MovieChat Forums > The Trouble with Angels (1966) Discussion > Missing Scenes

Missing Scenes

posted 15 years ago by steve-4354
9 replies | jump to latest

I get upset each time I see the film because it is missing a couple scenes that I vividly recall. The first one takes place during one of the field trips where Mary and Rachel sneak off to see the other schools band. They are watching them rehearse and they are eating lemons while the brass section sees them making sour faces and they mess up their playing.

Then later when they have the actual band competition, Mary and Rachel just make those sour faces to the other band and they mess up again.

That is what prompts Reverend Mother to comment about working on their brass section at the end of the scene with Jim Hutton. Without those scenes, the whole meaning of that remark is lost.

I have not seen a version on TV that has these scenes in them, not even the TCM widescreen one. They are also not on the DVD which was not even widescreen.

Does anyone remember these scenes?

[–] murph24 15 years ago

I recall the lemon-sucking moment in the book (Life With Mother Superior), but I don't believe it was ever included in the film - unless you saw a sneak preview that included scenes that were deleted before the movie was released.

And yeah, it's really annoying the DVD isn't widescreen; hopefully that will be remedied one day.

[–] steve-4354 15 years ago

I don't think I've ever read the book, in fact I think I just learned about the book a few days ago from this board, unless I read it as a teen and forgot about it. I was 9 when the movie came out and pretty sure I saw it in the theater, so maybe I remember it from that. My wife recalls it too, and she never read the book either.

[–] murph24 15 years ago

Then I can only assume different regions of the country (and the world) saw different release prints. It happens on occasion; Sweet Charity and Nicholas and Alexandra are examples.

I read the book before seeing the film in its initial release, so I was waiting for the scene with the lemons. But it wasn't in the print I saw in 1966, or any of the prints I've seen since then. What I saw then is what you see in the film now; the girls marching down the hallway of St. Francis in their new uniforms, playing a piece of music that continues into the next scene - their triumphant return with their first place trophy.

And there were no scenes of Mary and Rachel spying on New Trends - just the scene that followed where they explained to Mother Superior why they did what they did.

Maybe a new widescreen DVD release will include these deleted scenes, as the current DVDs of Sweet Charity and Nicholas and Alexandra do.

I'm surprised to hear those scenes were shot, because the screenplay for The Trouble With Angels eliminated any need for them. In the book, New Trends did have a better band, which is why it was necessary for Mary and Rachel ("Jane" in the book) to perform their act of sabotage. But in the film, New Trends was just as rotten as St. Francis - the only difference was they had uniforms. In fact, this may be why those scenes were deleted; they just weren't necessary anymore.

[–] garyrc 13 years ago

It is funny, but I distinctly remember seeing a movie with people eating lemons to thwart a band, but I know it was not Trouble With Angels. I wonder if we both saw that same film, possibly a TV program? I have no idea what film it could be.

[–] Wish_Phoenix 13 years ago

I always thought there was a deleted scene before their gym jogging scene where they are taking their shortcut and bump into mother superior.
If you notice they both have snow on their butts with no explanation on how it got there (I can guess that Rachael was clumsy and fell into a snowbank and took Mary with her).

As for the "Work on your Brass section" comment, while it doesnt hold as much value without the missing scene (which I have never seen, but it would be fun to) the comment still holds some comedy value with Mother Superior telling him how to improve his band when hers is just as bad =P

[–] joedonato234 13 years ago

Once saw a film still that depicted the girls dressed up in harem-like outfits like the one Gypsy Rose Lee wore. Always assumed they DID put on a show like Lee proposed. And it would make sense that there were other scenes filmed with Lee considering her high billing in the film. The fact that she was only in one scene always lead me to believe her role wound up on the cutting room floor.

[–] soap1022 13 years ago

If anyone out there is a Little Rascal fan as I am, there was a scene in one of the episodes that show the kids sucking lemons to thwart a trumpet player. That's the only thing that I can think of. I don't ever recall seeing anyone sucking lemons in The Trouble With Angels.

[–] missimin 10 years ago

They also usually cut out the scene where they cover Marvel-Ann's face in plaster.

Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans.

[–] MsELLERYqueen2 10 years ago

I've never seen those deleted scenes. I think that the comment about the brass section (Reverend Mother to Mr. Petrie) still makes sense, and it's quite amusing. 

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💕 JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen 👍