John Woo's - A Better Tomorrow (1 Viewer)

[TonyE]

Does anyone know which version of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow is truly better?
One for $17.99
OR
One for $44.99
THANKS!

 

[Kenneth_C]

The $17.99 is the Anchor Bay version and has a better transfer, is anamorphically enhanced, and apparently has better subtitles. Just make sure the back cover lists the Cantonese track as being Mono. The first pressing of this disc (which, I believe, said the sound was 5.1) had altered music and a few other problems. Since it came out a couple years ago, I imagine most of the copies for sale now are the corrected version.

 

[Sam Hatch]

Though the corrected Anchor Bay version still has a quick sound dropout in the beginning, it's the one to go with.

Strangely, the big problem with the original release was the use of unlicensed music from other films -- such as Forrest Gump. Yet the correct version of the film (on the mono disc) uses hefty amounts of Peter Gabriel's work for 'Birdy'. Was this stuff licensed? Or is Mr. Gabriel getting ripped off as well? I didn't recall seeing his name in the credits anywhere...

 

[Matthew Brown]

Here is a comparison of the two.
http://www.loveandbullets.com/abt.htm
The Media Asia/Mega Star version also was originally released with the altered soundtrack. The bad ones should be out of circulation by now.
If you have an all region DVD player, there will be a special edition DVD coming out from the UK by the end of the year. I don't know if it will better than the Anchor Bay version.
Matt

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Personally, I would wait for the UK release since none of the versions currently out there are all that good. The Anchor Bay version isn't bad but the 10 second dropout just drives me crazy.

Jeff