NTSC vs PAL runtimes

[liddle]

I want to buy a dvd of a French film that is listed on American websites as having a runtime of 115 minutes but French sites as 108 minutes.
Is the difference in NTSC and PAL enough to account for such a large discrepancy? Or would the difference in listed time more likely be from different versions of how the film was edited?

[netmask56]

PAL would be 4% faster and maybe there are some other changes to the file fro French release etc.

[jagabo]

108 * 25 / 23.976 = 112.6

So it's more than just the frame rate difference.

[liddle]

Thanks for the replies

[Krispy Kritter]

Different regions can have different cuts of the film (ie: some scenes may be added or removed).

A good site for disc comparisons: http://www.dvdcompare.net/

[jman98]

It's also, in my opinion, quite difficult to verify that original listed run times are actually correct. For example, in the EU and USA there have been major BluRay box sets of the complete films of Jacques Tati. The US one just came out last month on Criterion. There's a bit of a tizzy going on in various film forums because to date nobody has ever released more than 100 minutes of the film "Les Vacances De Monsieur Hulot" (Mr. Hulot's Holiday). Various sources, including IMDB, insist that the original running time was over 110 minutes, but despite apparently 10 minutes being "gone", nobody has yet to come up with any proof that anything is actually missing. The film was restored a few years ago and nobody involved in the restoration, as far as I know, has said that anything is missing, yet there are plenty of up in arm consumers who are afraid that they've somehow been cheated. It's known that Tati did major editing work on the film years later, but as best I can tell everything has been restored. The film was popular enough that you'd think that someone somewhere would have a copy of the original release since it's from 1953, but because several websites insist that the original running time was over 110 minutes, the idea persists that "something is missing".

Short version - don't bet your house that the 115 minutes quoted is really correct.

[Cornucopia]

I L*O*V*E Jacques Tati!

I saw the re-releases of all of his works in art theatres in the '80s. AFA I can tell, nothing is missing from the transfers.

Scott

[netmask56]

I absolutely love the sequence of the muffled PA of the train station manager and people en-block up and down stairs to the platforms. Still happens with signalling as to which platform at my local Sydney suburban train station except the trains are all airconditioned with comfortable seating and have digital readouts inside and out of where you are going and where you are etc - soon to have wifi I believe. I have a running joke with my best mate, I simply text "Tati time" meaning platform confusion....

[Cornucopia]

I love the BOAT => Psuedo-shark bit.

And I've got that song stuck in my head! (know it by heart)

Yeah, he was an astute observer of human behavior!

Scott