Run time?
The movie is listed her as being 73 minutes, but I just watched it where I'd recorded it off Turner Classic Movies, and it was just around 60 minutes. Is there a shorter version?
shareI noticed that too. My guess is that TCM ran the film just a little faster than usual which could account for the shorter running time. It doesn't look like anything was cut.
shareSame story here. If you read the Wikipedia entry, it said they shot addition footage 2 years later for TV showings. TCM must have shown the original version.
shareA prologue (although it probably can't actually be called a "prologue" per se, as it does occur after the opening credits) was added later to the film (not sure how much longer, but I have heard two years) that shows the "mad doctor", Zinthrop, working in his field research lab, where it's established that he had been hired by a company to extract royal jelly from bees for cosmetics and health foods, but instead has been extermineting with wasps in searching for a serum to reverse aging. The head of the company sees Zinthrop as a crackpot and fires him. The last scene shows Zinthrop telling his "friends" (the wasps) that they have much to do and wil "find a new hime soon".
Then the movie switches to the scenes in the city, where the TCM print begins.
I am not usually a fan of "padding" a movie unnecessarily but in this case, it does not do any real damage, but also doesn't add a whole lot to the plot either. However, it does add about 11 minutes to the movie; hence the discrepancy in running times. Most DVDs seem to contain the longer version, but TCM shows the original theatrical version without the prologue part.