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Info: 'Dr. No' - Rare Uncut Version 1st Beta/VHS release 1982

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 (Edited)

Apparently (unconfirmed) the very first Beta/VHS release back in 1982 is a rare uncut version that is different from all other home video releases which were slightly cut. Here is what I know:

The uncut version of Dr. No shows a more extended fight with the taxi driver, Bond shooting more bullets at Professor Dent and Dr. No’s henchmen beating up Bond was toned down.
 

all home video releases afterwards (VHS, Laserdisc, DVD, Blu-ray, etc.) include the following cuts:

  1. Dr. No’s line I’m sure she will amuse the guards was considered too sexually suggestive, and has been redubbed instead to The guards will amuse her.

  2. Shortly after, Dr. No’s henchmen beating up Bond as he is sat at the table has been trimmed, introducing a dissolve to the next scene much earlier to cover the removal of violent footage.

  3. Bond’s fight with the chauffeur has been trimmed, including the removals of blows to the chauffeur when he is unable to defend himself. A knee kick in this fight was also removed.

In 1983 there was a re-release of Dr. No via CBS/Fox on CED, Beta, VHS and Laserdisc. This leads me to believe they “fixed” something I mean why else would they re-release the movie just one year later?
 

I have checked this against the very first laserdisc release from 1982 but it has all of the cuts mentioned above.

The release in question would have one of these two covers:
https://images2.imgbox.com/f8/c1/CjpXXOQZ_o.jpg
https://images2.imgbox.com/c4/51/GN3zQ9Cg_o.jpg
(source: http://007homevideo.com)

Unfortunately I have been able to get a hold of one these tapes. Hopefully someone may have better luck and we’ll be able to confirm this.

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I have a rental-only cassette myself and plan to check that sometime in the coming week.

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This sounds really cool! Gives me hope for the existence of some rare release that has no jump cut at the end of From Russia With Love.

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While I do have laser videodisc, that’s about the only vintage videodisc system I’m capable of playing as of writing, unfortunately (plus, I don’t have a laser videodisc of the film itself at present). If I do get a CED player, and a CED disc, I’ll look at it, too.

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Some potential leads, with this one being a very strong candidate (albeit expensive) for the release that you seek:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Betamax-HiFi-Lot-of-6-James-Bond-Movies-Moonraker-Thunderball-Dr-No-Golden-Gun/352396361267?hash=item520c75be33:g:D-EAAOSwLWBbPBOu:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

Dr. No Beta

There are also these CBS-FOX releases from 1984, much cheaper, but very likely censored, given what you have you described with the subsequent home video versions:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DR-NO-JAMES-BOND-007-BETA-RARE-1962-Sean-Connery-Ursula-Andress-CBS-FOX/163468161030?hash=item260f763006:g:IloAAOSwOAVaTUTp:rk:2:pf:1&frcectupt=true

Dr. No Beta#2

https://www.ebay.com/itm/James-Bond-Dr-No-1984-Sean-Connery-VHSshop-com/253384697917?hash=item3afee7a83d:g:UbUAAOSwcuZaZqin

Dr. No VHS

Dr. No VHS rear cover with 1984 date

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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Yes the first beta tape pictured is definitely the release in question but unfortunately I don’t have a beta tape player.

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Neither do I and any machine that I could even obtain over here would likely be PAL.

Perhaps a member of the community with a BETA VCR could help out?

JEDIT: removed misleading eBay listing.

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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I have a Betamax (NTSC) and the ability to capture if a tape doesn’t have macrovision. So long as someone covers the costs, I’ll be happy to help, so long as the tape does’t have any mold.

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Where were you in '77?

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Well I have a video descrambler which can bypass macrovision if needed. If anyone wants to help contribute to buy the beta tape in question to confirm if it is indeed uncut please PM me.

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 (Edited)

According to this page:

http://melonfarmers.co.uk/hitscr.htm

“The cuts were presumably to the negative as was often the norm in the 60s, so cuts now persist to all prints worldwide.”

If that is true, then it is very unlikely that any of the 1980s video transfers would have this censored material.

I briefly owned and scanned an original 1962 35mm IB Tech print of Dr. No, and just took a look at it now: the cuts are exactly as described:

  • No blows to the chauffeur when he is unable to defend himself. No knee kick.
  • Bond shoots only once into Dent’s back as he lies on the floor dying.
  • Dr. No’s line is “I’m sure the guards will amuse her”
  • Dr. No’s henchmen beating up Bond as he is sat at the table has been trimmed, introducing a dissolve to the next scene to cover the removal of violent footage.

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It seems to me that these cuts were made before the original premiere of “Dr. No”. Has the uncut version ever been shown in theatres, TV or home media anywhere?

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Also, somebody on this forum bought one of these '82 tapes and says it is censored the same as the rest, despite what is claimed in the MI6 thread:

http://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6662

Perhaps it is just a rumor started by somebody who wanted to jack up the price of his old VHS tape on eBay 😉

I’d still like to see the tape though, if only to debunk the rumour once and for all, so my offer to buy that lot still stands. (I believe the fact that the Dr No tape has a 20th Century Fox label, rather than a CBS/Fox label proves it is an '82 tape and not an '84)

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Regarding the 35mm IB tech print you scanned… did the UA logo at the start fade to black, or did it cut to the opening gunbarrel sequence like the Bond films of the ‘70s?

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Charles Threepio said:

Regarding the 35mm IB tech print you scanned… did the UA logo at the start fade to black, or did it cut to the opening gunbarrel sequence like the Bond films of the ‘70s?

This UA logo:

Imgur

fades to black. Then this fades in:

Imgur

The, letters vanish (probably they fade out, but there are frames missing, so it’s hard to tell) and the white circle is left to begin the gunbarrel sequence:

Imgur

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 (Edited)

Ah. So, it’s just the regular Transamerica T as seen on films from the late ‘60s and early-to-mid ‘70s. I wonder if pre-Transamerica Bond films as rereleased during that time had the regular Transamerica T logo as well…

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This is the same rumor that went around saying early video editions of FRWL contained the cut “What a performance!” line by Grant on the train and the reference by Bond in the end sequence that was hastily cut out which causes the jump edit and degraded footage that still remains to this day. It doesn’t as Aluminum Falcon found out when he bought a VHS copy.
I have some of the early LDs and am starting to try and get early tapes as well and as far as I know they did one master and the early jackets/covers carry the white text UA logo which then became either CBS/Fox on later issues or carried a MGM/UA logo on the packaging. The transfers are all the same. They were done for Fox to release and begin with the 20th Century Fox fanfare and a voiceover: These United Artists features brought to you by Fox etc. The reissues were primarily to update the packages with the correct logos after the legal stuff made CBS/Fox a reality and gave them video distribution to the UA catalog as this was during the mad reign of Kerkorian where UA and MGM were all over the place before being run into the ground with insane abandon.

As Silverwook indicated it is only the early CEDs that seem to have differences, such as the YOLT CED has the trimmed ABC TV edit for some strange reason.

I’ve heard of some of those edits before and then others not at all. I would presume these were ones requested by the British censor which Peter Hunt would have to comply and argue for just like the others. Usually the US censor would only then ask for another trim or so but usually was only concerned about sexual innuendo etc.

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I just bought the LOT of 6 with the '82 Betamax tape in it and I’m having it shipped to somebody who can capture it for me. I seriously doubt it has any extended/uncensored scenes in it, but that’s okay too. It’s a win-win for me, as either way I get to write an article for my Bond site: Either I’ll have some extended/deleted scenes to share, or I can debunk the myth. I might as well grab an '82 CED as well and check that out while I’m at it.

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Williarob, you have a working CED player?

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Where were you in '77?

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 (Edited)

If the audio sounds better than the mono on the bluray I’d like to hear it. The bluray version is compressed with heavy noise reduction.

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Williarob said:

Also, somebody on this forum bought one of these '82 tapes and says it is censored the same as the rest, despite what is claimed in the MI6 thread:

http://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6662

Perhaps it is just a rumor started by somebody who wanted to jack up the price of his old VHS tape on eBay 😉

I’d still like to see the tape though, if only to debunk the rumour once and for all, so my offer to buy that lot still stands. (I believe the fact that the Dr No tape has a 20th Century Fox label, rather than a CBS/Fox label proves it is an '82 tape and not an '84)

I for one, look forward to reading your article on this topic. It was quite telling that the person in question, shared other Bond material throughout the thread - but yet nothing connected to the '82 tape, not even a phone recording of the TV screen showing the uncensored scenes. Also, they didn’t respond when other posters expressed an interest in seeing the release digitised and shared. 😃

https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/7092/goldeneye-workprint/p2

“Logic is the battlefield of adulthood.”

  • Howard Berk
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Yeah, it’s odd such a thing would go unnoticed or digitized this long. I’m sure Bond fans are as obsessive as we are about documenting these things.

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Where were you in '77?