albucat wrote:It's baffled me for years that the longer cut remains unrestored, since it's such a recognized masterpiece.
The source of the longer cut is just a single stray (festival) distribution print, isn't it? The film's owners presumably have far, far better elements for the shorter version, and may not even have access to the print of the longer version, and since both are "director's cuts" it's no wonder they've focussed their restoration attentions on the final version.
A restoration of the long cut would be a separate undertaking, and one that would most likely be up to the owners of that print, who don't necessarily hold secure rights to the film, so it's financially a much shakier proposition.
I'd be happy with Criterion issuing a good BD of the shorter version, with a fresh, unrestored warts-and-all scan of the long cut as an extra.
I imagine this prospective release is a bit of a conundrum for Criterion. I'm sure they wouldn't want to leave out either version, since the shorter cut is the canonical one and likely to be in much better shape, but the longer cut is a huge selling point and major Criterion exclusive. They'd also be expected, and no doubt want to, include extensive bonus material - at the very least they'll have to address the convoluted history of the different versions - but all of that suggests a five-disc edition at minimum (two Blus for the two versions, with extras spread across them; a DVD apiece for each version plus a third for extras), which makes for a very pricy release of a single film.