Savage Messiah: Ken Russell > Savage Messiah: Ken Russell

The Devils on DVD- official release

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richmond74:
I've just returned from a holiday in Spain and bought a copy of the film. It's great to see it in 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is a decent print (albeit the ghastly US version - I'd forgotten how mauled it is).

However I noticed an extra cut! It's in the title sequence where the Cardinal is about to cross himself and utter the lines "...and may the Protestant be driven from the land" before cutting to the rotten corpse. In this 'new' version the film cuts straight from the title card to the corpse. It's all a bit clumsy as you can see the Cardinal about to open his mouth, before the cut. I cannot imagine why the film has had to suffer another cut. I'm not a Catholic, but read somewhere that the Cardinal crosses himself from the left. Whether this is considered unacceptable or imflammatory by Warner Bros, the local distributor or Spain, I do not know. It cannot be a technical problem as the print looks in good condition.

Incidentally, despite Warner Bros apparently advising they would not licence the film in North America to another releasing company, this version is sub-licensed to a local company, Impulso Records, so I'm not sure whether the policy has changed, Spain is seen as a testbed or if that only applies to the uncut (or indeed UK version) of the film.

richmond74:
Alas, I've just read that the Spanish DVD is the US version of the film... At least it's in 2.35:1 so Russell's gloriously framed imagery can be seen, if nothing else...

richmond74:
I suppose one of the most obvious differences between UK and US versions is that the British print includes Sister Jeanne self-applying an enema at the very end of the film just before the Baron enters the room with Grandier's charred bone. The Amercian print cuts straight to the ensuing conversation. Thanks for checking, only I find the US print so horribly cut that I don't think I'd consider buying it.

tornhill:
Ah, now I know. The spanish DVD is slightly longer than 103 minutes. And it's a PAL DVD.

tornhill:
Uh, oh I really don't know anything about the differences between the US or UK version. I just skipped through the disc just to see if the rape of Christ sequence is included. It's not.

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