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Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: eleve de vauban on June 29, 2012, 12:41:31 PM
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Bonjour mes amis
I was listening to BBC Radio 4 "The Film Programme" interview of Hugh Hudson, the director of "Revolution". The British Film Institute is to release a Director's Cut on disc, having worked with Hudson. This is the cut that Hudson wanted to show in cinemas but was not allowed enough time by Warner Bros. So, a film for your birthday list, maybe?
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Excellent! I've always wanted to see this in full. :)
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I,m not so sure - having set thro it once I d,ont know if I want to repeat it. I listened to the same interview on radio 4 while assembling a Musketeer battery.
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I heard that same bradcast, I'll be buying it :)
www.gallopingmajorwargames.com
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It's an old favourite of mine.
Revolution is one of these much-maligned films which received a critical drubbing because they somehow didn't fit the zeitgeist when they were released. To this day, many American critics still revel in lamenting how bad it is when it's actually a very respectable piece of filmmaking. It's not a perfect movie and the love story involving Nastasja Kinski doesn't quite fit in IMHO, but there is still much to enjoy in it. Just don't expect a Hollywood-style epic with tons of action scenes and a frantic pace : in a sense, it's much closer to Hudson's Chariots of Fire in its emphasis on the looks and textures of a bygone age
I saw the film theatrically back in the 80's and also saw Hudson's director's cut a couple of years ago. With all due respect to the filmmaker, I much prefer the original, longer version. Essentially, Hudson cut a scene between the Kinski character and her Tory father, trimmed a few shots off a dozen others, and cut the epilogue by about three minutes - including a beautiful tracking shot across New York harbour (Chris : the director's cut is ten minutes shorter than the theatrical version, so watching the film 'in full' means you're actually getting less of it).
A voiceover narration was also added to help audiences identify with the Pacino character - a major mistake in my opinion as I found it unneccessarily rhetorical and over-explanatory to the point of ruining some scenes. The reunion at Valley Forge betwen Kinski and Pacino suffers notably from this : in the original film, it worked because of the awkward silences between the two characters and the fact they are never quite able to express their feelings for each other. In the DC, you are subjected to a ponderous lecture by Pacino ('Who is this woman?', 'What is she to me?', etc).
If you have a Blu Ray player and are region-B compatible (UK + most of continental Europe), get the BFI dual edition which features both the original theatrical cut and the director's cut on the BD, along with a slew of supplements including a featurette on the differences between both versions. The DVD only has the DC. I got my copy a few days ago and it's a very neat package.
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(Chris : the director's cut is ten minutes shorter than the theatrical version, so watching the film 'in full' means you're actually getting less of it).
When it came out I remember reading that it was a three hour epic that was only ever shown to audiences once, at a New York film festival, then souless bean counters made them cut it down to 90 minutes. I've been waiting 25 years to see this long version, now you tell me it's an urban myth!
Well thanks Arthur, thanks a lot :'(
lol