Is The Lost Patrol Still Lost?

Got in a mood for hopeless siege pictures with men picked off one by one in the face of hopeless odds, and realized it had been awhile since The Lost Patrol unspooled. I had seen a truncated 16mm print come and gone during the eighties, Warners' DVD tendered as restoration of sorts, with footage gone for decades, this to pique latter-day interest. Running time of the disc was 71 minutes and around thirty seconds. This came up short where compared to data from various 30’s publications. Variety clocked The Lost Patrol at 74 minutes in an April, 1934 review. The Motion Picture Almanac indicated 75 minutes in its 1935-36 annual. The Lost Patrol was reissued in 1939, from which time subsequent editions of the Almanac were amended to reflect a running time of 73 minutes. Were those first cuts made in 1939? Certainly there were revisions later. Television prints generated for syndication in 1956 were down to 66 minutes. This seems to have been the length of 35mm prints prepared for a 1949 reissue as well, when The Lost Patrol played tandem bills with a revival of Gunga Din, another film notoriously cut at the time. Film historian William K. Everson played The Lost Patrol in January 1969 as part of his ongoing Theodore Huff Film Society program. Everson prepared notes that remain reference-worthy today. On this occasion, he called upon another expert, Richard Kraft, to provide background on the differing versions of The Lost Patrol that Kraft encountered over years of Manhattan moviegoing. His contribution is priceless account of one fan’s ongoing dedication toward keeping record straight on films otherwise dismissed as ephemeral. He wrote of having gone to see The Lost Patrol at the Beacon Theatre in 1940-41. He recalled it was "complete" at that time, but in light of that entry in The Motion Picture Almanac, is it possible he saw a 1939 reissue print with those apparent initial edits? Kraft spoke of seeing The Lost Patrol several more times throughout the forties. He was satisfied the picture was intact. The point at which he began to notice cuts was when the film resurfaced in the early fifties with Gunga Din. RKO began to nibble away at it, he said, and after a handful of disappointing 42nd Street encounters, he stopped going altogether. There seemed to have been about eight minutes removed at this point, Kraft recalled, and he cited stills depicting a fight scene between Sammy Stein (playing an ex-prizefighter named Abelson) and Alan Hale (as the troop’s cook). This highlight was in the source novel, and appears to have been filmed, but Kraft could not remember ever having seen it, not even at 1940-41 engagements. Could this missing sequence account for two-minute difference between the 1935-36 Motion Picture Almanac entry and later editions of same? Kraft did provide specifics as to what scenes had been excised from the 1949 reissue prints. There was major dialogue between Victor McLaglen and Wallace Ford, as well as incidents involving Boris Karloff’s character. Having been deprived of this footage for so many years, it is no wonder Patrol’s critical reputation suffered somewhat. I wonder if John Ford was aware of what RKO had done to The Lost Patrol. Had the director seen his film on television, the loss would have been noted. Ford did go public complaining as to cuts performed by local stations where old films were run. He felt the viewing public had a right to see these intact on TV, and alerted in event they could not. Satellite and cable subscribers often forget conditions between the fifties and eighties when tuning in to watch a favorite found only a husk of what was anticipated. Ford owned 16mm prints of many of his films. I understand The Lost Patrol was one of these, and that he screened it from time to time. Chances are if Ford requested the 16mm sometime during the thirties or forties, which is likely, it would have been the more complete 1939 version. Indeed, he may not have even had an occasion to watch The Lost Patrol on television. John Ford did  realized profit from his film. His initial fee for direction was a modest $15,000, though the contract called for 12% of net profits after twice the negative cost ($262,000) was recovered. Domestic rentals totaled $343,000, and foreign brought $240,000. Gain from the 1934 release was $84,000. Additional return on Ford’s participation came in 1939 on occasion of its first reissue. At that time, The Lost Patrol earned $61,000 domestic, with additional foreign of $13,000. Profits were $52,000. The director would receive his 12% from that engagement. Again in 1949, Ford saw benefit from The Lost Patrol more substantial than money he had received thus far. Being an evergreen action show, The Lost Patrol had a ready audience in grindhouses and small-town situations where bargain rentals usually dictated booking policy. The 1934 film earned $225,000 domestic, and $50,000 foreign. Profits added up to a hefty $135,000, from which (presumably) Ford got his share. Unfortunately, when RKO’s library went to television in 1956, the 16mm C&C prints derived from the cutdown 1949 negative, and this version was what home audiences endured for the next fifty years. Longer prints of The Lost Patrol became mythical and sought-after objects. There was a 16mm screening at the 2001 Cinefest in Syracuse, NY, a one-time event for a comparatively small audience. As to the origin of that print, it was most likely one generated for the benefit of a cast or crew member, much like what Ford had. I’d guess Merian C. Cooper received one, possibly Victor McLaglen as well. Many such estate prints survived. Some are the only record we have of complete versions otherwise lost. Warner’s recent DVD of The Lost Patrol is likely as complete as any version seen since 1939. With its running time at just under 72 minutes, there are probably scenes missing that were there in 1934, though we are lucky to have at least a lion’s share of Ford's classic.