盲目的丈夫们

TwodifferencesbetweenthisAustrianversionandthegenerallyavailableAmericanversionareimmediatelyobvious:theydifferbothintheirlengthandinthelanguageoftheintertitles.TheAmericanversionisonly1,883metreslong-at18framespersecondadifferenceofsome7minutestotheAustrianversionwith2,045metres.Whereasweoriginallypresumedonlyanegligibledifference,resultingfromthevaryinglengthoftheintertitles,adirectcomparisonhasneverthelessshownthattheAustrianversiondiffersfromtheAmericanversionbothinthemontageandinthedurationofindividualscenes.YethowcouldithappenthatthelaterregionaldistributionofacanonicalUSsilentfilmwaslongerthanthe"originalversion"?TheprevalentAmericanversionofBlindHusbandsdoesnotcorrespondtotheversionshownatthepremiereof1919.Thislittle-knownfactwasalreadypublishedbyRichardKoszarskiin1983.Thefilmwasre-releasedbyUniversalPicturesin1924,inaversionthatwas1,365feet(416metres)shorter.At18framespersecond,thisamountstoatimedifferenceof20minutes!"Titleswerealtered,snippetsofactionremovedandatleastonemajorscenetakenoutentirely,wherevonSteubenandMargaretvisitasmalllocalchapel."(Koszarski)FromthepresentstateofresearchwecanassumethatalltheknownAmericancopiesofthefilmderivefromthisshortenedre-releaseversion,acopyofwhichUniversaldonatedtotheMuseumofModernArtin1941.AccordingtoKoszarskitheoriginalnegativeofthefilmwasdestroyedsometimebetween1956and1961andhasthereforebeenirretrievablylost.ThisinformationcastsaninterestinglightontheAustrianversion,whichcanbedatedtotheperiodbetweenthesummerof1921andthewinterof1922.Furthermore,thecopyissome200metreslongerthantheUSversionof1924.IfonefollowsthedetailsgivenbyRichardKoszarskiandArthurLennig,thismeansthat,asfarasbothitsdateanditslengthareconcerned,theAustrianversionliesalmostexactlyinthemiddlebetweenthe(lost)versionshownatthepremiereandthere-releasedone.Alargepartoftheadditionallengthofthefilmcanbetracedtocutsthatweremadetothe1924versioninalmosteveryshot.Koszarskidescribeshowthebeginningandtheendofscenesweretrimmed,inorderto"speedup"thefilm.However,moreexcitingwasthediscoverythattheAustrianversioncontainsshotsthataremissingintheAmericanone-shots/countershots,intertitles-andfurthermoreshowsdifferencesinitsmontage(i.e.theplacingoftheindividualshotswithinasequence).AllthisindicatesthatDieRachederBergeconstitutestheoldestandmostcompletelypreservedmaterialofthefilm.