MovieChat Forums > The War Lord (1965) Discussion > Original 171 minute cut of The War Lord

Original 171 minute cut of The War Lord

posted 5 years ago by captainapache (82)
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Fans of The War Lord will want to know that the original cut of this film was 171 minutes but was trimmed down in pre-release to this 123 minute version, which is the only version ever made available on home video. In the 90's, Heston said he looked into restoring the film to it's original length only to find that Universal had discarded the remaining footage. Pity.

Also notable is the fact that the original theater release prints had the Richard Boone character reciting a poem over the procession just before the end credits began. This scene was removed from the prints and replaced with an almost identical scene with no recitation.

Does anyone know if there exists a script somewhere detailing the cut scenes?

[–] huwdj (4571) 5 years ago

It's not a great film and I can't imagine that another 40+ minutes would make it better. It's enjoyable, a childhood favourite and the cast is pretty good. But it also looks smallish, very studio bound and at times a bit silly. The ending where the Frisians suddenly produce a siege tower and the Norman rescue force attack them with siege catapults struck me as especially ridiculous.

[–] captainapache (82) 4 years ago

Yeah, Heston mentioned how he was really invested and had a much grander vision for The War Lord and lobbied like hell to have it filmed in Europe and Universal just wouldn't bite and off to the Universal back lot they went.

The tower from the film actually sat on the Universal backlot as part of the tour for many years until it was finally demolished in 2001(pics at link below):

http://www.thestudiotour.com/wp/studios/universal-studios-hollywood/theme-park/past-attractions/war-lord-tower/

By the way, the new blu-ray released by Kino looks wonderful - an amazing transfer well worth a view!