# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/61 "2017-01-05T20:06:29Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > A TV show, but I’ve read that the “Star Wars Holiday Special,” 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. No, you really wouldn’t. But as mentioned, the [whole thing is on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3a5j8PgQxg). Just don’t jump to the end for Carrie Fisher’s song. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/62 "2017-01-05T20:19:09Z")
Disney’s Fantasia is infamous for the “Pastoral Scene” in which a group of female “teenage” satyrs prepare for their group date. They all have different body and mane colors. The white one with yellow mane is off by herself in the brightest part of the meadow. There is a little “pick-a-ninny” black satyr which is absolutely delighted to be allowed to comb the white girl’s hair. That scene is never seen anymore. When Disney announced an “uncut” version, they did NOT say “unedited” - the scene was reformatted to view only the other “girls”; the white/yello one and her assistant were simply “zoomed” out of the scene. I can’t recall it, but the pickaninny has a name - find it and you may be able to find the offending scene. (spell check insists that “pickaninny” is spelled “Picnicking”… ---
**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, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/63 "2017-01-05T20:39:12Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Disney’s Fantasia is infamous for the “Pastoral Scene” in which a group of female “teenage” satyrs prepare for their group date. > They all have different body and mane colors. > > The white one with yellow mane is off by herself in the brightest part of the meadow. > > There is a little “pick-a-ninny” black satyr which is absolutely delighted to be allowed to comb the white girl’s hair. > > That scene is never seen anymore. When Disney announced an “uncut” version, they did NOT say “unedited” - the scene was reformatted to view only the other “girls”; the white/yello one and her assistant were simply “zoomed” out of the scene. > > I can’t recall it, but the pickaninny has a name - find it and you may be able to find the offending scene. > > (spell check insists that “pickaninny” is spelled “Picnicking”… The excised scenes have been made available online, on YouTube and elsewhere, for years now. I don’t know if they’re currently available, but I’ve watched them numerous times. There are also black-market copies of the unedited film circulating. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/64 "2017-01-05T20:43:26Z")
Howard Hughes’ _The Conqueror_, with John Wayne and Susan Hayward (1956), was withdrawn from circulation by Hughes (he repurchased every copy) and not available from about 1960 until it was purchased from Hughes’ holdings after his death in 1979. This is the infamous Wayne-as-Genghis Khan film that was filmed amid hot nuclear waste from atomic bomb testing and may have killed most of the cast and crew, over time. It’s not clear if Hughes withdrew it out of guilt or because it was such a terrible movie it tarnished his studio’s reputation. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/65 "2017-01-05T21:08:57Z")
[HIM (1974)](http://obscurityandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/02/lost-movie-detective-him-1974.html) was a gay pornographic film about the life of Jesus Christ. It’s rumored to have been completely awful and tasteless to the extreme – however, no print of the film currently exists, and the only evidence for its existence at all is a handful of adverts & reviews from its original theatrical release. ---
**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, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/66 "2017-01-05T21:22:07Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Howard Hughes’ _The Conqueror_, with John Wayne … is the infamous Wayne-as-Genghis Khan film that was filmed amid hot nuclear waste from atomic bomb testing and may have killed most of the cast and crew, over time. It’s not clear if Hughes withdrew it out of guilt or because it was such a terrible movie it tarnished his studio’s reputation. The Perfect Master holds forth: [Did John Wayne die of cancer caused by a radioactive movie set? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/374/did-john-wayne-die-of-cancer-caused-by-a-radioactive-movie-set) ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/67 "2017-01-05T21:28:36Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I expect original versions of Star Wars do exist in private collections, and no one will deny that they exist. Wouldn’t surprise me to find them available on eBay for a pretty penny. Lucasfilms isn’t breaking into homes to steal them; they just aren’t selling any more of the original version. The original, 1977 theatrical release was released on Blu-ray with the final pre-Disney sale Blu-ray release of Star Wars. I watched with my wife an daughter just before opening night of Rogue One. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/68 "2017-01-05T21:31:17Z")
Not a movie, but the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” TV series. CBS pulled all copies from its affiliates many years ago, but not everyone complied, so there a bootlegs a-plenty of them. Ooh-ooh! I thought of one. The (original) “Hawaii Five-O” ep [Bored, She Hung Herself](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0598018/combined). It was aired once–and only once. Never repeated. Never released to syndication. And not included in the DVD package. A bootleg of it does exist. It looks like someone had a film copy and recorded a filming of it against a from a movie projector ---
**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, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/69 "2017-01-05T21:41:43Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Ooh-ooh! I thought of one. The (original) “Hawaii Five-O” ep [Bored, She Hung Herself](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0598018/combined). It was aired once–and only once. Never repeated. Never released to syndication. Post #28 ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/70 "2017-01-05T21:46:57Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There has been a case of this for a major release as recent as 2007, the anime film “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood” was shown in theaters in Japan but got such a negative reception from fans that it was quickly taken out of theaters and never ever shown again in public. Apparently the most you can see of it now is somebody uploaded the first fifteen minutes to youtube since whoever uploaded it had a connection to the animation studio but that still means out of a 90 minute film only 1/6th of it is available to anyone. Dio Brando used his stand “The World” to move outside of our frame of time reference and snatch all copies of it before it could disappoint anyone else. Star Platinum is probably responsible for the 15 minutes one can find on Youtube. 😉 > [@Colibri](#): > > The full-length version [of the _Star Wars Holiday Special_] is available on youtube. **I only recently heard of it** and watched it a month ago. Only recently? Is the rock you’ve been hiding under more than twelve parsecs from here, **Colibri**? It’s the first on-screen appearance of Boba Fett! Oh, and Bea Arthur is in it. Maybe that’s why they made those _Golden Girls_ action figures… In this day and age of pervasive digital media, I’d be really surprised if there was _anything_ that truly met the criteria of the OP, much as I’m sure Freddy Prinze Jr. would wish to erase _Wing Commander_ from existence. His star just doesn’t have that kind of power! ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/71 "2017-01-05T21:47:34Z")
Sunflower - a quick search for “fantasia sunflower” brings up clips (Fair Use - at 27 seconds, Disney can’t nail it for copyright. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/72 "2017-01-05T21:57:04Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I can’t give you the title, so this is pretty weak but, – 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 that’s what you do with worthless junk, and to prevent accidental release and screening which would expose the distributer to liablility. > [@Chronos](#): > > **Melbourne** , there’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 wasn’t specifically named, eventually they’d get to the point where someone would buy “all other assets not named here” or whatever, for some price. That buyer would then own the copyright. > > It doesn’t make things much easier, since they might not even realize that they own it, and it’d probably be more trouble than it was worth to convince them that they did. A few years ago a film society somewhere was trying to arrange a screening of the William Friedkin film _Sorcerer_, but no one, including Friedkin himself, knew who owned the rights. I think it was settled out of court among Friedkin, Universal, and Paramount. > [@Telemark](#): > > There’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. I find this situation, films made but not released, a bit more interesting than what’s posited by the OP. I remember running across one a few years ago, even reading its IMDb listing, but not being able to find it since. It was fairly big-budget, recognizable names in the cast, but I can’t remember the details. Just been gathering dust for 20 years. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > 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, it’s widely and freely acknowledged that the movie existed (and in fact may still exist in some private video libraries). I really dislike the idea of creative works being lost forever, even when there are already more than I could ever hope to watch. I’m glad that studios keep an archive, and that private organizations also work to preserve old movies and TV shows. I have to wonder if that ethos extends to porn. Is there a foundation somewhere dedicated to preserving the long and varied cinematic history of what happens when a tradesman pays a visit to a neglected housewife? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/73 "2017-01-05T22:13:04Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I really dislike the idea of creative works being lost forever, even when there are already more than I could ever hope to watch. I’m glad that studios keep an archive, and that private organizations also work to preserve old movies and TV shows. I have to wonder if that ethos extends to porn. Is there a foundation somewhere dedicated to preserving the long and varied cinematic history of what happens when a tradesman pays a visit to a neglected housewife? I think some variant of Rule 34 would apply here; there are so many pornographers in the world that you can bet that some guy somewhere (rather than an official foundation) has ANYTHING… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/74 "2017-01-05T22:19:01Z")
> [@Donpeyote](#): > > 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 . The original Manchurian Candidate was released on October 24, 1962, so it’s not surprising that it was out of the theatres in November 1963. It was shown on TV in 1965 and again in 1974, and was released on video in the 1980s (see [A 'Manchurian' myth](http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/27/entertainment/ca-pulloutletter27) for a letter from the fellow who reissued it in the 1980s). It may have been difficult to see before VCRs, but that was true of a lot of movies. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/75 "2017-01-05T22:44:12Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I think some variant of Rule 34 would apply here; there are so many pornographers in the world that you can bet that some guy somewhere (rather than an official foundation) has ANYTHING… I’m not quite sure how Rule 34 applies. (Hmm, is there a porn version of _Song of the South_; and if there is, would it have been withdrawn from circulation, too?) As to whether some guy somewhere has a copy of anything, that’s not particularly useful in a practical sense. It’s not enough that something just exist, you have to be able to find it when you need it. Running a library is more than just putting things on shelves. Has any group ever worked to preserve, document, and catalog porn? I suppose this extends beyond film, too; like a library keeping back issues of Playboy. Could such a thing be done with any credibility at all? ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/76 "2017-01-06T00:03:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Running a library is more than just putting things on shelves. Has any group ever worked to preserve, document, and catalog porn? I suppose this extends beyond film, too; like a library keeping back issues of Playboy. Could such a thing be done with any credibility at all? I worked for a university library in the 1990’s, and they had old copies of Playboy on microfilm. They were on the open stacks, so anyone could pull them out and look at them on the microfilm readers. Black and white and grainy (as all microfilm was), they were probably only good if you were actually interested in the articles. 😉 We also had an Italian magazine called “L’Espresso,” which is a newsmagazine like the American “Newsweek”, except it frequently featured nudity on the front covers (and perhaps still does–I don’t know.) We would frequently find stacks of them to reshelve in the little-used typing rooms, where it was suspected someone was having a little “private time.” I think a coworker once found some copies in the men’s restroom as well. Times were hard back then, with the Internet only in its infancy. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/77 "2017-01-06T00:04:57Z")
This thread must have jarred something loose from an abandoned part of my brain because I just thought of a movie that is probably closest to what the OP is asking for: [Great White (a.k.a., The Last Shark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_(film)) (1982). This movie was such a blatant and obvious rip-off of \*\*Jaws \*\*that [Universal sued and got a preliminary injunction imposed against its release in the U.S. and around the world.](https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/654-the-great-lost-jaws-rip-off/) The movie all but dropped out of sight for about 30 years until it was finally released on DVD and was later used for target practice on an edition of Riff Trax. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/78 "2017-01-06T01:18:05Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’m not quite sure how Rule 34 applies. (Hmm, is there a porn version of _Song of the South_; and if there is, would it have been withdrawn from circulation, too?) It was my poor attempt at a meta-joke: if any porn that is imaginable exists somewhere, there’s some guy who got it all stored. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/79 "2017-01-06T01:49:47Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > This thread must have jarred something loose from an abandoned part of my brain because I just thought of a movie that is probably closest to what the OP is asking for: [Great White (a.k.a., The Last Shark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_White_(film)) (1982). This movie was such a blatant and obvious rip-off of \*\*Jaws \*\*that [Universal sued and got a preliminary injunction imposed against its release in the U.S. and around the world.](https://thedissolve.com/features/movie-of-the-week/654-the-great-lost-jaws-rip-off/) The movie all but dropped out of sight for about 30 years until it was finally released on DVD and was later used for target practice on an edition of Riff Trax. Oh man. This is really close to exactly what I was asking for, even has the “copyright” hook and everything. Very well done. …but even with this film, there’s poster art, trailers, etc still floating around, so proof that it once existed is out there. Great find. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336/80 "2017-01-06T03:14:06Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I expect original versions of Star Wars do exist in private collections, and no one will deny that they exist. Wouldn’t surprise me to find them available on eBay for a pretty penny. Lucasfilms isn’t breaking into homes to steal them; they just aren’t selling any more of the original version. Serious question: why do I seem to have a version of the original Star Wars (no ‘New Hope’ in the opening crawl, no Greedo shooting, no CGI changes, etc) on DVD? It’s a two-disc set with the original version on a second bonus disc. I mean, if I have this how hard can it be to find? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-wide-release-movies-been-scrubbed-from-the-public/776336.md?page=5)