The Silent Partner (with Elliot Gould,Christopher Plummer) - who owns? any news? (1 Viewer)

[CraigF]

Just got my copy today. Wondering if this is cut? Or...is it transferred from a PAL version, as is not unknown when I see Studio Canal on a film that has the slightest Canadian connection, and the film seems ~4% shorter in runtime. I'm asking of course because the package says the runtime is ~101 mins., but other sources say 105-106 minutes. I have never seen this film so wouldn't know if it's cut, but just like to know... Thanks.

 

[Harry-N]

The movie runs the full 1:45 (105 minutes), and there's no evidence of any editing or PAL speed-up.

It's just yet another problem with that awful insert that was used for this title. I'm sure if you read through this thread you'll see all sorts of objections to the picture used depicting a gang of men with a gun standingon a US 100 dollar bill from long after this picture was made. Add to that early versions that misspelled the names of the leads, and now the length is wrong.

Thank goodness the movie transfer is fine!

Harry

 

[CraigF]

Thanks. When I posted I hadn't fully realised there were no other versions of this film on DVD...was thinking I'd return it and get the PAL version if it was a PAL->NTSC conversion. When I found out there was no other choice I opened it anyway. I thought it looked very decent, especially so when compared to many other films of its era (70s) I have on DVD, no complaints at all. The last of the credit music faded out at ~1:45:30...man they sure screwed that cover up, especially the initial version. You'd think people would check actor name spelling and runtime...I think it's pretty clear the cover author had no knowledge of the film and had no means to give any home-video version a quick view beforehand.

I presume this disc was made for the U.S. market based on the lack of French subtitles and the presence of Spanish ones...didn't realise it had any profile there. I recall hearing about the film when it came out, as I had just moved to Toronto in '78. Toronto was really into self-promotion then, and films that took place in Toronto (as opposed to using it to sub for somewhere else, as happened later when there was more of a film industry here) were rare and ballyhooed.

What I liked is the subtle jokes and jabs, everything not in your face and painfully explained like it tends to be nowadays, nor is it overly contrived soap opera style to achieve its end.