Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection - Oct 14, 2008 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

You're right about some of those shots. I guess they had to use another element... better than filtering it out, though.

Maybe it treats 4x3 and 16x9 content different for overscan.

Here's a cap from the DVD with the pillarboxing intact: http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/1000/40/0424.jpg

 

[WilliamMcK]

OK, I'm convinced. I actually copied the cap into "paint" and measured the pixels of the actual image sans pillar box bars and got a 1.65625 ratio. Now I have to figure out why my set overscans 16x9 images. Thanks for the link (should have done that years ago myself).

 

[Craig Beam]

Agreed. As it stands, the original DVD edition remains the best (which is why I still have it, despite owning the Masterpiece Collection, and why I'll STILL have it after buying the new Legacy Edition).

 

[Michael Elliott]

Schnittbericht :: Psycho :: Schnittberichte.com (Mehr als 4300 weitere Zensurberichte zu Filmen, Spielen, Comics ...)

Tim Lucas' VideoWatchblog and a few other sites are talking about a German station playing the "pre-cut" version of PSYCHO, which includes some longer scenes that were cut before the U.S. release. I guess it's too late for this stuff to be included on this new set so this one here is certainly worthless now. You'd think Universal would jump to release this "uncut" version.

 

[Simon Caleb]

Yes, it was I who initially posted the news to Tim Lucas, Rue Morgue, Fangoria and The Digital Bits.
Interesting to see it spread like wildfire...still, I hope this news falls into the hands of the decision makers at Universal.

I'm guessing it will be too late for them to bother with restoring Psycho to an uncensored "director's cut". But stranger things have happened!

 

[Kevin Harper]

If I remember correctly this 'pre cut' version of PSYCHO is actually the one seen in the UK which always included these shots unlike the US version which was censored. This is the version that appeared on VHS years ago and has been shown on UK TV.

 

[Simon Caleb]

Thanks Kevin,

When you say, appeared on UK video years ago, would that mean the CIC pre cert VHS? I.E. the first video release.

Rgds.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Isn't it possible that the extra footage was taken out by Hitchcock, but after some film elements were made? Even if it exists, it would be terrible to put it back in if he didn't intend it to be there.

 

[Mark B]

My understanding of Hitchcock is that footage wasn't even SHOT if it wasn't "intended to be there."

 

[BillyFeldman]

This is silly. I don't want a version of Psycho that is not the release version from the US. That was the film he sent to theaters, that was the film that made him wealthy beyond even his imaginings, and we don't need this other thing IF it even exists. For example, the only version of Topaz that's available on DVD is the preview version - I want the version that was released to theaters - the other is a nice extra.

EDIT: I've now looked at these caps. No one has any idea what this is - but it seems like this extra, what, twenty or thirty seconds of film was an overseas version. Really, twenty seconds (this person puts up a German version of the letter being written and counts that as being longer - utter nonsense). Leave Psycho alone, and if this twenty seconds is so interesting, put them on as an extra - don't muck about with a classic film. I can't believe this person Tim Lucas is actually calling for Universal to change this great film.

 

[Simon Caleb]

No, this footage apart from the letter writing insert, which was changed for specific countries, were US censor cuts. One of which, the spied on undressing was featured as 'censored footage' in the making of docu on Universal's CE.

As for retaining the Master's film in a censor neutered version, I don't agree.
And yes, sadly, even Hitchcock wasn't above the censors.

Here's the cuts page in English Movie-Censorship.com

 

[Patrick McCart]

If he had taken out the shots after the censor's requests, it's still his cut of the film.

As for Hitchcock's shooting methods... efficient for the most part, but it's not the case for Notorious, The Paradine Case, Spellbound, Strangers on a Train, Topaz. Also consider the extended ending to Vertigo he made for export. It's an extra on the DVD, as it should remain.

 

[Simon Caleb]

Yes you're right, it's still his cut of the film, albeit a censored cut. And thus artistically compromised.

I know which version I would prefer.

I'm not discussing an alternate edition the director prepared, this is censorship. And quite frankly I'm surprised that others are happy to accept the master's work, censored.

 

[Simon Howson]

The film was made in 1960, censorship - or rather industry self regulation - was part and parcel of making and releasing a Hollywood film at that time. The reason Hitchcock was such a good director was because he knew how to work within that system. His films are full of implied sex and violence at a time when those were supposedly taboo topics.

Moreover, all major commercial films are products of many different economic, industrial, technical and aesthetic pressures. That's just the nature of the business, because films cost so much to make. It doesn't make sense to me asserting that a major commercial film should simply be the product of an individual person. To me that's autuerism gone overboard.

Sure I would love to see a DVD of this longer version. But to me "Psycho (1960)" will always be the object that was given a PCA seal in 1960, and released to the enjoyment of millions of people.

 

[Douglas R]

It depends on which side of the Atlantic you're sitting. Millions of people in Europe saw the (slightly) longer version which was Hitchcock's desired cut. That's the version which I saw in the cinema and I resent the fact that the cut U.S. version seems to have now become the "official" version. A great many films over the years have been cut in the U.K. due to violence which has been present in the U.S. version but that does not mean that the cut U.K. version should be accepted for all time.

 

[BradleyS]

Good Lord, there have already been innumerable releases of the American cut. I can't believe people are complaining about the possibility of releasing a *slightly* alternate version that was assembled by Hitchcock. If you're going to triple-dip, you might as well get something for your money.

 

[seanOhara]

He planned out each scene in meticulous detail, to the point that he would stop an actor in mid-sentence because he knew he was going to use a different angle for the rest of the line. However, that doesn't mean that he never dropped individual scenes from a film if he later realized they were unnecessary.

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[BillyFeldman]

In absolute agreement.

 

[BillyFeldman]

Please provide a link to this information - I have never read such a thing anywhere and I'd like to see it from the horse's mouth, not somebody making a guess. He was a savvy showman and, you know, this twenty seconds is irrelevant and should be included as an extra or with seamless branching, but do NOT muck about with a classic film. And how about this: Hitchcock was very much alive when censorship changed - he could have put back those seconds if he'd wanted to - he didn't.

 

[Kevin Harper]

Yes, that's the one. In fact I think it was the very first VHS I purchased and it cost a fortune then!


PSYCHO has been released on DVD in the UK on a couple of occasions - it would be interesting to know which version this is. I only have the R1 edition myself so cannot comment.