It’s always a little
disturbing to hear people getting excited by acts of violence, but with the
announcement of the extended version of the fourth, and darkest, instalment of
the hugely popular Planet of the Apes saga Conquest of the Planet of
the Apes being included on the 40th Anniversary Blue-ray box
set, surely Ape fans, who have waited 36 years to see it in its entirety, can
be forgiven for feeling elated over deleted scenes of brutality. Just to elaborate briefly on the previous
write-up posted on Friday, September 5, 2008 the graphic scenes that were
chopped were deemed too violent by executives at 20th Century Fox
Studio and felt it would alienate their already well-established family
audience – ultimately leading to a loss of money, no doubt. A case in point was when an early screening
in Phoenix lead to a flood of complaints opposing to the cruelty to animals by
the human race. But the
African-Americans who were among the privileged few who saw a preview in Los
Angeles loved it as they could relate to the injustice of ape slavery and the
oppressive behaviour of the white man.Â
After hearing the difference
of opinions regarding the antagonistic content of the film between the two
audiences director J. Lee Thompson soon found himself caught between a rock and
a hard place; on the one hand he had to appease the younger audience, and on
the other hand he wanted to make a social and political statement that
reflected the riots between the black and the white populace that was making
headlines across America. Consequently,
in order to obtain a PG rating the studio requested several scenes to be
chopped and the climax watered down showing the apes’ leader Caesar, played by
the brilliant Roddy McDowall, as a more compassionate character than what was
initially proposed. Over the years,
everyone has come to accept that this is the only version that was ever
distributed worldwide in 1972.
But according to producer
Arthur P. Jacobs in a newspaper interview from June 1972, there were in fact
three versions of Conquest being shown around the globe. The first was the aforementioned standard
88-minute US edit, which is the one that has been available on home video and
DVD and screened repeatedly on TV. The
second was specifically meant for UK cinema audiences and suffered further
splicing (apparently at least an extra seven scenes) thanks to the censors - an
action Jacobs deemed “ridiculous for a fantasy picture.â€Â The third and most violent of the three was
shown in Japan. “They can’t get enough
violence and blood in their pictures,†commented Jacobs “and demand more of
ours.â€Â It seems likely then that the
newly restored version is the same as the one that was shown in Japan in ’72;
making the Japanese moviegoers the only ones fortunate enough to have seen it
on general release the way Thompson intended it to be seen – in all its vicious
glory. Publicity for the film in Japan
included several people wearing ape masks parading human victims around the
streets by metal leashes whilst some carried rifles.Â
Interestingly, due to Ape-mania spreading to the Far East, a half-hour television series was produced
in Japan in 1974 by Tsuburaya Productions called Saru no gundan (Army
of the Apes) and lasted 26 episodes (not to be confused with the American
series which aired the same year). It
was then re-edited and dubbed into English as a film ten years later by
“legendary†American producer Sandy Frank and distributed internationally as Time
of the Apes. The result is best
described as an appalling mess and should not serve as a representative of the
original Japanese series nor the original five Apes films released by Fox
between 1968 and 1973.Â
But for many fans the uncut
version of Conquest is the Holy Grail.Â
At last it can now be seen complete with the missing 9-minutes, and
discussions will inevitably arise as to whether the hierarchy at Fox were right
to give the order to tone down the bloody scenes involving the apes’
revolt. Hail Caesar! Let the debate begin!
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