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Castle of the Eagles - a Where Eagles Dare fan edit

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robulon

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Inspired by The Scribbling Man's "B+ Movie Project" fan edits of older films I wanted to have a go at one of my favourite men on a mission movies.

The editing has a very traditional style. Typical of a movie cut on film in the 60s. Very few J cuts used and there's a lot of “shoe leather” left in. So if a character is just walking from one room to another, you tend to see all of the steps they take. This does hamper the pace of the storytelling from a more modern standpoint. The goal here isn’t turn the film into some Michael Bay fast cutting action film. Just to tighten up things while keeping the narrative largely intact. Hopefully it still feels like a film edited in the 60s just now a 2hr one instead of a 2hr 30m one.

As this film is densely plotted with a lot of exposition scenes and setups for later payoffs, only 2 sequences have been outright removed:

1) The bridge checkpoint when the group is first walking through the village disguised in their German uniforms.

2) The sequence where Schaffer kills multiple people in the radio room. Cutting this actually solves a potential plot hole people have pointed out, where an important radio telephone call is made later in the film despite the radio operator dying in this scene. It also removes a setup that doesn’t really go anywhere as they also kill the helicopter pilot here to prevent the German’s from using it. But then the helicopter is never brought up again for the rest of the film.

The remaining reduction in runtime comes solely from trimming existing scenes (shaving frames off many shots in a lot of cases) and doing some light restructuring of a few events so they’re happening simultaneously rather than one after the other.

Below is an example to illustrate some of the tweaks I have made. Fan edit version of the scene comes first followed by the original:
The dialogue exchange about the Dobermanns and the electric fence have been cut as neither will be encountered. I’ve also tried to improve the rather wobbly optical of the army barracks through the binoculars. Finally the sequence of the helicopter landing has been greatly streamlined. Perhaps the sight of a helicopter alone was enough for audiences in the 60s to be enraptured but today this drags on a bit too long.

I have a version of the edit available for previewing if anyone is willing to take a look. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Cutlist to follow...
 
Love this project! This is a movie I'm very fond of, but it's true that the pacing is a bit awkward at times. Feel free to shoot me a PM with the preview version!

Incidentally: one aspect of this movie that borders on unintentionally funny is our heroes having interminable ammo, shooting on and on and on and on and never having to reload at all. It gets quite "narm-y" after a while, particularly noticeably in the third act. Will this be addressed at all?
 
Thank you @Dwight Fry. I really appreciate it! I will be in touch.

Yes the shooting does get a bit excessive. Especially once they make that final dash in the bus. You’ll be pleased to know that tightening up the action in general has reduced the amount of gun play overall. Repetitive shots of guns firing have been cut to keep the momentum of the firefights always moving forward. That includes both the bus chase and the part where Schaffer holds off the soldiers outside radio room. Hopefully its now just about in the realm of believability if you assume they're reloading anytime the camera cuts to something else 😄
 
This is one of my favorite “big dumb action” movies. I absolutely love the theme and listen to it often and it just puts a giant grin on my face. After a while, Richard Burton’s big scene exposing the spies made me start to question if I was one too lol.

I watched it a few months ago with hopes of finding some things to trim, but I just couldn’t focus on edits and kept focusing on the movie itself being so damn fun. Really looking forward to checking this out when it’s done!
 
One of my favourites action films from the 60s. Looking forward to watching it!
 
WIP cutlist is below
  • Added FE.org logo at the start.
  • Removed “Where Eagles Dare” title card and replaced with custom “Castle of the Eagles” title card.
  • Added Fan Editor Credit.
  • During the mission briefing, cut exchange about using 10 ton bombs. Moved the only relevant information revealed in it (that General Carnaby is an American) into the later answer to Sgt. Harrod’s question about why he’s so important.
  • Multiple short trims during the parachuting sequence for pacing.
  • More trims to speed up how quickly the men regroup at the supply drop after landing spread out across the area.
  • Tidied up Smith struggling to get the code book out of Harrod’s pocket.
  • Colour corrected the long take inside the Alpine cabin as it had faded colours from the optical dissolve that was used to start the scene.
  • Trimmed shots to get Smith from the cabin to the shed behind it faster.
  • Cut Schaffer carrying hot water to his chair while waiting for Smith to return. Now we cut to him when he’s checking his watch.
  • More trims to Smith's return walk back to the cabin.
  • Pacing trims to Smith and Schaffer’s walk down the hill where they first observe the castle.
  • End the post radio call exchange between Admiral Rolland and Col. Turner on the line “Who’s next I wonder?”. Removed the rest of the conversation where they go on to extoll the virtues of how good an agent Smith is.
  • Cut dialogue exchange about the Dobermans and the electric fence as neither will be encountered.
  • Stabilised wobbly optical of the army barracks through the binoculars.
  • Massively cut down the sequence of the helicopter landing.
  • Sped up the pacing of the sequence where the men stow the gear in the shed on the outskirts of village and change into their German uniforms.
  • Cut the scene where they pass through a check point on the bridge. Now we go directly from them emerging in their disguises to walking about the village near the guesthouse.
  • Cut Mary and Heidi observing the German soldiers arriving outside the guesthouse. Now their arrival is a sudden surprise for the audience when they burst into the bar.
  • Lots of little trims to the German Col’s entrance and dialogue.
  • Cut the initial lack of response to Smith’s question if anyone has any suggestions. Now Schaffer immediately replies.
  • Cut the part of the scene where Major Von Hapen initially doesn’t get through to the cable car operator. Start the scene with Von Hapen, Mary and Heidi getting into the cable car and riding it up to the castle.
  • Multiple small trims to Smith and Schaffer causing the car crash, gathering the dead bodies and pushing the car off the road.
  • Cut a few repetitive lines from the exchange between Von Hapen and Col. Kramer about not being informed about there being British agents in the village.
  • Pacing trims to Smith and Schaffer planting the trip wire bomb and sneaking out of the back window while the soldiers come in the front.
  • More trims to the motor bike theft and subsequent escape across the bridge.
  • Again more trims to planting the trip wires on the poles, returning to the village and checking if the bus starts.
  • Removed the least convincing rear screen project shots from their ride on top of the cable car.
  • Cut Mary sneaking down a corridor before entering an empty room in the castle. We now cut to her just when she’s entering the room.
  • Also cut out early from that scene at the point when Mary looks up at the ceiling joist she’s going to have to remove, rather than watching her go pick up a prybar from across the room and carry it back. Next time we cut to her the hole will already be made. We can trust the audience to infer that she did it.
  • Edits made to Schaffer sliding down the snow covered roof and stopping himself with his ice axe to have less awkward leg flailing.
  • Sped up the pacing of sequence where Smith and Schaffer are climbing up the ropes.
  • Cut away from the scene when Smith reaches the top on his “Thank you for those few kind words” line as its good joke punchline to end on.
  • Cut entire sequence where Schaffer kills multiple people in the radio room. This solves a potential plot hole where an important radio telephone call is made later in the film despite the audience seeing the radio operator dying in this scene. It also removes a setup that doesn’t really go anywhere as they also kill the helicopter pilot here to prevent the German’s from using it. But then the helicopter is never brought up again for the rest of the film.
  • Applied the music score that used to play over the now deleted helicopter stuff to the later scene of Smith and Schaffer sneaking in to observe Gen. Carnaby and the German’s talking. Shifted dialogue for Carnaby and Germans about to match their lip flaps since this scene has also been shortened for pacing.
  • Some lines cut from Von Hapen asking Mary to accompany him down to the cafe.
  • Most of Smith’s long monologue around the table is left as is. Some lines have been cut if possible if they don’t add vital information to an already complicated plot. For example the line in italics below has been removed since the man who sent the spies on their mission IS the top agent in Whitehall. So that sentence is redundant and muddies the waters about who is who.
Smith: If these people are what they say they are, they would know the name of our top agent in Whitehall.
Kramer: Yes.
Smith: So why don't we ask them? At least they should know the man who sent them on this mission.
Christiansen: We all work through contacts. It wasn't necessary or safe for us to know where our orders were coming from.​
  • Cut away from Maj. Wilner when he says goodnight rather than watching him drink a glass of water afterwards.
  • Cut Smith asking Lieutenant Kernitser to get pencils and notebooks for the men to write their list of names. Next time we cut back they’ll just be writing them. We don’t need to know how they got the paper.
  • Removed frames when Schaffer kills Kramer, Rosemeyer and Kernitser to tighten up the gap between muzzle flash and blood squib.
  • Cut Smith planting a bomb in the records room. Again backtracked the music from this scene to the earlier scenes to bridge the gap and make the soundtrack continuous. Later the record room explosion will also be cut to avoid a continuity error.
  • Added SFX of third gunshot when the other radio room operator is killed as he is clearly shot 3 times but there are only 2 on the soundtrack.
  • Too many trims to the sequence where Schaffer is holding off the soldiers outside the radio room while the castle starts exploding to mention. Repetitive shots of guns firing have been cut to keep the momentum of the firefight always moving forward.
  • Increased the pace of Schaffer climbing down into the Cable Car station.
  • Removed Schaffer running all the way up several staircases to barricade the door at the top by cutting away to unused footage I’d saved of the chaos happening in the courtyard outside that door. Now we just see the part where he barricades the door and comes down the stairs. This is enough to establish the location’s geography rather than seeing both the trip up and down.
  • Cut some of the more uneventful parts of the cable car fight. Such as people struggling with each other with little to no actual movement.
  • Shortened the time Smith has to wait for the second cable car to approach so he can jump to it.
  • Lots of little trims to get everyone into the cable car faster while the Germans are trying to break the door down.
  • Trims to the bus chase, again to reduce the amount of endless machine gun shooting.
  • Restructured the final race to the airfield so the plane arrives before Smith makes it there in the bus. Original they arrived first and just parked the bus to wait for the plane. Now there is no drop in tension and its full steam ahead throughout.
  • A bit of tightening up of the final scene between Smith and Col. Turner on the plane.
  • Cut the line “Not so hasty, lieutenant. We mustn't cheat the hangman” since I prefer to use the more subtle line from Smith that comes later “Not as painful as that long drop to the end of the rope” as the reveal of what Turner’s fate will be once he’s convicted.
 
I'm looking forward to this edit! I like the original, but it is a tad too long for me to justify a rewatch, this edit should solve that particular problem
 
Thank you so much to @MusicEd921, @wilhelm scream and @Fran_Garcia for your continued enthusiasm for this project. It should hopefully be ready to release this weekend if I can manage it. Stay tuned!

In the meantime here are a few poster mock ups I've put together. If you've any opinion on a favourite please weigh in


full


full


full
 
All of these look fantastic and capture the feel of the movie.

My personal taste has me in favor of the middle one with the top one being a close second.

Edit: actually they are tied (top and middle) because I love seeing the castle in the distance, but I like the action-y feel of the middle.
 
I personally agree 100% with your ranking!

Very close tie between Top and Middle. Those 2 feel the closest to being of the time since I made them with art assets from the movie's original release. The bottom one I remember being the front cover of the early DVD releases back in the day. So its probably a more contemporary piece of artwork and feels more modern to me.
 
All of them are great.

But my favourites are the first and the second one.
 
I vote the first one, because the artist for the second one did a great job at making Richard Burton look like the love child of John Wayne and Roger Moore. 😅
 
Dwight Fry said:
I vote the first one, because the artist for the second one did a great job at making Richard Burton look like the love child of John Wayne and Roger Moore. 😅
Click to expand...

Ha! Once you see it you can't unsee it! :LOL:

Seems like it was a tricky assignment for capturing likenesses. Either you've got Burton looking like Roger Moore... or Eastwood looking like Sean Connery!

Where_Eagles_Dare-742743349-large.jpg


Well that clinches it - poster 1 it is! Many thanks to you all.
 
robulon said:
Ha! Once you see it you can't unsee it! :LOL:

Seems like it was a tricky assignment for capturing likenesses. Either you've got Burton looking like Roger Moore... or Eastwood looking like Sean Connery!

Where_Eagles_Dare-742743349-large.jpg


Well that clinches it - poster 1 it is! Many thanks to you all.
Click to expand...
And Burton looking like Rod Steiger in this one!
 
Massive thanks to @Dwight Fry and @wilhelm scream for their glowing reviews! Really appreciate it. I've been out of the country for past week so apologies to anyone who's been waiting for a PM reply. Reading those reviews was a wonderful treat upon coming home! Thanks again.
 
One thing I just noticed......during the newly cut "Doberman and electric fences" dialog....listen to their voices.
You can clearly hear the reverb of the room they were overdubbing their dialog in.

At first I was not sure, but they did a good job of overdubbing their dialog to match their original dialog.

Back then, film audio was still fairly basic. Nobody thought to try to make them actually sound like they were on the side of a mountain.
:LOL:
 
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