Arrow Productions this week ships a newly restored DVD version of Deep Throat, the movie that, in terms of impact, is the Birth of a Nation of porn. Its runaway success in 1972 virtually created the adult film industry. It’s still the highest earning X-rated film of all time.
For many years it’s been available on VHS and more recently DVD only in dull, grainy video transfers. But Arrow’s editor, Paul Interlandi, has succeeded in restoring the bright colors and crisp sound of the original release.
“When you see Deep Throat,” he promises, “it’ll be a new experience.”
In the absence of the original negative—it was among materials seized by authorities during various obscenity prosecutions in the ‘70s—Interlandi had to deal with 35mm prints that had deteriorated after years of running through grindhouse projectors.
Fortunately, he found one that had been rejected for projection and was in a pristine, if flawed, state. “It’s not perfect,” he says. “But is it better than what we’ve sold over the last 30 years? Yes.”
The main problems were synchronization and color correction. “Deep Throat’s been out of sync for a long, long time. Four frames out in Reel 2. In Reel 3, it drifted from starting at 8 frames out of sync to 10 frames out. Because we have a lot of digital controls in the transfer process, I was able to get almost every bit of it back together.”
Interlandi was also able to adjust brightness, darkness, and color balances. “It was very time-consuming,” he says. “But—it looks good.”
The DVD’s extra features include an interview with actor Eric Edwards about the movie’s star, Linda Lovelace (he performed his first sex scene with her in a loop), some period sex-documentary footage, and a photo gallery of the late Ms. Lovelace.
Arrow’s release is the most complete version of Deep Throat, with almost two minutes of footage that had been whittled away over the years.
Interlandi is also responsible for last year’s restored DVD of Candy Stripers and this year’s cleaned up version of The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue, both released by Arrow. He’s currently sprucing up reissues of Liquid Lips and Young Girls’ Fantasies, both starring John C. Holmes.
Arrow Productions can be contacted at (800) 762-4624.
