Censored/Edited DVDs: Non-Theatrical Versions
 

I just purchased a handful of DVDs at BEST BUY... one of which was "SAVING SILVERMAN". I usually see the DVDs I buy at the Theater first. I did notice on the DVD I purchased that scenes were either edited or deleted. Specifially a fairly disturbing, yet quite funny, scene where Steve Zahn is lying on the floor (nude) trying to "pleasure" himself. I am 99% sure I am thinking of the correct movie, but this scene is gone on my version of the films DVD. Why? How? Don't I have the right to watch the movie I purchased the way I remember it when I originally saw it? What does the film studio think of this? Isn't it illeagal? It makes me wonder how many other DVDs I own have missing scenes/censorship. This scene was just very hard to forget, so I noticed it immediately. I feel ripped-off, angry, confused as to the whole purpose of this. Anyone have a good explanation as to what I am talking about? Does anyone have any suggestions of how to buy a DVD that is not censored, besides buying the ones that clearly state "uncensored" in big letters on the front. Is there a way to tell or somewhere elsed to purchase them? I guess I just assumed all DVDs were uncensored... that is, the original version of what I saw in the Theater.

Thanks for any insight/help.

Brian

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Mulholland Dr. blurs Laura Harring's pubic area.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

I think you are thinking of the wrong movie.

SAVING SILVERMAN was rated PG-13 in the theatre. The DVD was released in an R rated version. So, it had scenes added.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

No your right there is a scene where he's lying on the on his back with his legs up behind his head it doesn't show anything so its still pg-13 i've seen this movie 100 times and know what your talking about weird it's not on the dvd

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Good... then I am not crazy! I wonder how many times things like this get cut out of films. I don't have the best memory, but sometimes when I watch a movie again on DVD or TV it just seems different. You ever get that feeling? I think things get added/deleted. Really makes it mess with your head.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

The Heartbreak Kid edits out the kid snorting coke in the credits for the dvd release

Re: Censored DVDs
 

They don't show anything... he is kind of wrapped up in a pretzel position, so nothing is visible... but you know what he is attempting. I think there was a line earlier in the movie where Jack Black referenced doing this "pleasuring"... so he wanted to try for himself.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

The R-rated sut (on DVD) might have removed scenes when it added back in others.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

This was also done in the theatrical cut-- in theaters. David Lynch's own decsion, which has already been discussed on the website at length.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

The decision I remember talked about it being Lynch's decision, but happening for the DVD release only.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Does anyone know why they edit/censor the DVDs we buy from retail stores?

Can you buy a DVD directly from the Studio and skip whomever it is; mass-producing all these discs and distributing them to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc?

Re: Censored DVDs
 

I knew about this, but as someone who saw it at the theater and on dvd, I really do think it was only blurred on the dvd.

Does anyone know if an unblurred dvd exists in any region?

Re: Censored DVDs
 

The studio released two versions of the movie on DVD. You bought the altered version.

Legally speaking, no.

The studio released the DVD, so I would assume they're OK with it.

No, it isn't.

DVD Talk is an excellent resource for such information.

First, you need to have a better understanding of what censorship is. This is not an example of censorship. Second, the theatrical cut of "Saving Silverman" is available on DVD.

You do understand how DVD distribution works, don't you? It's the studios who are mass producing the discs. The retailer has nothing to do with content or editing.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Runaway Train

I haven't seen it, but I've read that a memorable death scene has been curiously edited out.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

No, it wasn't blurred in theaters. I saw the movie twice theatrically, and it was uncensored.

Laura Harring talks about it, oddly enough, on an audio commentary for The Shield - Season 5 (Benito Martinez asks her about it). Basically, she made a handshake agreement with David Lynch that she'd only do the scene fully nude if he would not show the lower frontal on the non-theatrical releases.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Takashi Miike did that a few times earlier in his career, also.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Thanks for addressing my questions.

No, I don't really understand their distribution. Why on Earth do they need to release a version of their film that would differ from the original without telling the consumer?

I know when they add materials... they will clearly state "bonus footage", "uncensored version"(whatever that means), or "original directors cut". But why would they want to remove material from what was originally shown in theaters? To lower the rating? I guess I understand that, but shouldn't the Studios tell the consumer that they are getting something less than the original? I can't remember if the film I watched in the Theater was originally rated R or PG-13. I didn't notice on my packaging that the film was edited or not the theatrical version.

This is going to add a lot of headache for me from now on. First, I always have to make sure I'm not buying the "fullscreen" versions. Now, I somehow have to make certain I am buying the original theatrical version or something more than the original. More is better, but less is unacceptable to me. Frustrating.

So, Best Buy/Wal-mart's vendors for these DVDs is the Studios? I don't think that makes sense. There must be a middle-man in there somewhere. The distributing vendor(middleman) or the retailer is responsible for what is going on the shelves, not really the Studio.

Additionally, the quality level of the DVDs being sold at Retail stores today seems to be very low. Like double/triple features and more bonuses/extras than actual film. I used to be able to buy a DVD that was "SuperBit", focused on sound and video quality, it had no extra features on the disc... just movie. Those seem to have gone extinct. I guess Blue-Ray is why those are gone.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

They do tell the consumer, and the motivation is money. Cut a movie down to PG-13 so kids can get into the theater, thus increasing potential box office, then release two versions on home video to increase sales.

There is a red box on the cover of the R-rated "Saving Silverman" that, while vague, is a clue that the DVD is different from the theatrical cut. I would imagine there is something written on the back as well. I don't this practice either, but I have learned that I need to check DVD Talk or any of a number of other Internet sources to make sure I know what is available before buying a DVD.

I can't answer your question in this particular circumstance, but when footage is added back in, it often makes other scenes unnecessary or even redundant. This is the case with the "Lord of the Rings" movies. The extended cuts are longer, but there are scenes from the theatrical cuts that have been removed because added scenes repeat some of the dialogue.

In other cases, a director may just have not liked certain scenes, and therefore took them out of alternative cuts.

Um, right. In your version of the world, a middleman takes a movie from a studio, then without their consent, re-edits the movie however they want and sends it to Wal-Mart.

That isn't how it works. The studio owns the movie. The studio produces a DVD and sends it out to retailers. There are wholesalers that handle the physical shipping of the merchandise, but the studio is responsible for the content.

Superbit was a marketing gimmick by Sony, and was only available on Sony's releases. They went away because, frankly, people started to catch on that it was just a gimmick. Although they were higher bitrate, many of the discs still had unused space that could have accommodated extras, but didn't.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Hahahahaha...Superbits were the biggest marketing scam. It was simply a cool way to say "Expensive Bare-Bones DVD, You're a Sucker". There was nothing super about them. Yes, some of the transfers were better than other versions on dvd, but being a "superbit" dvd had jack squat to do with it. Most of the time, there was still a bunch of free space left on the disc. It was a way for Sony to push more of their product.


Yeah, that's not hard to do.


This rarely, rarely, rarely ever happens (hidden changes, here.) If there's any kind of unmentioned noticeable change, the internet will know and raise a stink about it. You'll notice that UNRATED/2 WILD FOR THEATRES/EXTENDED BLAH-DE-BLAH banners are often hard to miss.


Yes, the retailer is responsible for the actual product that goes on their shelves, in that they say, "we want these movies/cds/video games sold here". Not the content of the movies themselves, though. They are not in the editorial business. They just want you to buy stuff. It's not that complicated.

In short, you're getting entirely too emotionally worked up over buying dvds.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

That is a very naive view of the industry. Big players, like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, can and do exercise control over the content of movies. That's often why you see R-rated versions of movies on DVD which were released unrated in theatres. Sometimes, because of this pressure and because of low sales expectation, you'll only see an R-rated version of a unrated movie on DVD.

Also, there were companies which would edit the content of a movie and then provide them to a retailer or rental company. CleanFlicks used to be one such company.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Yeah, ten years ago.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Wal-Mart and Blockbuster are filled to the brim with unrated releases. Also, which movies are rated R on dvd, but were unrated in theatres?

Which was ruled illegal years ago, and is not done anymore.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

If by "only" you mean at one particular retailer, that might be the case with Wal-Mart if a studio released two versions of a movie. But I can't think of any unrated movies that were released only in edited form on home video (the exception being "Mulholland Dr.")

You had to go out of your way to seek those out. They were generally available only from the CleanFlicks Web site, and they were done over the objections of the studios, which sued to stop the practice.

Re: Censored DVDs
 

"Lila Says" - even though unrated, fogs one scene with explicit sex pictures from a graphic novel that is featured in one scene.

"Young Adam" was released NC-17 in the theatres, the DVD though is the R-rated cut, but features the deleted scenes seperately in the discs' supplementary section

Re: Censored DVDs
 

Two Girls And A Guy