"1776" was Jack L. Warner's swansong and I'm sure, as with his purchasing of "Music Man", "My Fair Lady", and "Camelot", that his intentions were good. However, his old studio mentality would not let the film, pretty much filmed to match the stage production, alone. So, he trimmed a bit here, cut a verse there and completely excised the "Cool Considerate Men" number in deference, so I've heard, to his good friend Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon, who found it distasteful to Republicans. He also decided that there was no reason for a stereo track so the film was released with both it's wings, visual and aural, severly clipped. Fortunately, one of the assistant editors carefully hid away the removed sections from the workprints (J.L. had the removed negatives burned, as was his won't) so they could be discovered by the gents who lovingly restored the film for the Pioneer Laserdisc release. If you can get a hold of one of these LDs, you'll see the best version of this film, practically complete and in widescreen and stereo. Columbia/Tri-Star also released this version on LD, but without director's commentary. A wonderful gem from a rather sparse and dry period in American film history that should be watched and loved over and over!
