Midway : Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

There are 2 versions of MIDWAY - one with a plot and scenes including Charlton Heston's ex-wife, and it also includes scenes from the Coral Sea battle. And then one without those scenes. The extended version sometimes plays on TBS - or at least it used to. The DVD and VHS versions, also the same version that used to be shown on HBO and other pay channels, don't contain those scenes.

I'd personally like to see a version WITH the Coral Sea battle (which is where the LEXINGTON suffered massive damage), but WITHOUT the terrible scenes and plots with Heston's character's ex-wife. The historical context of the Coral Sea battle is excellent, but the melo-drama is completely unnecessary.

Does anyone know if a version like this is for sale or available? If not, is there a DVD or Blu-ray version that includes the added scenes with the Coral Sea Battle?

If there is no version available like this (Even a Foreign release), it begs the question - WHY NOT?? Why not release a version that clearly a lot of people would have an interest in???

________________
Following your dreams is okay - as long as you're not sleeping

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

There was a copy of most of the extended version out on torrents a few years ago. There were captions at the bottom of the screen added by someone on their own that let people know when different or added versions of scenes were being shown.

I would like to see a DVD release of the extended TV version be released this year for the 60th anniversary of the theatrical movie release or next year for a 75th anniversary of the battle. I don't mind the scenes with Susan Sullivan as Matt Garth's girlfriend/fiance (not ex-wife) being included. Of course, I don't mind seeing almost anything with Susan Sullivan in it. I had a crush on her since I was a kid and saw her on the TV version of the movie back in the late 1970's. I also remember seeing the theatrical release back in 1976 in Sensurround. :)

Time will tell.

Redhooks

"You don't get something for nothing, you don't get freedom for free." Neil Peart

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

To be fair, the "Lady Lex" sank at the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was the Yorktown that was seriously damaged, then she limped back to Pearl Harbor for emergency repair/refit in time to see action at Midway.

The IJN lost the light carrier Shoho, the Shokaku was heavily damaged, and the Zuikaku lost most of her air component (thus removing two critical carriers from the action at Midway).

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

My father was a naval aviator and dive-bomber pilot off of LEXINGTON (CV-2) He flew wing on Ralph Cousins (later admiral and vice-CNO) and was awarded the Navy Cross for helping to sink the Shoho at Coral Sea. This was the first U.S. naval victory following Pearl Harbor (it prevented the Japanese invasion of Port Moresby, New Guinea which the Japanese wanted to launch their invasion of Australia and wipe out what was left of General MacArthur's forces) yet "Midway" glosses over it. Losing LEXINGTON (which was on fire, and sunk by our own ships) was a big deal at the time.
Coral Sea was the first naval battle in history where the opposing fleets never came within site of each other. Some may consider it a "warm up" to Midway, only 30 days later, but it was an important battle which deserves greater historical recognition than it gets.

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

Thanks for posting.

The Coral Sea gets much too little attention, IMO. The loss of Lady Lex was huge, being 25% of operational US carriers at the time, and among the most experienced.

Entropy ain't what it used to be.

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

good compact account of it, with detailed description of the oiler Neosho's long ordeal, is Edwin hoyt's 'Blue Skies and Blood"...

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

Actually the film does not gloss over the strategic victory of Coral Sea in terms of what was added in the TV cut. After the battle one of the new TV scenes shows Admiral Yamaguchi and Admiral Nagumo conferring and Yamaguchi notes that the Japanese invasion force for Moresby turned and ran giving the Americans a strategic victory. So the point was acknowledged in the TV version but at the time, the greater issue in terms of the impact of the approaching Midway battle was the loss of the Lexington.

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

There is a great book about this by a guy named Stanley(?) Johnson. It is named "Queen of the Flattops".

Re: Extended version of MIDWAY - with the Coral Sea Battle

GREAT Movie!
Top