{"id":37126,"date":"2022-04-29T20:37:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-30T00:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=37126"},"modified":"2022-04-29T20:38:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-30T00:38:39","slug":"the-bootleg-files-nirvana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2022\/04\/29\/the-bootleg-files-nirvana\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Nirvana"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 800:<\/strong> \u201cNirvana\u201d (re-edited version of the 1951 Laurel and Hardy feature \u201cAtoll K\u201d). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> Available for private request screenings.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> A bit of a copyright issue. <\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Probably not.<\/p>\n

Before I begin this week\u2019s column, I want to pause and point out that this is the 800th entry in The Bootleg Files series that began in September 2003 on Film Threat before becoming part of Cinema Crazed in February 2017. My goodness, I cannot believe that there have been 800 entries in this weekly column! I need to give my deepest and sincerest thanks to Felix Vasquez Jr., publisher and editor at Cinema Crazed, for providing The Bootleg Files with a loving home, and I need to thank the readers of this long, long, long-running series for checking in with me every Friday \u2013 I\u2019ve ton too much writing in the course of my career, but this is the achievement that has been the true labor of love. Okay, enough gushing \u2013 on with the show!
\n<\/p>\n

In April 1950, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy departed with their wives to France to shoot a movie. They returned to the U.S. one year later in an advanced state of exhaustion. The production was marked with illness by the comic duo \u2013 especially Laurel, who was hospitalized during his time in France and looked gaunt and ghastly on screen due to his health issues \u2013 and a seemingly endless skein of production problems involving a multinational cast.<\/p>\n

The result of Laurel and Hardy\u2019s year in France was a film for which there is no definitive version \u2013 multiple versions using different footage and editing emerged over the years and around the globe. The film premiered in France in 1951 as \u201cAtoll K,\u201d then in Italy as \u201cAtollo K,\u201d then in the U.K. as \u201cRobinson Crusoeland\u201d and finally in the U.S. in 1954 as \u201cUtopia.\u201d <\/p>\n

During the years when VHS video was the predominant home entertainment format in the U.S., \u201cUtopia\u201d was ubiquitous because there was no copyright on the film and almost every cheapo video label was able to scrounge up a battered print and market it to an unsuspecting public. Most film scholars consider \u201cUtopia\u201d to be the weakest version of this film because it cut out so much of the footage that appeared in the European editions.<\/p>\n

There is yet another version of this film that is based on the West Germany release of the film. (Everyone here who is old enough to remember West Germany and East Germany, please raise your hands!) This edition was released as \u201cDick und Doof erben eine Insel\u201d \u2013 it seems Laurel and Hardy were called \u201cDick und Doof\u201d for German audiences. While this version of the film was never seen outside of West Germany (sorry, East Germany), the edits were described in great detail in Norbert Aping\u2019s wonderful 2007 book \u201cThe Final Film of Laurel and Hardy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecticut-based film historian Geno Cuddy studied Aping\u2019s description of the West German version of the film and re-edited the footage using the available English-language plus a French-language song that was not used in the English-language editions. Cuddy also gave the film a new title, \u201cNirvana,\u201d to differentiate it from the other editions in circulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI created a new opening credits sequence using footage from the film, I retained one of Suzy Delair’s songs in French as in \u2018Robinson Crusoeland,\u2019\u201d said Cuddy in an online conversation that we conducted earlier in the week. \u201cWhile it clocks in at around 82 minutes, like \u2018Utopia\u2019 and \u2018Robinson Crusoeland,\u2019 is a different edit entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, why would Cuddy want to make his own version of a film that already exists in multiple versions?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to attempt to create my own version of Laurel and Hardy’s ultimate film and also pay tribute to the various other editions released all over the world,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to see if I could create a competent edit, without losing the essentials of the story. The title of my edition, came from the state of mind that Laurel, Hardy along with Antoine and Giovanni [two character in the film] must have had when they finally reached their island paradise, their own state of <\/p>\n

All of Cuddy\u2019s \u201cNirvana\u201d consists of the English-dubbed version of the film \u2013 Laurel and Hardy worked with a French and Italian cast on this production \u2013 but as there was no English version of the French song that leading lady Suzy Delair performed, he kept the original French-language footage and put in English subtitles to cue non-French-speakers to the lyrics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also omitted a lot of superfluous footage with Delair, while attempting to retain the crux of her storyline, which was difficult to do,\u201d Cuddy added. \u201cI edited out her seduction of Alecto’s henchmen. as I found it superfluous and think the film works well without it. I also retained some of the more pointed political comments that were eliminated from most versions, as well as trimming scenes that I felt should have been shortened. Additionally, I created a new opening title sequence that emulated the \u2018Utopia\u2019 opening credits, utilizing footage from the film to introduce the various players (one of my prouder edits I made). I wanted to emulate that sort of fifties-sixties kiddie matinee\/exploitation feel that \u2018Utopia\u2019 had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Cuddy is working with problematic material. Both Laurel and Hardy were in poor health when they shot this film and it shows \u2013 especially Laurel, who looks emaciated after a lengthy hospitalization in France after developing colitis, dysentery and a prostate ulcer while on the French locations \u2013 Ida Laurel, the actor\u2019s widow, would later claim the French medical care he received was incompetent, stating that claiming that while Laurel was in the hospital she had to substitute for a missing nurse and change her husband’s bandages.<\/p>\n

Also, political satire was not Laurel and Hardy\u2019s forte and they often seem lost when the film veers away from Hal Roach-worthy slapstick into somewhat strident political farce. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Cuddy\u2019s \u201cNirvana\u201d is more coherent than the hack-chop edit of \u201cUtopia,\u201d which proceed in a herky-jerky manner. \u201cNirvana\u201d also restores the on-screen credit for director Leo Joannon that is inexplicably missing from \u201cUtopia\u201d \u2013 although Cuddy also excludes citing the input of the blacklisted American filmmaker John Berry who provided uncredited assistance on the film.<\/p>\n

Cuddy admitted that his \u201cNirvana\u201d was not entirely what he wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI originally wanted to incorporate Giovanni’s flashback from the Italian version,\u201d he said, referring to an Italian stowaway character played by Adriano Romoldi. \u201cBut I could not reasonably splice it in give it would have proved jarring to switch from the English dubbing to the Italian, also the condition of the copy of \u2018Atollo K\u2019 just did not match the sublime quality of the other footage I sourced from which includes the complete U.K. cut and the French cut for Suzy Delair’s song.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to see \u201cNirvana,\u201d you need to contact Cuddy through his Instagram page<\/a> to obtain a link to his version. As he explained, \u201cI would never get away with releasing it legally unless I pay Gaumont a hefty sum,\u201d referring to the copyright owner of the French \u201cAtoll K.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hope that \u201cNirvana\u201d gets widely seen someday \u2013 of the multiple versions of this Laurel and Hardy film circulating today, it is the most engaging and entertaining.<\/p>\n

And now, on to the next 800 entries in The Bootleg Files series\u2026<\/p>\n

IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.<\/em><\/p>\n

Listen to Phil Hall\u2019s award-winning podcast \u201cThe Online Movie Show with Phil Hall\u201d<\/a> on SoundCloud, with new episodes every Monday. Phil Hall\u2019s new book \u201cJesus Christ Movie Star\u201d<\/a> is now available from BearManor Media. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 800: \u201cNirvana\u201d (re-edited version of the 1951 Laurel and Hardy feature \u201cAtoll K\u201d). LAST SEEN: Available for private request screenings. AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None. REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A bit of a copyright issue. CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Probably not. Before I begin this week\u2019s column, I want to pause […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":37127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513],"tags":[2716,219,2447,595],"class_list":["post-37126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bootleg-files","tag-atoll-k","tag-comedy","tag-geno-cuddy","tag-laurel-and-hardy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37126"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37129,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37126\/revisions\/37129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}