First of all, I don't think it's a matter of FFC not thinking these deleted scenes weren't 'important enough' to include in the original films...but that some had to be sacrificed for time restraints during the final editing process. Scenes like that of Genco in the hospital and Bonasera talking to his wife before meeting Vito (my personal favorite) are jewels to us now that we know they exist, but their absense obviously did not lessen the quality of the film or the telling of the story.

I'm sure FFC had to make difficult decisions during the editing process. That is probably why, once GF and GF2 were established hits, he included many of the deleted scenes in the Saga/Novel for Television/DVD Trilogy.

Apple