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I'm embarrassed to know the movie "Clue," inside and out so much that this might be an esoteric question..

I know nowadays movie previews may sometimes have a clip or a change in what you'll see in the theater to avoid giving away some of the 'best jokes', etc.

In the movie, "Clue" (1986), there were three endings on any DVD or release I can find. But the Trailer, definitely has a few different clips, that never happen in the movie.

  • 0:21 scream/slap by Col. Mustard
  • 0:47 Christopher Lloyd's "I'm looking"
  • 1:13 the crash of guests (there's a similar one in the movie, but it takes place on the mezzanine upstairs)

I am assuming that there might be additional footage, and wondering if it is because there were more endings released. Many articles copy and paste each others' claims there was a fourth ending, but their reporting is dubious (and almost word-for-word the same: just google it and you get a dozen saying the same).

Is there actually more footage that is just not copy+paste gossip on blogs?

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  • Which clips were not in the movie?
    – cde
    Dec 2, 2015 at 3:33
  • Okay, if you watch the preview, the following moments are definitely not in any version of the movie you can find on VHS, DVD, Amazon, Netflix (digital, etc): 0:21, 0:47, 1:13, which led me to believe there might be footage (maybe another ending) somewhere.
    – Mikey
    Dec 2, 2015 at 3:37
  • Only, the problem is that all these online articles allude to a fourth ending, but they're all copy-paste of each other without any source.
    – Mikey
    Dec 2, 2015 at 3:38
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    Don't be embarrassed, I love Clue :)
    – steelersquirrel
    Dec 2, 2015 at 3:39
  • 0:21 scream/slap by Col. Mustard, 0:47 Christopher Lloyd I'm looking, and 1:13 the crash of guests (there's a similar one in the movie, but it takes place on the mezzanine upstairs)
    – Mikey
    Dec 2, 2015 at 3:47

1 Answer 1

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According to this article:

The fourth ending was cut because Landis and Lynn either didn’t really think it was that good, or they just thought it was too dark for the tone of the rest of the movie. Unfortunately for them, they forgot to tell Michael McDowell, who was working on the novelization for the film. Thanks to that gaffe, and to [the] Clue Storybook that they put out as a kiddie novelization with pictures and everything, the infamous fourth ending was preserved, and now we can all talk about it and imagine what could have been.

Found a copy of the Novelization. Chapter Twenty, Version C is the unreleased ending (The Butler did it!). Also found the Story book and it does indeed have four endings, with pictures from the movie as well.

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*Note, none of the clips from the trailer you describe are part of the Fourth Ending. Those seem to be just deleted or dropped jokes. It's common for trailers to have scenes that never appear in the movie, as they are made long before the movie goes through final filming and editing. See TV Tropes: Missing Trailer Scene for a ton of examples.

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  • In all my Clue-ness, I never knew there was a novelization; I was Clue-less.
    – Mikey
    Dec 3, 2015 at 20:36
  • @mikey apparently it's very rare in physical form now a days
    – cde
    Dec 3, 2015 at 20:38

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