Turner Classic Movies ran THE NAKED PREY Friday at 4pm and aired a new hybrid seemingly made for broadcast. It was the shorter 91 minutes edit and opens with the 2.35 image cropped fullscreen for the first shot, then squeezed for the main title credit, then full screen for the rest of the credits. The first shot of the film switches to widescreen, approx. 1.90 or so, and it stayed that way until the ending credits ( full screen ). It also looked fantastic, so this may reflect the source available on the new Criterion DVD. The stock footage stands out like never before.
It was 4 pm so I was not terribly surprised TCM ran the cut version, but it's been sop long I could not really remember exactly what's missing. Guess I need that Criterion!

The Criterion disc runs 95:37 and doesn't have any of the cropping anomalies you mention. It's 2.35:1 widescreen throughout, so not the same source print aired by TCM. Did they by any chance cut out the scenes of Wilde befriending the prepubsescent African girl? Their relationship is charming, but she is topless and there's a scene where he sings "Little Brown Jug" to her, which is now in questionable taste. There were also several shots of topless tribal women early in the film, and I can see how these might have been cut for an afternoon broadcast. After midnight, TCM leaves this sort of thing alone.

That was a girl? I assumed it was a boy.

Her broad child-bearing hips are more of a giveaway than her chest. The credits list her as "Little Girl" and the role was played by someone named Bella Randles, who must have been 11 or 12.

The material with the little girl was intact. It must be material from the beginning that is trimmed, tribal women and some details of the hunter's fates maybe?
I wonder if TCM time compresses their broadcasts, that might explain some of the shorter run time.

I checked with TCM's head of programming and he says they were sent the wrong version of The Naked Prey and that it's being replaced for the next airing. He also confirmed that nothing on TCM is edited and hasn't been for several years. When the network started there was some editing but that was stopped long ago. If you see something that appears to be edited, cut, time-compressed, etc it's usually a situation like this. You can contact me if you want to see what happened - can't promise an answer but I've been a freelancer at TCM since shortly after it went on air so can often get a response.

Then, I guess that the cut print of NO BLADE OF GRASS was probably cut before TCM received it?

Wow, I thought that was a boy too.

I have a review of THE NAKED PREY in the new SIGHT & SOUND, which I received today. It should be on their website online within the next week.

I've seen THE NAKED PREY many times, but tonight is the first opportunity I've had to see it in all its widescreen glory. Such a great film--raw, brutal, realistic, thrilling. Check out the Criterion disc as soon as you can.

I've always thought the kid Wilde befriends was a boy too. The commentator on the disc confirms the child's sex as a girl.