Picnic at Hanging Rock

[fegMANIA!]

Here's an inevitable merge...

[Matt C]

Originally posted by fegMANIA!@27 Jul 2005, 5:10 PM
Here's an inevitable merge...

Quoted post

Yeah, thanks. I found both those threads and started posting in each! Can't wait for my R4 version of this.

[Matt C]

Right - I've now had the best of both worlds with this. The film itself on the German disc (with deleted scenes - in German) and the extras on the Australian disc. That two-hour doco is fantastic. On the issue of doing Director's Cuts, especially ones that are so long into the film's life - Anne Lambert (who played Miranda and is still gorgeous after all these years) raised a point about why she is unhappy about this director's cut. Her argument is that once a film has been made and shown to the public, the director relinquishes ownership to a certain extent. Her point is illustrated by the fact that all the bits that really grab her emotionally in the film have now been cut out. And they are bits which she always waits for whenever she watches it. I think it is also the writer who didn't really see the point of the Director's Cut and, I'm afraid, I agree with them both. Whatever Peter Weir says - whether they were intended changes or not originally - the film has been around for too long to have seven or so minutes cut out of it. I must say that Anne Lambert did seem a bit annoyed and sad about it all.

Meanwhile, I bought the book yesterday so that's next on my list to read.

[John Hodson]

Second Sight is set to release a 3-disc set of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' in June with most of the extras from the R4 set, deleted scenes, the director's cut PLUS the original theatrical version.

[litefoot]

2|entertain is set to release a 3-disc set of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' in June with most of the extras from the R4 set, deleted scenes, the director's cut PLUS the original theatrical version.

That means I'll be able to junk my off-air from last time it was on BBC One

[John Hodson]

I've edited my post - God knows why I typed 2|entertain, but it is Second Sight behind the release.

[nlgbbbblth]

good news but it's a quadruple dip.
VHS - Criterion - R4 - now Second Sight

still - up to me whether I buy it or not!

[Squizz]

It is an absolutely top film.

I'd love to see The Last Wave as well; sounds fascinating.

[malcy]

Second Sight is set to release a 3-disc set of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' in June with most of the extras from the R4 set, deleted scenes, the director's cut PLUS the original theatrical version.

Thanks for this.
Checking its only £11.99 for preorder at HMV which is an absolute bargain.

I currently have the German + Australian 2 disk so this can definitely replace them.

[nlgbbbblth]

It is an absolutely top film.

I'd love to see The Last Wave as well; sounds fascinating.

fine film, cheapish Criterion edition around.

[Gareth]

Second Sight is set to release a 3-disc set of 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' in June with most of the extras from the R4 set, deleted scenes, the director's cut PLUS the original theatrical version.

Thanks! Great news, I've had the German disc in my Amazon.de shopping basket for years! Never decided whether to buy it or not (as I already had the UK director's cut). I think I'll just put in a pre-order at HMV straight away!
A good film to watch at the end of the longest day of the year, providing its warm and hazy and you've not got something else planned!

[John Hodson]

DVD Times has the news, plus this snippet:

This longer original version of the film has been brought to DVD using the best elements available. A new transfer of the film was not possible however an archive master was discovered. Although anamorphic widescreen this was found to have a small degree of image cropping. While not usual practice for Second Sight to present a film in such a way, given the lack of any viable alternative the decision was made to undertake restoration work and include this version as a bonus feature, giving the viewer a now rare chance to see the original theatrical release.

[Richard Crowther]

Hmmm - I'm sorry, but I fail to see how all viable versions of the theatrical cut could just "disappear".


Still, it does look like a fantastic package.

[malcy]

From looking at various Australian DVD forums it appears that Umbrella are doing an exchange programme for disk 1 (the film) of their 2 disk SE.
This is because in the originally SE released a few years ago the film was letterbox and not anamorphic plus the sound was seriously messed up. The dialogue was so low I had to turn my amplifier to maximum to hear anything and is was only Stereo 2.0.

They have recently reissued a new single disk of the film with an anamorphic widescreen print (of the same shorter directors cut as the SE) plus with the English 5.1 track correctly mixed.

Does anyone have contact email for Umbrella and whether they will mail replacements to the UK.

Thanks

[Matt C]

I got that one, too, and am glad I'm not the only one who couldn't hear the soundtrack! But... I wasn't aware it was the 5.1 mix - I thought it was the original mono. I also have a German edition which is anamorphic. Maybe I'm confusing the two editions.

Hmmm - I'm sorry, but I fail to see how all viable versions of the theatrical cut could just "disappear".

Yeah - what about the copy Film Four holds? That's the original cut - they've never shown the Director's Cut, as far as I'm aware. Depends on what format they received it on, of course.