Originally posted by: OgOggilby

Originally posted by: bdev

Supposedly the studio sent the full version to Welles in Brazi to edit, then they promptly chopped it up for release (142 to 88 minutes,) and burned the rest. Next time I'm in Brazil I'll have to check the pawn shops.

--bdev

From what I've read, they didn't burn the deleted footage, but rather vaulted it. It ended up at a Paramount vault, but no one knows what happened to it.

I haven't ever heard of the footage going to Paramount, but...

...from ambersons.com/FAQ
"The cut footage was kept in film vaults for a few months, and was eventually burned due to a shortage of storage space. There are lots of stills from the cut footage, and the movie trailer (which is on the VHS tape from Turner Classic Movies) has a few seconds of film that isn't iin the movie."

There was always the suspicion that the studio vindictively destroyed the footage, but according to the Carringer book I linked above, additional footage for Hitchcock's Suspicion also went into the fire during the same purge, and since the brass of RKO had changed during that time, it's unlikely that this move was anything more than just unfortunate house cleaning.

I'm interested in hearing more about it though, if you can recall the source of the Paramount bit. My PM's are on.

--bdev