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

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

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

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

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.

I’ll buy the 6 betamax tapes if somebody can capture them all for me. Just send me a PM so I know where to have them shipped.

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.

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)

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:

fades to black. Then this fades in:

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:

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.

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.

SilverWook said:

Williarob, you have a working CED player?

I don’t, but I think I know a man who does. -1 preserved the Star Wars trilogy CED set a few years ago, so I’m hoping he still has his player…

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

Shades of SuperShadow. 😄

https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/star-wars-supershadow-spoilers#