!!!***!!!SPOILERS!! !***!!! Details of the original longer cut!
This film has been my favourite since I was 9 years old and I saw it for the first time on a plane in 1998. I have spent a long time trying to track down a copy of the original longer version, which I was very happy and surprised to find out about, only about a year ago, from IMDb. I managed to buy a 2 disc edition online with lots of special features as well, and the the Italian 29 track soundtrack from somewhere else. There are 2 deleted scenes on the DVD,as well as lots more interesting things. A lot of it, including all the menus, is in Italian though, which made it a little difficult for me to navigate sometimes. The following is my best recollection of the parts cut for the 120 minute version, and as I have only seen the longer cut once so far, compared to having seen the shorter one over thirty times, I can't guarantee that I have remembered absolutely everything. Since seeing the original extended cut, I now consider The Legend of 1900 and La Leggenda del Pianista sull'Oceano to be two different films. The Legend of 1900 of course being the shorter version. In my personal opinion, the longer one is better, and is now my favourite film, with The Legend of 1900 now coming in at second! If you don't want to know until you've seen it for yourself, don't read on, massive spoilers ahead! Those who wish to continue, scroll down now...
!!!***SPOILERS***!!!
First off, several scenes are simply edited differently and so last longer, with a few extra shots and things, such as the opening sequence on board the ship as they arrive at New York, this scene is longer, with more shots of different people of the ship. Max's voice over is also longer, and he says more things about there being different people on the ship etc...
The very opening shot is different too, the first thing you see, just for a second or two, is looking down the horn of a trumpet, and a breath coming out of it. Max's narration is also extended a bit here, too if I remember correctly. Next, when Max is in the music shop, after a bit of slightly extended dialogue, and after the shopkeeper points out the two pianos, in one of which he found the broken record, Max walks over to and sits down at the grand piano, sort of hugs it, and playfully runs his fingers down the keys, playing a string of notes alongside each other, whatever you call that, and smiles and laugh. He then looks worried and shocked when the shopkeeper tells him the ship is going to be blown up. His dialogue with the men at the ship yard is also extended. Also later, when he and the other men are searching the ship for 1900, when they are in the first class ball room, Max starts to act out the Irish band mans introduction the musicians, which then cuts back in time to the Irishman actually introducing them, with a longer introduction, introducing more band members than in the shorter cut.
Next I can remember is when Danny has the baby 1900 in the engine rooms, he carries him around and sings a sort of Jazzy Blues song called 'Thanks Danny,' and all the other workers say the Thanks Danny part.
Next is during 1900's childhood, the ships Doctor is giving him a check up, and 1900 asks what his name is. He has a very long German name, and 1900 says something like, "Wow, what a name, if anyone needs to call you in a hurry they're a goner!" This is referenced again later when Danny is hit by the metal crane hook thing, and another worker has to call the Doctor and can't say his whole name properly, and stands shouting trying to get the name right.
Another thing during his childhood is when we see 1900 in the ships kitchen, and he is stealing a big cream pie/cake type thing. All the cooks and chefs etc... know what he's doing but just watch, thinking it's funny. When 1900 then tries to leave the kitchen, he walks out backwards, and bumps into the Captains legs! The Captain shouts at him something like, "How many times have I told you not to come up here especially when you're coming to steal..." and then 1900 slams the cream pie in the Captains face! Right after this we see the Captain shout down at Danny in the boiler rooms about how having 1900 could be illegal, and that he could get in trouble with the law or something. Danny simply shouts back, and this is possibly where 1900 got the tendency to later say such things from, *beep* the law!"
During all/most of these extra scenes there is more narration from Max, mostly just explaining what is going on, and we get to know more about 1900's character.
When 1900 is first walking into the first class section, having gone through the no entry door, as he walks down the corridor, there is a brief couple of shots of 1900 looking through the crack of an ajar door, and seeing a woman pulling some tights high up her leg. He then turns and continues along the corridor, not very amused.
Around now I remember there being a part where the Captain invites the police aboard to take 1900 off the ship and to an orphanage. The same music plays when the police are searching the ship for him as when later Jelly Roll Morton's men are chasing 1900. 1900 is not found anywhere, and everyone thinks he is dead. I think they say 22 days pass, or something like that, and no one sees him at all. Then a shiphand bursts in on the Captains room saying there's an emergency, and the Captain thinks that the ship is sinking, but the man says it's much worse than that... Then we see the scene where 1900 is first playing the piano. There is also more Max narration here, where he talks about what the Captain must have been thinking.
Also, before the Magic Waltz on the storm, when Max and 1900 first met, there is a little more with Max stumbling around groaning that he's lost, and him also narrating that he wanted to jump off the ship he felt so bad, because he wasn't at all used to being at sea, and was seriously sea sick.
Next I can remember is after 1900 has played the Tarantella to the third class. The man who we see in the shorter cut who is in a black suit with a bowler hat, and holding a hankerchief over his mouth, Max tells us in narration that he is a Statesman or something who is riding in third class just to hear 1900 play. He afterwards talks to 1900, and asks him to continue playing, but 1900 refuses because they have reached port. The man thinks this is crazy, but goes on to ask 1900 to give an interview. We then cut to later on deck and Max and 1900 and a few others are laughing about what 1900 said in the interview. Max says that 1900 was asked a question like, "what do you like doing when you get back to you hometown?" and then Max says that 1900 said something like, "When I get back to Paris I like to watch the people jumping off the top of the Eiffel Tower and try to guess where they are from by their screams before they go splat." Then there is a quick couple of shots showing some other people starting to throw snowballs at them, as it is/has snowed. 1900 doesn't join in.
When Jelly Roll Morton's men come to talk to 1900 before the duel, it is explained better and more humourously why 1900 is scared of and runs away from the men. He makes another call on the radio, this time to a horse race betting place, and he asks if his 'Mamma' is running. The guy on the other end gets annoyed and speaks sarcastically. He says things that confuse and worry 1900 like, "no it's your sister racing," and, "I know where you are, I'm gonna get you..." So no wonder 1900 jumps so much when right then someone knocks on the door and two people start to chase him around the ship!
During the duel, there are some small changes, mainly very minor differences in the editing, but also there are some shots in between each piece played in which there are two coal stoker friends of 1900's, one of whom asks a first class passenger each time whether 1900 has won or lost the duel.
And next I think is before 1900 decides to get off the ship, and we are back in the present, with Max in the music shop, with the shopkeeper still pointing the gun at him. Max goes into a very passionate speech about paintings falling off walls. This long speech is basically comparing 1900's sudden decision to leave the ship to a painting randomly falling off a wall after having hung on it for years. In his speech, he goes "Bang" very loudly when he describes a painting suddenly falling. And then when we hear 1900 tell Max that he's getting off, there is a very fast shot cut in of Max shouting "Bang," again.
Throughout the film there are many more very small additions and differences, which all come together to make it feel like a very different film, and quite a different experience to the shorter cut. Amoung these are extra lines various characters have, such as the Irish band man, better known for his dancing eyebrows, getting angry at 1900 for spoiling his own orchestrated music, and Max crying while playing with 1900 for the last time before he gets off the ship, and a passenger commenting on it. Also, when 1900 has said goodbye to everyone before getting off the ship, he turns back to them and says, "How the hell do I get off?" and then they all do hand movements in unison to show him how.
At the very end when Max is just leaving the ship again, after having discovered that 1900 was indeed still there, there is an extension to 1900's joke about losing an arm and going to heaven, in which he says the man offering him a new arm asks if he would like a black or a white arm, and 1900 says please a white arm, not that he's rascist, but purely for aesthetic reasons.
More is also made of 1900's ability to read peoples faces, with Max narrating about how 1900 discovers so much about people and where they're from just by looking at they're faces, how they behave and through little things they say etc...
Now, in the one of the two deleted scenes, the adult 1900 walks into the first class dining area which is fully set up ready for the next day. It is dark, night time. He comes across lots off glasses on a table, and runs his finger around the rims of some of them, making different musical notes. The start of this one, with him walking into the room and looking around a little, is in the extended cut.
The other of the two deleted scenes isn't in the either version at all. It is of 1900 playing the love them he played with the girl outside the window again, but differently, to the first class people gathered round at their various dinner tables. Max asks him about it, saying that it is the first time he has ever heard 1900 repeat a piece. 1900 says that this piece "...won't go away..." Max proceeds to guess whose face in the room this piece of music belongs to. He guesses wrong a couple of times, jokingly, then he points to the girl sitting quietly at a table with some other people. He guesses her, knowing that it's her, and 1900 says could be, or maybe.
Right, thats all I can remember right now, I hope it's satisfactory and interesting to anyone who has wanted to read this far. If I remember more, with or without seeing it again, I'll post it here, probably by editing this post. Bye for now! Feel free to post your thoughts/reactions!
.Peter.D.Marsay.