Hong Kong running time?
Why is their version so much longer? Could they have a more complete print than the one available in the US?
shareThe one playing at moma says it is 90min.
shareMost likely down to different projection speeds. Silent films were shot with fewer frames-per-second than sound films, so when they got played on post-silent era projectors they appeared sped up and had shorter runtimes as a result. Some video and DVD releases of silent films play at the wrong speed, others (the majority these days) are slowed down to their original speed.
I know of two video versions of Italian Straw Hat. One from Connoisseur video (which I own a copy of) at 114 minutes, the other from Interama at 84 minutes. Even though it is much shorter, the Interama copy claims to be "from the full-length negative". My guess would be the Connoisseur edition is played at the correct speed and the Interama one is too fast. The Connoisseur one doesn't have a particularly good score though, so perhaps the Interama one is better on that count. Both videos are available for around $22 on Amazon.
I have just bought the 2010 Flicker Alley version which is 105 min, from Amazon.com.
The case notes indicate that the composition is partly the much-edited UK version, with the remainder being pieced together from French extracts. It was run at19 fps when being scanned in high def.
This DVD contains two scores.
When I get time to view it, I'll post an opinion.
108 minutes, complete and perfect, at the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
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