Lost Scene?


Does anybody know why this movie has been edited? There was a memorable scene that, to my knowledge, has been deleted everytime this movie as been shown on TV since the 1960's. And I understand it has been cut out of the versions at most rental stores and the online outlets that sell movies.

The scene in question consisted of a very intense spanking administered to Hallie (Capucine) by Jo (Barbra Stynwyck). Hallie was fully clothed during the scene and some type of large brush was used, so there was no actual physical contact between the two women. The scene was very revelent to the plot of the movie in that it demonstrated Jo's control over Hallie. And it was really tame by today's standards.

I was wondering if anybody knows why the scene had been cut from, what appears to be, practically all versions of this movie? And if it does exist in certain copies, where can I obtain one?

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[deleted]

FilmSon, I am SURE it existed and I didn't read about it anywhere, I SAW it! It was on network TV about 1965 when the movie was shown.

The scene took place after Hallie had agreed to leave with Link. When he showed up at the Doll House to take her away, he found her laying face down across her bed and Jo Courtney paddling her French fanny with a large ebony hairbrush. Link entered the room and told Jo, "She's had enough." Ms. Courtney continued to whack away and replied, "I'm not finished." She landed a few more licks then left the room leaving Hallie to tell Link that she would be staying at the Doll House.

I didn't get another chance to see the movie again until 1979. (Remember, this was in the days before cable, VCRs, etc.) The scene had been deleted. It has been deleted from every showing on TCM thatI've seen. I have been told that it doesn't exist on any videos. I have only talked to one other person who has ever seen the scene and she described it exactly as I remembered it.

Alas, I fear that the scene has been lost forever which is tragic. The scene was very tame by today's standards and there is no reason it should have been censored from an, otherwise, very good movie.

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[deleted]

FilmSon, no apology necessary. Its not surprising that you had never heard of the scene. I know many people that are experts, who even have web sites dedicated to spanking in mainstream movies, that have never seen or heard of it either.

My guess as to why it was deleted is that it reeked of lesbian S/M, a subject that was very taboo at the time. Even though it may seem tame by today's standards, I guess it was a little to risque for TV in those subsequent years. But you would think that now, and in this day and age, with all the stuff that gets shown on network TV, not to mention cable, video and DVDs, that the scene would re-emrge somewhere. However, to the best of my knowledge, that has not been the case. I fear the scene may be lost forever, which is why I dubbed it the "Lost Scene."

I would love to see it again myself and am constantly searching for it. In the event that I do locate it, I will post info for you on how I obtained it. Thanks for your interest and response on this topic!

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[deleted]

It was deleted precisely because to those in the know,a spanking like that would arouse Hallie to orgasm and that was how her domme Jo kept sexual control of her.....the censors were totally clueless about that at the time which is why that scene made it in the original cut and was later deleted when subsequent censors became aware of its true sexual meaning

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i remember it from the original.....silly savages.......it was hot

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[deleted]

I watched it last night too, Film Son, hoping that against all odds the spanking would be shown. But like the title song says, "The chances of going to heaven are 6 to 1." Unfortunately, the chances of this scene ever being shown again are much higher.

You raise a very good question about the book. I have often wondered the same thing but have never been able to get my hands on a copy. So while I can't answer that question, my gut reaction is that it wasn't in there. I base that guess on the numerous amount of information I've read about spanking in mainstream literature in which I've seen no mention of it. Again, that's just a guess which I cannot confirm but would be interested to know for sure.

And I agree with the poster who said the scene was probably deleted due to lesbian sexual overtones. I recently learned that in this film, Barbara Stanwyck became the first American actress to ever portray a lesbian in a feature film. So evidently, this was a ground breaking movie for the time. And throwing S/M into that mix must have been a little too much for the TV censors of the late 60s/early 70s. The interesting thing was that the scene made it to network television in 1965, three years after it first appeared in theaters. So it wasn't deleted until years later, possibly during the highly conservative Nixon administration. I do know that next time I saw it on TV, which was in 1979, the scene was gone and, to my knowledge, has never been shown again.

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[deleted]

"I recently learned that in this film, Barbara Stanwyck became the first American actress to ever portray a lesbian in a feature film."

What about Shirley McClaine in THE CHILDREN'S HOUR? Doesn't that film pre-date this?

When I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you.

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The Nelson Algren novel bears little resemblance to the movie.

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I saw the film when it was first released in 1962 and there was no spanking scene. Surely if there had been such a scene it would have been mentioned in one of the Stanwyck biography's. I have been a fan of hers for over 60 years and this is the first time that I have ever heard of it.

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When I saw the film in 1965 there definitely was a spanking scene. There is no way I could have been mistaken. It was the first time I'd ever seen a spanking scene in any movie and it made a huge impression on me and it fueled a life long interest in this subject. I can't offer an explanation as to why you didn't see it in 1962. It was a very brief scene, is it possible that you just don't remember it? After all, that was a long time ago.

I will admit that if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would be skeptical myself. There seems to be no stills anywhere, no copies of the film with the scene remain, and it appears that very few people have either seen it or remember it. So I can understand why people doubt that it ever existed. But trust me, it did.

As for Shirley McClaine in The Children's Hour, I was thinking that her character was only accused of being a lesbian, but she didn't actually play one. But I haven't seen that movie in ages and could be wrong about that.

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This is from a now defunct Movie Spanking message board that was owned and operated by a man from Norway known as Arild. The following is the reprint of a post by a woman by the name of Cynthia Brown. She is known in the scene as Princess Cynthia, is very knowledgeable on the subject of spanking in mainstream movies and currently has a Yahoo group dedicated to it.

She'd seen the spanking from Walk On the Wild Side and in 2001 wrote a brief description which, by the way, was almost exactly the way I remembered it. This is one of the few, if not the only, references I've ever seen to it.

She wrote:

"Walk on the Wild Side . . . (In a Princess weak moment but now you guys gotta be extra nice to me) . . Capucine is a dish but Fonda out dishes her . . she is in a switch relationship . . . she is a prostitute to men and to the owner of the house . . . owner finds out she is thinking of blowing town . . . big yelling argument in front of house bouncer . . Cappy is dressed in silk pajamas, Victoria's Secret Style 439. . . spanking is with a brush . . laying on the bed . . some off camera . . . but you get the sense of it . . Cappy's face grimaces . . very hard swats . . probably cut out of some versions . . if you are into seeing one woman beat the socks (pants) of another , this is your meat . . . Princess rating . . I will give this a 7 because the guys posting here are never going to be nasty to the Princess again . . .right?"

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Shirley MacLaine in "The Children's Hour" definitely is supposed to be gay.
From Wiki synopsis:
When Martha learns about the break-up, she confesses she had always felt more than friendship for Karen and, upon hearing the false accusation, had finally realized the extent of her hitherto-repressed feelings. Upon this new acknowledgment of her feelings, she breaks down, blaming herself for ruining both of the women's lives.

Lauren Bacall in "Young Man with a Horn" (1950)
At IMDb's forum, there's quite a bit of discussion about her character, especially her female acquaintance. I watched the film various times but never interpreted it that way. Oh well...

Also, according to their IMDb forums:
Rebecca (1940) ~ From Wiki: Housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) is domineering and cold and is obsessed with the great beauty, intelligence and sophistication of the first Mrs. de Winter—the eponymous Rebecca—and preserves her former bedroom as a shrine. / To me, she seems like a devoted servant angry that this timid mouse is the new lady of the house.

The Uninvited (1944) ~ Miss Holloway (Cornelia Otis Skinner), Mary Meredith's friend and confidante ... / They claim she's too obsessed with Mary, much like Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca. I think she's just a demented woman in charge of an asylum.

Sometimes, I think they want to claim every film has one of these characters. Often, I doubt the authors/screenwriters actually intended that. I've read claims of films in which the person named people who most definitely were not as they seem to wish they were. Grayson Hall's character in "The Night of the Iguana" is obviously a naive, religious woman who is being protective of a girl who is in danger of "straying"; it's silly to think she's being possessive of the girl! Sheesh!

*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***

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I saw this film when it was first released to the theaters in the early sixties. I was so in love with it that I went back and saw it multiple times during the first week of its release. The scene you mention was not in the original movie that was shown in theaters. If you saw something about the scene on TV or heard about it somewhere, it might be a scene that was filmed but wound up on the cutting room floor.

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I saw this movie (scene included) at the Hamilton Theater in Philadelphia in 1965. The Hamilton was a "last" run type of place, and if it was included there, it was shown elsewhere. I was so naive at the time that my mother had to explain to me what a prostitute was. Neither she nor I knew, at the time, the sexual implications of that scene - we did know Stanwyck was in love with Capucine and assumed she was beating her out of anger. Now that I'm much older I understand it better. Mom won't get that though!

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After reading the posts in this thread, I suggest that both parties may be right - if we assume that there were two different cuts distributed to theaters, depending on different States' criteria about what could be passed.

At that time, that was an usual practice in some European countries, as producers were aware of risking to offer some scenes in a market, but that those scenes would be a plus at another.

Just a thought. I was only aware of this film now! And I consider it daring for more reasons than the lesbian sadomasochist situation: there's humanism prevailing over religious zealots (the street preacher scene), lawyers using their knowledge to control underground businesses...

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