Alliance Atlantis (Canadian) version of 'CINEMA PARADISO?' (1 Viewer)

I just saw this in Future Shop, and it bears no resemblance to the U.S. version from Buena Vista/Miramax. The cover art is different and there is no mention whatsoever of it being a longer cut, or including more than one version. It just says 2h 04m on the back, and 1.66:1 aspect ratio with no indication that it's anamorphic.

Of course, it would probably be more work for Alliance Atlantis to track down a NON-anamorphic transfer of this movie, in either version (even the original OOP disc from HBO was 16x9) that to use an existing anamorphic transfer.

On the other hand, with Alliance, the left hand never seems to know what the right hand is doing, so I'd be not at all surprised to find that it IS the exact same disc as the U.S. with wildly inaccurate specs on the packaging.

Does anyone have the Canadian version, or any info on it? (Spine # 4563) Can you confirm anything?

Thanks all.

CNL.com and HMV.com both have the version you're talking about.

Both have release dates of 2/25, and the catalogue number of 4563. The cover that HMV is showing looks identical to the OOP HBO snapper version.

Could Alliance just have repackaged the OOP HBO version?

I ordered my copy from Amazon.com so the version I have is the new version.

Sorry I don't have more info.

Well, I fired off an email to them at [email protected]

We'll see what they say. I'll post it if and when they reply. Maybe someone else wants to drop them a line also...increase the odds one of us gets a response.

Could Alliance just have repackaged the OOP HBO version?

Good question. Maybe, but the packaging still doesn't say whether it's anamorphic or not. It also states that English and French are 2.0 dolby stereo and the Italian is 2.0 mono.

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For those interested, here's AA's response:

The version released by Alliance Atlantis is the original theatrical version that earned the film's well deserved reputation as a classic.

The alternate version, which is available as part of the US Miramax release, was not available to us. Miramax does not own Canadian rights to the longer version and neither Miramax or Alliance Atlantis were able to obtain Canadian rights from the European rights holders.

So the packaging on the Canadian version is an accurate representation of the features included.

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Thanks Mitty.

Looks like I made the right decision by ordering from Amazon.com.

Amazon.ca list a Universal cat # of I367773 @ $25.18 cdn
with no other info. The covers ive seen on other .ca sites are the same as the Mirimax...

I saw the Amazon.ca listing as well. Of course, I would be more comfortable ordering from them if they had a cover scan.

I even have a $5 coupon they sent me. It'd be nice to use it.

Didn't want to start another thread regarding this release. I watched this movie last night and I thought it was a pretty good film. The pacing seemed a little languid at times, but it certainly had some amusing sequences (kids in the front row gawping at the naked woman). I watched the film in the original Italian with English subtitles. The subtitling job was somewhat poorly done by the Montreal outfit that performed the work.

After watching it with subs, I switched over to the English dub track and listened to it for about ten minutes. The dub was not very good, but I'm wondering who did the English voice for Alfredo? The voice sounded familiar to me. I keep thinking that the voice actor has done some dubbing animation dubbing work, but I cannot seem to place where I have heard this guy before. I was wondering if anyone on this board would know who he was and what other work he might have done?