Lost Ending From Saul Bass’ Film Phase IV Found

Nothing gets a film nerds heart beating faster than the discovery of some lost footage from an important piece of cinema history.

THR recently chatted with LA revival house Cinefamily’s director Hadrian Belove, who revealed that the previously thought-to-be-lost finale from Saul Bass’ feature film directorial debut, a film entitled Phase IV, has been discovered.

Following the story of two scientists and some rather troublesome ants, the film is notable for its sense of realism in a densely surreal narrative, the film’s ending had been thought to have been truly lost to history, with Paramount taking as much trouble as possible to get the film out of the zeitgeist as much as they could. I haven’t had the pleasure of actually seeing the film, but now that the true blue ending, which itself has already been shown to audiences during a Bass retrospective at the theater, and according to reports, is actually in better condition than the previously used one. Here’s to hoping we’ll get to see this new ending on home video relatively soon.

Source THR / The Playlist