由萨姆·德·格拉斯,Francelia,Billington,埃里克·冯·施特罗海姆,Fay,Holderness,Richard,Cumming领衔主演的盲目的丈夫们是一部综合评分10.0分的美国剧情片。TwodifferencesbetweenthisAustrianversionandthegenerallyavailableAmericanversionareimmediatelyobvioustheydifferbothintheirlengthandinthelanguageoftheintertitles.TheAmericanversionisonly1,883metreslong-at18framespersecondadifferenceofsome7minutestotheAustrianversionwith2,045metres.Whereasweoriginallypresumedonlyanegligibledifference,resultingfromthevaryinglengthoftheintertitles,adirectcomparisonhasneverthelessshownthattheAustrianversiondiffersfromtheAmericanversionbothinthemontageandinthedurationofindividualscenes.YethowcouldithappenthatthelaterregionaldistributionofacanonicalUSsilentfilmwaslongerthantheoriginalversionTheprevalentAmericanversionofBlindHusbandsdoesnotcorrespondtotheversionshownatthepremiereof1919.Thislittle-knownfactwasalreadypublishedbyRichardKoszarskiin1983.Thefilmwasre-releasedbyUniversalPicturesin1924,inaversionthatwas1,365feet(416metres)shorter.At18framespersecond,thisamountstoatimedifferenceof20minutes!Titleswerealtered,snippetsofactionremovedandatleastonemajorscenetakenoutentirely,wherevonSteubenandMargaretvisitasmalllocalchapel.(Koszarski)FromthepresentstateofresearchwecanassumethatalltheknownAmericancopiesofthefilmderivefromthisshortenedre-releaseversion,acopyofwhichUniversaldonatedtotheMuseumofModernArtin1941.AccordingtoKoszarskitheoriginalnegativeofthefilmwasdestroyedsometimebetween1956and1961andhasthereforebeenirretrievablylost.ThisinformationcastsaninterestinglightontheAustrianversion,whichcanbedatedtotheperiodbetweenthesummerof1921andthewinterof1922.Furthermore,thecopyissome200metreslongerthantheUSversionof1924.IfonefollowsthedetailsgivenbyRichardKoszarskiandArthurLennig,thismeansthat,asfarasbothitsdateanditslengthareconcerned,theAustrianversionliesalmostexactlyinthemiddlebetweenthe(lost)versionshownatthepremiereandthere-releasedone.Alargepartoftheadditionallengthofthefilmcanbetracedtocutsthatweremadetothe1924versioninalmosteveryshot.Koszarskidescribeshowthebeginningandtheendofscenesweretrimmed,inordertospeedupthefilm.However,moreexcitingwasthediscoverythattheAustrianversioncontainsshotsthataremissingintheAmericanone-shotscountershots,intertitles-andfurthermoreshowsdifferencesinitsmontage(i.e.theplacingoftheindividualshotswithinasequence).AllthisindicatesthatDieRachederBergeconstitutestheoldestandmostcompletelypreservedmaterialofthefilm.