers you can see splice glue between these frames.

I've never noticed the jump before in watching the movie. Will try to check for it next time!

Dang. I'll have to keep my eyes open for this next time.

Tyrphanax said:

Dang. I'll have to keep my eyes open for this next time.

What is the probability that every time I've watched ESB, I blinked at that exact moment, and missed the small jump cut?

It's possible.

I've watched that part on Puggo's transfer, and I didn't see any jump. I'll check more carefully.

Magic!

zombie84 said:

otherwise it will jam up and tear the whole reel.

Didn't know or expect it could go so bad!

The jump is there on every source I have seen including the 35mm bootleg and as they apparently went back to the negative for the Lowry Digital transfers Zombies story sounds like the logical explanation for it.

Nice example You_Too!

We have people hand-colouring these things frame-by-frame, hahaha.

I'm just glad that, for awhile, I knew a little bit more about part of Star Wars than Zombie did with the Prune Faces.

Very interesting.  I learn something new every day on this site.

I don't mean to derail this thread, but I have a quick question and didn't think starting a new thread was worth it.  Is it true that different theatrical releases of ESB had slightly different endings?  Something about a missing FX shot of the rebel fleet or something?  Is there a thread or pics of this somewhere on OT.com?  Couldn't find anything.

zombie84 said:

My question is...HOW DO YOU PEOPLE NOTICE A SINGLE FRAME MISSING?

Good find though. Another useless bit of trivia I can now add to my knowledge of Star Wars, along with the stunning revelation in the OT Purist thread that there were, in fact, not one but three Prune Face people in ROTJ.

He he, this is geeky alright, sorry if I have now sort of ruined the scene for some. This one I noticed way back in the 80's when watching the film endlessly on video, 1 frame missing may sound like something that is impossible to spot without studying the scene but the reason I noticed it being the motion in the scene where it happens, the rebels running and the snow that is falling in the background, it always stood out to me...

I'm surprised I've never noticed this missing frame, but all the jump cuts in SW have really stood out to me, since the early 90s: the explosion on the blockade runner after 3PO and R2 dodge the crossfire, a couple times when R2 moves, turning lightsabers on/off, opening/closing doors on the Death Star, etc.

Unbelievable that I never noticed the looped shot of the Tusken raider after so many viewings.  Now I can't unsee it!

msycamore said:

zombie84 said:

My question is...HOW DO YOU PEOPLE NOTICE A SINGLE FRAME MISSING?

Good find though. Another useless bit of trivia I can now add to my knowledge of Star Wars, along with the stunning revelation in the OT Purist thread that there were, in fact, not one but three Prune Face people in ROTJ.

He he, this is geeky alright, sorry if I have now sort of ruined the scene for some. This one I noticed way back in the 80's when watching the film endlessly on video, 1 frame missing may sound like something that is impossible to spot without studying the scene but the reason I noticed it being the motion in the scene where it happens, the rebels running and the snow that is falling in the background, it always stood out to me...

You're not ruining anything.

Please keep this information coming. It's very valuable (to me, at least).

I posted a recreation of the 70mm ending of ESB in one of the threads around here a few months ago, just for fun to see and hear how it actually played, you can check it out here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/6nt4ow

Just a quick and dirty edit and sync job of the 70mm audio and GOUT. I actually think it worked better in some ways, the pace, no tracked music... the establishing shot of the fleet which ends on the Falcon became somewhat awkward in the reedit IMO. Both versions works in their own way of course.

Edit: here's a good thread for the various 70mm differences in ESB: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/70-mm-print-of-the-Empire-Strikes-Back-Differences/topic/2321/

zombie, msycamore, thanks so much for the info re: the shot of the fleet.  Anyone know a reason why this was done, and when the FX shot was created?  Was it a shot they simply forgot to put in, or one they felt they needed for some reason after the movie was released?

I seem to remember reading/hearing in some Lucas or Kershner interview, about a shot at the end of ESB that apparently came out crappy, I believe of the fleet, and I think Kersh said, "one bad shot can ruin the whole movie" or something like that, so they decided to redo it.  I wonder if this is related to the missing/added FX shot?

I wouldn't notice if the film was missing 100 frames, LOL. Well, unless they were consecutive. And some people notice the PAL speedup, too. Sounds incredible to me.