FINALLY. Apocalypse Now SE in the pipeline

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 08 Apr 2006, 22:43

Excellent news, there's an Apocalypse Now SE (also and SE of Coppola's cheesy fun Dracula) in the pipeline featuring both cuts of the film.

dvdforums wrote:For the past 15 months, Aubry and his team have been working on the upcoming special edition DVD release — Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier, a sort of “kitchen sink” version of an Apocalypse Now DVD.

It will include both the original and Redux versions of the film, as well as a wealth of new documentaries that dive deep into the editing, the sound, the music and other aspects of the film’s production.

Aubry is filming some of the bonus features in high-def, for this and for another project, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which will also include a special “art student” viewing option.

“Whenever moments in the film appear that have interesting references to art, a button will appear,” he said. “They can select it, and the film will stop, and they’ll see the storyboard or the painting the setting is based on.”

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 09 Apr 2006, 00:00

Nice find Eva.

If it contains both cuts it will have to be 3 discs unless they use seamless branching. It's a Universal title right? Have they ever used seamless branching?

I paid about £25 for my French Apocalypse Now Redux 2 Disc SE but as it's not a proper SE I'll upgrade for sure no question.

I'll definitely upgrade to a Dracula: SE too that film is underrated.

Pity there are no actual dates

and no doubt it will still fucking be cropped

Why Coppola thinks Apocalypse Now is better in 2.00:1 for the home market I'll never understand.

He's not cropped any of his other films, it looked so good in 2.35:1 in the cinema.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 Apr 2006, 05:40

bradavon wrote:It's a Universal title right?

Depends on which territory the release is from. Paramount hold the US rights, Di$ney the UK rights, Fox the French rights and UK rights to the TC, Universal the Australasian rights. I speculate the American Zoetrope (Coppola's company) may actually own the film and all the distributors license it from him. Anyone know for sure?

and no doubt it will still fucking be cropped Evil or Very Mad Why Coppola thinks Apocalypse Now is better in 2.00:1 for the home market I'll never understand.

Yeah, I hope for an uncropped 2.35:1 release too, but can live with 2.00:1 since that's the only ratio I've ever seen the film in. I hope that there's a DTS track too for at least the TC, the DD5.1 track (which Coppola supervised and the film's sound designer created personally IIRC) on Redux kicks utter arse.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 May 2006, 19:35

It's all go:

"Paramount Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier for 15th August 2006.

This Special Collector’s Edition includes both the 1979 and 2001 editions of the film plus over 2 hours of bonus materials including:

* Audio Commentaries
* Rare, unseen footage
* Lost scenes
* Brand-new featurettes
* Segments from the Cutting Room Floor
* ”Then & Now” retrospectives and More!"

Source (including cover art): http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=61523

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 15 May 2006, 19:35

I'll be getting this for sure but it's a bit cheeky to list deleted scenes three times:

# Rare, unseen footage
# Lost scenes
# Segments from the Cutting Room Floor

Hello they're all the same thing. With 2 hours of extras this will have to be a 3 disc release.

I'll be holding on to my French SE for now as it may have exclusive extras (+ I'll never get the £25 I paid back, it was worth it as I've had the SE for years) BUT I'll trade my single Disc Theatrical Cut UK R2. I've never got around to watching it

. I may as well wait for the SE now, hopefully with remastered AV.

No "Hearts of Darkness" never mind I recently picked up the VHS of that and it looks like I'll be keeping it for some time to come (I'll put it on a Hard Disk Recorder when I buy one).

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 15 May 2006, 23:09

Never really liked the film. I couldn't help, but fall asleep each time I tried to force myself to watch it.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 15 May 2006, 23:39

Excellent, I highly doubt that they'll uncropped though. This is good year for DVD, with this and the Kingdom of Heaven DC. I'll wait and see before I offload my R4 Redux disc though, that could exclusive extras.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2006, 00:05

It only has that alternate ending with commentary big deal (okay it is good but not worth keeping for). I have it twice:

UK R2 Theatrical Cut
French R2 SE Redux

thelostdragon wrote:Never really liked the film. I couldn't help, but fall asleep each time I tried to force myself to watch it.

WTF! You fell asleep during the air raid?

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 16 May 2006, 00:08

Not during the air raid. That was fantastically shot. Also not during the surfboard scene. But starting from there, I can't finish watching it.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2006, 00:48

2 Discs looks worrying unless they use seamless branching. I can only see both cuts + 2 Hours of extras fitting if they use seamless branching.

He he it didn't take long. Full details are up:

"This two-disc Special Collector’s Edition includes both the 1979 and 2001 editions of the film plus over 2 hours of bonus materials. Features include:

* Anamorphic Widescreen Transfers
* English DD5.1 Surround
* English and Spanish subtitles
* Commentary by Francis Ford Coppola
* Watch Apocalypse Now with Francis Ford Coppola
* Marlon Brando's complete reading of T.S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men"
* Lost "Monkey Sampan" Scene
* Additional Scenes: Saigon Streetlife, Military Intelligence Escorts, Intelligence Briefing (two extensions), Willard Meets the PBR Crew, Letter From Mrs. Kurtz, Booby Trap, Do-Lung Bridge “…That Road Is Open”, The Photojournalist, Colby, The Tiger Cages, “Special Forces Knife”
* The A/V Club
* The Post Production of Apocalypse Now: A Million Feet of Film: The Editing of Apocalypse Now, The Music of Apocalypse Now, The Sound of Apocalypse Now, The final Mix
* A/V Club: The Birth of 5.1 Sound, Ghost Helicopter Flyover, “The Synthesizer Soundtrack” by Bob Moog, Technical FAQ
* "PBR Streetgang" Cast Members' Reunion
* "Apocalypse Then and Now" Retrospective
* The Added Scenes and Expanded Scenes of Apocalypse Now Redux
* The Color Pallet of Apocalypse Now"

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 16 May 2006, 02:04

Wow... 8)

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 May 2006, 02:25

Awesome. It'll be cheap too with an RRP of 19.99USD.

bradavon wrote: Pity the Kurtz Compound alternate ending with director commentary hasn't made it's way to this release.

AH-HA! That's on my R4 Redux, I'll be hanging onto it for sure now.

Brad, when you do make a digital copy of Heart of Darkness, could you please send a copy my way? I'll pay for it of course. Cheers.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 16 May 2006, 08:38

What is this movie like, I have never seen it. It one of those rare gems of a movie that has excaped me, So I will prob get this movie, but want to see what your guys and gals think.

Also does Redux add alot to the movie?

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 May 2006, 09:16

slasher13 wrote:What is this movie like, I have never seen it.

It's an episodic experience as Martin Sheen (and a river-boat crew) heads up river to assassinate Kurtz (Brando) - a film about the journey, not the mission. Some of the most awesome scenes ever put to celluloid are in this film. Watching the scene where the Huey choppers napalm the Vietcong village to "Flight of the Valkyries" is breath-taking. The opening scene when the Huey's flying back & forth over the flames in slow-motion while The Doors' "The End" plays that bleeds into Martin Sheen lying in his motel room in Saigon while his narration is played is nothing short of genius filmmaking.

Also does Redux add alot to the movie?

It adds absolutely nothing, just takes longer to say what is already said in the theatrical cut.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 16 May 2006, 09:26

Cool, Thanks Eva, will get this when it comes out. Sounds really good.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2006, 10:28

EvaUnit02 wrote:Brad, when you do make a digital copy of Heart of Darkness, could you please send a copy my way? I'll pay for it of course. Cheers.

Sure no worries. It will only be VHS quality though but you already know this. I'll be using a Stereo VCR so it will retain the Stereo aspect. I may have to buy a new cheap VCR off eBay as my VCR is really on it's last legs and the only other VCR in the house is an old Mono model. I'm not losing Stereo. I have a few others to transfer to DVD too (such as Blade Runner: Theatrical Cut).

I'll be buying a Hard Disk Recorder with DVD Recorder built in so it will be nice and simple to do what you ask. I was going to myself a copy too.

I'll be buying one soon. I'd own it now but I've got my eye on a brand new release Toshiba that has only launched this month and a nice £299.99. Where I can get it from at that price won't have any until the end of the month so I'm waiting. It costs a more as I'm getting one with a Freeview Digital tuner built in (very rare on a HDR/DVDR combo).

Most models are £400 and there are only 3-4 makes on the market which offer HDR/DVDR/Freeview all in one box. I'm not keen to spend over £350 as really £300 is my upper limit.

slasher13 wrote:What is this movie like, I have never seen it. It one of those rare gems of a movie that has excaped me

Definitely. Eva has summed it up nicely. I'll add that the ending is also awesome to watch. When Sheen's character arrives at his destination and a gang of Lord of the Flies types appears, classic.

slasher13 wrote:Also does Redux add alot to the movie?

I've only seen the Redux cut and on the big screen too. The entire film blew me away but I agree like most some of the extra scenes are unnecessary. The only one I can think of mind you is the French plantation scene.

I've got the Theatrical Cut DVD but will wait to watch my SE version now. Fingers crossed it will be Remastered so should look even better.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 16 May 2006, 12:06

bradavon wrote: Fingers crossed it will be Remastered so should look even better.

I hope so too. Coppola's company American Zoetrope produce excellent DVDs.

. It costs a more as I'm getting one with a Freeview Digital tuner built in (very rare on a HDR/DVDR combo).

What is Freeview? A PDTV or HDTV broadcast service, I'd imagine?

The family got a HDR/DVDR combo this in the last Boxing Day sales. It's a Panasonic and I'm very pleased with it (Good timing too, since our VCR was on it's last legs - the heads were so dirty that they were beyond head cleaning tapes. fuck paying $40-60 to get them replaced.). It can only receive analogue signals, but I don't care seeing as it will be several years (10-15 by my guess) before NZ gets free PDTV broadcasts, let alone HDTV.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2006, 13:17

Neither Freeview is just the band name for the UK's Terrestrial non-subscription Digital service (through an aerial). It's Standard Definition:

http://www.freeview.co.uk/

I'm pretty sure Freeview is actually the DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) variant of Digital transmission. There are 3-4 types.

Right now only about 75-80% of the population can pick it up but when analogue is switched off in 2008 to 2012 this will grow to 98.5%. I can see Freeview really cutting into Sky's subscription service over the coming years, many right now can't get Freeview so are opting for Sky.

I specifically am holding out for a model with Digital tuner (i.e - Freeview) as in 2 to 6 years the analogue tuner will be useless. This is something most people in the UK don't appreciate when they buy TVs now still with analogue only tuners in them.

The South West (where I live) is coming in 2009 so only 3 years until analogue is fully switched off. It's good news as it should also mean even more channels to choose from.

HD Broadcasting is coming in literally 8 days from Sky (22nd of May is the launch date), Freeview HD is trialling in London but no news from Cable HD yet. 10-15 years my god. I thought the UK was behind. New Zealand is a great country but you're really behind in many ways.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 16 May 2006, 13:36

10-15 years?! Bloody hell.

You say "It will be several years before NZ gets PDTV" then "10-15 is my guess".

Good grief

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 16 May 2006, 15:33

Not wanting to go off topic: What's PDTV?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 May 2006, 13:37

Back on topic. Here's a copy/paste from my comments over at the equivalent DVD Forums thread. I figure it would be useful here too:

Niceguygeoff wrote:Some of the extras are on current DVD editions (like the French Redux 2-discer)

They are? Which ones?

I have that. I don't spot any French extras and until I do I'll be keeping it as well as this SE.

French R2 Redux 2 Disc SE extras:

1979 Press Conference Extract (3:25)
2001 Press Conference (45mins) *
Interview with Claude Berri (4mins; in French, No Subtitles)
"Destruction Of The Kurtz Compound" (with Commentary by Director Francis Ford Coppola) (6mins)

The Polish R2 Redux 2 Disc SE has some possibly exclusive extras:

"Making Of" documentary
"Redoing The Apocalypse" featurette
Interview with Francis Ford Coppola
Interviews with Actors & Crew
Footage from the 2001 Re-Release of the movie in Cannes *

* I presume they're the same length.

The following two extras which are on this New SE also feature on the Existing Redux R4 (it's a Universal release):

"Apocalypse Then And Now" featurette (3:34)
"PBR Streetgang" featurette (3:58 )

"Destruction of the Kurtz Compound" (with Commentary by Director Francis Ford Coppola) (5:48 ) - On the R4 but not this New SE

At least we can tell those two extra won't add up to much.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 May 2006, 19:23

I can only see this working if they use Seamless Branching. With 2 Hours of Extras and only 2 Discs I can't see how else they can fit that many extras on with the two films running times.

What's Paramounts track record of Seamless Branching? Have they ever used it before? I can't see them using Integrated Branching like MGM did when they cocked up that Robocop DVD but it's still worrying.

I am wondering if I can safely sell on my 1979 Theatrical Cut DVD???

EDIT: I "guess" they could squeeze 2 hours of extras across both discs with most of the extras on the 1979 Theatrical Cut DVD and the rest on the Redux DVD. This is probably more likely with the number of Seamless Branching DVDs out there.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 17 May 2006, 21:24

Again from DVD Forums:

John Hodson wrote:From The Bits:

On the subject of Apocalypse Now today, a lot of you have been asking what aspect ratio the films included in the 2-disc Complete Dossier DVD release will be in. Apparently, some are displeased with the fact that while the films were shot in 2.35:1, they've seldom been released on video at that exact ratio. Confirmation from both Paramount and director Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope (see this link ) indicates that the film's cinematographer, Vittorio Storaro, prefers that Apocalypse Now be exhibited on video at the slightly cropped widescreen ratio of 2.0:1 (as was the case on the previous DVD releases). Coppola agrees with this decision, so that's what you'll get on the DVD.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 18 May 2006, 02:45

bradavon wrote:Not wanting to go off topic: What's PDTV?

Pure Digital Television. Standard Definition Digital TV in other words.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 18 May 2006, 11:40

You guys don't even have Digital TV? WTF!!!