40 years ago at this very moment I was watching NoDS for the very first time. The movie had opened in 130 New England theaters and drive-ins on Wednesday, August 4, 1971 but I didn't, get to see it until Friday, August 6th when my mom (who was also a DS fan) took me and a friend to see it at a RI drive-in (along with hoDS as the first feature and Vincent Price's Cry of the Banshee as the bonus third feature). And I was lucky enough to see the longer by about 4 minutes R rated print, which wasn't even supposed to have been in distribution and would eventually be pulled - though not until after I'd seen it several more times, most of which were between August 25th and 31st, while it was playing in a theater in my city (along with hoDS).
Among other things, that longer print included the far more graphic trampling of Strak:
(http://www.dsboards.com/images/NoDS-1.jpg)
the entire hanging of Angelique:
(http://www.dsboards.com/images/NoDS-2.jpg)
and the bloody aftermath of Gerard's death:
(http://www.dsboards.com/images/NoDS-3.jpg)
All of which can be glimpsed in a few of the NoDS trailers, as well as the far more explicit molestings of Tracy by Gerard and a possessed Quentin, which cannot.
It's interesting to watch the version of NoDS that's available on Amazon and iTunes and to see not only the widescreen print but to also hear bits of dialogue and music cues from some of the cut scenes, and even dialogue from existing scenes that is no longer there (like when Quentin stares at the unfinished painting of Angelique after his vision of what took place in the tower when Angelique was taken and he recalls that Angelique told Charles to bring the painting to life). And I absolutely cannot wait until the day comes when we finally get the restored version of NoDS on DVD/Blu-ray.