116 minute version vs 90 minute version

Not sure what was cut out, but the longer is about. It was shown by BBC2 on 29/8/1994 and ran for 1 hour 51 minutes (i.e. 116 minutes sped up for PAL).

The shorter international version was made after the longer British version had proved to be a success in London (to the utter amazement of its distributors who were convinced they had a flop on their hands!). To make the film more playable to international audiences more than twenty five minutes were later trimmed to create a print that ran for approximately 90 minutes.

This shorter international cut is sadly the version that has been shown most often ever since, even in Britain. The shorter print was more popular with cinema exhibitors when the film was re-released and screened periodically throughout the forties and fifties. A shorter running time meant that cinemas could squeeze more screenings in per day and therefore take more at the box office.

When it comes to television screenings, if they are a commercial channel like Channel Four (or their digital subsidiary Film Four who screened it most recently) they usually screen the shorter version. With a shorter running time of 90 minutes (87 minutes at PAL speed, with an approximately 4% faster frame rate than cinema projection speed), a commercial channel can fill a 105 minute transmission time slot with the film itself and at least three commercial breaks.

When B.B.C 2 screened 'The Man In Grey' in 1994 they showed the full length 116 minute version (running on television at 112 minutes at PAL speed). The reason for showing the rare longer version was simple. The B.B.C are not a commercial channel and could therefore fill a 112 minute time slot with the full length print itself, without having to slot in commercials that would have extended the time slot to approximately two hours and ten minutes on any commercial channel.

The full length print is exceedingly rare nowadays. Even the British video release from the nineties (now deleted) was the shorter version! A few prints were struck from the longer original British cinema release print in 1943 and retained (one is now owned by the British Film Insitute) and some are in private hands.

Back in the 1960s, one of these prints found its way into the hands of a cinema enthusiast working for the B.B.C who was responsible for selecting prints of old films for television screenings. This archive print has been screened occasionally by the B.B.C over the years, but when last shown in the nineties was in a degraded condition (poor definition, hissing and crackling damage to the soundtrack, and inumerable scratches, etc.)

The shorter version screened by Film Four is actually in much better condition. However, the cuts (actually made in 1943, after the brief original release) are substantial.

Cuts include:
Several lines and shots in the opening auction scene. A great deal of Martita Hunt's dialogue as the schoolmistress in the school scenes. A lot of the expositionary dialogue explaining Hesther's (Margaret Lockwood) social background. Scenes showing the developing friendship between Hesther and Clarissa (Phyllis Calvert). The introduction of the Gypsy woman character. The introduction of the servant boy Toby. A scene on Rohan's (James Mason) wedding day where he purchases a prize fighting dog. Dialogue between Hesther and Clarissa when they meet again. A line is cut for reasons of censorship in Rohan's insults to Hesther "You are a strolling player, with a reputation that would not bring discredit to a woman of the streets!"

The fairground scene is heavily shortened. Rohan's references to his prize fighting dog are cut because the earlier scene with the dog was also cut. Two uses of a certain offensive racial term have been cut out of the shorter version . Shots of the fairground hawkers, sword swallowers, low-life etc, were cut for reasons of timimg.

Cuts are made to later dialogue scenes between Clarissa and Rokeby (Stewart Granger), and scenes between Rohan and Hesther. Also cut are some of Hesther's solo moments where she debates her own actions.


I have both versions in my collection as a basis for comparison. The longer version is preferable, but with poorer picture quality than than the shorter (which now has the advantage of being screened digitally). We can only hope that the full length print will one day get a proper restoration and re-release on DVD. Don't hold your breath though. It would have to be profitable for anyone to bother.

Begorrah! Criterion, that paragon of restorers of distinguished films, has recently released the 116 minute full version, together with "Madonna of the Seven Moons" and "The Wicked Lady", in a set entitled "Eclipse 36: Three Wicked Films from Gainsborough Pictures". It's available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, www.criterion.com, and other sources.



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