View Full Version : Bertolucci's '1900'...any release news??
HenryKrinkle
31-01-2003, 12:20
This is a great, great movie and I can't find even a rumour of it getting a dvd release. I have the VHS(...my apologies) version in it's original 'Italian', but when I saw it back in the '70's it was in English...and that is the version I want. You can get the 'English dubbed' version on NTSC VHS but it is heavily cut!
...anyone heard anything or know who has the rights to this masterpiece so I can e-mail them?
...as an aside, this film brings up an interesting query for me...it was originally released in Italian at about 5 hours 20 minutes, then was heavily butchered as it made it's way to the US complete with dubbed English soundtrack. The thing is, the English was dubbed by the actors themselves...i.e De Niro did his, Lancaster his, Depardieu I'm not sure of(...last time I saw this was well over 20 years ago :eek: ). So, the purists would say that the 'original' Italian version is the only way to go but I would argue that, as the original actors themselves did the dubbing, this version would be preferable to pretty much all non-Italians.
...what do others think? :)
kerbcrawler
31-01-2003, 13:04
I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions Henry but you have reminded me of the fact this film contains one of the few scenes to have a profoundly disturbing effect on me. Since I can't remember the spoiler tag code all I'll say is Donald and the kid. That really upset me A LOT!
kc
danielzavitz
31-01-2003, 13:16
i've got the 255min NTSC version, in english. is this heavily cut? (obviously from the 5 hr version, but is it likely to be censored in any way)
I want it too but i can't make up my mind which version is the definite one. Probably the italian one as it is set in italy and a lot of the actors are italian, but thats the first time i heard the english speaking actors dubbed themselves.
I taped this about 10 years ago when i lived in germany, a 5 hour german dub in 2.35, didn't really bother me since all other versions are dubbed as well...
Michael Brooke
31-01-2003, 14:01
Originally posted by HenryKrinkle
...as an aside, this film brings up an interesting query for me...it was originally released in Italian at about 5 hours 20 minutes, then was heavily butchered as it made it's way to the US complete with dubbed English soundtrack. The thing is, the English was dubbed by the actors themselves...i.e De Niro did his, Lancaster his, Depardieu I'm not sure of(...last time I saw this was well over 20 years ago :eek: ). So, the purists would say that the 'original' Italian version is the only way to go but I would argue that, as the original actors themselves did the dubbing, this version would be preferable to pretty much all non-Italians.
...what do others think? :)
I suspect our opinions would be irrelevant, since to the best of my knowledge the English soundtrack was recorded after the cuts were made, which means that for a full five-hour cut Bertolucci would need to reassemble his cast (which could be a bit tricky in the cases of Sterling Hayden and Burt Lancaster) and dub a chunk of the soundtrack from scratch! Either that or do a bodge job like the recent <I>Master of the Flying Guillotine</I> or the Anchor Bay <I>Deep Red</I>, where the soundtrack reverts to Cantonese/Italian where no English materials exist.
In general, though, I agree with you - there's no particular reason for it to be in Italian other than the nationality of the characters. But since hardly any of the leading actors were Italian, that's largely irrelevant.
When I booked films for the Everyman Cinema, we occasionally showed English dubbed prints of 1970s Italian films with a strongly international cast because the physical condition of the print was far superior to the scratched and mangled subtitled ones, and I actually think Fellini's <I>Roma</I> is noticeably better in English (an opinion I formed even before I discovered that the Italian dub was recorded by Fellini and four actors in a weekend because the producer ran out of money!).
(Incidentally, Depardieu dubbed his voice for the French version, but his English wasn't up to doing the English track - he barely spoke a word of the language in the Seventies. Some might say he hasn't improved much!)
HenryKrinkle
31-01-2003, 14:27
Originally posted by kerbcrawler
I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions Henry but you have reminded me of the fact this film contains one of the few scenes to have a profoundly disturbing effect on me. Since I can't remember the spoiler tag code all I'll say is Donald and the kid. That really upset me A LOT!
kc
That was indeed a nasty scene...Donald and the cat wasn't too nice either :gag:
HenryKrinkle
31-01-2003, 14:40
Originally posted by danielzavitz
i've got the 255min NTSC version, in english. is this heavily cut? (obviously from the 5 hr version, but is it likely to be censored in any way)
From imdb...
Original Italian version is 311 minutes long and was released as two separate films (Novecento, part 1 & 2). US R-rated version is 243 minutes long and deletes several scenes, including an explicit one in which a prostitute masturbates Robert De Niro and 'Gerard Depardieu' . A restored integral version was re-released in the USA in 1993 with a NC-17 rating
...I hope no-one considers this a spoiler, as it doesn't seem anyone will be watching this anytime soon! :(
...I know this scene is definitley in the English version I saw back in the '70's, so a longer 'English' cut must exsist somewhere! :suspect:
...Anyone know why a film with such a fantastic pedigree(...DeNiro, Deperdieu, Bertolucci, Morricone, Lancaster etc) has been totally ignored by the dvd format?...hell, you can't even get the soundtrack on cd...and it's brilliant(...I have it on vinyl :smokin: )
...one day I suppose :rolleyes: :oh-hum:
I don't think it has, but has this ever been broadcast on British TV?!
kerbcrawler
31-01-2003, 15:42
Garry
I berlieve it was broadcast over 2 nights some time in the last 2 years or so.
kc
I've got a widescreen copy that Sky broadcast a while back, but that's the cut version. Recall seeing a 2-disc edition available on an Italian website, but couldn't see it last time I looked. :oh-hum:
Michael Brooke
31-01-2003, 16:51
Originally posted by Garry Cowell
I don't think it has, but has this ever been broadcast on British TV?!
More than once - initially on Channel 4 in two parts, starting on 23 April 1987 - part of an experiment at scheduling "difficult" films in the early hours of the morning (which sadly seems to be common policy now - can you imagine C4 doing a near-complete Tarkovsky retrospective on Saturday nights at 9pm now?)
Originally posted by Michael Brooke
More than once - initially on Channel 4 in two parts, starting on 23 April 1987 - part of an experiment at scheduling "difficult" films in the early hours of the morning (which sadly seems to be common policy now - can you imagine C4 doing a near-complete Tarkovsky retrospective on Saturday nights at 9pm now?)
True, but at least C4 do show some non-English language films. BBC 2 have given up on doing this completely, leaving it to one of the BBC digital channels.
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