Weird film in HCB photo

[George Huczek <ghuczek@sk.sympatico.ca>]

   In American Photo, pg 45 of this issue, there is a photo of the hands of
HCBs printer, George Fevre, holding the neg of "Behind the Gare-St Lazare,
Paris" on a light table.
   This is a well-known photo, showing a silhouette of a man jumping off a
ladder laid horizontally in a pool of water.  The man's heel is just about
to hit the water, and the reflection of the man is symmetrically apparent
underneath.
   What struck me as peculiar is that there are no sprocket holes on the
top edge of the film.  It seems to have sprocket holes only on the bottom
edge of the film, and looks like it is labeled as frame "39".  It looks
like a full frame horizontally, with about eight sprocket holes and a
little bit per frame, but the top edge is either missing sprocket holes, or
perhaps they have been trimmed off.  Also, it appears as if the left
portion of the negative (what would have been the left side of the photo)
is badly missing detail, as if there is some kind of technical problem in
the neg of this photo, since the missing detail goes straight down the
negative, in more-or-less a straight line.  There also appears to be some
kind of oblong shaped irregularity near the bottom left edge of the neg,
and the top left edge, when viewed as seen on the light table.  The right
edge of the neg also shows other technical problems, which look like they
may be due to improper development, showing spots which could be air bells,
and dark regions around the sprocket holes, possibly due to excessive
agitation.  So many technical problems for such a famous photo!  I don't
know who did his lab work at the time the photo was processed.  Does anyone
know the history of this, or what is going on with the missing sprocket
holes and the complete loss of image detail on the left side of the neg, as
well as the other apparent technical problems that appear?

- -GH