lelandpalmer816

I just purchased the 99min version of the 1997 French film Dobermann with Vincent Cassel and found out there is a 103 min version that is pretty common. I'm going to be extremely disappointed if a good bit of the violent scenes were trimmed. Does anyone know if this was the case? Thanks in advance. I cannot seem to find any knowledge of this anywhere, although it's obvious there are two versions.

flixtime

I'm presuming you've purchased either the Russian NTSC DVD or its clone the Singapore DVD...thus I'm betting that you're not missing out on anything. The 99 minute vs. 103 minute runtime difference is spot on for the 4% PAL/NTSC gap...so I suppose they just didn't do an official conversion when doing the transfer to NTSC...meaning that is the reason for the 99-minute runtime even though one would expect a longer 103-minute NTSC count (I'm not a A/V-phile so excuse the lack of proper techno-speak in my explanation/speculation/guesswork).

You can expect toddly will reply to this thread. He's rather enthusiastic about the movie and didn't seem to have any complaints about the Russian DVD he reviewed. Until then, I have a feeling you are quite okay in terms of having an uncut release.

Cheato

Without further factual information about how it was filmed or created for DVD, I will suggest that the 103-minute NTSC version runs at proper speed. PAL causes a 4% speed-up of movies when they are transferred from film to PAL-format DVDs. To put it simply, 99% of PAL movies run 4% too fast, which, I feel should be noted, results in an audio pitch difference (approximately one half-pitch, so ears sensitive to music will notice, for example, a piece in C now being played in C#).

lelandpalmer816

The dvd I purchased is indeed the singapore dvd. The quality of it seemed pretty good and I just saw it today for the first time and while it was different than I expected, I really liked it. I think the Killing Zoe comparisons are apt, just a lot crazier. I do wish there would've been a few more shootouts and it would've been a tad longer as soon as I thought it was really getting good it was over. The pal/ntsc conversion thing makes sense and I even wondered that myself. I just worried there were 4 minutes worth of good stuff I was missing. I really appreciate the answers.

toddly6666

haha, and also because I did the English subtitles for the Russian DVD (didn't I tell you that?). I don't know whether to be pissed or flattered that the HKflix "Singapore" DVD bootlegged the Russian DVD that I worked on.

flixtime

Hmm...I could me mistaken but I don't recall you mentioning that you did the subs. So, I guess I'll offer you my thanks now for the job you did. Nice work!

lelandpalmer816

Yes a nice job indeed. I also am sorry I was unaware of the Russian dvd and I purchased the hkflix bootleg. I found out about it, seriously, like 1 day after I placed the order. Hkflix is just my go to place for hard to find stuff. And there it was in stock. Either way it is a nice version. Are there any differences on the russian dvd?

toddly6666

There are no differences at all - they copied the same video, audio and subtitles. But I can understand why buying the HK flix bootleg is better because they do have the better packaging!

CritterYawn

It's nice to hear that there still are some people around here who, if maybe not making a living out of the viewing passion, at least are rewarded for it, financially and/or professionally.

toddly6666

I wish I could do it as a full-time job. It's not often when I get to do freelance work like this. I've worked on four dvds during the past three years. I wish I could do more! I get paid for it, but I would gladly do it for free since it's so fun doing it!

Rypro 525

sweet, i didn't know you did the subs. I assume it meant that you know the movie inside and out, and that you know french right?

toddly6666

Well, I've basically done the English subs for 2 Russian films and 2 French films. My mom is French and my wife is Russian, so I have used them as language consultants for awkward translations. And I have studied French and Russian in the past, but i'm not fluent.

I'll break down what I've done for artpopdvd.com (just 4 films):

1. ROMANOVS: AN IMPERIAL FAMILY (http://www.artpopdvd.com/DVD/48544.aspx). I was given an awful English subtitle file and I basically edited that Russian-to-English translation.

2. ONE DEADLY SUMMER (http://www.artpopdvd.com/DVD/48595.aspx). I worked on this before the recent USA NTSC Region 1 dvd release of this film. Basically, I used the old British PAL DVD and I edited the British-English subtitles into neutral-English subtitles. Surprisingly, the old British DVD had pretty poor English subtitles as well. So it wasn't that easy.

3. DOBERMANN (http://www.artpopdvd.com/DVD/48602.aspx). This was one title that needed serious editing and re-translating. I refered to the previous awful British DVD of this film, the French subtitles from the French DVD, and my mother as French consultant. This was really fun working on this title, trying to figure out if it is "goddamn motherfucker" or "goddamned motherfucker."

4. HIPSTERS (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1239426/). This one is not released for sale yet. But I am the only one to have a post-production anamorphic, DD 5.1 Russian, English subtitled DVD of this masterpiece! I worked my ass off on this one the most. There were never any previous English subtitles available and no Russian subtitles on the Russian DVD, so this title took the most time. My wife and I literally did the complete translation on this one. I was given a poor Russian-to-English translation file that we used for reference, but we translated and edited this one from scratch, word for word, pausing the dvd for each line of dialogue, and repeating this process over and over. If the DVD that I worked on doesn't get released, I'm sure the film will eventually get released elsewhere because it's currently playing in US festivals. It would be crazy if this Russian movie doesn't get released with English subtitles anywhere, because it is the best contemporary film to come out of Russia.

Greatest job ever. I wish I could do this as a full-time job! I would gladly offer my services to Hong Kong or Bollywood dvd companies who usually have the worst English subtitles. It's such a fun job that I would do it for free, just as a hobby. I would rather do this as a hobby instead of compulsively buying dvds and blu-rays!

asianxcore

Didn't even know that! Great job, the Russian DVD is fantastic.

toddly6666

Thank you!