Weird "Invitation to Love" variant soundtrack, TV vs. DVD

[Eater of Iguanas]

Something I've noticed a few times but always forgot about, until now: a strange variation between the original TV broadcast and the DVD version of Season 1, Episode 6. It's the scene in the RR when Hank returns and interrupts Norma and Shelley as they return from their salon appointment. The scene closes with Shelley watching Norma and Hank pensively from behind the counter, then looking at a TV playing an "Invitation to Love" scene where Montana knocks Chet down and it fades out on his laughing villainously.

I'd stake my paycheck for a month that in the original broadcast (which I watched over and over during the '90s on my off-air VHS tapes), the sound on the TV is turned down and this ITL scene plays out silently. But on the DVDs, it has the soundtrack with dialogue, music, etc. I was amazed the first time I watched it on the Gold Box DVD. Recently, I popped in my old Paramount S1 set (which I've kept for the director commentaries) to check the scene, and it also has sound there. I turned on Lesli Linka Glatter's commentary to see if she had anything to say about it; she didn't, but to my further surprise, if you listen to the scene under her voice, it plays out like the original version: the ITL scene is silent, while you can still hear, more faintly but still clearly, the voices and sound effects in the diner. It's like someone made a somewhat last-minute decision to add the ITL soundtrack back in, but didn't bother to do so on the commentary track.

Has anyone else ever noticed this and/or heard anything about it?

It's a curious choice - seems like it would be a fair amount of trouble over a very small detail, and it plays better silent - to me, it seems funnier and eerier that way, and adds an indefinable extra layer to the emotions of the scene in the diner, whereas the sound version kind of distracts from them.

[Jerry Horne]

One fun little tip is that on the Gold box, the ITL dialog is there in 5.1, but absent in 2.1 (So if you're a purist like me and watch it in the original stereo, it will be like the original transmission)

[OK,Bob]

I had noticed this as well! I'm reminded of the re-mixed audio for the FWWM DVD, wherein the Pink Room scene music was EQ's and the dialog pushed up to be entirely intelligible, rendering the subtitles unnecessary. If you switch to one of the non-English soundtracks on the DVD, you can hear something much more like the theatrical mix. I understand the the Blu-Ray thankfully returns to something like the original mix....

[Eater of Iguanas]

I had noticed this as well! I'm reminded of the re-mixed audio for the FWWM DVD, wherein the Pink Room scene music was EQ's and the dialog pushed up to be entirely intelligible, rendering the subtitles unnecessary. If you switch to one of the non-English soundtracks on the DVD, you can hear something much more like the theatrical mix. I understand the the Blu-Ray thankfully returns to something like the original mix....

Holy unnecessary aesthetic intervention, Batman! Glad the Blu-ray sort of fixes that... but what exactly do you mean by "something like" the original mix? The subtitled unintelligible dialogue is one of my favorite details (in a film I'm not exactly fond of). I vaguely and perhaps incorrectly recall having read somewhere that Lynch actually wanted the dialogue to be unintelligible and didn't even want subtitles... though I have to say that's one of his "inspirations" I'm glad was ignored. I might have that wrong, though.

And thanks for the tip on the 5.1 vs. 2.1 soundtracks, Jerry. I hadn't thought of that at all - I rarely think about such technical details, even though when I do, like you, I'm a purist who prefers the original version (but was Lynch involved in the remixing for the 5.1?)

Would still love to ask someone directly involved why that choice was made on the ITL clip.

[OK,Bob]

I understand the the Blu-Ray thankfully returns to something like the original mix....

Holy unnecessary aesthetic intervention, Batman! Glad the Blu-ray sort of fixes that... but what exactly do you mean by "something like" the original mix?

I just mean that the music was cranked back up and the dialog buried in the mix, as we saw in theaters. I believe David Lynch created entirely new audio mixes for The Entire Mystery, so FWWM woundn't be identical to the theatrical version, but nonetheless conveys the original Pink Room experience, unlike the DVD mix. I can't tell any difference between the Blu-Ray audio and what I recall from the theater; not like the glaring and disappointing difference noted with the earlier DVD mix.

The use of subtitles is a fantastic choice, imo... and draws intriguing parallels with the Red Room / Lodge / Convenience Store scenes. ...I only wish the font was the same as that used in the series...

[Eater of Iguanas]

Ah, understood. Good news, thanks.