NEW DIRECTORS CUT

[drinkanddestroy]

Thanks for the info. My thoughts/questions:

I assume "theatrical cut" means the 229MV (not the butchered travesty that was originally released in American theaters).
So this means that the two versions (the 229MV and the 251MV) will be on separate discs, rather than on a single disc with seamless branching....

Now, I don't know anything about technical stuff, but I know that when the 251MV was recently released on Italian BRD, lotsa people were complaining about the fact that it didn't look good cuz there were compression problems cuz they put the whole thing on a single disc; people were saying they should have put it on 2 discs. So it seems that on the new releases, each version will be on a single disc again, so we can expect the same compression problems? (what about dual layering? I don't remember whether that Italian release with the compression problems was single-layered or dual-layered. Any word on whether this new release will be single-layered or dual-layered?... Come to think of it, I don't recall anyone complaining about layering or compression on the original 229-minuute BRD. Would the extra 22 minutes make a big difference RE: compression? Then again, some people speculated that the reason that Italian BRD of the 251MV sucked - even the 229 minutes or original scenes looked awful, they said - was that the quality of those scenes was purposely reduced so that they wouldn't clash so badly with the new scenes, whose quality was awful. If that is true, then maybe it wasn't a compression issue after all?

Will the 229MV in this boxset be identical to the previous WB BRD; or has a restoration been done on that 229MV as well, so that the original 229 minutes - both in the new 229MV BRD and in the 251MV BRD- will be improved from the original 229-minute BRD?

It's ridiculous that they aren't having any new bonus features. Is it perhaps because they can't afford to use any more space on the disc? WOULD IT KILL THEM TO HAVE ANOTHER DISC IN THE BOXSET???
Anyway, in case you couldn't tell, I am excited

[Derbent 5000]

Restored Extended Version should look like on the new upcoming US BD

(p.s. had to upload from another hosting because website went down)

[cigar joe]

How it would all look in Black & White    

[dave jenkins]

B&W looks pretty good. Yeah, I guess we can buy the new disc and dial the color down and have something where the new scenes don't stick out.

[cigar joe]

B&W looks pretty good. Yeah, I guess we can buy the new disc and dial the color down and have something where the new scenes don't stick out.

lol, yea that's exactly what I was thinking.

[drinkanddestroy]

as chris says, I think it's bullshit to make the 229 minutes look bad in order to have it blend in with the other 22 minutes. Ruin more than 90% of the movie to accommodate less than 10%? They should have done the best job they could with these 22 minutes, and also done the best job they could with the 229 minutes – even if that makes the 22 mins. stick out worse.

just one interesting issue to think about: if it is true that they A) did a new restoration of the 229 mins.; and B) they only screwed up the color on the 251MV so that the scenes should all look similar, then I guess that SHOULD mean that they won't screw up the color in the disc that has the 229MV; therefore, the 229MV should look a lot better than the original 229 minutes will look in the 251MV. if that's the case – that the 229MV looks far better than the 251MV – then I don't think I'd ever watch the 251MV, except the first time just to see how the scenes fit. Instead, I'll probably just watch the 229MV and then go to the other disc and watch those other scenes separately. Anyway, I guess we're gonna have to hope for some fan edits, mixing the 22 mins. into the best 229MV-disc, whether that is the WB one or the 229MV in the new boxset.

one a separate note: as we see in these screencaps, the WB disc was cropped on the sides; the new disc will show more on the sides. I wonder if the reason the WB disc was cropped was to get the movie to 1.78:1 instead of 1.85:1?
The movie's correct aspect ratio is 1.85:1, which means that when you watch the DVD/BRD on an HDTV (which, of course, is 1.78:1), you should see tiny black bars on top and bottom. But you don't, which means that they chopped the movie to 1.78:1 to fit the HDTV screen without any black bars. I remember asking about whether they chopped the sides, and someone on these boards said, no, in these cases, to change from 1.85:1 to 1.78:1, they usually show more on top and bottom, not less on the sides. Well, maybe he was wrong: maybe WB indeed chopped some of the sides to get it to 1.78:1. And maybe now, the restoration is attempting to return it to its correct aspect ratio of 1.85:1; we'll know for sure once the disc is released, if we see tiny black bars on top and bottom of the screen. Of course, they'd be very tiny, cuz the difference between 1.85:1 and 1.78:1 is very little. Nevertheless, I hate that they chop it; they should just release all movies in their correct aspect ratios and stop worrying that viewers don't want black bars on the screen. If we are fine with having big bars for 4:3 movies and 2.35:1 movies, why shouldn't we be happy having tiny bars for 1.85:1 movies?

[Novecento]

I remember asking about whether they chopped the sides, and someone on these boards said, no, in these cases, to change from 1.85:1 to 1.78:1, they usually show more on top and bottom, not less on the sides. Well, maybe he was wrong...

It was me who said that. It was not in reference to this release, but a more general comment. It is correct, but the operative word is "usually" because sometimes, as seems to have been the case here, they do indeed crop slightly to get that 1.78:1 ratio.

[drinkanddestroy]

Also, n_l once said that BRD and DVD players usually zoom a little, only computers show the full image. I guess we see that here, as someone said, the BRD players cropped a little....

[Novecento]

That's due to your TV. There will be a setting somewhere called "just" or the like, that will ensure that doesn't happen.

[Derbent 5000]

Hey fellas I am afraid got some bad news about Once Upon A Time In America Extended Version US BD, here what it said on the back cover of the BD.

The newly added 22 minutes of extended scenes bring us closer to Leone original vision of the film, but due to the limited availability of 35mm work prints, the new inserts could not be restored to the same quality as the rest of the film,

that means we going to get same quality of the added scenes as it was released in Italy what a shame, nothing mentioned about color grading color correction.  

there is still 19 minutes missing as Martin Scorsese mentioned other scenes in bad state and restored them takes time, I bet there is going to be another extended version in future.

[drinkanddestroy]

yeah, considering how bad the new scenes looked on the previous BRD, I sort of gave up hope that those scenes could ever look as good as the rest of the movie, at least until new restoration-technology is invented. However, all I can hope for is that A) the new scenes at least look better than they did on the last BRD; and B) they make the original 229 minutes look as good as they possibly can. I'd much rather have a poor-looking 22 minutes and a great-looking 229 minutes, than have a poor 22 minutes and a mediocre 229 minutes in a lame attempt to make the all the scenes look similar. Hopefully, the technology will eventually be available to restore all the missing scenes to perfect condition, but until then, let's try to make each scene look as good as it possibly can, rather than be concerned about making them look equal.

[Derbent 5000]

here is the BD back cover

[Derbent 5000]

I hope original 35mm negatives of the added scenes, as well maybe rest of the missing scenes out there somewhere, that the only way can be restored from the original 35mm negatives, other wise working with positives that have been already badly preserved just hopeless

[dave jenkins]

UK Steelbook, Oct. 27 (presumably everything in the new "Director's Cut" release is included).

[drinkanddestroy]

Funny that they write that disc 2 is "theatrical cut" - obviously, it's not the theatrical cut (at least not the American one), it's the 229-minute cut, they should call that the "home video cut" or something like that 

this will be a Day 1 purchase for me.

Yeah, DJ, it finally did come out, I guess my optimism beat your skepticism 

I don't have ant great expectations for the quality of the new scenes, having seen many clips already, of course. I can dream that one day they will find negatives of the full missing 45-50 minutes and release a truly Leone-intended version. That's my American dream.

For now, I will look forward to September 30th