Was it true that ABC mashed up OHMSS?

Absolutely_Cart

A friend of mine (in his late 40's) told that back in the 70's or so, OHMSS was aired on television (ABC) and they edited the film, jumbling up all the scenes, to make it a series of flashbacks.

For the many people who didn't see it in theaters, this was their first impression of it. He hated it. Then, when he was able to watch the real movie un-altered, he enjoyed it and couldn't believe it was the same movie.

Does anyone else here remember this? Do you think this was part of the reason why OHMSS' reputation suffered?

Barbel

It certainly has been reported for years that this is what happened. A voiceover (not Lazenby) ran through scenes from the climax before the film (Pt 1, it was spread over 2 nights) started.

Mr Martini

Did a little searching around and found this interview from 2005


http://www.angelfire.com/nm/lazenbyland/ABC_OHMSS_Edit_Interview.html

AlphaOmegaSin

I have read somewhere that the American Television Broadcast of OHMSS was butchered. And I think that someone was narrating as Bond?

Matt S

Absolutely_Cart wrote:

Do you think this was part of the reason why OHMSS' reputation suffered?

This certainly could be a reason why many people didn't like OHMSS. However, people from my VHS generation don't like it because they're not willing to accept an Australian model as James Bond. Because it stars the guy who was only in one film, most people don't give this film any thought.

AlphaOmegaSin

I've found this, it mentions 'Part 1' near the beginning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poVuc9-o9TY

HowardB

Yes, ABC butchered the film when it was shown on "Sunday Night At The Movies". Due to the running time of the film and the time alotted which included tons of commercial breaks, the film was shown in two parts on consecutive Sundays...which is somewhat understandable. However, the re-editing of the film, shuffling scenes around and added narration are horrific and just plain baffling.
ABC always edited the Bond films for violence, sex and nudity (which was pretty hypocritcal as their own network shows featured as much or more violence) but what they did to OHMSS was just a disgrace. Although what they did previously to the pre-titles sequence of YOLT (which rendered it completey incomprehensible) was a harbinger of how far they were willing to go. The best place to watch a Bond film these days on TV in the USA is on the "MGM HD" movie channel. There are one or two commercial breaks (referred to as "Intermissions") but the versions of the films are the newest re-mastered editions, uncut and in the appropriate aspect ratios.

MilleniumForce

As bad as it sounds, I really want to see this version now.

Absolutely_Cart

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/history-legacy--showmanship/ohmss-45th-anniv

MooseWithFleas

I've always wanted to see this version too! Always get excited about seeing new versions of the films. Hoping to see the Criterion Collection versions of the first 3 Bond films soon.

lueth2048

ABC showed a version of OHMSS with flashbacks and narration (by George Baker) in 1979 or 1980 (IIRC). This time time they showed it all at once (I think it was on a Friday night). I don't remember the exact date but I vividly remember watching it. I didn't see the regular version of the film until the summer of 1982 when I saw it at a Bond film festival.

I don't remember the two part version of the film.

lueth2048

MilleniumForce wrote:

As bad as it sounds, I really want to see this version now.

The biggest change was that it showed the first ski sequence twice. I started with Bond putting on his skis and the voice-over 'Bond, James Bond here, agent 007 on Her Majesty's secret service. Those bully boys in orange are agents of SPECTRE, headed by my arch enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld.'

The ski chase was interspaced with the regular movie until (IIRC) Bond's scene with M.

It's been about 35 years so I don't remember the exact sequence of the flashbacks.

superado

I watched this broadcast! Believe it or not, I wasn't aware of the current Bond in the theaters at the time, Roger Moore and realized he was Bond only after watching TSWLM in the theater, but to a little kid any awareness about Bond came through the TV. Remember too that these were times when all we had were broadcasts and there were no cable deals that showed Bond movies back-to-back during Christmas. ABC was the big network who had the Bond broadcast rights and my introduction to Bond was FRWL, then a couple of years later, GF (which caused the kids in my town to rush over to the toy store for the Corgi AM DB5), so when the edited OHMSS was broadcast on the customary Sunday night "special event" touted by the network for Bond movies, I watched...and got terribly confused. First of all, who was this guy? Second as it's been mentioned, why was there someone speaking over the action? Third, the chronology was disjointed, in a manner that would be perfected through Pulp Fiction two decades later, ...and all of this made me exclaim in my young and tender heart, "WTF?!" This turned me off to OHMSS and made me think how that installment was garbage, leading me to conclude that's why there was only 1 movie for this strange Bond. Many years later, I saw a bootleg copy on VHS, though I wonder how someone managed to actually capture it in the first place, complete with the TV commercials from that broadcast; after having watched the standard version and truly appreciating OHMSS for what it was (it is now my favorite Bond movie), it was quite fun to watch the ABC edited version in its entirety.