MovieChat Forums > I tre volti della paura (1964) Discussion > Differences between AIP and Euro?

Differences between AIP and Euro?


I was fortunate enough to see Black Sabbath at my local movie theatre's HORROR THON on the big screen. I saw the AIP cut and found it quite good. I really liked "A Drop of Water" and "The Telephone" (which was my favorite story) and I liked the Vampire story, but I found little difficult to follow.

I was wondering what the differences are between the AIP cut and the original cut. I know about the changing of the stories and the differences in "The Telephone" but what about the Vampire story? Can someone please tell me all (or most of) the differences between the two?

"It's risky, But I get my laughs!"-Charlie Brown

reply

The vampire story has Boris Karloff dubbed in Italian. Other than that there's no differences. In the Italian version "The Telephone" comes first follwed by the vampire one and then "A Drop of Water". The introductions u get by Karloff are also not in the Italian one and the whole movie ends with a joke showing Karloff filming his segment and the camera pulling back to show the crew and cameras. The American one is MUCH better.

reply

That's actually not true. The telephone story was significantly changed.

reply

I know. The OP said they knew about the changes in "The Telephone".

reply

No way, the Italian cut is FAR superior to the AIP version. The "Drop of Water" story is the best one and in the AIP cut, they put it right at the beginning. Typical of Americans to want their dessert first! The Italian cut builds to a crescendo, starting with the mild "Telephone" segment, then the more frightening "Wurdulak", and then "Drop of Water". Even though we lose Boris Karloff's real voice in the Italian cut, I much prefer that order.

reply

The order could have been better, but here's a second vote for the American version. The sound, dubbing, and the music score are superior. If they only could have made the old lady move more realistically!

I found the Italian/French version unwatchable.

reply

^ I really need to see the Italian Cut!

Liberate tu temet ex inferis.
pro ego sum diabolus, pro ego sum nex.

reply

I've had the italian cut kino dvd for a while, and just picked up the aip bluray. its a little hard to decide for me atm because of course id prefer to have karloff's original voice and the added sound effects to a drop of water are really great.

But for some reason i prefer the order in the italian cut and id have to watch it again to say for sure but i think i might like the score in the italian cut better also. the aip score is still fine and everything.

reply

there are a couple of changes that have been made. one would be the score. the original score was composed by roberto nicolosi, the AIP version was scored by les baxter. i like both quite a lot actually. there were also some changes made to the sound effects (the drop of water).

the most changes were made to the telephone segment. AIP omitted the lesbian undertone between rosy and mary and turned a crime suspense short into a ghost story through recutting and dubbing.

the order change was already mentioned. the original version starts with the telephone, continues with the wurdulak and ends with the strongest and creepiest segment: the drop of water.

If you start sitting around the campfire, telling scary stories -- change our names!

reply

Hard to say which one is best, although the original Karloff voice in the AIP version is certainly a bonus.
However, I certainly didn't appreciate the changes to "The Telephone" segment. Filming it totally indoors (as in the Italian version) and without the nosy neighbour added a claustrophobic layer to the story which fitted perfectly. Also, considering Frank was really after Rosy, it made dubious if Mary made all the prank calls or if there was something about him too, and, to my mind, the person whose eyes are seen outside the window at one point was really Frank. Also, putting Mary was a red herring made the scene with the knife much more suspenseful and effective.
I didn't care much about the added sound effects either "A Drop of Water". Actually, I even thought the dripping water in the Italian version was much more effective ? it was in a higher pitch, almost painstakingly ennerving, and it was the same effect every time ? which was almost maddening, somewhat neurotic.
By the way, I've noticed some minor dialogue changes in this segment which really didn't affect the story ? the maid mentioning she had a heart attack during a séance, and that the Countess (Madam Zana in the AIP version)'s friends where worried she was killed by spirits, worried about the lowered power bulb burning the dress, and also complaining about finding pretty shoes for the body, because "the Countess almost never got out".
Also, in the end, the police coroner mentions the nurse "died of self-suffocation", instead of the "killed by fright" thing.
By the way, I've got a version which back description implies her soul survived in the flies, but I didn't get that impression. Did anyone?

reply