Yeah "bullshit’ I contemplated getting an old VHS and then just understood there was no point… There won’t be any differences except the red phone booth scene seemed to be omitted in some versions where he calls home to America. In other versions it was reinstated.
But those small little extra shots do feel pretty genuine although I think or atleast it looks like they shot it and then changed the design of the werewolf a bit? I think Rick Baker ended up modeling it a bit off of his pet dog in the final iteration. So I think there could be some truth that it was trimmed a bit but only like as in that clip.
So to make the actual thing work in terms of continuity it would require giving the werrwolf either a bit of a face lift or perhaps simply darkening the shot. It works that bit better I feel with the small werewolf snippets. It is a good conversation this because it highlights how delicate film making is and how a single shot can really change a scene for better or for worse. Similarly getting the music and the sound right are equally important. I think Landis made a good choice to not have Elmer Bersteins “Metamorphasis” score however it seems to me that it works amazingly at the start especiallly the hand stretching part. It is possible that a simple shot of a Radio in the flat was needed to transition to “blue moon” so both would be included. Starting Intense and then the more satirical black comedy element. You never know with these sorts of things. I reckon it would have been a “Roberts Radio” if that was the idea.
Anyway this film in terms of actually requiring these changes it is not the case. It could be a small bit better but not by much.
Restoring Dune or even I suppose Reconstructing Dune would be a massive undertaking in comparison. It is possibly more complicated than “The Good the Bad the Ugly” and “Lawrence of Arabia” combined.
But if we consider “AWIL” I think yearning to see a bit more of Rick Bakers wolf Is natural, but only a slight bit more I think would have been good.
With Dune the same principle needs to be applied only a slight bit more. If any CGI reconstruction absolutely has to happen to make it work then it should look of the time and be seemless. I don’t think anyone wants another Star Wars on there hands altough both films are showing that disjointed lack of Special effect. The less of it employed the better only what is needed with zero ectravagence.
Showing less is sometimes more but less can also be truly less. If we take for instance Jaws which truly did a good job of less is more except the Alex Kitner death scene. Instead of the camera coming closer to the raft underwater this was meant to be a plan view of the raft and the Silhouette of the shark circling around. The same technique is employed in Dune when Atreidies reach Arrakis. Instead of the big scale shots we end up with “the prophecy” a lesser incarnation of what it was intended to be. So when you replace the big scale vast shots you end up with truly less. That is a fact.
The only other Special effect dropped from jaws was to have Chief Brody reflected in the sharks Black eye.
Otherwise I think Jaws got the balance about right and the shark not working was a gift.