# Have any wide-release movies been scrubbed from the public? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336 "2017-01-04T21:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/41 "2017-01-05T11:28:22Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Re: the whole Traci Lords thing: I knew a guy who worked at a video rental place when that, er, went down and he swore that every employee was questioned about if they or anyone they knew had kept any of her tapes. Does this sound like something that happened, campp, or was he pulling my leg? In my case, it was the older managers that wanted the tapes. Most of the younger worker bees, such as myself, had no interest. šŸ˜‰ ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/42 "2017-01-05T11:55:28Z")
I canā€™t give you the title, so this is pretty weak but, ā€“ my friend the film projectionist was always pretty bitter about the film he really liked, that was taken out of distribution and all copies destroyed because the copyright holding company went under. Accoriding to him, with no way to pay residuals, there was no way to screen the film. Copies were destroyed because thatā€™s what you do with worthless junk, and to prevent accidental release and screening which would expose the distributer to liablility. ---
**Author:** ![DrForrester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@DrForrester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrForrester)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/43 "2017-01-05T12:11:29Z")
There was a Sylvester Stallone porn film (Stud) which was given an edited VHS release. Apparently, my fuzzy memory tells me that the only unedited copies were owned by the same chap who owned Penthouse magazine & that he & sly made a financial arrangement regarding it. There was also a Peter Sellers movie of which only one copy exists today, and was part of his estate. Toward the end of his life, he did several really horrible films, just trying to pay the bills. (Think: Nick Cage) I watched a documentary about Mr. Sellers a few years ago & they mentioned the super rare film. I donā€™t recall if it was released to theatersā€¦ If anyone is interested, I can research the name of the film. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/44 "2017-01-05T12:19:19Z")
Unrelated to the OP: I just wanted to thank **usedtobe** for the fascinating explanation (end of post 20) of ā€œMerrie Melodiesā€ and the like. Sheet music sales ā€“ I had no idea! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/45 "2017-01-05T12:44:09Z")
Thereā€™s also films like [The Day the Clown Died](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried) by Jerry Lewis that may never be released in its entirety, but parts of the film are out in the public. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/46 "2017-01-05T13:04:42Z")
**Melbourne** , thereā€™s still going to be _someone_ who owns the copyright. When the previous holding company went under, there would have been a stage in the process where they sold off all of their assets, and if the copyright for that film wasnā€™t specifically named, eventually theyā€™d get to the point where someone would buy ā€œall other assets not named hereā€ or whatever, for some price. That buyer would then own the copyright. It doesnā€™t make things much easier, since they might not even realize that they own it, and itā€™d probably be more trouble than it was worth to convince them that they did. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/47 "2017-01-05T13:05:22Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > Can anyone confirm a movieā€“one that a lot of people have seenā€“was later banished from existence? The version of [Big](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737) with the alternate ending seems to have been effectively scrubbed. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/48 "2017-01-05T13:31:59Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Full coverage of the first Superbowl in 1967 was believed to be non-existent for the longest time as well until an incomplete copy was discovered in Pennsylvania in 2005 but that copy still isnā€™t available for viewing because of legal entanglements with the NFL. Known coverage has been spliced together by studio archives but it is extremely likely that the original coverage of the game does not exist anywhere and never will. Theyā€™ve got almost all of it (all the plays, at least) from a variety of sources and showed what they had in January 2016 on NFL Network. It was a bit controversial because the first airing had commentators talking over the footage. They showed it again with just the NBC radio call over the video. But thereā€™s no known, complete copy of either the CBS or NBC television broadcast. Not disagreeing with you, just trying to add some information. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/49 "2017-01-05T16:53:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In a similar vein to _Song of the South_, is _Birth of a Nation_ available to the mass-market? I saw a restored print of it at a local arthouse theater last year. Not good, either as art or as history. > [@Topologist](#): > > Speaking of Star Wars, Iā€™m surprised nobody mentioned yet the [Star Wars Holiday Special](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Holiday_Special)ā€¦So bad that the actors involved would deny it existed or that they had been in it. Youā€™d be surprised: [Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher Reflect on the 'Embarrassment' That Was the 'Star Wars Holiday Special'](https://www.yahoo.com/movies/harrison-ford-carrie-fisher-reflect-on-the-231344309.html) > [@installLSC](#): > > The closest thing to the OPā€™s criteria would probably be ā€œJud Sussā€, the infamous anti-Semitic propaganda film released in Germany in 1940. In 1954, what was asssumed to be the only copy left was destroyed by a German court order. Somehow extra copies leaked out, but any screening or sale of the film (except for very narrow educational purposes that must be pre-approved) in Germany is illegal. I donā€™t know what German law is about vintage ads or other promotional items of ā€œJud Sussā€; of course, in most other Western countries none of these prohibitions apply. A documentary I highly recommend - the Nazis made a lot of films, some of which still remain in German govt. archival storage with only carefully-limited public display: [Forbidden Films (2014) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3606838/?ref_=nv_sr_1) > [@JKilez](#): > > The version of [Big](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737) with the alternate ending seems to have been effectively scrubbed. In case youā€™re not whooshing us: [Anyone else remember the alternate ending to "Big"? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=109762) ---
**Author:** ![Donpeyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Donpeyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donpeyote)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/50 "2017-01-05T16:54:32Z")
Song of the South and The Manchirian Candidateā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/51 "2017-01-05T17:45:50Z")
_Nosferatu_ (1922) was supposed to be destroyed. Prana Film had wanted to make Dracula but they couldnā€™t get the rights. So they changed the names of the characters and went ahead and made it anyway. The Stoker estate sued them and won. Prana was supposed to destroy all copies of the movie. That court order failed and copies survived. But perhaps the Stoker estate took some satisfaction from the fact that the movie was widely bootlegged and Prana went bankrupt. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/52 "2017-01-05T17:49:57Z")
> [@Donpeyote](#): > > Song of the South and The Manchirian Candidateā€¦ _The Manchurian Candidate_? I donā€™t know if youā€™re talking about the 1962 original or the 2004 remake but neither have been ā€œscrubbedā€. I just checked Amazon and you can buy them on BluRay or DVD. ---
**Author:** ![Donpeyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Donpeyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donpeyote)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/53 "2017-01-05T18:01:28Z")
The 1962 version was intentionally shelved for many years and is famous enough just for that , the 21st century version was a joke and to even mention it is strange . ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/54 "2017-01-05T18:14:13Z")
You want ā€œscrubbed from the publicā€? Try the 1940 movie **Swiss Family Robinson**. Itā€™s virtually never shown on television, was not available on VHS. It has been made available on hard-to-find DVD. Iā€™ll bet you never even heard of it. When Disney decided to release their own version of this, they bought the rights to the 1940 RKO version so they could basically sit on it. Turner Classic apparently briefly made a DVD available. > [@](#): > > The story was remade in 1960 by Walt Disney. Associate producer Basil Keys stated in a December 1960 Saturday Evening Post article that Walt Disney and producer Bill Anderson chose to make their version of the film after viewing the RKO version. According to a July 1959 Los Angeles Times article, director Ken Annakin used the RKO adaptation as ā€œan example of what not to do,ā€ that is, avoiding the 1940 filmā€™s soundstage reproductions and focusing instead on location shooting and realistic art direction.[14] > > Walt Disney is said to have bought the rights to the RKO film in an effort to suppress its re-release and avoid comparisons to his 1960 version.[15][16][17] Currently the Walt Disney Co. holds the rights to the RKO version, and 20 minutes of it was featured in the ā€œVault Disneyā€ DVD release of their 1960 Swiss Family Robinson. > > Although the RKO version has not been released theatrically for decades, and no home formats from Disney were previously made commercially available, the filmā€™s 92-minute version was briefly made available on DVD in 2010 from Turner Classic Movies, on their own ā€œVault Collectionā€ DVD label, a library of ā€œrare and forgottenā€ films, produced ā€œin only small quantities and available for a limited time.ā€[18] A limited on-demand DVD release by Retro Flix has also been produced.[19] > **[Swiss Family Robinson (1940 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Family_Robinson_(1940_film))** > > Swiss Family Robinson is a 1940 American film released by RKO Radio Pictures and directed by Edward Ludwig. It is based on the 1812 novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and is the first feature-length film version of the story. > In London in 1813, a Swiss father, William Robinson, wishes to escape the influence of the superficial profligacy of London on his family. His eldest son, Fritz, is obsessed with Napoleon, whom he considers his hero. His middle son, Jack, is a foolish dand... ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/55 "2017-01-05T19:15:01Z")
A TV show, but Iā€™ve read that the ā€œStar Wars Holiday Special,ā€ a variety Christmas show(!) was absolutely hideous and all copies of it were pulled and hidden/destroyed. Not sure this is true. I would love to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Donpeyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Donpeyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donpeyote)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/56 "2017-01-05T19:32:07Z")
Is Song of the Sout still only available in EURO DISNEY catalogue or in store on DVD there ? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/57 "2017-01-05T19:34:50Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > A TV show, but Iā€™ve read that the ā€œStar Wars Holiday Special,ā€ a variety Christmas show(!) was absolutely hideous and all copies of it were pulled and hidden/destroyed. > > Not sure this is true. I would love to see it. See posts 23, 31 and 49. ---
**Author:** ![Donpeyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a4c791/32.png) [@Donpeyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donpeyote)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/58 "2017-01-05T19:41:28Z")
> [@Donpeyote](#): > > Is Song of the South still only available in EURO DISNEY catalogue or in store on DVD there ? . Last I checked it was ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/59 "2017-01-05T19:59:48Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > A TV show, but Iā€™ve read that the ā€œStar Wars Holiday Special,ā€ a variety Christmas show(!) was absolutely hideous and all copies of it were pulled and hidden/destroyed. > > Not sure this is true. I would love to see it. In this case - and in all the other cases mentioned so far - there was no attempt at editing history books to indicate that the movie never even existed, which was the criteria stipulated by the OP. Even in the case of the Traci Lords underage movies, which are officially illegal to possess, itā€™s widely and freely acknowledged that the movie existed (and in fact may still exist in some private video libraries). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/60 "2017-01-05T20:05:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > In a similar vein to _Song of the South_, is _Birth of a Nation_ available to the mass-market? Is it not on DVD/Blu-ray? I thought it was. Itā€™s a classic, despite not being all that great(my opinion, anyway). Intolerance, released a year later, is vastly superior. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > [Ishtar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093278/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv) has been pretty thoroughly buried by the company that made it, and for good reason. It did well on pre-release screenings, and was #1 its first week out, so the pulled out all the stops and released it big-time, and it tanked the same way. Itā€™s Blu-ray is $6 right now on Amazon and is even available via Primeā€™s 2-day shipping. Totally not buried. > [@Telemark](#): > > Thereā€™s also films like [The Day the Clown Died](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried) by Jerry Lewis that may never be released in its entirety, but parts of the film are out in the public. Yeah, isnā€™t this not the point of the thread? Those are the well known wipes, unreleased and buried. This is about wide release movies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336.md?page=4)