Ya, the place I read that all other versions were edited was somewhat in error. It appears the Australian release is the uncut version, but it suffers from PAL speed-up which shortens the running-time down to app. 302 minutes. I believe the US Paramount release is the only one at the proper speed and also the only one that was properly color-corrected. So the Paramount release is definitely the optimum choice for fans of the film.

So glad I picked this up for $14.99 on the day of release. Give it awhile and prices on eBay will probably sky rocket if it remains OOP.

Thanks for clearing up my confusion on the VHS release. And I didn't see it myself, but the theater that screened the theatrical version here gave the running time as 315 minutes and billed it as the "original uncut two part version," so I can only assume it was the same as the DVD cut.

I have the austraillian version, I haven't watched it in full yet, but in sampling it, the transfer isn't perfect, but watchable. I realize that the paramount version has better color and doesn't have speed up (at least for this movie, I don't really see any speed up.) but I think i'll hold onto the mgm dvd.

Thanks for the heads-up. Had this one on my Christmas list and didn't get it, so I went ahead and grabbed it with The Conformist.