The director's cut

There is no 'director's cut' as such.. There's the 'American' cut and the International cut.

The version of the film released in the Europe was trimmed by around 20 minutes, as Kubrick decided that parts of the movie didn't need to be there as it was explained somewhat by the later events in the movie, and so he removed segments at the beginning explaining Danny's illness and Jack's alcoholism, amongst other things.

The shorter version is often seen as the better version, but personally I prefer the longer of the two.

You can see a rundown of the differences here:-

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1215

I prefer the longer version.

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The US cut is longer.

The truth is there are things I like about both versions and at the same time there are complaints I have about both versions. The international cut removes a TON of Wendy's horrendous dialogue and I can't stand the scene in the US cut where the doctor comes to examine Danny (In the international version after Danny sees the vision of the blood gushing from the elevator it cuts straight to them driving up to the Overlook, a much better transition). However the US cut does have the scenes where Dick is driving up to the Overlook, now while I do agree those scenes don't add anything to the plot they do build up tension which is why I like them.

It's weird the international cut removes scenes that slow down the pace however it also removes scenes that build up tension however I think I will give the edge to the shorter international version. My ideal version would be the international version with Dick's trip to the Overlook reinserted and Dick's introduction (in the international cut he just appears with no explanation walking through the hallway with Wendy).

I know someone who saw the cut with the hospital scene in New York, back in 1980. He said he went to see it a second time a few days later and the scene was already gone.