Doctor Zhivago originally to be bare-bones on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

Link Removed

 

[Dick]

H, Patrick. I'm not sure what you mean here - clicking the link you provide gives me the following information about the then-upcoming DVD release:

Audio commentary by Omar Sharif, Rod Steiger and Lean, Sandra

Isolated musical score

Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1

Introduction by Omar Sharif

30th anniversary documentary: "Doctor Zhivago: The Making of a Russian Epic"

10 vintage documentaries

Vintage audio track interviews

December 1965 New York premiere coverage

This is pretty much as it finally came to us. While I have you on the phone, so to speak, there is another showing of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS on TCM March 15. Their web site says it runs 170 minutes. Is this a different version tan the one you requested and was shown in January?

 

[Gui A]

Patrick is referring to the MGM version:

MGM Home Entertainment 906310

Certificate: Not Rated

Color - 200 minutes

Released: 1999

Cancelled

That version only had one extra:

Featurette "David Lean's Film of 'Dr. Zhivago'"

 

[Patrick McCart]

There should be two listings on that page...unless it's been changed.

As for Eighty Days....I emailed TCM to find out if it's the widescreen print they made last December.

It's a hard decision for them... use the widescreen version missing 30 minutes of footage or use the uncut version that's in pan & scan.

They did say that they would use the widescreen print when possible and would later switch it with an uncut widescreen print when it's ready. (Various websites have confirmed that the film is indeed being restored, although it's not clear if its for video or theaters.)

To be perfectly honest...even the "uncut" print isn't uncut. It's missing the overture, intermission, and exit music. Ironically, the pan & scan VHS and rare LD are the only version that use the intermission...but both heavily cut the film into about 140 minutes. (Plus, the intermission is a cheesy computer graphic, but with the correct music.)

TCM has shown some remastered prints before (They recently aired the remastered Ocean's 11 instead of their old transfer.)

 

[Dick]

Patrick, I wish you the best of luck in getting an email reply from TCM. Like so many companies, they started out being communication-friendly but now all I get are canned responses. I can understand the difficulty in trying to answer all queries individually, but I should think they would make an effort for the more intelligent missives. God, I used to be able to call their toll-free number and speak to a PERSON. Anyway, thanks for the info.