MovieChat Forums > Five Star Final (1931) Discussion > What Did Phillip Say? - Spoiler Included

What Did Phillip Say? - Spoiler Included

posted 13 years ago by cmasia
5 replies | jump to latest

This is a terrific film.

But..

In the climactic scene, Jenny pulls a gun on Randall, Hinchecliffe, and Isipod.

Phillip enters the office, pulls the gun away from Jenny, and pulls her close to him.

On the TCM showing of the film, he says something to her, but the audio has been removed. You can only see his lips moving.

He speaks only a few words, a few of which seem to be "I love you".

But it is impossible to make out the rest.

Why would this one line be either edited or censored?

I don't believe it was meant to be a mere whisper between the two.

It does not take away from what is an otherwise excellent film.

In fact, my enjoyment of the film makes me all the more curious as to what was said, and why we didn't hear it.

[–] gribfritz2 13 years ago

Good point. Need a lipreader for that one. I doubt anything was forcibly removed since it was 1931 and besides, what could he possibly have said to warrant removal? My guess is the director decided the scene worked best without the line and being the age of churning out a movie a day, there was no reshoot.

[–] pepperdog61 10 years ago

Good point. Need a lipreader for that one. I doubt anything was forcibly removed since it was 1931 and besides, what could he possibly have said to warrant removal? My guess is the director decided the scene worked best without the line and being the age of churning out a movie a day, there was no reshoot.

Possibly, but many pre-codes were "sanitized" after the Code began to be enforced in mid-1934, and were restored to their original state much later. Although there are other lines here that would have been "snippable" by censors starting in 1934 (suggesting the film as a whole was restored at some point) it's possible the audio on this one bit of dialogue is permanently lost. Just tossing out a possibility.

As you note, a lipreader would be most helpful.

[–] bok602 8 years ago

The film is adapted from a play, so it is possible that if you can track down a copy of the original play, there might be something helpful there.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] mdonln 8 years ago

cmasia says > On the TCM showing of the film, he says something to her, but the audio has been removed. You can only see his lips moving.

. I watch a lot of movies on TCM. What I've noticed, and really appreciate, is how they never edit or censor anything about the movies they show. If there's nudity, they show it. If there are words or comments that were used then but have become taboo or politically incorrect now, they leave them in.

I prefer to see the movie as it was originally presented at the time it was made. We're lucky enough to still have a lot of these movies; so many have been destroyed or lost. It would be awful to tamper with them. One of our best links to the past are these old movies. We can't learn from them if we keep trying to whitewash them.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

[–] pepperdog61 7 years ago

He speaks only a few words, a few of which seem to be "I love you".

But it is impossible to make out the rest.

Bought it tonight, watched it, replayed the scene several times. No dice. I can't read lips very well. Looks like "I love you darling" but they'd never snip that.

Any lipreaders out there?