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Just to complicate things even more, the BFI's SIFT database gives a physical length of 37,204 feet - presumably sourced from a festival/NFT screening. I'm assuming this isn't a typo, because they also give a length of 11,340 metres, and that's a perfect match.

Originally, I went "eureka!", because the entry claimed that the running time was 430 minutes (which would reduce to 413 mins after PAL speedup), but then I thought I'd calculate it separately...

...and that footage length only equates to 413 mins and 22 secs even at 24fps, several minutes less than the BBFC/Artificial Eye figure.

And just to muddy the waters further, I dug out my Sarajevo Film Festival catalogue, which gives the running time of its recent screening as 435 mins. Now this would translate to between 417 and 419 mins depending on whether it's rounded up or down to 435 minutes, which is close enough to the BBFC figure to be acceptable...

...so my guess is that both the IMDB and SIFT databases are wrong, that the actual theatrical running time is 435 mins, and the Artificial Eye and Clavis DVDs are both subject to PAL speedup but otherwise uncut, with any discrepancies being explained by issues such as distributor logos, repeated end credits across each DVD and the like.

Does that sound convincing?

And just to update my own post, here's a very revealing comment on Amazon regarding the Facets DVD:

This video transfer, however, appears to be a direct PAL-to-NTSC port which means the film is being shown at a slightly higher frame rate (25 frames/second instead of 24) which means this 450-minute film takes only 435 minutes on this DVD. I understand that preparing a dedicated NTSC video transfer of a film of this image quality and length is very costly but it still hurts a bit. Criterion, are you listening?

Actually, I'd interpret this to mean that the theatrical running time is indeed 435 minutes (see my previous post), that the Facets disc is a native NTSC transfer, and the Clavis/Artificial Eye discs are shortened due to PAL speedup to approx. 420 mins (give or take).

The Facets could run at 23.976 and still be derived from a PAL source (depends how the converstion was achieved).

How revealing that a huge amount of Satantango discussion relates solely to its length.

Barmy wrote:How revealing that a huge amount of Satantango discussion relates solely to its length.

Cut the snide cynicism, buddy. This thread is for the disussion of the DVD releases, NOT the film. Discussion of the film you will find here.

I wish I could remember what the actual running time is, but I recall that none of the (4) times that I've seen this did it end when it was "supposed" to. The 450 minute figure seems particularly suspect, as it smacks of having been rounded to include the pee break that is inevitably scheduled halfway through whenever this is screened. I'm sure that the PAL releases will be the proper length, allowing for PAL speedup; all bets are off with Facets.

My order of the Artificial Eye Satantango has disappeared without a trace from my Amazon.co.uk account. Maybe they are silently cancelling the orders that were placed when it was £12.76. I've emailed customer service. Has this happened to anyone else?

Yep. Just checked and mine's gone too. What the hell do we make of this? I'll contact customer service as well and let you know what kind of response I get.

I knew that price was too good to be true. Still, they should honour it instead of pissing off their customers.

Wow. Fastest customer service response I've ever received:

"You may find that this issue can be solved if you log out from our
website, clear your disk cache, reload our website and then try to
place your order again."

Uh, yeah. I've sent them a second email. Maybe they'll actually read this one.

criterionsnob wrote:My order of the Artificial Eye Satantango has disappeared without a trace from my Amazon.co.uk account. Maybe they are silently cancelling the orders that were placed when it was £12.76. I've emailed customer service. Has this happened to anyone else?

FWIW, mine is still in there as of now, I placed it on October 12 with the above price, along with the Collector's Edition Wicker Man.

My entire open order (of which Satantango was a part) has vanished from the amazon.co.uk website (together with the items that had already despatched). Shot off an email to them.

I've just checked mine, but via the confirmation email of the order number (link) and it is listed as 'not yet dispatched'.

Order is back up (with Satantango still at 12.76 GBP)!

criterionsnob wrote:My order of the Artificial Eye Satantango has disappeared without a trace from my Amazon.co.uk account. Maybe they are silently cancelling the orders that were placed when it was £12.76. I've emailed customer service. Has this happened to anyone else?

Mine is still on there at full price, £23.99. When and for long was it listed as £12.76?

Amazon always seem do to very short lived special offers on the artificial eye dvds. I picked up Wermeister Harmonies for £6-7 (ish) then a few days later it was back upto £19.99 having been at that price for months before too. They're usually pretty understanding though, I've never had any grief off them. Let me know how you get on with them though. I'm considering saying that it was £12.76 when I placed my order for Satantango too!

Whew. As of this morning, my order has re-appeared at the same low, low price.

voiceofanactress wrote:Mine is still on there at full price, £23.99. When and for long was it listed as £12.76?

part of the lower price is that VAT gets dropped out when ordering to the US, so that definitely wouldn't work for you.

Just to follow through, my order is back up at the purchased price as well.

the price is back down again through Amazon UK for anyone who hasn't ordered it yet, £15.31 after the VAT is dropped out.

criterionsnob wrote:My order of the Artificial Eye Satantango has disappeared without a trace from my Amazon.co.uk account. Maybe they are silently cancelling the orders that were placed when it was £12.76. I've emailed customer service. Has this happened to anyone else?

My Satantango order is still on the Amazon.co.uk site. It says:

Delivery estimate: 16 Nov 2006 - 18 Nov 2006

* 1 of: Satantango [1994]

I ordered it at £14.99 and placed the order on 9th Oct.

my Amazon UK account now says my copy was shipped today, hooray!

I just received an email from Amazon telling me mine has been shipped.

mine shipped today too

I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I was going to use the DDD sale to purchase the Facets version of Satantango. However, I see that a lot of you are opting for the AE region 2. Why is that, what is wrong with the Facets, improper conversion? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Is there a known difference between the contents of the Clavis and AE versions, including extras?