422 The Last Emperor
- Antoine Doinel
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- Jeff
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
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The Criterion site does specifically mention two separate cuts, it's just a little fuzzy as to what two cuts they are.Antoine Doinel wrote:If it is the 224 minute cut I would imagine the feature will be spread over two discs with the extras on the other two. I would be surprised if the theatrical cut were included as well.
Criterion wrote:- All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
- All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer of the extended television version
- cdnchris
- Site Admin
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I would assume the new "director's cut" (or whatever you would call it) and the extended tv cut. I don't expect to see the theatrical cut on this set.Jeff wrote:The Criterion site does specifically mention two separate cuts, it's just a little fuzzy as to what two cuts they are.Antoine Doinel wrote:If it is the 224 minute cut I would imagine the feature will be spread over two discs with the extras on the other two. I would be surprised if the theatrical cut were included as well.Criterion wrote:- All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro
- All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer of the extended television version
- souvenir
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm
I don't understand why Criterion wouldn't release the theatrical cut. That's the version that won Best Picture and the other eight Academy Awards they tout in their synopsis. It doesn't make much sense to release two cuts, neither being the original one.
Also, regardless of which cuts they use, I wonder if both will have the same aspect ratio. Only one is mentioned on the site as being approved by Vittorio Storaro.
Also, regardless of which cuts they use, I wonder if both will have the same aspect ratio. Only one is mentioned on the site as being approved by Vittorio Storaro.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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- Dylan
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm
This is news to me. Where did you hear this? Meanwhile, this looks like a fantastic set; wonderful cover art.domino harvey wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't this whole deal going to bring a simultaneous release of a standard edition by another label and then the deluxe Criterion edition? I'm guessing it'll be on that other release
- miless
- Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 9:45 pm
Image announced that several films (including The Last Emperor) would be released simultaneously on Criterion and Image a few months ago.Dylan wrote:This is news to me. Where did you hear this?
the others were Insignificance, Marry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and The Hit...
I know that the exact transcript is somewhere on this board, but wouldn't know exactly where.
- Doctor Sunshine
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:04 pm
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Here's the press release from way back when. Earlier in this thread there's a link to another thread with a link and quote from this article which indicates the release should contain the theatrical release and, tentatively, a 4-hour version. No one ever gets run times right, let alone Criterion on their coming soon page, so 209 may just be a guestimation.
Last edited by Doctor Sunshine on Fri Nov 16, 2007 6:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
- CSM126
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I can't fathom that they wouldn't have the theatrical cut in here and not explicitly say so. When they release director's cuts without the theatrical version, they always put something like "new, restored transfer of the director's cut", not just "new, restored transfer". Heck, they even put it here for the TV version. Plus, mentioning the Academy Award winning cut and then NOT including it would be kind of shady on their part and I don't think Criterion would do that.
- flyonthewall2983
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- Darth Lavender
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Well, the PAL Optimum release lists 209 minutes for the Director's Cut. Taking into account PAL speedup, that should be 217 minutes on NTSC.
Considering that I still haven't watched my Optimum disk, I have absolutely no interest in buying this (and, of course, see my criticism of SD Criterion releases elsewere). But, I will be curious to see what the differences are between the two "director's cuts"
As I understand it, the first Director's Cut was made for television. So, I suppose the newer Director's Cut will probably restore a little bit of sex and/or violence that had to be trimmed and presumably use restored film elements (previous DVDs of the Director's Cut are reputedly very dark and murky). But, if those were the only changes, that would make including the "original" Director's Cut rather pointless.
Or, perhaps, Bertolucci will be re-editing the film entirely from scratch (like Coppola did with Apocalypse Now Redux) so, while it will be essentially the same, there might be a few alternate takes, slightly longer or shorter shots, etc. for the trained viewer. I'm guessing, also, the first Director's Cut will probably be presented 2.35:1 but the new Director's Cut will be (in order to get Storaro's approval) 2:1
Or, cynically, perhaps as with King Of Kings and The Leopard (or putting 150 minutes of movies on 4 single-layer DVDs in the M&M set) including both director's cuts is just a move to increase the number of disks and 'justify' a higher price point.
Considering that I still haven't watched my Optimum disk, I have absolutely no interest in buying this (and, of course, see my criticism of SD Criterion releases elsewere). But, I will be curious to see what the differences are between the two "director's cuts"
As I understand it, the first Director's Cut was made for television. So, I suppose the newer Director's Cut will probably restore a little bit of sex and/or violence that had to be trimmed and presumably use restored film elements (previous DVDs of the Director's Cut are reputedly very dark and murky). But, if those were the only changes, that would make including the "original" Director's Cut rather pointless.
Or, perhaps, Bertolucci will be re-editing the film entirely from scratch (like Coppola did with Apocalypse Now Redux) so, while it will be essentially the same, there might be a few alternate takes, slightly longer or shorter shots, etc. for the trained viewer. I'm guessing, also, the first Director's Cut will probably be presented 2.35:1 but the new Director's Cut will be (in order to get Storaro's approval) 2:1
Or, cynically, perhaps as with King Of Kings and The Leopard (or putting 150 minutes of movies on 4 single-layer DVDs in the M&M set) including both director's cuts is just a move to increase the number of disks and 'justify' a higher price point.
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- What A Disgrace
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- Dylan
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- Antoine Doinel
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- Jeff
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
- Location: Denver, CO
I knew it was too good to be true. Criterion has stealthily changed the aspect ratio listing from 2.35 to 2.00:1. Damn.
- Dylan
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:28 pm
You still never clarified what you meant by this. I'm just curious.Antoine Doinel wrote:Is that screengrab a photograph of the television screen?
I was positive Criterion would change the aspect ratio because there are already images floating out there of Storaro's restoration and it's 2.00:1.I knew it was too good to be true.
- criterionsnob
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- CSM126
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That screengrab from the movie on the last page does look like a snap shot of a TV screen. The picture bows out at the sides, which is usually a sign of a photo of a TV.Dylan wrote:You still never clarified what you meant by this. I'm just curious.Antoine Doinel wrote:Is that screengrab a photograph of the television screen?