Ed Fury as Ursus who's about to get trapped in URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE (1963)
This scene is frustrating. In many prints, this scene is cut. It goes from Ursus talking to the evil ruler straight to Ursus chained to a millstone. In the uncut version, Ursus is ambushed by men on horseback with a net that traps him while talking to the evil ruler. The cut version doesn't even make any sense. I'm thinking: who's the genius who cut this movie down? The German and French versions are uncut but the quality is less than desirable (this screenshot shows the image quality). I also have an Italian version (not in widescreen) but the audio is out of sync. The URSUS movies with Ed Fury are very entertaining but someone got butchered by censors. This movie is more like the Sword & Sorcery films of the 1980s. It's non-stop violence but not as bloody as those of the 80s.
2 comments:
For those who want to compare the particular scene:
Uncut film (see 58:00—59:30min):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gwfHrHToNaE&pp=ygUZdXJzdXMgaW4gdGhlIGxhbmQgb2YgZmlyZQ%3D%3D
Cut film (see 55:30—56:30min):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRRupRsXFA&pp=ygUZdXJzdXMgaW4gdGhlIGxhbmQgb2YgZmlyZQ%3D%3D
I personally don't care for it at all. If a director can't focus your attention to the drama without shoving a camera up the actors nose, then it's too much of an effort all around. I've always LOVED the wide screen and the elegance of the frame. It also takes extra effort to make that frame interesting via composition and that takes extra effort. Then, the whole point of 16x9 televisions was to accommodate the 1.85 aspect ratios of most films. Now, we're going back to 1.33? I am not interested. I don't mind a variable frame for effect (MAESTRO) but I did not enjoy SALTBURN much at all which was helped in no way by the claustrophobic 1.33 frame. By the Gods! :)
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