the imdb run time for "escape" is 143 minutes. all of the numerous dvd releases seem to be 119 minutes. i saw it when it came out in 1987. it was shown in a 3 hour block...it has to be longer than 2 hours! anyone know what's missing???
the commercial breaks back in 87 were probably more like 10 minutes. if the times listed on the dvd releases are true...this film is missing 24 minutes(according to imdb). it's strange to see how many different dvds exist of this movie at amazon. this often indicates a cheap pressing...possibly incomplete and/or bad quality.
I've seen the full version a couple of times. The parts that are cut out of the American version of the DVD include a scene where Toivi sees two of the Kapos going over gold and other valuables they'd stolen. They are turned in by Berliner and hung. Another shows a truckload of SS showing up at the camp, forcing the prisoners to postpone their revolt. There might be more, but that's what I remember.
I've shown this movie in my classes for over a decade, and as a result I have had several copies of the vhs and dvd due to it vanishing and breaking, etc. The recent versions are indeed shorter. What I noticed is missing is the example I read above of when they have to postpone their escape attempt the first time and also a scene where Schlomo has a romantic interlude alone with the woman he danced with. I thought that this scene was removed to create a version for middle and high school students, even though the scene is not explicit at all. However, I have never found the long version again since my first copy I had in 1989.
I saw this back in my World History class in my sophomore year in high school (1988), and we saw the whole thing. Didn't even need permission slips to see the movie, either.
Why did they cut that portion out of the film? Just because it's 'implied' that they are going to have sex, they got to censor that?
This is a Dutch site, but they deliver to other countries and the price and shipping are low. I have heard that this DVD is of good quality and is the full 143-minute version, unlike the cheap crap region 1 editions that are cut by 25 minutes.
"Our first ideas of life are generally taken from fiction rather than fact." - Arthur Schopenhauer
I saw this on TV last month and yesterday I picked up a DVD copy for only $1!. Not very good picture quality. It runs for 118 minutes and one cut I did notice was the scene where the litle boy makes a run to escape and is chased by the guard dog.
This has also been released in the U.K. although for some reason it seems to have limited distribution.Go to www.ddhe.co.uk-item is an official region 2 & stated running time is 143m approx.
I'm watching the netflix version and it is only 120 minutes. I saw in the quotes that there is this exchange: Stanislaw "Shlomo" Szmajzner: I will do anything for revenge, even if I have to die for it. Leon Feldhendler: How old are you? Stanislaw "Shlomo" Szmajzner: How old do you have to be? Leon Feldhendler: You are old enough.
In my version, the scene ends after the first line.
I can only guess that they wanted to cut it down so that it could be shown all at once and 147 was too long for a movie (but not for a miniseries). I wish they had the full version.
"I saw this on TV last month and yesterday I picked up a DVD copy for only $1!. Not very good picture quality. It runs for 118 minutes and one cut I did notice was the scene where the litle boy makes a run to escape and is chased by the guard dog."
That's version I have, got it at the dollar store! I get the sense it's an obscure movie in that regard, at least now anyway. I haven't seen it anywhere else.
I also have the edited DVD version. I saw the original when it was televised and I can also recall just before the attempted escape just after the two guys attacked the guard at the river the man who Berliner whipped to death (you just catch the end of it on the edited version)was seen collapsing and the whipping from the beginning - he was asked to count 40 strokes.