Can anyone tell me the differences between the US and UK cuts of the film? What's missing from the former version?
I have an old Thorn-EMI VHS copy of this and it runs 85 minutes (NTSC); the IMDb, here, lists a British running time of 89 minutes and a U.S. running time of 81. So, which one do I have? I'm really confused now.
Anyway, thanks to anyone who has a moment to straighten me out on this one.
When transferring NTSC to PAL (or vice versa) there is always a 4% difference in speed, and thus length of the film.
As for the differences between the US and UK versions, there is some info on this thread:
http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/ask-film-question/88888-final-progra mme-1973-a.html
Apparently the US version is shorter but it does have the scene with Michael Moorcock and Hawkwind, which didn't make it into the UK version (only the trailer).
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you all, but thank you very much for the very informative responses. Very enlightening, and I appreciate it greatly.
shareThis film is only referred to as THE LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH when discussing the original U.S. theatrical release in the '70's. It was cut down to a running time of 74 minutes!
"Apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment!"
I have the truncated U.S. version on VHS, and it feels very choppy. It says 70 minutes on the cassette and 76 minutes on the box – and it says 1973 on the cassette and 1974 on the box. Obviously they didn't care much about details with the video release – just as they didn't care about indiscriminate cuts.
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