Have you noticed that RKO had a habit of cutting their films--

That's very interesting. I'm glad you posted this. I've become a fan of RKO and didn't know that. I wonder what was their reasoning for it? Its a shame though b/c RKO was one of the few studios in the Golden Era that liked to step out on a limb and do films that no one else would do. The only other studio I can think of that liked to experiment was United Artists (UA) in their early days.

I'm sure that RKO is hardly alone in cutting films. I think that because of Ambersons they just have a brighter spotlight on them.

One of the most infamous cases was MGM and Thalberg cutting "Greed" from von Stroheim's 4 and half hour version (which he cut from 9 hours) down to just barely over 2 hours. And then they burned the outtakes for either the silver or the space in the vault. And I am sure there are others.

Movie girl: I am really disappointed when films are cut. Don't recall which studio cut the Dickens film portrayal - Great Expectations '34, but it was certainly annoying to view it with key scenes cut. In the early 80's I had taped the film on VHS = and needing a spare VHS, taping over it accidentally. I figured I could retape it! I was dead wrong. A few months later I found that Valerie Hobson's scenes as Biddy the governess were cut out and one with Pip and Miss Havisham. Later I bought the VHS professionally and still later the DVD - to get the entire film, but apparently when released they decided to use the cut version!
I cannot think why they would take a wonderful 30's film and 50 years later cut the scenes. I am going to see which studio put this out. VAlerie Hobson does
portray Estella in the 40's version of GE.