Criterion To The Rescue!

And still we wait. Fyi the netflix expiration on this movie is December 1st, hopefully something comes soon!

DigiTSKT:

I have just acquired the DVD of this film. It contains the film, a sparse commentary by the director Anthony Harvey and film archivist Robert A. Harris, an 8-minute featurette of little moment, the theatrical trailer, and some biographies. According to the DVD Savant review on the DVD Talk site, this edition was released by Anchor Bay in 2000. Oddly enough, the name "Anchor Bay" appears nowhere on the DVD case, or on the DVD label. In fact, NO manufacturer's name at all appears on the DVD or case! The picture on the cover, however, indicates that I have the same edition as the one reviewed by DVD Savant. I assume that DVD Savant's information is accurate and that this DVD was indeed released by Anchor Bay.

The DVD case says that the length of the film is 98 minutes, but in fact, on the DVD itself, the film is only 91 minutes long. (I expect that the Universal Vault edition of 87 minutes is simply the British version of 87 minutes put back into American formatting, with the 87 minutes representing a speeded-up PAL version of the original American 91 minutes. In other words, I expect that the Vault edition contains exactly what I have on my DVD, as far as the film goes, but likely the Vault version does not have the special features.)

The supermarket scene, which was supposedly entirely cut in the original theatrical release, is at least partly restored in this version. One commenter on the DVD Talk site argues that parts of this scene have been cut from this edition, but the director, in the commentary, does not confirm that. He says only that the *entire* supermarket was cut in the theatrical release and that it has now been restored -- though he seems to think the music in that scene has been tampered with. So is anything missing from the supermarket scene? I can't tell: the supermarket scene looks complete to me, but that's just my impression.

The director mentions one other short scene, of maybe a minute or so, that is missing from this edition, i.e., the scene leading up to George C. Scott's being unconscious in the library. But that would bring the total up to only 92 minutes, so if the film was originally 98 minutes -- as the IMDb claims, and as the back of the DVD case seems to indicate -- 6 more minutes are missing from somewhere. It is not obvious where they were taken from. Some of them might have been from the supermarket scene, some from elsewhere. Until some film historian puts together a definitive DVD edition, I suppose we will not know.

I, too, wish Criterion or someone would put out a definitive edition. I have written to Criterion and one or two other DVD companies requesting this, but I have no idea how seriously these DVD companies take customer suggestions.

In the meantime, this 2000 DVD (which I presume has the same runtime as the VHS which came out at about that time, though I don't know) is a good print, and the 91-minute version, if not complete, is complete enough to be a satisfying piece of film entertainment. It is certainly hard to find at an affordable price; I got lucky. But if you check the internet a few times a week, probably you will eventually find one out there for $50 or less. In the meantime, if ALL you want is the movie, and don't care about the special features, the Vault edition *might* have the same contents (slightly speeded up) as the Anchor Bay, and would be more affordable.