MovieChat Forums > The Power and the Glory (1933) Discussion > Where are the original title cards?

Where are the original title cards?


Just started watching this on TCM. Anyone know why it's missing its original title cards/credits?

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"In 2004(?), the film was restored through UCLA using portions of three existing 35mm prints. The new restoration contains all known existing footage. One small portion of film was still missing though it was known to exist because a music cue was available. The single shot (showing a hand signing a letter) was carefully recreated using the hand of Sturges own son Thomas and put back into the film along with the original score. This version was screened in New York City, New York at the Film Forum on April 1 & 2, 2005. Several of the showings were attended and by Thomas Sturges." From IMDb Pro

You can tell that it is a restoration from the choppiness of the print especially early on.

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I just watched this last night (9:15 PM CT, Sept. 18, 2011) on TCM and did not notice any choppiness. Furthermore, the fact of restoration does not automatically explain new title graphics. Any number of "restored" silent films seen on TCM's Silent Sunday Nights have borne what give every appearance of being the original titles (credits, intertitles), as well as credits for the restoration, which is not the case here either. It is a remarkably clear print.

I thought the first flashback--when Tom and Henry were boys--was initially narrated by Spencer Tracy rather than Ralph Morgan, which confused matters greatly until I heard another voice narrating before the sequence was finished, Morgan's. Also, it's interesting that of all the uncredited actors listed here, the boy playing Tom Garner's second wife's son is not.

BTW, the reason the film went missing for so many years was undoubtedly the fact that there were too many plot elements unacceptable under the Hays Office's Production Code for re-release to be an option until the television era really got going. The fact that it was made prior to William Fox losing his company and it becoming (combined with something else to become?) 20th Century Fox might explain the print/negative being misplaced during that lengthy time period.

The GREEN HORNET Strikes Again!

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There were many pre-code films that didn't 'go missing'. This one simply lost money and the old Fox company had no interest in preserving it. There are numerous Fox films that were destroyed soon after they were made. The negative and master lavender for this film were destroyed in a fire. (1937- 20th Century-Fox (NJ)- Negatives for most of , if not all, pre-1935 Fox films destroyed. Big problem was that original negatives and fine grain masters were stored in the same vault. "Cleopatra" starring Theda Bara is lost, so is "Way Down East" as well as films starring William Farnum, Harry Carey and Tom Mix are lost. Also companies such as Educational Pictures, World-Wide that Fox sub-distributed for are lost.)

As for the missing title cards, they were missing because they were missing. Your comment is pointless.

Ralph Morgan narrated the entire film.



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As for the missing title cards, they were missing because they were missing. Your comment is pointless.
That comment is pointless, not mine.

The GREEN HORNET Strikes Again!

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