This or That Edition: What the director intended you to see (1 Viewer)

[Vignir]

"Do you want to watch the Theatrical or [Insert: Unrated/Extended/Director's Cut]?" is a question most us have encountered when playing a Blu-ray or a DVD. Or even when you're about to stream a movie.

Nowadays, with numerous different editions of many films, it can be hard to determine which edition to watch. Is it the “unrated cut” or the “director’s cut” or even the “extended cut”? Studios and their marketing departments can slap “special edition” on any disc but that’s no guarantee for a special treatment. Even the wide used “director’s cut” can, and has been, used in marketing purposes with no approval from the director.

I'll get to the point: I got frustrated with the many cuts of movies that I can choose from, because I just want to watch the movie that the director wants me to see. So I began to compile information about various editions by listening to commentaries, reading books, working through interviews, and by asking the director what is their preferred version. And with all that information I started a site called This or That Edition.

Some movies that This or That Edition has covered: Alien, Aliens, Gladiator, The Iron Giant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Payback, Straight Outta Compton, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and The Wolverine.

More than a year later I have 161 entries on the site with personal confirmation from directors like Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, Ben Stiller, James Mangold, Joe Carnahan, Greg Mottola, Joe Johnston, Francis Lawrence, Brett Ratner, Josh Boone, Paul Haggis, Etan Cohen, Nicholas Stroller and Richard Kelly.

I hope that you fellow cinephiles can enjoy the site.

 

[ScottHM]

I just want to watch the movie that the director wants me to see.

I don't really care what the director wants me to see, I care about what I like. I'll read up about different cuts and make a choice based on what sounds most interesting to me.
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[Vignir]

I don't really care what the director wants me to see, I care about what I like. I'll read up about different cuts and make a choice based on what sounds most interesting to me.
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If you have to choose between a theatrical cut and an extended cut, don't you want to know which one the director prefers and therefore represents his/hers artistic take on the movie instead of an cut produced by editors employed by Universal Home Entertainment?

 

[TonyD]

Sounds interesting.

I usually like to see the theatrical version then check out the longer cut if it's available.

 

[TonyD]

Could be a good resource.

I just checked Spider-man 2.1 and see Raimi feels as the theatrical cut is his preferred director version.

 

[hndrsnsbks]

Unless there is something obviously "wrong" with the original theatrical version, that's what I prefer to watch. If there is a "Director's Cut" included, I may (or may not) watch that also.

 

[cinemiracle]

"Do you want to watch the Theatrical or [Insert: Unrated/Extended/Director's Cut]?" is a question most us have encountered when playing a Blu-ray or a DVD. Or even when you're about to stream a movie.

Nowadays, with numerous different editions of many films, it can be hard to determine which edition to watch. Is it the “unrated cut” or the “director’s cut” or even the “extended cut”? Studios and their marketing departments can slap “special edition” on any disc but that’s no guarantee for a special treatment. Even the wide used “director’s cut” can, and has been, used in marketing purposes with no approval from the director.

I'll get to the point: I got frustrated with the many cuts of movies that I can choose from, because I just want to watch the movie that the director wants me to see. So I began to compile information about various editions by listening to commentaries, reading books, working through interviews, and by asking the director what is their preferred version. And with all that information I started a site called This or That Edition.

Some movies that This or That Edition has covered: Alien, Aliens, Gladiator, The Iron Giant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Payback, Straight Outta Compton, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and The Wolverine.

More than a year later I have 161 entries on the site with personal confirmation from directors like Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, Ben Stiller, James Mangold, Joe Carnahan, Greg Mottola, Joe Johnston, Francis Lawrence, Brett Ratner, Josh Boone, Paul Haggis, Etan Cohen, Nicholas Stroller and Richard Kelly.

I hope that you fellow cinephiles can enjoy the site.

You can add LION - the Australian film which recently had an Australian cinema re-release in a Director's cut of the film. I understand that this version has not been released anywhere else in the world. The US bluray does not contain the extra footage.

 

[Vignir]

You can add LION - the Australian film which recently had an Australian cinema re-release in a Director's cut of the film. I understand that this version has not been released anywhere else in the world. The US bluray does not contain the extra footage.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll make sure to check it out and see if I can find or get a quote from the director.

 

[TravisR]

For me, it seems like the vast majority of director's cuts/extended editions/special editions seem to have a few scenes that I think should be part of the movie but they also have scenes that range from not being needed to actually damaging the pace of the movie. Of course, there are examples of when I do prefer the director's cut.

 

[ScottHM]

If you have to choose between a theatrical cut and an extended cut, don't you want to know which one the director prefers and therefore represents his/hers artistic take on the movie

Why should I favor the director's cut over the producer's cut? Films are collaborative efforts and I'm open minded.
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[Vignir]

Why should I favor the director's cut over the producer's cut? Films are collaborative efforts and I'm open minded.
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Sorry but I think you're missing the whole point of the site. The directors or the producers have in some cases no saying in the longer cuts released on Blu-ray/DVD/Streaming.

 

[cinemiracle]

"Do you want to watch the Theatrical or [Insert: Unrated/Extended/Director's Cut]?" is a question most us have encountered when playing a Blu-ray or a DVD. Or even when you're about to stream a movie.

Nowadays, with numerous different editions of many films, it can be hard to determine which edition to watch. Is it the “unrated cut” or the “director’s cut” or even the “extended cut”? Studios and their marketing departments can slap “special edition” on any disc but that’s no guarantee for a special treatment. Even the wide used “director’s cut” can, and has been, used in marketing purposes with no approval from the director.

I'll get to the point: I got frustrated with the many cuts of movies that I can choose from, because I just want to watch the movie that the director wants me to see. So I began to compile information about various editions by listening to commentaries, reading books, working through interviews, and by asking the director what is their preferred version. And with all that information I started a site called This or That Edition.

Some movies that This or That Edition has covered: Alien, Aliens, Gladiator, The Iron Giant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Payback, Straight Outta Compton, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and The Wolverine.

More than a year later I have 161 entries on the site with personal confirmation from directors like Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, Ben Stiller, James Mangold, Joe Carnahan, Greg Mottola, Joe Johnston, Francis Lawrence, Brett Ratner, Josh Boone, Paul Haggis, Etan Cohen, Nicholas Stroller and Richard Kelly.

I hope that you fellow cinephiles can enjoy the site.

Some more missing titles from your list:

THE SAND PEBBLES.. two different cinema and dvd release lengths. The 70mm print was cut by about 20 minutes before it was released in most countries. I saw it in NYC and it was the original version. I saw it again in New Zealand
where I worked ,during the censor's classification screening and it was the full version.Fox then cut it before it was released in cinemas. The dvd was the original length version but the bluray was the cut version. How could Fox ruin this masterpiece when it came to bluray? It is long overdue for the original length version to be released onto bluray. Shame on you Fox!

SOUTH PACIFIC. Three different versions in 70mm. The original cinema release in the US when it first opened. It was then cut for International release.There was also the European cut version which differed in the opening scenes and songs. We screened the European version where I worked in New Zealand. When it was re-issued in 70mm in1967, the US version was screened. Both the dvd and bluray editions were the US versions. So what happened to the versions that much of the world saw? It should have been shown as an extra on the bluray edition.

 

[J. Casey]

I enjoy watching different cuts of movies--it's interesting to see how addition or removal of material impacts the movie as a whole. Of course, I always favor the "director's cut" if it is indeed the director's cut. Case in point: Universal retooling TOUCH OF EVIL to be more like the film Welles intended (based on a detailed memo he sent to Universal after the studio altered the final product).

 

[Robert Harris]

I'm SHOCKED to not find Lawrence, Spartacus and Mad World on your list, which I presume is oriented toward films released to video, and not historical theatrical cuts. Or are you listing both?

Many theatrical variants out there!

 

[Vignir]

Some more missing titles from your list:

I'm SHOCKED to not find Lawrence, Spartacus and Mad World on your list, which I presume is oriented toward films released to video, and not historical theatrical cuts. Or are you listing both?

Many theatrical variants out there!

I don't think that's something to be shocked about because This or That Edition is a work in progress, and therefore is nowhere complete. New additions are weekly and in all cases I need to have concrete information or a quote from the director to add the particular movie to the database. Spartacus and It's a Madx4 World are on a 100+ list of movies that I'm either working on or getting around to doing If you have some titles that you would like me to add, please send me an e-mail ([email protected]).

If you enjoy the site and see it's potential, please help me by letting other people know about it on social media.
This or That Edition on twitter - https://twitter.com/thisthatedition
This or That Edition on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thisorthatedition

 

[Johnny Angell]

I don't think that's something to be shocked about because This or That Edition is a work in progress, and therefore is nowhere complete. New additions are weekly and in all cases I need to have concrete information or a quote from the director to add the particular movie to the database. Spartacus and It's a Madx4 World are on a 100+ list of movies that I'm either working on or getting around to doing If you have some titles that you would like me to add, please send me an e-mail ([email protected]).

If you enjoy the site and see it's potential, please help me by letting other people know about it on social media.
This or That Edition on twitter - https://twitter.com/thisthatedition
This or That Edition on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thisorthatedition

I think this is an interesting idea and I do sympathize with your "work in progress" situation. However, on your home page you feature Close Encounters, but do not have an entry for it in you list of movies.

 

[Rick Thompson]

Some more missing titles from your list:

THE SAND PEBBLES.. two different cinema and dvd release lengths. The 70mm print was cut by about 20 minutes before it was released in most countries. I saw it in NYC and it was the original version. I saw it again in New Zealand
where I worked ,during the censor's classification screening and it was the full version.Fox then cut it before it was released in cinemas. The dvd was the original length version but the bluray was the cut version. How could Fox ruin this masterpiece when it came to bluray? It is long overdue for the original length version to be released onto bluray. Shame on you Fox!

SOUTH PACIFIC. Three different versions in 70mm. The original cinema release in the US when it first opened. It was then cut for International release.There was also the European cut version which differed in the opening scenes and songs. We screened the European version where I worked in New Zealand. When it was re-issued in 70mm in1967, the US version was screened. Both the dvd and bluray editions were the US versions. So what happened to the versions that much of the world saw? It should have been shown as an extra on the bluray edition.

I don't know about international versions, but both Sand Pebbles and South Pacific included the extended US road show versions as well as the general release version. They took different approaches. South Pacific had the extra footage, unrestored, inserted into the general release. You knew immediately which were those scenes because the picture suddenly got worse. This is also way MGM/UA did it when they released the road show version of The Alamo on VHS.

Sand Pebbles, however, simply included the road show version, unrestored, in its entirety. That version had deteriorated to a heavy red tone; including it in its entirety (as opposed to simply inserting the extra scenes into the restored general release version) made it virtually unwatchable. After about 45 minutes my eyes were hurting. South Pacific was very watchable (only the extra scenes were unrestored) and interesting to see what was cut.

Interestingly, despite the different approaches, both were Fox releases. Maybe it was the Rodgers & Hammerstein people who made the difference.

 

[Paul Rossen]

Re: The Sand Pebbles

I for one am thrilled that Fox released TSP on DVD in it's original Roadshow length as I fist saw it at the Rivoli in December 1966. View the film as sepia pictures and you'll be amazed how good it is. In fact though I have the blu ray it is this full version that I view.

Re: South Pacific.

I did not see the uncut version in the theaters but did catch up with a 70 mm showing at the Warner Cinerama in the mid '70s. It good to have the full version but every time the film goes to B&W it takes me out of the film. Here I watch only the cut blu ray.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I watch the South Pacific roadshow out of curiosity. It's a slow film, and the cuts are an improvement. Whether or not the cuts to San Pebbles improves it, I don't know. First, I can't tell where the edits are, and second, it's unwatchable after about 45 minutes. My opinion, however, is that the theatrical San Pebbles is a fine film that takes a long time to get going. I have no problem with that as Wise is taking the time to set up his story. We adults don't need slam-bang starts in serious films.

 

[Paul Rossen]

I watch the South Pacific roadshow out of curiosity. It's a slow film, and the cuts are an improvement. Whether or not the cuts to San Pebbles improves it, I don't know. First, I can't tell where the edits are, and second, it's unwatchable after about 45 minutes. My opinion, however, is that the theatrical San Pebbles is a fine film that takes a long time to get going. I have no problem with that as Wise is taking the time to set up his story. We adults don't need slam-bang starts in serious films.

If you are interested in learning more on TSP there is a site ...
Thesandpebbles.com that is the most thorough and entertaining site on a motion picture. It explains all the cuts as well as the cut preview scenes that didn't make to the premiere.