MovieChat Forums > Witness (1985) Discussion > Voice-over Removal? Did I dream it?

Voice-over Removal? Did I dream it?

posted 13 years ago by danvhay
9 replies | jump to latest

Okay, forgive me if this has been answered in a previous thread, but I noticed something while re-watching WITNESS just last night.
This is what I remember: Ford visits his boss, tells him about Glover, they exchange lines, BOSS: "Who else knows about this?", BOOK: "Just you and I."
Right after Glover shoots Ford, we get a shot of Book's blood dripping on his dry cleaning, and we RE-HEAR IN A VOICEOVER the two lines of previous dialogue between Book and his Boss, right before cutting to Book going to his sister's to pick up the Amish.
Watching the Special Edition DVD last night, the voice-over was MISSING. I may have to dig out my VHS to verify, but was I dreaming? Those two lines were repeated, weren't they? And if they were, why did Paramount cut them?

[–] danvhay 13 years ago

Okay, so I posted this topic after searching the internet for an answer.
Sure as hell, as soon as I post it, I find an article in which a commenter noticed the same thing.
So while I know I am not dreaming, I still don't know why Paramount changed it.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] eastcoastguyz 13 years ago

The entire audio soundtrack might have been remixed/mastered for DVD release, and that might have been omitted in an attempt to clean up the track. Just a guess.

[–] Furious_Fenner 13 years ago

This is a pretty late reply, but...

Sometimes those flashback type lines are used in certain versions, it's sort of an insurance policy to make sure the audience can follow the story and events. It sounds nearly offensive, but it is done, mainly with TV edits.

They did the same thing with Duel (Steven Spielberg's 1971 film), where at a critical point in the finale, a 'mental' line is used by the main character to explain something going on the plot. If you see it on TV, you are likely to hear David Mann 'mentally' screech "the fuel hose!" or something similar, a line that won't feature on the DVD and didn't in the original version.

That sounds exactly like what this repeated dialogue is. Hope that helps.

If those were my last words, I can do better.

[–] Katz5 13 years ago

I noticed that too. My guess is it was a decision Weir made for the special DVD release. Paramount probably insisting on inserting that voice over so the audience wouldn't be too confused. But we learn very soon after that scene that "Schaeffer's in this thing too." The voice over never bothered me before but it certainly is not needed.

Dude means nice guy. Dude means a regular sort of person.

[–] jetlag31 12 years ago

<<I noticed that too.>>

It was definitely there. [RANT MODE ON] I do wish film-makers would stop meddling with their movies and just let us watch the one we all enjoyed back it was originally released! [RANT MODE OFF]

<<My guess is it was a decision Weir made for the special DVD release.>>

It was not just omitted from that version. I also have an earlier DVD release version and it was omitted from that as well. I do though have a vague memory of the voice-over being on my VHS release version, but that's buried away in a box somewhere so I'm not in a position to check.

[–] piscesxxx 11 years ago

you didn't dream it! was definitely in the TV version; i came here to see if anyone else spotted this, and sure enough..

[–] pullman1881 11 years ago

I recorded it from Encore a couple of weeks ago and just watched that particular scene. There is no voice-over.

[–] wamsley 11 years ago

If you enable subtitles or close captioning the words show on screen but there is no VoiceOver.

Though my sound had cut out when watching it on Netflix.