Regarding the scene where Charles Bronson gets up from the shootout, again I am happy to see the elegance and artistry of the camera movements(the close up of Charles Bronson's eye as he wakes out of consciousness etc)
The Noodles and Max flashback scene was in the original version shown at Cannes in 1984. it was restored with the first DVD release. It was mostly violent scenes that were cut from the Cannes version. I don't know why they had cut the flashback. I think the scene will work better with the other restored scenes, especially Treat Williams.
Original Negatives and Restored there is more information on all four sides in restored I just hope they going to release movie on bluray in the intended original aspect ratio 1.85:1restored sceneshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIuLFIm2mQQ(scene) Noodles and the director of the cemetery in Riverdale (Louise Fletcher)Appearance of an ominous black Cadillachttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a2anLcFXeo&feature=related
3) Don't get your hopes up about having the movie released in 1.85:1. Almost all dvd/BR of 1.85:1 movies seem to crop it to fit the 1.78:1 hdtv screen. It's totally ridiculous; I think any real fan would prefer tiny black bars on top and bottom rather than having a bit of the sides of the picture cut off, but the fact is that that's what the idiots do. So I wouldn't get my hopes up about actually getting a 1.85:1 version of the movie
So now the playing of Cockeye's tune in the mausoleum is diegetic? That isn't an audio memory that Noodles is experiencing, that the audience gets to share? Noodles is actually hearing it playing through some kind of amazing-for-1968 sound system cleverly hidden in the "haven"? Well, that right there ruins things for me. Not to mention the fact that its presence is "explained" in a way that raises more questions than it answers. Max had a tape of Cockeye playing his theme? A tape from a performance from 1933 or earlier? Did Cockeye cut a record once and Max saved it and committed it to tape once that format became generally available? Or was Max able to remember the tune so well that later he transcribed it for a musician who was able to perform just as Cockeye had all those years ago? And all just to be able to get to Mr. Williams' poise at the proper moment. I call BS on this whole element.
I just watched the scene in the mausoleum again (the scene in the 229MV, not the restored scene). The music of Cockeye's Tune is definitely playing in the mausoleum. It starts when Noodles opens the door, stops when he closes it, then since he is looking around to see what the hell is going on, he opens the door again, it starts again, and finally he shuts the door again and it stops.So it was definitely playing on some sort of sensor -- it played when the door opened, and stopped when the door shut. Noodles doesn't know what the hell is going on and is looking around for the source of it. In the restored scene we find out that a tape of it was sent to the cemetery to play in the mausoleum, but in the 229MV it remains a mystery, just like the whole mystery of who erected the mausoleum. Whether you prefer the 229MV or the restored version, the music is definitely playing in the mausoleum.I noticed another interesting point -- as the music is playing, and Noodles is looking at the names on the tombs of each of his friends, at one point the music switches from Cockeye's Tune to the Main Theme of OUATIA. Obviously, the theme was not playing in the mausoleum! I guess the theme playing there is meant imply that Noodles is recalling his childhood: as Cockeye's song is playing in the mausoleum and Noodles is looking around, he is recalling his childhood, symbolized by the playing of the main theme. Maybe the fact that Cockeye's Tune turns into the Main Theme is also a reference to the whole idea of the mixing of dream and reality, Noodles's real past with his present dreams, and the whole idea that cinema is a dream
Thanks for checking
In the restored scene we find out that a tape of it was sent to the cemetery to play in the mausoleum, but in the 229MV it remains a mystery, just like the whole mystery of who erected the mausoleum.
I am so glad the extended version clarifies this. I had always found the music rather awkward in this scene because there seemed to be no explanation for it other than background music.
But it destroys some of the film's narrative brilliance. For that alone it is a very "bad" scene. I wish Leone had never shot it. It wasn't in the shooting script.
It does not destroy any of the film's narrative brilliance.
1) I never really picked up on that point of the music playing in the mausoleum until I read it somewhere (I believe in STDWD). Perhaps they should have used a different audio track: I mean, when music is diegetic is sounds different, but in this scene it is sounds like it's on the same audio track that rest of the score does (and the same track that the Main Theme -- which is definitely not diagetic -- is playing in the same scene). I am not sure if I am using the right words, but you know what I mean, how the music sounds different when it is diegetic/internal/playing IN the scene, as opposed to playing OVER the scene as most of a film score usually does. So maybe you can argue that Cockeye's song in the mausoleum should have sounded different than the rest of the score. But I guess that Leone had De Niro open and close the door multiple times in order to emphasize the point.