it seems odd that they wouldn't mention that in the DVD documentary when discussing the studio interference. They don't going into details though but it's a pretty big thing to not mention but everything is possible of course.

It's not really surprising, in the whole documentary Lucas wanted to show how he managed to win over the evil Empire that was Warner Bros... saying that in one country WB succeeded is something would be diminishing his own glory. I also would omit this info if I intended to self-elogiate myself like George always does. Plus, as far as we know, Lucas might honestly not know about it at all.

The cover I posted must be from the VHS version. The book has this cover

Urania is a famous Sci-Fi book line which published, back in the day, most science fiction stories that would have otherwise been never translated.

The reason why I called my video on youtube "As the Studios wanted it" is exactly because of that interview you kindly posted msycamore. When I heard of the flashback my memory went imediately to my Italian copy and I thought "holy moly" this might be of interest.

If the film was shown in Cannes it might have been also released in Italy the same year then, Italian and French people have similar tastes and we tend to appreciate anything that passess on Cannes screens. However I can't find anyone who lived in those years that would remember this film at all (I was born well 14 years later) and my parents were never cinema people.