TheBigDave

Tears Of The Black Tiger is available at eThaiCD.com for $10 shipped. It took about 10 days to arrive to the USA.

This is the 110 minute Thai DVD (the UK DVD is 97 minutes). It's in PAL Format, and even though the case says Region 3, it's Region Free. Widescreen with Thai Language (5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital) and optional English Subtitles.

Here's a review of the movie:

KFCCinema.com Review

dleedlee

Did you verify the running time? When it first came out there was discussions about that version but I can' t remember now what the issue was whether it was the running time or something else.

Giles

well this is somewhat good news since I have put off buying the R2 UK edition.

TheBigDave

According to my DVD player, the exact running time of the Thai DVD is 109mins 03sec. I can't verify the running time of the UK disc, but most places list it as 97mins.

sunny crockett

have both versions now and the uk is 97 and thai 109 minutes... haven't really watched the thai yet so don't know what extra scenes it has... thai dvd is not anamorphic but letterboxed, that's a shame... but it does have a dd5.1 track and a behind the scenes featurette.

Tuan Jim

Has anyone gotten around to comparing the two yet? Just watched my UK version again last night -- definitely only 97 minutes. What scenes are different/added? Was the picture and sound as good as the UK dvd? I may just go ahead and pick up the Thai version anyways -- but information is always nice.

Mr. Toast

I'm curious about the differences as well. I picked up the Thai dvd and absolutley loved the movie. I'd love to know what's missing on the UK release.

Peep

I saw a test screening of this movie in the US a few years ago. I'm not sure what version I saw however. I really liked it though.

Tuan Jim

Ok, I'm finally getting a chance to compare the UK release and my R3 Singapore disc that I picked up last year.

WARNING: Contains LOTS of spoilers.

Scenes cut out of R2 version:
1. In the house shootout at the beginning -- Dum and Mahesuan have some extra scenes searching for Yoi.

2. The engagement scene is cut completely.

3. The scene of the troops being inspected (introduces minor character of Sgt. Yam) is cut completely.

4. Cheesy grenade scene is cut during shootout at Fai's hideout.

5. Scene in car with Rumpoey, Dum and Driver is shortened.

6. Scene of Dum running through the forest after his father's death is shortened.

7. Suicide attempt scene is cut.

8. Dum cutting out his bullet is cut.

And a few other short moments here and there.

Parts in the UK R2 but not in the R3:

-- Interestingly, some of the major gore shots in the UK release are completely absent or strongly edited in the R3 version. Specifically the final shootout and Somjit's execution. However during the big shootouts, a number of the major blood spurters were also cut/edited.

Watching both of them like this and noticing some of the things that did and didn't show up in each cut is interesting. I'm not sure how to phrase it exactly, but it seems to me that the Singapore R3 cut (mine is listed as 115 minutes) could be described as the "local/domestic" edition, while the UK R2 might be described as the "international" cut. Looking at several specific scenes that didn't make it into the R2 - such as #'s 3, 4 and 5 -- those are scenes containing more humor than is found intentionally in the rest of the film. However the humor is a little more "localized" or "low" (not rude so to speak), but not the sort of thing that might elevate this film among "discerning" viewers on the festival circuit. Scene #2 is a little more culturally relevant as well and doesn't say much that isn't otherwise implied by further dialog throughout the film.

In the same fashion, the gore scenes that were cut out of the domestic release were likely left in as a sort of attraction to international viewers while they may possibly have faced ratings issues regionally.

That's a rough breakdown of what I could tell. The video quality seemed largely the same between both cuts, but the audio was a little louder on the R2 -- however I can't really distinguish overall quality given my cheapo setup. Incidentally, by way of extras, the R2 has a trailer and that's it -- subtitles are also removable. My R3 has English subs burned in with optional Mandarin subtitles (it is Singapore after all). It also has some pages of text -- as extras -- "Director's inspiration", and "awards" as well as a short section called "Extracts from the book" which features a montage of clips above text (presumably from the book). There's also a short set of clips "Insight into the Film Aesthetic" that gives a little background on where some of the stylistic choices came from.

Despite the extra scenes on the R3, I'd have to say that the R2 has maybe a 1/2 star up for tighter pacing and the extra blood (in my book) -- if you're only going to buy one. Me, being somewhat of a completist when I feel like it -- I'm looking for as many different versions as I can -- what features does the Thai version have?

Oh yeah, another quick note -- the R2 is now on sale at amazon.co.uk for a mere 7.97 -- a must have at that price. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...991728-1528444

TheBigDave

Here's an update.

TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER is coming out on Region 1 DVD from Magnolia Pictures on April 24th. It's labeled as an Uncut Version and the run time is listed as "approx 110 minutes". Special Features include a Director's Commentary, Deleted Scenes and a Making Of featurette.

One thing has me worried. The ad in Video Business magazine lists an English Language Dub Track. They don't mention the Thai track or English subtitles. Hopefully that's just an oversight.

Here's a scan of the ad:



Magnolia Pictures Website - TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER

Dan Average

They're releasing it theatrically with the original Thai dialogue. There's no way in hell the DVD will be dub-only, although I suppose there's some possibility they'll use dubtitles a la District B13. Let's hope otherwise.

dmkb

Hi Dave, Let's hope it's just an oversight - this was from the announcement posted at DavisDVD:

Reservoir

I really liked the film and I saw it on UK DVD. Not sure what to make of the fact there's another version and thanks to Tuan Jim for letting us know. Great work.

I might pick up the Region 1.

Peep

I rented the UK version of this film from Nicheflix years ago and loved it. I'm assuming that what I saw was the UK version. I'm very interested in what this "uncut" version contains. Will it truely be uncut, or will it just be the R3 Singapore version?

If I had to choose between the two, as described in this topic, I think I'd prefer the R2. Hopefully, the R1 will contain all of the scenes missing from both.

It's currently playing at the Nuart in LA until the 8th, but I don't think I'll be able to get to it this week!

Tuan Jim

Talking to some of the guys at twitchfilm now - it looks like both cuts I have are edited. The Singapore version may have been edited (censored) for violence but kept the additional Thai extended scenes. No certainty on that though.

I'm definitely going to pick up the US version though.

Peep

Still no word on which cut will appear on the domestic release?

Dan Average

Magnolia released the original Thai cut in theaters. To the best of my knowledge, all of the stuff cut from the R2 and R3 versions was present and accounted for. Given that they're advertising it as the "Uncut Version," I see little reason to suspect the DVD will be any different.

Peep

That's great news! Thanks.

Fingers crossed.

Tuan Jim

That director's commentary should be interesting -- none of the other DVD versions have had much at all in the way of special features - in any region.

Dan Average

I spent a little time with this disc today -- I didn't watch the whole thing (since I just saw it theatrically a couple of weeks ago) but here's my initial impressions:

-Those deleted scenes and commentary? Sorry, forget about 'em. The somewhat-misleadingly-named "making-of featurette" runs 45 minutes; it's from TV3 in Thailand and consists of a subtitled roundtable interview with Wisit, Adriek Wattaleela (executive producer) and Nonzee Nimibutr (producer and all-around swell guy). Adriek and Nonzee leave about halfway through and Wisit is joined by Stella Malucchi, Chartchai Ngamsan and Arawat Ruangvuth (the three leads in the film). I watched the first ten minutes and it's actually not that bad -- lots of discussion about the film's inspiration (with clips from old Thai movies), the set design, the color manipulation (complete with before/after comparisons), the casting process, and we even see a Wisit-directed Wrangler jeans commercial that clearly prefigures Tears of the Black Tiger. It's still something of a promotional piece, but it's far better than standard EPK crap. The only other extra is the U.S. theatrical trailer (which is just the Thai trailer with some English text at the beginning and end).

-Yes, the original Thai audio is here, in both 5.1 and 2.0. The subtitles are in sync and are definitely not dubtitles.

-It seems to be the uncut version, as advertised -- I skipped ahead to a couple of the gorier parts and they're just as I remember them. Sgt. Yam is still there, too. The transfer is anamorphic full-frame, which is close enough to the 1.85:1 OAR. I can't really judge it in any great detail (since I only watched it on a small PC monitor and I have nothing to compare it with), but I fear this is a PAL-to-NTSC job: the running time is ~110 minutes, same as the PAL Thai DVD. That said, I didn't see any combing on my monitor, although there does seem to be a lot of macro-blocking during fast motion sequences. The colors look good.

All told it's not the disaster it could've been -- we got the uncut version, we got the original audio, and we even got a decent extra, although I rue the loss of the commentary and the deleted scenes. But if my assumption is correct and this really is a PAL-to-NTSC port, then Magnolia still managed to drop the ball. Those of you with the Thai disc shouldn't throw it out just yet.