Tryavna

Hi, I've been a member for a couple of months, but this is my first post.

As a fan of director Cavalcanti, I want to pick up Kino's DVD of "They Made Me a Fugitive," but I'm confused on the running time. Both IMDb and Leonard Maltin list the running time at 103 minutes, but the back of Kino's DVD lists it as 96 minutes. I know that the movie was cut when released in the U.S. (down to about 80 minutes), so I want to make sure that I'm getting the full version. I guess there are three possibilities here, and I'd like someone in the know to confirm which one it might be:

1.) IMDb and Maltin are both wrong, and Kino's 96 minutes is the full version. (Wouldn't be the first time both IMDb and Maltin got a running time wrong.)

2.) IMDb and Maltin are right, and Kino's release is missing 5 or 6 minutes of footage. And perhaps this additional footage has been lost forever -- or Kino didn't bother loocking for it. (Their release of Fritz Lang's "Hangmen Also Die!" has a similar problem. It's missing about 5 minutes towards the end that was cut by the distributor, and that footage may no longer exist.)

3.) Kino made a PAL -> NTSC transfer, and thus the source had the usual 4% PAL speed-up. (So if the full film version of "Fugitive" runs 102 minutes and a bit, then a PAL tape/DVD would run about 4 or 5 minutes less -- about 96 minutes and a bit.) The problem here is that, although Kino has a habit of making PAL -> NTSC transfers, I don't think an R2 DVD of "Fugitive" exists.

I'm sorry if this is an overly technical (or overly obsessive/compulsive) post, but if anyone can offer any info, I'd be grateful.

romany

hello
A friend of mine has it in the U.S. states the
running time on his as 97mins

Romany

JamesM

Rule out suggestion 3) PAL to NTSC transfer would bring it back to the correct running time.

Tryavna

Actually, that's not true. Although PAL compresses time, NTSC does not "expand" running times back to their original. It will merely copy. The most obvious example of this is Kino's "Metropolis," which runs exactly the same length as Eureka's. (And Kino's was a PAL -> NTSC transfer.)

Also, thanks to Romany for the info, but that still leaves my original question open. Is there anything missing from Kino's release of "They Made Me a Fugitive"? Perhaps if your friend is familiar enough with the movie, he'll be able to confirm...?

MrT

Can't comment on the Kino version of They made me a fugitive apart from giving the dvd 10/10 for quality. They have used the print from the BFI for the transfer, all nicely done complete with the original British Board of Film censors introduction. Recommended heartily to all UK readers - far better than many US NTSC offerings from some low budgets outlets.

Best wishes
MrT

JamesM

I have learnt something new. For some reason I thought it would be possible transfer PAL to NTSC and bring the original running time back.

Tryavna

Ah, if Kino used the BFI's print (with the censor certificate included), then it's almost certainly the full-length version. That means Maltin and the IMDb are off in their running times, which, as I said, isn't unusual -- especially for British films. I'll go ahead and purchase this DVD with confidence.

Many thanks to everyone who responded. Glad I could share something new, James.