Once Upon A Time in America. Who edited these discs?? (1 Viewer)

[Billy Fogerty]

I just watched this movie. Why does it end on disc one before the intermission? Disc one ends at chapter 34 , intermission is chapter 44. A very lousy job. No reason they couldn't have at least went to the intermission on disc one. The Right Stuff was all on one disc and done superb. Warner blew it with WUATIA.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Nobody blew it. From The Digital Bits review by Robert Harris:

One anomaly may disturb some, while I didn't have a real problem with it, considering the alternative...

There was apparently a plan in place to divide the film with the first disc ending with the Intermission and the second picking up thereafter.

Part One is approximately 160 minutes. Had Warner encoded the discs so that 160 minutes was on disc one as planned, it would have necessitated a lowering of the bit rate. Even though printed materials lead one to believe that this is the case, it is incorrect.

Disc One ends at the two hour point, in the middle of a sequence. There is no "painless" break point in this area of the film. Disc Two begins with the end of that sequence, continues an additional forty minutes to the Intermission, and then goes on to Part Two of the film.

Although not what one might wish for in a perfect world, taking into consideration the look and textures which have been accomplished with the transfer and compression, I would have made the same decision rather than to lower quality. I firmly believe that the correct decision has been made.

 

[Billy Fogerty]

It still ruins the continuity. I think they could have come up with a better solution. It just ends abruptly, when you are into the movie. They should have used a third disc for the extras. I don't buy the explanation. A superd job was done on the right stuff , which is a long film.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Aside from a low bit-rate audio commentary and a trailer, there are no special features on Disc One which could have been removed to allow nearly 40 more minutes on that disc.

Regarding The Right Stuff, every movie compresses differently. The type of photography present in OUATIA requires a very high bit rate to look good without artifacts.

 

[Damin J Toell]

I don't buy the explanation.

So what do you think the "real" story is? That they just did it to annoy you?

DJ

 

[Billy Fogerty]

I think at any cost they wanted to keep it a two discs.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

That's very possible. But, as has been explained, making it three (or ten) discs would not have changed the way the first disc is presented at all.

 

[Damin J Toell]

I think at any cost they wanted to keep it a two discs.

That doesn't explain why they wouldn't put the disc break at the intermission instead of where they put it. If their main concern was some nefarious scheme to force this to be a 2-disc set no matter what (not a difficult task with a film that's almost 4 hours long), they could've easily put the break at the intermission. Unless, of course, there is a better explanation than the one you offer.

DJ

 

[Rob W]

Damin, the explanation has already been given above by Robert Harris. I suspect you don't know who he is, or you wouldn't be questioning him. Among other things, he's the man who restored the film elements of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and VERTIGO. He probably knows more about these things than any other regular contributor to this forum.

 

[Michael Reuben]

the explanation has already been given above by Robert Harris. I suspect you don't know who he is, or you wouldn't be questioning him.

He isn't.

M.

 

[Ken Seeber]

A superd job was done on the right stuff , which is a long film.

In this case, the term "long film" is relative. Yes, both are long movies, but "Once Upon a Time In America" is a little more than 45 minutes longer than "The Right Stuff." That makes a big difference.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Damin, the explanation has already been given above by Robert Harris. I suspect you don't know who he is, or you wouldn't be questioning him.

As Michael notes above, I'm not. It is Billy Fogerty who has been doubting Mr. Harris's explanation, and I have been questioning Billy's rationale.

DJ

 

[Henry Gale]

Although not what one might wish for in a perfect world...

As with many of my best loved films, my shelf now holds the P&S Laser Disc of OUATIA, the WIDESCREEN LD and now the DVD. All of them require me to lift my carcass off the couch at some point. :frowning:

 

[Mark_vdH]

I think at any cost they wanted to keep it a two discs.

You think that removing the documentary on disc 2 would create more space on disc 1?

If you think that the documentary was "crammed in" on disc 2 because Warner wanted to avoid a 3 disc set, then it would have made more sense to make the movie part on disc 1 longer instead of shorter, wouldn't it?

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

The end of disc 1 is bothersome at first, but I find that on the second viewing, it didn't bother me at all. If you are quick at getting the disc 1 out and disc 2 in, and you keep hitting the MENU button, you will get to the menu quicker and then get on with the rest of the film.

Disc changes are annoying, I know, but it's all for the best... usually: anyone got the CAV edition of Poltergeist? 115-minute film spread over FIVE SIDES! :frowning:


Gordy

 

[oscar_merkx]

It is annoying the sudden break with this monumental disc, yet at the same time, this allows you to have a breather in what is already a pulsating movie.

I don't find it a problem at all

 

[Robert Harris]

For those who questioned one of Damin's respones, he did what I occasionally do, forgetting that everyone does not read either humor or comments between the lines.

I've been reminded many times not to make crytic remarks in print and never, ever to use dry humor telephonically with someone that I don't know. It will almost always be misconstrued. I still however, continue to do it. Ususlly to my detriment.

I read Damin's comments as if reiterating or continuing someone else's earlier remarks. Its frightening when one starts to be able to read into the various writing styles and personalities of the participants to HTF.

I've had the pleasure of meeting a number of people who stop in to visit HTF and having visited the websites of others. One that I found surprising, as he has a great deal of knowledge in film history, is Mr. McCart, who I believe is just graduating high school. Talk about an overachiever...

 

[Jeff_HR]

As with many of my best loved films, my shelf now holds the P&S Laser Disc of OUATIA, the WIDESCREEN LD and now the DVD. All of them require me to lift my carcass off the couch at some point.

Anyone who has ever owned a Laserdisc player knows about having the side break occur in an inopportune place. We got used to it. People have simply become spoiled by the almost seamless way that DVDs go on & on. I don't find the break point with OUATIA a problem either.

 

[TonyDale]

Oh, yes! We laserdisc owners certainly DO know about inappropriate side breaks!

The first WS edition of THE SOUND OF MUSIC had the oddity of breaking the side in the midst of the song, "Do-Re-Mi."

 

[Robert Harris]

Some may be unaware that laser discs also had the interesting anomoly of being time compressed. At a production cost of approximately $6 per side, many films that were over 119, but less than 124 minutes were compressed to fit two sides.

An example of this can be found in Star Wars. Dozens of titles were treated in this manner. Most slight compression was transparent, much like PAL conversions.