MovieChat Forums > The Hour of the Pig (1994) Discussion > The Hour of the Pig vs. The Advocate

The Hour of the Pig vs. The Advocate

posted 17 years ago by adkmilkmaid
6 replies | jump to latest

The Hour of the Pig (British video version) is 15 minutes longer than The Advocate (American video version). 12 seconds in a sex scene and a few other minor bits (total of 3 minutes) were cut for the U.S. theatre market when The Advocate was first released on the big screen in 1994, to avoid an NC-17 rating. However, for some baffling reason, twelve more minutes (not particulary sex scenes, more continuity) were cut from The Advocate video when the video was released.

Why? Who knows? Perhaps they didn't realize they were striking prints off an incomplete copy? Or perhaps it was the same fool who put out the incomplete videos of Valmont (another Firth movie that was also released on video missing scenes)?

[–] JackTorrance1990 17 years ago

Harvey and Bob Weinstein are known to cut scenes out of films all the time (recent examples being The Protector (aka Tom-Yun-Goong), Arthur and The Invisibles (aka Arthur and The Minimoys) and the U.S. version of Grindhouse, though that was for time). So the answer for the fifteen missing minutes is because the Weinsteins believe they can fool U.S. audiences into watching edited version of films (they fooled me, I saw the three I mentioned in theatres but because I wanted to and I didn't know they were cut until after I saw them).

The Godfather Part II:Greatest Ever

We're gonna raise more hell than Hellraiser.

[–] beeryusa 17 years ago

I cannot believe that they cut 12 minutes out of a film with a particularly complex plot. Typical! Now the only way to see this film on DVD is by seeing the edited version which barely makes sense.

Maybe I'll prepare for it by watching Godfather 2 and skipping through all the scenes with Fredo.

I mean when will these idiots realise that viewers of this type of film don't want to see edited versions?

[–] curiousiii40 14 years ago

I saw "The Hour of the Pig" on Canadian cable television (Showcase) over ten years ago and I recall that in some of the orgiastic background scenes there was actual penetrating sex - one of the men had this huge dong as he was pumping a young waif or milkmaid from behind. I always wondered how this got past the broadcast censors as this was not an approved type of activity for non-pay TV programming.

[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

The packaging of the U.S. "Advocate" is also very misleading, making this look like a "Fatal Attaction"-type film. The cover art says: "When murder is the motive, seduction is the last defense" and the back cover calls it "A courtroom thriller with a passionate edge." All very misleading.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 14 years ago

I also think that "Hour of the Pig" is a superior title.

[–] Spygirl 14 years ago

I'm glad I am not the only one going crazy with this practice. I HATE cut movies. They do it to shorten the movie or take out a scene they may think is too objectionable for our tender eyes (like there's no American movie that can be considered objectionable).

I watched the movie and before it started, they compared it in a way to The Crying Game. The gypsy girl looked a bit like Jaye Davidson, so....

There was absolutely nothing outstanding about the plot to warn you not to give away the ending. It didn't take a genius to figure out there were missing scenes.

The only way to see the original work is to buy a Region 2 DVD player it seems.