Alternate cuts of classic movies that are finally seeing the light of day on Blu-ray

Okay this might be obscure. But I believe Code Red is releasing an old anthology film called Screams of the Winter Night. And supposedly it will include an entire short that wasn't in the theatrical release.

 

The Blu-ray of Mimic is a slightly longer director's cut.... anyone checked this out yet?

 

Wait- they made it wider?!?

 

Yep. Came out a couple of years ago.

Took a class from Professor Howard Suber at UCLA on comedy and the midterm was to write a paper on what's wrong and why it isn't funny with It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Being contrary, I made my thesis the opposite. I got a B just for the balls of doing that I believe.

 

Has this been released on Blu-ray then, with or without the cuts?

 

It's reconstruction of the roadshow version, including the police calls during the intermission.

 

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (unrated "international version")

 

Nope. The only Blu-ray - or DVD, for that matter - version of the "Godfather" films is the theatrical cuts.

At this point, I'd kinda have to assume the "chronological" version is never coming out on BD or DVD. If they've avoided putting it out for this long, why change their minds now?

 

Shame as I only have the Laserdisc version of this cut.

 

I'm one of those that watch the Godfather every time I notice it's on. I've seen it so many times it's part of my lifeblood. When i watch "saga" it just seems off. The original was good enough to be left alone. Although i think its purpose was to televise it after being cleaned up.

Just as cringeworthy would be seeing Pulp Fiction in chronological order.

 

The LD of the Epic has no censorship. Nothing was "cleaned up".

 

Heres an interesting website about the various cuts of "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II" (including the chronological versions).

The Godfather Museum: A Brief History of the Chronological Cuts, Fan Edits and Extended Editions
and heres another great site:

THE GODFATHER TRILOGY: 1901-1980

 

Yes, the UK VHS boxset wasn’t edited for violence/language/sex either.

 

While i enjoy the Wolfgang Peterson "Director's Cut" Blu-Ray for Das Boot, how about putting the "Theatrical Cut" in a boxset release?

 

Is Raising Cain getting better from de 'director's cut' treatment. I found it an amusing movie at the time, but I suspect it might be a very dated experience to watch it nowadays....

 

I think a chronological "Godfather Saga" would be interesting to see - once.

Coppola intertwined "young Vito" and 1950s Michael for a reason. If he'd wanted something chronological, he would've constructed "GF II" that way in the first place.

I don't know his motivation for the "Saga", but I'd not be surprised to learn it was $$$ and not something he wanted to do creatively...

 

Alternate cuts of classic movies that are finally seeing the light of day on Blu-ray

 

That's interesting. I have the original DVD. I wonder what they cut. No opportunity for boobs as I recall, so it must have either been blood or exposition. Great movie. One of Charles Bronson's best.

 

Is there any update on True Lies or The Abyss?

The Ghost and the Darkness is another I'd like to see released on Blu-ray. I guess there is a German one, but it does not have English audio tracks.

 

I thought the theatrical cut made it to BluRay; hang on.
(checks blu-ray.com)
Yep, it did.

Das Boot Blu-ray

Of course, now we need the mini-series cut on Blu.

 

The Sea Wolf (1941)

Released on Blu-ray in its original cut, rarely seen (if at all) since it was cut from 100 minutes to 86 in 1947 to fit a double-feature rerelease with The Sea Hawk (1940).

 

All the details are here (with pics)....
Chato's Land (Comparison: US Verson (PG) - German DVD) - Movie-Censorship.com

 

Thanks for the info. I may pass on that one. I can live without more explicit rape scenes. Interesting though that the cut scenes show even more influence from the Spaghetti Westerns of the time. It's interesting to me to see how the Italian interpretation of America Westerns doubled back and actually influenced the way American Westerns were made for awhile. Bandolero is another movie that comes to mind. Not as violent but that same pumped up melodrama.

 

I have long argued that it's not a funny movie. But there are some very funny things in it, like maybe 30 minutes of stuff (most of which is Jonathan Winters).

 

I wouldn't disagree but, knowing Professor Suber's opinion (he also felt the same way) and the fact that, aside from a TV viewing which bored the hell out of me as a kid (nothing like watching a movie shot in that format reduced to academy ratio), I thought I'd try a contrary view (although I thought it was, largely, pretty awful when I finally did see it on the big screen in class) just to see if I could effectively argue the counterpoint. It was a pretty difficult POV to defend frankly (although there are those who probably love the film). My original thesis was that it was awful because 1) comedies (even broad ones) are about smaller moments and can't really work or be sustained for an epic film 2) the length-- the best comedies are most effective that are kept under two hours (usually around 100 minutes maximum) because, unlike drama, audiences are much less forgiving of a comedy that can't sustain the pace 3) comedies work best with small scenes that aren't meant to be funny as they allow the audience to catch up, catch their breath, etc. 5) the larger your ensemble the more difficult it is to sustain the humor especially if those on screen have different styles (it can work with smaller groups for example but not when a film is as diverse, long and varied in comedic tone as "World" is).

Add all that in along with a lack of experience directing comedy for Stanley Kramer and you have a large, largely unfunny film with some inspired bits that are few and far between. I agree that Winters was, as usual, brilliant, but he seemed like he was from a different movie as did some of the other comedic cast when thrown together. It's the old adage about throwing as many jokes at the audience as possible hoping that some will stick--they will but the rest will flop right on the audience making a big mess.

I told Professor Suber straight up what I was going to do with it and he was intrigued but. unfortunately, no matter how good my argument and examples, I couldn't change **** into shinola.

In a nutshell, I agree with you but, even though I was bored seeing it on TV, I can see how it would play better on TV divided by commercials as it would play as mini-movies with the same theme and cast and the individual moments would shine.