In 2016 a complete duplicate picture and track negative (in English) were discovered in the French National archive. Far superior in quality to the Italian print, it is the basis for the new Blu-ray released in 2017.
For a number of years this was a "lost film" until a dubbed Italian release print was discovered.
When this lost film was rediscovered and re-premiered in the summer of 1988 at the Film Forum, Sidney Blackmer's widow, Suzanne Kaaren, attended the event.
The film's status, until the discovery of the English negative in France, was that of an Italian-dubbed copy only. The reason that it was so obscure was not out of any censorship concerns preventing re-release; it was merely that Radio Pictures didn't own the film, only released it. The production company, Admiral Pictures (actually KBS) had control of it and it was theirs to preserve. However, KBS long ago went out of business. The Italians had a copy and whether or not they legally had the rights to it, "La Radio Pictures" released a dubbed copy for TV circa 1960. Nobody seemed to notice until many years later.
The early special effects portions of the film appeared frequently in subsequent Republic serials and features.
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