1. Does the original 141 minute version of this film still exist?
2. Exactly what curse words were used in the infamous cursing scene? And, on that subject, what curses were used in the original play (i.e. just mild stuff like "damn," or stronger stuff like the f-word as well?)
I just finished watching it. "God damn their souls" is in one scene. Close to it, either before or after, is b--------s, just showing dashes (or underlines) for the missing letters. That's all I recall off the top of my head.
X
Reasons Why I Believe in God:
http://X-Evolutionist.com/
I actually meant in the scene with the lip-reading.
shareCould you be getting it confused with What Price Glory? That movie was notorious for the amount of real cussing from Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen. Deaf lip readers complained to the studio.
The Republican Plan: repeal all reform; collect payoffs; go yachting (but not in the Gulf).
I never heard of What Price Glory having any big issues with lip-reading. Where did you hear of this (pun unintended XD)? And, a third question: what curse words were actually used in either film (Big Parade or What Price Glory) other than "goddamn" and a "b------s"? Did they mouth other words like f ** k?
shareI don't remember my original source, where I found out about deaf people complaining, and I can't answer your second question. However, here's a quote from a Literary Digest article from 1927:
How to get around the problem of saving "What Price Glory?" from being a mere repetition of any war screen was solved by one of the leading American film producers who has laid upon the audience the necessity of acquiring facility in lip reading. "Profanity, blasphemy or obscenity would not be permitted in subtitling," writes Mr. G. A. Atkinson in the Daily Express (London), "but there is nothing to prevent the actor from saying what he is obviously thinking, and experienced lip-readers are frequently aware of strange screen confidences." The writer furnishes a little passage in our own journalistic style; and this is what The Daily Express provides for prospective patrons of the much discust film-play in London:I also seem to remember that the Laurence Stallings/Maxwell Anderson play, even on stage, had a lot of cussing, though I'm sure there were obscenities it didn't employ.
"In 'What Price Glory?' McLaglen and the others have been made carefully to articulate and emphasize the full vocabulary of the profession of arms, especially that of the American soldier, which is rather richer and rounder than the rest, and this aspect of the film is affording censors much anxious thought.
'"They who see this picture,' says Variety, 'are going to start tipping off on the cuss words used, words that can only be gotten by lip-reading, but the bunch that goes to see the picture will watch for that rough stuff.'
http://www.1920-30.com/movies/bad-language.html