THE NORTH STAR / ARMORED ATTACK!

[Ray Faiola]

I got Olive's DVD of ARMORED ATTACK! Today. This is the heavily edited reissue of THE NORTH STAR. The film is packaged and promoted as ARMORED ATTACK! As a "bonus", they have the complete version of THE NORTH STAR. Both versions are transferred from 35mm prints.

My question is - why on earth would Olive release and promote this as ARMORED ATTACK! when the film is more commonly known by its original title. Why not tote this as the long-unseen original version of THE NORTH STAR instead of treating the original as an afterthought?

My guess is that THE NORTH STAR fell into public domain (it was distributed in dupe prints by Cable Films) and ARMORED ATTACK, as a "new work" is still protected. ARMORED ATTACK! has its original copyright notice blacked out with a video superimposed 1957 date for NTA Films inserted.

Anyway, it's nice to have THE NORTH STAR in a 35mm transfer and also interesting to see how it was revised for the Cold War era.

[ClayKing]

For many years it was "Armored Attack" that was distributed to TV. I recall the original "North Star" being broadcast on PBS in the late 'eighties or early 'nineties. Your guess might be correct, or it could be that Olive considered "Armored Attack" a more marketable title.