MovieChat Forums > 1941 (1979) Discussion > The damned director's cut

The damned director's cut

posted 14 years ago by ripleylives
8 replies | jump to latest

Okay, so I love "1941". I know I'm in the minority. Pauline Kael liked it a lot, too, and she basically called Spielberg a fool for making apologetic excuses for his own movie. I couldn't agree more. (I hate it when directors apologize for their own movies. Kevin Smith has that disease as well. But that's another topic.)

I saw "1941" once in the theater, a year or two after its initial disastrous release. After that, I watched it for years on cable or VHS, making do with hateful pan and scan. Imagine my glee when a widescreen director's cut was announced with 28 extra minutes. I ran a video store at the time and naturally purchased it to use as a rental. Went home all excited, popped it in the VCR (it was the VHS version), and in no time at all I was extremely unhappy. IMO, the director's cut SUCKS. The extra footage blows and brings down the rest of the movie. It became what the critics had described it as in 1979: a bloated, unfunny behemoth.

For over a decade now, I have been dying for a widescreen copy of the original 118 minute version, which I still love. The difference between the two versions blows my mind. That's another thing I hate: directors who can't leave their frickin' movies in their original form. Oliver Stone has THAT disease. Francis Ford Coppola, too. (I am not referring to films that were unfairly recut or censored and eventually restored.) Anyway, my question is this: does a widescreen version of the original cut of "1941" exist?? This movie really needs to play in WS.

[–] matwsussx 14 years ago

I found the Directors Cut far more sinister than the cinema version ie Treat Williams character was far more evil and the initial scene between John Candy and Frank McRae was awful.
Anyway in answer to your question, not sure if you are in the UK but the UK region 2 dvd which was released earlier this year is widescreen and is the original, shorter version. The box claims to have deleted scenes but this isnt true, the only extra scenes are the ones featured in the making of documentary.

[–] ripleylives 14 years ago

That's fantastic! Thank you so much for responding. I live in the US but I have an all-region DVD player. I only have a few DVDs that aren't Region 1 so I never even thought of looking across the pond. Good news. Thanks again!

I agree with your description of the extra scenes. The worst one, for me, was the mayhem-in-the-department-store sequence. It was utterly dreadful.

[–] DrPostman 14 years ago

I'm watching it now and already I can see how the store scene where he's
getting his suit for the dance was really unnecessary. And the scene where
the soldiers meet the girls just before that was equally silly and very
unnecessary to the movie.

[–] ebright99 13 years ago

The Sony Movie Chanel on DirectTV is airing the short version. It's not full 2.35, but it is 1.77.

Last night was the first time I'd seen the short version. It plays better in its short form, although some of the deleted scenes helped the continuity in the long version. Ideally I think a blending of the two should be made...the way they did with Close Encounters.

[–] rascal67 9 years ago

...the extra scenes. The worst one, for me, was the mayhem-in-the-department-store sequence. It was utterly dreadful.
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Couldn't agree more and it wasn't even funny. Pleased that they had the foresight to edit the film down and let it clip along at a breezier pace. I didn't mind the Xmas tree scene though, leading up to the capture of Hollis by the Japanese.

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Destinata:💩

[–] pazuzu-2 10 years ago

By now, you probably know that the newly released blu ray carries both versions in high quality.

The biggest minority in America is the individual.

[–] rascal67 9 years ago

The 118min theatrical cut is the better version. The extra scenes in the DC, dragged the film out too long and lagged out the pace. Comedies are usually short and need to be tight, at around 90mins. At 118mins, Spielberg pushed a boundary. Extending it by another 20 or so minutes is self-indulgence. It was fine the way it was. There was one jarring cut regarding Hollis and his capture by the Japanese in the theatrical cut, and that needed some of the extra stuff. John Landis, did the same to THE BLUES BROTHERS-80', and that was already over 2hrs to begin with. These genre of films need to be snappy and breezy.

[–] 9 years ago

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