DVD review by Mike Eustace
LE COLOSSE DE RHODES/Colossus of Rhodes. Excellent High Quality French Pal DVD, 2.35:1 anamorphic Widescreen, French and Italian Languages only, optional French subtitles. Extras include some French Interviews with Historian Claude Aziza and Journalist Noel Simsolo, a short Gallery of Photos which include some excellent shots of the top half of the Colossus under construction, the usual trailer and filmographies, plus two deleted segments. The latter can be accessed whilst you are viewing the film. At the appropriate point in the movie, a little colossus symbol appears at the bottom right of the screen. If you press OK at this point, you are shown the original Italian version of the sequence, and when it is finished, the French version then runs. The changes usually amount to just a few shots within the sequence.
The film runs 2hours 2 minutes and is different in lots of small ways to the English and German versions in that it has some extra shots, whilst losing others.
Comparison of variations in new French DVD with German Satellite Version, UK TV version, 16mm UK rental version and my memory of original UK Cinema release. The French DVD contains two branching sequences comparing where the original Italian cut was different. So taking them on trust, when I mention French version below, unless otherwise stated, I am referring to the Italian version too
1. The Titles of the UK version are run over a held shot of the prison gong; the German version uses a painting of the gong with the striker held over it; the French version is just a textured background. The original Italian would have probably been like the English.
2. After the title sequence, the UK & German versions have a wide shot of the Colossus in the harbour with the date and location superimposed. This is omitted in the French version.
3. At the ceremony to consecrate the Colossus, Riano attempts to assassinate Xerxes (Roberto Camardiel). The French version has a couple of extra shots as he is killed with arrows.
4. The Banquet is much longer in the French version. There is a 180 degree track around the revellers, whilst the flags of the acrobats occasionally billow across the lens. Dario (Rory Calhoun) is seen to be followed by the rebel representative more clearly, and they exchange glances. Then Dario spots Diala (Lea Massari) and is seen to walk across and join her. Their conversation is much longer.
5. When Dario follows Diala into the tomb, the UK TV version omits the 360 degree pan around the room, but it's in all the other versions.
6. The French and German versions omit the Garden scene where Dario tells Diala that he intends to leave Rhodes. They cut straight from his argument with Conrado San Martin's character to the scene at the dock where he meets the rebels and their boat.
7. In the torture chamber sequence, the German and the Italian version (contained as an extra on the DVD) are identical. The UK version has acid dropping on one prisoner's back, but omits the others; the French version completely avoids the acid, and truncates the torture chamber sequence at the point that the bell is lowered over Georges Marchal. The UK 16mm version had the acid dropping from the ceiling, but you didn't see where it went, and it omitted the bit where the guard throws water on Georges Marchal to revive him.
8. The scene where the disguised Phoenicians are whipped through the streets is not in the 16mm UK version. Both the German and UK TV versions truncate the scene just after Angel Aranda has climbed back out of the temple and jumped to the ground. The French version continues with several more shots as the remaining rebels debate what to do next.
9. The Temple dance sequence is shortened in the UK version
10. There are some slight cuts in the French version of the fight in the temple. You don't see Palmara spearing a guy on the ground, nor do you see Calhoun throw a guy over his shoulder, and then disarm the soldier whom he subsequently strangles with his chains. The French cut comes in later on the chains. Additional to the French cut is a shot of Marchal striking a soldier on the helmet with his sword, then watching as he turns around groaning before collapsing to the floor. I guess this was removed in al the other versions on the grounds of bad-acting.
11. The French version has two more shots of the Rebels riding through the "stone forest" to the hideout.
12. After the chains have been removed, Calhoun spots Mabel Karr and strolls over to join her, followed by a mix to the next scene. The French version truncates the scene at the point where Calhoun looks off screen and smiles.
13. The Rebels draw straws to see who will go to attack the Colossus, and the French version cuts out just after Marchal has broken the straw, and returns at night with Calhoun getting up and going off on his own.
14. The French version truncates the sequence of Diala's father being murdered by the soldiers, and her reaction.
15. When Dario returns to the hideout after the massacre, the French version has lots more shots of the carnage.
16.When Calhoun and Angel Aranda get inside the Colossus, the French version only shows one guard being killed on the top floor.Omitted is the bit where the second guard runs at Aranda and is stabbed by Calhoun climbing up from the floor below.
17. The French version truncates Aranda's death scene, at the point where Conrado San Martin stabs him.
18. At last you get to see the Phoenician Fleet! But only as a single matte painting in the French version.
19. When Diala picks up the knife and approaches Dario, there is an additional off-screen line in the French version, where Dario says "Athenian women cut flowers". You can see Lea Massari reacting to this in the UK version, but there's nothing on the soundtrack. After the earth-tremor where Diala is left dying beneath the wooden beam, she says "When I was a little girl, I used to cut flowers". A lovely poignant moment, but only in the French version.
20. In the final earthquake, the DVD again presents a comparison between the original Italian and the current French versions. These consist of more shots of people suffering as buildings collapse, which are not in either the UK TV version or the German version. The first addition is an old man asking Dario to help him rescue a baby from inside a collapsing building. Dario goes inside, and Alfio Caltabiano holds up the doorway to stop it collapsing. Dario gets outside with the baby, but the building collapses on Alfio. Only the Italian version has the close up of him dying in the rubble. Secondly there's a bloodied man carrying his dying son in his arms, with an expression of terrible anguish on his face - in both French and Italian. Thirdly, the Italian version has a shot of a dog licking his master's face as he lies dead under the rubble, and a return cut as the dog howls in anguish.
Conclusion: The complete version of COLOSSUS should run 132 minutes, and we are only up to 122 here. But at cinema projection speed of 24 fps, this gives us127 minutes. However, this is the French version without the bell torture sequence, and some other bits only appearing in the Italian extra scenes. If you then add in the famous garden scene at 1 min 16 seconds, and all the other little missing bits from all the versions, (and the bits I might not have noticed), there is a distinct possibility that we might just have everything!