Way back....30s-40s.....films went through many script changes (likely still do today), sometimes a film began with 1 director, then for various reasons, may have a new director....sometimes causing what may have already been filmed, to be scrapped.
As one earlier poster has noted, a finished film was at the mercy of the censor board. During this time, the scripts were often presented to the censors for their approval and then filming began.
Director's Cuts? Back then, there were no such thing. After the film was edited and approved by the Breen/Hays censor board, the films were released to theaters, and that was 'the finished product.'
In some cases, films had scenes edited after their initial release. Case in point, the 1931 Frankenstein was subject to a number of cuts, after its first release. The most famous being the scene of the monster and little Maria, tossing flowers into the lake, and her tragic accidental drowning. For decades we watched this film with a jump cut splice, never knowing what actually took place. Thankfully this missing footage and the other cuts, were restored in the 80s and we now view the film fully restored and complete.
Today we enjoy Director's cuts of many films....The Exorcist, for example, aka The Version You Have Never Seen.....the Peter Jackson's King Kong, etc.
