Tim, note that the "restored" is in quotes. I believe that it's the best we can reconstruct based on the shooting script and the surviving elements. My premise is that the film was radically altered in the pre-release re-edit, but it's just that--a premise. All we know for sure is that a magazine article from the time reported that after screening the initial cut, Carl Laemmle Sr. ordered that the film be re-edited because it gave him the "heebie-jeebies" (according to David Skal). What truth there is in this report is a matter of conjecture.

I believe that the re-cut is its own best evidence that this was the way the film was intended to be cut. It follows the continuity established in the shooting script, eliminates the major continuity errors, and gives meaning to otherwise meaningless dialogue.

Is it your belief that Browning purposely intended that the initial cut mess up the continuity of the shooting script that he had personally approved in order to sabotage his own film? That seems even more farfetched to me. But that's just my opinion.