UHD Review International A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Picnic at Hanging Rock -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[Mark B]

Anyone watch this? Interesting and informative.

Thank you for posting this excellent and informative video. It was especially nice to hear, however briefly, the modern teal and orange grading fad addressed.

 

[tenia]

Those who have the older Second Sight DVD with the Theatrical Cut might want to compare it to the cut included here : I thought it was weird that it was so long (120 min) but thought it had been such a long time since it wasn't available that the 115min runtime was inaccurate.
It seems like the DVD was an international cut but the new set offers the Australian TC.

 

[Peter Neski]

Those who have the older Second Sight DVD with the Theatrical Cut might want to compare it to the cut included here : I thought it was weird that it was so long (120 min) but thought it had been such a long time since it wasn't available that the 115min runtime was inaccurate.
It seems like the DVD was an international cut but the new set offers the Australian TC.

What if anything did you notice was missing from the shorter one?

 

[JoshZ]

Those who have the older Second Sight DVD with the Theatrical Cut might want to compare it to the cut included here : I thought it was weird that it was so long (120 min) but thought it had been such a long time since it wasn't available that the 115min runtime was inaccurate.
It seems like the DVD was an international cut but the new set offers the Australian TC.

IMDb and Wikipedia both claim a running time of 115 minutes for the theatrical cut and 107 for the director's cut. However, IMDb further says:

"According to Laserdisc Newsletter, a third version of PAHR came out in Europe in 1976 which ended with Hanging Rock fading into the mists, "High Plains Drifter"-style, much as it appears at the opening of the film. This final shot is also present in the Japanese release."

That doesn't sound like an additional five minute difference, though.

You played that Second Sight DVD and confirmed the running time? Given that a UK DVD would be PAL, it should actually run 4% faster than the correct playback speed. So, the theatrical cut should clock in at about 110 minutes and the director's cut at 102.

Assuming this is the disc you have, the specs on the back of the packaging match up with that.

See on Amazon

 

[JoshZ]

I happen to have a copy of Douglas Pratt's "Laser Video Disc Companion" book, which compiles his reviews from the LaserDisc Newsletter.

That IMDb snippet misreads his review. Pratt actually muddies the water on this quite a bit, as he claims he saw a longer version of the film in London and then saw it again later in America cut down to 110 minutes. (This book was published before the 1998 Director's Cut.) In reviewing a Japanese LD, he states (bolding mine): "The Japanese disc runs 115 minutes; the American film version ran 110. We still remember two scenes that were missing from the American version and are missing here."

This would imply that the version he saw in London was even longer than the 115-minute cut. And also that the American theatrical release was cut to 110 minutes before the 1998 Director's Cut.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Pratt was misremembering.

The Movie Censorship site has a good comparison of the theatrical cut and the Director's Cut as they were released on DVD and VHS:

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Comparison: Director's Cut - Theatrical Version) - Movie-Censorship.com

Comparison: Director's Cut - Theatrical Version

www.movie-censorship.com

 

[tenia]

You played that Second Sight DVD and confirmed the running time? Given that a UK DVD would be PAL, it should actually run 4% faster than the correct playback speed. So, the theatrical cut should clock in at about 110 minutes and the director's cut at 102.

Assuming this is the disc you have, the specs on the back of the packaging match up with that.

I don't have the SS DVD anymore as I replaced it by the BD version then.
However, DVD Compare gives the Koch German DVD as clocking at 110 min 40 while DVD Beaver gives the SS DVD at 110 min 52.
They're both 25fps (PAL) so they'd be roughly 115 min at 24fps, certainly not 119 min.

I don't know the movie well enough to be able to state what additions there could be here, but hopefully, bigger connoisseurs of the movie will soon be able to chime in.

Based on what Michael Brooke found in the relevant Monthly Film Bulletin and posted on criterionforum, the version released in UK theaters was 115min.

 

[JoshZ]

They're both 25fps (PAL) so they'd be roughly 115 min at 24fps, certainly not 119 min.

Where are you getting 119 min from?

Based on what Michael Brooke found in the relevant Monthly Film Bulletin and posted on criterionforum, the version released in UK theaters was 115min.

Benefit of the doubt, Pratt may have seen some sort of unfinalized festival cut before the general release.

Or he could have daydreamed the different scenes and misremembered them later. The movie kind of lends itself to that.

 

[uncledougie]

There’s no sign of purchasing options for this through Amazon. So ordering directly from Second Sight is the best site from which to obtain it? They apparently do ship internationally but they don’t post rates in their general shipping information description. I’m thinking tracked shipping would be advisable to allow a trail to follow in case of delivery issues.

 

[tenia]

Where are you getting 119 min from?

The presentation of the TC in the Second Sight 2023 set is 120 min 13 but it opens with a 50 sec text panel about the restoration. For the comparison with the older presentation, it makes sense removing this, hence a runtime closer to 119 minutes.

In the context of the comparison here though, we could say it's 120 min without changing much of our exchange, it just means there are seemingly about 4-5 minutes more than in the previous presentation, in opposition to just a rounding matter or a couple of 30 sec scenes being in or out.

 

[jayembee]

There’s no sign of purchasing options for this through Amazon. So ordering directly from Second Sight is the best site from which to obtain it? They apparently do ship internationally but they don’t post rates in their general shipping information description. I’m thinking tracked shipping would be advisable to allow a trail to follow in case of delivery issues.

DiabolikDVD[.com] (which is in New Jersey) is where I got mine. Shipping is a flat $5.00. The Limited Edition goes for $75, but that's an even exchange rate for SS's price of £60. The Standard Edition is $35, which is actually a couple of dollars less than the exchange rate from SS's £30.

Both editions appear to be currently in stock.

 

[sbjork]

I ordered the Limited Edition directly from Second Sight, and paid £24 for FedEx international shipping (to Wisconsin). No regrets, but $5 is definitely a bit less steep.

 

[JoshZ]

The presentation of the TC in the Second Sight 2023 set is 120 min 13 but it opens with a 50 sec text panel about the restoration. For the comparison with the older presentation, it makes sense removing this, hence a runtime closer to 119 minutes.

In the context of the comparison here though, we could say it's 120 min without changing much of our exchange, it just means there are seemingly about 4-5 minutes more than in the previous presentation, in opposition to just a rounding matter or a couple of 30 sec scenes being in or out.

How odd. Does it have any of those scenes described in the old Laserdisc review?

 

[Mark B]

How odd. Does it have any of those scenes described in the old Laserdisc review?

LaserDisc Database - Search - Picnic at Hanging Rock

LDDb.com - The LaserDisc Database - Collections, Wishlists, Marketplace of obsolete and niche video formats (LD/CED/VHD/D-VHS/HD DVD)

www.lddb.com

The Japanese laserdiscs show a run time of 116m.

 

[jayembee]

I ordered the Limited Edition directly from Second Sight, and paid £24 for FedEx international shipping (to Wisconsin). No regrets, but $5 is definitely a bit less steep.

That's why I've been tending to order from Diabolik. It ships quickly, too. Getting from New Jersey to New Hampshire typically takes 2-3 days. The only odd thing is that the level of shipment varies from one time to the next. I've had packages from them come USPS Priority, USPS First Class, USPS Media, and UPS Ground. And there's no pattern to the shipping time relative to the shipping level. Picnic came USPS First Class, and was here in 2 days. A previous order came USPS Priority and took a whole week.

 

[Peter Neski]

Mine says 110min for DVD of Original, I couldn't detect any difference ,no extra scenes and the film ending is the same

 

[JWC1969]

For those wondering about differences between release and DC...

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Comparison: Director's Cut - Theatrical Version) - Movie-Censorship.com

Comparison: Director's Cut - Theatrical Version

www.movie-censorship.com

 

[JoshZ]

The Japanese laserdiscs show a run time of 116m.

That could easily be a typo or rounding error, or perhaps a different distributor logo added to the beginning.

Laserdiscs required side changes, and it also wasn't unheard of (in the early days, at least, which is when those Japanese Picnic at Hanging Rock discs were released) for some labels to add a buffer at the end of each side with either a black screen or a "Please Flip Disc Now" message.

 

[Peter Neski]

Its a Typo on the DVD ,its not any longer than the 4k version

 

[sbjork]

I've still got the set waiting on my inbox pile, and I'm really looking forward to watching it, but at this point, I'm not looking forward to reviewing it. I'd pour myself a stiff drink before I sit down in front of the computer, but since I don't drink, I'm just going to have to soldier through.

 

[JWC1969]

I happen to have a copy of Douglas Pratt's "Laser Video Disc Companion" book, which compiles his reviews from the LaserDisc Newsletter.

That IMDb snippet misreads his review. Pratt actually muddies the water on this quite a bit, as he claims he saw a longer version of the film in London and then saw it again later in America cut down to 110 minutes. (This book was published before the 1998 Director's Cut.) In reviewing a Japanese LD, he states (bolding mine): "The Japanese disc runs 115 minutes; the American film version ran 110. We still remember two scenes that were missing from the American version and are missing here."

This would imply that the version he saw in London was even longer than the 115-minute cut. And also that the American theatrical release was cut to 110 minutes before the 1998 Director's Cut.

Of course, it's entirely possible that Pratt was misremembering.

The Movie Censorship site has a good comparison of the theatrical cut and the Director's Cut as they were released on DVD and VHS:

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Comparison: Director's Cut - Theatrical Version) - Movie-Censorship.com

Comparison: Director's Cut - Theatrical Version

www.movie-censorship.com

View attachment 182790

JoshZ, I’m an idiot. A bit later in this thread I sent out the exact same link to the Movie Censorship comparison page. Didn’t mean to double up. I need to read more carefully I guess! Be well.