Restored and remastered with AI, The missing scene was uncovered by a Channel 4 documentary on the classic British film in 1998. The clip showed the Coopers being chased onto an ice-rink by the Police, and the two pursuers and pursued then engage in a surreal waltz to the “Blue Danube”. (Possibly satirizing Stanley Kubrick’s 2001) before the Coopers race off again.
The scene was shot and edited together, but was cut out of the final movie because it dissipated the tension of the chase. Now known as the ‘Blue Danube’ scene was choreographed and peformed in an exhibition hall in Turin, usually used for the Turin Motor Show.
The three Coopers waltz with three Alfa Romeo Italian Police Cars. The backdrop and music was supplied by the Turin Symphony Orchestra, who performed the ‘Blue Danube’ by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Writer Troy Martin Kennedy was apparently not impressed when he heard about the inclusion of the extra scene as he thought it would slow down the fast pace of the getaway chase.
Producer Michael Deeley agreed and the scene ended up on the cutting floor, even though he and many of the crew thought it worked out above and beyond what they expected. 2nd Unit Director Phillip Wrestler disagreed and thought that it was a magical piece of filming that slowed the pace down only to enhance the rapid pace of the remaining of the chase.
The Italian Job starring Michael Cain is available to stream here: https://amzn.to/4cd6rcf
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