I was intrigued by David Del Valle’s query to Corman about cut scenes, as over the years I’ve sporadically tried to find out about the 6m of Black Magic scenes allegedly cut from MASQUE, mentioned by critics such as Phil Hardy. The UK print has two se­ quences where Giuliana (Hazel Court) is seen making satanic invocations: the first is followed by the dream sequence Del Valle mentions. The second sees her asking “Send me a demon”— which is followed by an inexpertly scratched reel change mark, seemingly indicating that a cut has been made. Hext time we see Giuliana, it’s much later in the story, and she’s telling Jane Asher that “It was a difficult ceremony, veils of ignorance were lifted from my eyes,” or words to that effect. When the BBC ran a Corman/


Poe season a few years ago, they ran a documentary (THE CURSE OF CORMAN) which showed a short clip of the dream sequence as an example of the cut footage! I rang them and asked how this could be so! As is sadly usual with the BBC, they mumbled and bumbled, finally stating that the censor refused to discuss the cuts—so they just used “guess­ work.” In the end, they resorted to bluster: “Even so, we think we got it right.” 1 myself tried the BBFC but they refused to discuss the film, citing confidentiality. Is the USA print fuller? Do


international prints differ? Sandy Robertson London, England


International prints often dif­


fer, Sandy, but the version of MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH described in your letter is identi­ cal to the one we know in America. (A fully letterboxed la­ serdisc is forthcoming from Im­ age Entertainment.) In the past, when MASQUE has been shown on TV, however, individual shots


have occasionally been cut—in­ cluding the more see-through shots of the voluptuous Ms. Court galloping about in her night­ gown, as well as Giuliana’s grandly bloody demise. You ’ll be happy to know that


we ’ve reconsidered our decision to eliminate international re­ views from VW—to an extent. Starting with this issue, you’ll


find coverage of certain PAL re­ leases (like Redemption’s FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON) reinstated in “Video Tapevine. ’’ But please understand that do­ mestic video companies send us a lot of material for review and our first obligation is to cover what we ’resent. So far, Redemp­ tion is the only British video la­ bel (or international label, for that matter) sending us review copies. Other companies from other lands are invited to follow their example; we can play any format, and our readership is truly international.


BURGESS LINKS Writing aboutWHEN WORLDS


COLLIDE [VW 24:78], Tim Lu­cas hypothesizes “the kind of dark overtones [Wylie and Balmer’s book] would have if filmed today.” Actually, there’s no need to


imagine what a contemporary film version would be like—one ex­ ists, if only in novelized form. In the late 1970’s, Anthony Burgess wrote a script based on the basic situation (if little else) of WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE called PUMA. (The title refers to the code name for the two approaching planets.) Obviously, the script was never filmed, but much of the material was subsequently recycled into his three-part, grab-bag novel THE END OF THE WORLD NEWS— as demonstrated by the fact that the code name for the approach- ing planets in that book is “Lynx.”


Burgess was less interested in


the preoccupations of both book and movie—the logistics of build­ ing the rocket and deciding who should go—than he was with some of the philosophical ques­ tions involved in giving mankind a fresh start on a new world, and some of his musings, including a shocking surprise ending, are quite thought-provoking. As forRESERVOIRDOGS use


of code-names for its robbers, which another reader suggested might be taken from 1973’s ob­ scure DAY OF THE WOLVES, many people (FILM THREAT in­ cluded) took both the color-coded names and the similar costumes as homage (polite word) to the much better-knownTHE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3. Michael Gebert Chicago, IL


Like you, Michael, l ’ve read and relished THE END OF THE WORLD NEWS, but I felt it was outside the scope of my review. Incidentally, the movie that PUMA was made by producer Irwin Allen—after considerable rewriting by less worthy writ­ ers—under the title METEOR (1979). Burgess writes humor­ ously about the whole experi­ ence in the second volume of his autobiography, YOU’VE HAD YOUR TIME. The movie is forth­ coming as a widescreen disc from Image Entertainment.


CORRECT-LEE SPEAKING


I believe someone recently


wrote to VW with regard to HOR­ROR OF DRACULA, saying that there were no differences in any prints world-wide. That’s false. 1 have a Japanese fanzine in which they illustrate an article on that film in which the [decomposi­ tion] scene of Dracula clawing at his face (missing in both ÜK and


79

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