criterionforum.org

davidhare wrote:In movie terms, although dully directed by Paul Czinner with absolutely no enlivening mise en scene, the 1955 Salzburg perofrmanc of Don Giovanni under Furtwangler, with Lisa della Casa and the great, great Cesare Siepe was the first pivotal movie of my adloescence.

Lisa Della Casa deserves one of those "greats" also.

davidhare wrote:It's a sublime moment in musical history, as is his wartime performance of the 9th, also with the Berlin Philharmonic from 1942.

Truly, and a careful listen to those remarkable WWII broadcast recordings from Berlin speaks volumes.

davidhare wrote:Perhpas it's still a very difficult thing for many people to listen to, even now.

How so?

This is just a quick follow up to the earlier discussion about Grass' SS service. Seems like it's all under control.

The Criterion Collection wrote:The lineup for the seventh annual Cannes Classics, a sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival that highlights new restorations of classics and films previously thought lost, has been announced on the festival’s website. The exciting program will present eighteen titles, which include features by such filmmakers as Luis Buñuel (Tristana), Réné Clément (La bataille du rail), Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho), and John Huston (The African Queen) as well as a short by Roberto Rossellini (Il ruscello di Ripasottile). Three films that are part of the Criterion Collection will also be screening: Jean Renoir’s Boudu Saved from Drowning, in a never-before-seen version that includes scenes deleted from the original release; Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum, in a new director’s cut; and Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, in a new restoration done in part by Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, Pathé, and the Cineteca di Bologna.

What do they mean, new director's cut for Tin Drum? Isn't the current Criterion DVD uncut?

perkizitore wrote:What do they mean, new director's cut for Tin Drum? Isn't the current Criterion DVD uncut?

Apparently there will be a new Director's cut this August released by Kinowelt on DVD and Blu-ray. It's 156 min as opposed to 142 min on Criterion DVD.

The Cannes website lists the new Director's Cut as 140 min, which I think is simply a typo.

perkizitore wrote:What do they mean, new director's cut for Tin Drum? Isn't the current Criterion DVD uncut?

I read that as "new cut by the director" (as opposed to 'previously unsuspected original director's cut'). Possible contender for a Tin Drum BluRay?

The new Director's cut runs 164 minutes

Questions to Volker Schlöndorff:

Why the Director’s Cut now?

The rough cut of the movie, which we showed Günter Grass, ran 2 hours and 45 minutes. It left out a number of scenes we had shot but not printed. Meanwhile, our distribution agreement with United Artist forced us to cut the film down to 2 hours and 15 minutes, which was the maximum running time possible for theatres to book two evening screenings. Therefore, we resolved to polish the existing cut and never even looked at all the other material, much less take the time to edit it.

When the movie turned out to be a big success in the shorter version, we – of course – did not want to diminish the honours bestowed at Cannes and at the Oscars by letting the world know we thought the film was incomplete. Billy Wilder quite rightly reminded me at the time: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Last summer, I was asked whether the lab storing the negatives of unused footage should renew our space rental agreement or dispose of the material. The question instantly piqued my interest in seeing how the material we left out could work nowadays; and I went to work right away to find out. First of all, we discovered images of impressive quality: maiden‐like negatives, which had never been touched by a single hand since the reel had been taken out off the camera 30 years earlier. I turned to my working script, where I had made notes and comments on every single set up and shot. That document helped shape my pre‐selection and sorting out of the raw material.

We were able to use Maurice Jarre’s original recordings and only some voices had to be overdubbed by the actors, as those tapes had deteriorated. It was difficult for the 42‐ year old David Bennent to replicate his 12‐year old voice, but digital processing provided a solution.

Which scenes are new?

For over 30 years, Mario Adorf rightfully complained that the cuts had damaged his role in the film. As he writes in his most recent book, “Mazerath, who was at first absolutely enthusiastic about the Nazis ‐ declaring “we are experiencing historical hours, you can’t be a bystander, you have to participate!” ‐ suddenly rebelled when euthanasia orders classified Oskar as an unworthy living human being. He even managed to resist and prevent Oskar´s being taken away. Actually, the surge of his resistance was of prime importance for rounding out his character.

I also vividly remembered the “Rasputin” scene we shot, in which Oskar imagines orgies at the court of Saint Petersburg. Screenwriter Jean‐Claude Carrière played the part of the bully Rasputin surrounded by naked playmates. It was hilariously funny for those of us on set. So 31 years later, Carrière gets to reappear as a young man. Moreover, David Bennent is unbelievable in that scene, when he launches into a long monologue directly into the camera about Goethe and elective affinities, without once batting an eye.

Finally, and probably most importantly, we were able to re‐cut the whole scene with Fajngold, who was the Treblinka survivor. It accurately portrays the historical background of the displacement of the Germans in Danzig.

To give today’s audience a better understanding of the period, I used old newsreels as “time markers.” The movie is not only about the little big Oskar it is about contemporary history too. In line with the book, the film is an epic.

I am really glad that I finally had the chance to rework the movie and to complement it. Of course, I had to polish up some minor flaws for the Director’s Cut, but, in the end, we did not want a totally different movie; we wanted to produce the real one ‐ the complete one ‐ the one we shot back then. It will be exciting to see which of the two versions will become definitive in the long run.

German blu-ray pre-order
Here is hoping for an early 2011 Criterion release!

Any word on whether Criterion will release a Blu Ray of the new version? Amazon.de states 163 minutes & has a preview with some of the additional 20 minutes in it.

I was at the first US showing of the new director's cut yesterday in Charlotte, NC, with Volker Schlöndorff in attendance. Though the digital (DVD source) projection itself had some technical flaws, I must say, I hadn't yet seen this and I'm glad I procrastinated, as I can't imagine it without the (to my mind) crucial scenes that were cut from the original release. I don't know what or how much of this is included in the deleted scenes on the CC DVD.

Schlöndorff gave a lecture after the film explaining the differences and the reasoning for the reconstruction, etc, most of which was pretty much the same as in the interview posted previously. He did give one anecdote saying that he actually did attempt to get his original cut released after the film had completed its original distribution run, but that the producers wouldn't allow it, expressing concerns that the public might think there was something wrong with the original cut should a new one be presented. A bit different from what he stated in the interview which was previously posted here.

One thing surprised me — as mentioned in the interview, WWII newsreel footage was cut into the film in a few places, which he pointed out was new to the director's cut, and that he'd inserted because he thought that fictionalized events from WWII may not resonate as strongly with contemporary audiences as they would have in Europe 30 years ago. I'm not sure if this would have bothered me or not had I seen the original release cut previously, but seeing the film ignorant of this aspect being 'new', I thought it seemed quite natural in the rhythm/flow of the film, though, for me at least, I don't think it was necessary. I'd definitely be interested to hear how someone previously familiar with the film felt about it (and the director's cut as a whole).

He also mentioned that it would be coming to DVD and Blu-ray (implying a US release, I assume), but did not mention Criterion, though I would assume it would be.

So any updates on whether Criterion has retained the rights & is working on this? I'd love to see some additional bonus features about this...perhaps an interview or presentation of the new version. Also, more on GG & the book would be good too. A 2 disc version w/ original theatrical release & new version might be pushing it though (unless the new version actually deleted material).

SamLowry wrote:So any updates on whether Criterion has retained the rights & is working on this? I'd love to see some additional bonus features about this...perhaps an interview or presentation of the new version. Also, more on GG & the book would be good too. A 2 disc version w/ original theatrical release & new version might be pushing it though (unless the new version actually deleted material).

Reportedly, the new version does delete some material, but nothing substantial. In some cases, a few frames have been trimmed from existing shots in order to quicken the pace. Also, at least one scene was transposed to a different part of the film and another scene replaces an existing shot with a new camera angle to better set up reinstated footage.

captveg wrote:Of note, The Tin Drum is getting a DVD upgrade as well.

Upgrade, yes, but the release appears to lose the documentary about the self-aggrandizing fellow from Oklahoma (?) who was charged with child pornography for renting it. It's a worthwhile extra even if you can't help but feel like punching the guy in the nose while watching it.

So in order to accommodate the new cut of THE TIN DRUM they dislodged the audio commentary, isolated score and deleted scenes from the old edition!?

Given that the commentary was specific to a shorter version of the film, it makes sense.

Maybe because The Tin Drum is one of my favorite films and I've seen it approximately a dozen times—the first time being courtesy of the Warner VHS in an oversized clamshell case—I'll admit being mildly disappointed that the version I'm so familiar with is being effectively shuttered. I'll definitely get the Blu, but I'll keep the old DVD for sentimental reasons.

I sure don't regret buying Arrow's Die Blechtrommel right now. Why would Criterion take the theatrical version out of print?

Director's request?

I've heard interviews with Schlöndorff about the new version and he certainly didn't shit on the old one. It was more just an opportunity to put his own preferred cut out there after they found all the cut footage in an archive.

med wrote:Given that the commentary was specific to a shorter version of the film, it makes sense.

Maybe because The Tin Drum is one of my favorite films and I've seen it approximately a dozen times—the first time being courtesy of the Warner VHS in an oversized clamshell case—I'll admit being mildly disappointed that the version I'm so familiar with is being effectively shuttered. I'll definitely get the Blu, but I'll keep the old DVD for sentimental reasons.

Arrow released the film on Blu with both versions if you want the shorter version in high-def and the commentary still. Of course, it's region B locked, so... there's that.

It probably comes down to what the rights to the film included. Perhaps Criterion couldn't just partially acquire rights to the film (director's cut only) because of the legal language of the film's rights in the US, and why would they? Then another company could step in and release the theatrical cut in their own competing release. It was likely Schlöndorff's call not to include the theatrical cut in this release, as I can't really envision Criterion waving him off if he asked for both cuts to be included.

Definitely hanging on to my DVD. Not only a different cut, but an almost completely different set of supplements:


New Blu-ray/DVD (duplicated or similar supplements from the old release in blue, new supplements to this release in green)

- New interview with Schlöndorff about the making of The Tin Drum and the creation of the 2010 restored, complete version
- New interview with film scholar Timothy Corrigan
- German audio recording from 1987 of author Günter Grass reading an excerpt from his novel The Tin Drum with musical accompaniment, illustrated with the corresponding scene from the film
- Television interview excerpts featuring Schlöndorff, Grass, actors David Bennent and Mario Adorf, and cowriter Jean-Claude Carrière reflecting on their experiences making the film
- Trailer


Old DVD (supplements carried over for the new release in blue, discontinued supplements in red)

- Theatrical trailer
- Audio commentary by director and cowriter Volker Schlondorff
- Isolated music track, featuring the score by Academy Award-winning composer Maurice Jarre
- Rare deleted scenes
- Volker Schlondorff Remembers The Tin Drum, a 21-minute audio/video montage
- An illuminating collection of video interviews, including Schlondorff
- "The Platform", a rare 1987 German recording of Grass reading an excerpt from his novel The Tin Drum
- Reprinted excerpt of the screenplay's original, unfilmed ending
- Banned in Oklahoma, a documentary by Gary D. Rhodes following the child pornography lawsuit revolving around The Tin Drum
- Production sketches, designs, and promotional art

Yes, I'll definitely be hanging onto both for the original cut and the extras. It is a shame that they couldn't produce a definitive edition with both cuts and all the previous features but I guess the old DVD and new Blu together fit the bill.

Is the old DVD getting superceded by the new cut on DVD with the new extras, or will it still remain available? It would be a shame if the older version became unavailable when it seems like such a great (and necessary) companion to the new one.

cdnchris wrote:Arrow released the film on Blu with both versions if you want the shorter version in high-def and the commentary still. Of course, it's region B locked, so... there's that.

...and the Criterion announcement explains why it's Region B-locked! (Arrow, like Moc and the BFI, prefers to go region-free unless contractually forced to lock their discs).

Are Criterion doing a fresh transfer, or is their disc sourced from the same HD telecine that Arrow used? If I remember rightly, the latter is pretty good (Beev), with my only complaint being that the picture was sometimes a little contrasty, swallowing up shadow detail.

(And on re-reading that review, I wonder whether the "flickering contrast" that Gary complains about is in connection with the shots that Schlöndorff deliberately shot on an old hand-cranked camera to give a jerky, old-fashioned feel? I wondered about that myself until he explained everything in the commentary.)

I'd say losing the Banned in Oklahoma documentary was a bonus. The bloke in it's an annoying twat and it just takes the focus off the film itself. It also suggests that it's borderline kiddie porn, which it isn't.

It's a bit like when Kubrick withdrew A Clockwork Orange in the UK for three decades; that act and his refusal to justify it became more important than the film itself, which shouldn't be the case.