Exclusive English commentary tracks on foreign language dvds

[deckel]

I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of foreign language or foreign non-English speaking country (ie. non-US, Canada, UK) dvds that surprisingly have English language commentary tracks that were not provided on the English language dvd release(s). Examples are:

Brown Bunny - Japan R2(Kinetic) has commentary track from director Vincent Gallo
3 Days of the Condor (Die 3 Tage des Condor) - R2 Germany(Kinowelt) has commentary track from director Sydney Pollack

Another prior example was the R2 French release of Flash Gordon that had a commentary track from director Mike Hodges well before the recent UK release included it.

Please add others, as those looking for exclusive extras do not necessarily look to foreign releases for English language features.

[mrwilson]

Great topic!

R3 Korean release of Conan the Destroyer has the same commentaries as other regions but also includes a bonus:
Audio commentary with cast Tracey Walter & Olivia d'Abo

[Dr. Forrester]

The Region 2 Momentum versions of They Live and Prince of Darkness contain exclusive tracks:

They Live - Carpenter and Roddy Piper
Prince of Darkness - Carpenter and Peter Jason

The Darkness commentary isn't bad (informative, fun), but the Carpenter-Piper commentary of They Live is fantastic and is as great as the Carpenter-Russell tracks.

[pro-bassoonist]

Michael Cimino commentary on The Deer Hunter SE (UK).

Pro-B

[marlboro_man]

Killing Zoe (R2 France) - commentary by Roger Avary.

[John Hodson]

The German (Kinowelt) disc of 'Three Days of The Condor' has an exclusive Sydney Pollack commentary.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by John Hodson

The German (Kinowelt) disc of 'Three Days of The Condor' has an exclusive Sydney Pollack commentary.

Mentioned in the first post. I'd be curious to hear this one - Condor is one of the more underrated 70's thrillers. The R2 of The Thing from Another World has a Carpenter commentary, the R2 of Starman has one from Bridges and Carpenter, and the R2 of Creepshow has one from Romero and Savini. Does anyone know why so many of Carpenter's commentaries are R2 only?

[PopcornTreeCt]

Cool thread.

I definitely want to check out that Cimino commentary on The Deer Hunter. Even though I think it'll be quadruple dip for me.

[DonnachaOne]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Mentioned in the first post. I'd be curious to hear this one - Condor is one of the more underrated 70's thrillers. The R2 of The Thing from Another World has a Carpenter commentary, the R2 of Starman has one from Bridges and Carpenter, and the R2 of Creepshow has one from Romero and Savini. Does anyone know why so many of Carpenter's commentaries are R2 only?

Rights issues, apparently. He's happy to sit down and chat for anyone, but the folks making the R1 DVDs generally don't think it's worth the cost of shelling out the cash for him to do a new commentary, or to purchase the rights from the foreign DVD company. So I'm told, anyway.

[The Running Man]

I know that Harry Knowles of Ain't it Cool News did a commentary track for Old Boy. It was only on one of the Special Edition re-releases of the film in Korea though.

Funny enough, none of the English language editions anywhere in the world used it.

[NoirFan]

Here's one that actually applies to the title of this thread: The MoC edition of Vampyr has an exclusive commentary by Guillermo del Toro.

[PopcornTreeCt]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Here's one that actually applies to the title of this thread: The MoC edition of Vampyr has an exclusive commentary by Guillermo del Toro.

I was pretty excited about hearing that. That commentary alone trumps the Criterion release.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt

I was pretty excited about hearing that. That commentary alone trumps the Criterion release.

I'd be interested in comparing the contents of the accompanying booklets.
Moc:

80-page book featuring rare production stills, a facsimile reproduction of the 1932 Danish film programme, writing by Tom Milne (The Cinema of Carl Dreyer), Jean and Dale Drum (My Only Great Passion: The Life and Films of Carl Th. Dreyer), and Martin Koerber (film restorer).

Criterion:

46-page liner notes booklet featuring new essays by Mark Le Fanu and Kim Newman, Koerber on the restoration, and a 1964 interview with producer and star Nicolas de Gunzburg, as well as a 214-page book featuring Dreyer and Christen Jul's original screenplay and Sheridan Le Fanu 1872 story "Carmilla," a source for the film.

The Moc has the Criterion hands down in terms of total content, but I'd be curious to read the screenplay. The MoC includes the "Carmilla" story as a PDF, but you'd have to change your computer's region code.

[Dan Average]

You can also read Carmilla online.

[steelpotato]

Bad Taste region 4 has cast and crew
Eagle vs Shark region 4 has a different commentary to the region 1
The Piano region 4

[chris_sc77]

Manderlay-Lars von Trier on the Region 2 2-disk edition

[Dan Average]

Tony Rayns did an English-language commentary for the R3K Road Movie.

[clintilona]

Originally Posted by steelpotato

Bad Taste region 4 has cast and crew

Ooh...I want that very much. Can anyone provide a link to somewhere I can get this shipped to America for a reasonable price.

Thanks.

[steelpotato]

atlanticdvd.com.au has it the cheapest (9.05 for the dvd;14.55 australian incl. postage)
yeah it's cast and crew, but not peter jackson

Bad Taste - Collectors Edition (R)


Special Price: $9.95 (9.05 for international customers)
S.R.P: $29.95

In stock, ready to ship

Movie Description
Comedy/Horror, 1989, 88 minutes.

This notorious debut feature film from Peter Jackson is packed with all the outrageous action, senseless violence and sick humour that has made it one of the most radical cult classics of all time.

Lord Crumb and his army of aliens has landed on earth with the intention of selling mankind as intergalactic hamburger meat.

Earth’s government issue a full-scale alert and unleash their first line of defence “The Boys” – Derek, Frank, Oz and Barry…Will Lord Crumb succeed in turning the human race into “Crumb’s Country Delights” or will The Boys stop him?

Get ready for the ultimate battle of flying guts, splattering brains, exploding sheep and guzzling vomit. This is more than just the greatest and most disgusting horror/comedy ever made. This is BAD TASTE!



DVD Features
• “Good Taste Made Bad Taste” Featurette
• Slideshow presented by Peter Jackson
• News Clip
• Audio Commentary with Peter O’Herne, Terry Potter, Mike Minett and Craig Smith
• Interviews with Peter O’Herne, Terry Potter, Mike Minett & Craig Smith
• Audio Interview with Composer, Michelle Scullion
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Audio: 5.1 Surround, 2.0 Stereo

[deckel]

Slightly off topic but related. On a recent trip to Germany I came across English language movies with exclusive commentary tracks that however were in German as this was the native language of the director (unfortunately not subtitled):

Perfume (commentary by Tom Tekwar)
Love the Hard Way (commentary by Peter Sehr)
7 Days to Live (commentary by Srebastien Niemann)

[Chadm]

this is an awesome thread. I was about to start a similar one when I found this.

the titles I planned on mentioning are already in here. the one I will add though, doesn't quite meet the thread requirements but it's interesting none the less.

The original R1 release of Ferris Bueller's Day Off contains the one and only commentary track recorded by John Hughes, however it has been out of print for years.

They reissued Ferris Bueller's Day Off not too long ago as a special edition dvd called "the Bueller....Bueller edition". However conspicuously absent from the disc was the John Hughes commentary track.

I have the bueller bueller edition, but I'd really like to hear that Hughes track. Hopefully I can find it at the pawn shop.

[manicsounds]

Boondock Saints (Japan)
Vengeance Is Mine (Masters Of Cinema UK)
Pitfall (Masters Of Cinema UK)
Face Of Another (Masters Of Cinema UK)
Man On Wire (UK)

[Dragon Lee]

Tsui Hark did a commentary for the R1 Sony disc of his flick Time and Tide a few years back. I don't think any other version in the world sports this track.