Canadian vs. American DVDs

[retroboy]

I've heard that some DVDs released in Canada contain different content than ones released in the US. Cases in point: The Canadian disc for Pulp Fiction has deleted scenes and a plethora of trailers, but the American disc has none; The Straight Story in Canada is full-frame, but the American version is widescreen. We're all region 1 brothers and sisters, so I find it strange that there should be differences at all.

[Chris in OC]

Strange indeed. I think this was covered in another thread, but I can't seem to find it.

I can't imagine why there'd be a difference in aspect ratio, but I wonder if the presence or absence of extra content has anything to do with different copyright laws. Just a thought.

------------------
Trust me -- I know what I'm doing.

[SolidSnakeASS]

Its all about Alliance Atlantis my friend...

[Hassan Tchaup]

Both the "Ginger Snaps" and Cronenberg's flick "Existenz" were released in Canada in much better editions than the barebones releases in the states!!

[retroboy]

Originally posted by Hassan Tchaup:
Both the "Ginger Snaps" and Cronenberg's flick "Existenz" were released in Canada in much better editions than the barebones releases in the states!!

I forgot about ExistenZ--I own the disc! I haven't seen Ginger Snaps yet, despite its filmmaker being a fellow Calgarian.

[reeltime]

Don't forget Memento - the Canadian DVD has a the reverse order option (you have to select each chapter one at a time though, but the menu makes it easy). But it lacks all of the other extras of the U.S. version. Still, I picked it up last time I was there.

I too would appreciate any add'l tips on Canadian versions that are significantly different than their U.S. counterparts. I'll be making another pilgrimage to the North in a couple of weeks. Be glad to help boost their economy. :-)


------------------
Best,

Dave Kramer
http://fromscript2screen.com

[DrDetroit]

Good Will Hunting has a far superior Canadian edition to its american counterpart. Snake is right. The Alliance Atlantis is where it's at. Though they did release a subpar "You Can Count On Me"

------------------
Morphine! What a rascal!

[SolidSnakeASS]

Alliance has released some better version, and some pure ass version. The Red Violin (Canada=full frame, 2.0;US=widescreen, DTS) is apallingly bad in Canada, and it is a Canadian film. Titles like Pulp Fiction are way better, and Good Will Hunting are way better though.

I highly recommend any Americans who live driving distance from Canada to buy most of there DVDS up here. You can basically get 2 for 1 on the dollar. A friend of mine went down to the States and said that a $25 USA title is $25 Cnd up here. Not bad... only Criterions are cheaper in the States.

[Disco Stu]

Originally posted by DrDetroit:
Good Will Hunting has a far superior Canadian edition to its american counterpart. Snake is right. The Alliance Atlantis is where it's at.

There were more extras than on the American SE? That one has a commentary, 12 deleted scenes w/wo commentary, a music video, a behind the scenes, a featurette, 2 or 3 trailers, and 16 TV ads.

The only chance for the "real" version of "The Crow" is through Alliance, with the extras provided by director Alex Proyas that is. It's a shame Criterion is only liscensing out their extras in fits and starts (only with commentaries to New Line for Boogie Nights, and to Columbia for Holy Grail), because the interview with Tarantino on the "Pulp Fiction" LD would have been a great addition to the Alliance disc.

Does anyone know where I can get that SE of "Ginger Snaps" in the US?

And why is the Canadian version of "The Stuff" full frame (as is the subpar version of Heavenly Creatures) and without the great commentary on the Anchor Bay disc, but for some reason is in 5.1 sound, even though it was originally recorded in Mono, as was displayed on the AB disc?

------------------
Arrogance is bliss
I have better taste than you

[DrDetroit]

Originally posted by Disco Stu:
There were more extras than on the American SE? That one has a commentary, 12 deleted scenes w/wo commentary, a music video, a behind the scenes, a featurette, 2 or 3 trailers, and 16 TV ads.

I believe that there are at least three releases of Good Will Hunting out there. One, an Alliance disc. Second, a Miramax Collector's Series disc. And third, a Buena Vista disc.

The two latter discs are non-anamorphic. The miramax edition has 11 deleted scenes (the BV has zero). The Alliance disc, which I assume is Canadian-produced (feel free to prove me wrong), has 12 deleted scenes as well as an anamorphic transfer.

My information is from the main page: http://www.dvdfile.com/software/revi...ll_faceoff.htm

As for acquiring the Ginger Snaps SE, you might want to try http://www.absound.ca/ They have it listed there and I think they take american orders.

[This message has been edited by DrDetroit (edited 11-09-2001).]

[retroboy]

I also forgot about the Alliance Good Will Hunting--it's a great disc! Alliance Atlantis is the biggest distributor of Canadian, American indie and foreign films on video and DVD here in the Great White North. Red Violin is in widescreen in the US? Add yet another title I have to order from your fine country. Last Night is another great Canadian film that Alliance released in full frame (sigh). I wish Alliance would do a proper job on all Canadian films they release on DVD (and I'm still waiting for films by David Cronenberg, Bruce MacDonald, Denys Arcand, the Twitch City TV series to be released on DVD).

Does the American version of Trainspotting have deleted scenes and other extras like the Alliance version?

Another good place to order Canadian versions of DVDs online is futureshop.com--they're Canada's equivalent of Best Buy (and BB just bought out Future Shop too).