This is a comparison between the German DVD released by MIG/Eurovideo and the US DVD released by Scorpion Releasing.

Dakkar, high priest of the spider cult and his followers reign over the country. One day, a prophecy comes true: Ator, son of Torren, is born who one day will get rid of the cult. Dakkar sends out his men to kill the newborn, yet the mysterious Griba brings Ator to foster parents that rear him. When he one day wants to marry his stepsister Sunya, his father tells him, that this is no problem since he is adopted. During the ceremony, the cult raids the village and kidnaps Sunya. Griba trains Ator to become a fighter. Along with Roon he gets on his way to free Sunya and destroy the spider cult.

Soon after the success of "Conan", legendary shlock-movie-maker Joe D'Amato realized that the audience was ready for more movies of the same kind. "Ator - The Fighting Eagle" is known as one of the first Conan rip-off movies and was shot during a small amount of time and with a minimum budget. Just a few months after "Conan", D'Amato was able to bring the rip-off to the screen. The protagonist is played by Miles O'Keeffe, who was priorly seen in the movie "Tarzan the Ape Man", co-starring Bo Derek. Sabrina Siani plays the role of Roon and throughout the following years was a part of several barbarian movies (such as "Conquest"); thus she was dubbed "queen of the barbarian movie". Laura Gemser co-stars as the witch Indun who leads Ator. Former pro-wrestler Dakar ("Zombi 2", "Zombi Holocaust") stars as the spider cult's leader. Amato thus got together an illustrious cast. However, the movie struggles with a lot of problems, such as the pretty dull enactment. More than once, the movie takes too much time with its scenes. Apart from that, "Ator" is trashy fun. Thanks to the cheap production, a greater part of the dialog is quite absurd. For example, Ator asks his sister why he cannot marry her. Once she responds that it is due to the fact that she is his sister, Ator immediately runs off to asks his father if there really is no possibility for the marraige. When Ator fights the spider, the scene comes across as being pretty cheap, after all, the beast comes across as inactive and only once is able to wiggle with its legs before Ator hits it.

For the US market, the movie was toned down. Quite a few plot sequences were taken out, probably to enhance the movie's flow. Unfortunately, some of the violence was taken out, too, especially inside the volcano after Ator got holf of the shield. Even the battle against the papercut-spider was shortened, probably to take out some of the ridiculous no-budged-effects. Also, some of the scenes were placed differently to cover up the cuts. The German DVD was probably based on a US master. All missing sequences were cut in from a VHS-source. However, two sequences from the US Version are not included on the German DVD.
When it comes to the quality, the US DVD is much better. There, the movie is included in an anamorphic format of 1.85:1 - the German DVD has a 4:3 letterboxed format.

Comparison of the image quality:

German DVD:

US DVD:

Runtimes:

German DVD: 90:20 min. (PAL)
US DVD: 92:13 min. (NTSC)

[00:12:33][00:13:06]

The high priest adds, that the riders can return to the temple.

German Version: 9 sec.


[00:17:27][00:18:04]

Ator says that it is hard for him to talk about it.

German Version: 7 sec.


[00:21:03][00:21:42]

The priest is shown earlier.

German Version: 3 sec.


[00:21:14][00:21:51]

The wedding ceremony is longer.

German Version: 28 sec.


[00:21:49][00:21:57]

German Version:

The high priest and the two raiders are shown longer.

US Version:

A part of the wedding ceremony is missing that was shown earlier in the German Version.

German Version: 4 sec.
US Version: 6 sec.


[00:38:44][00:39:38]

A shot of the fight scene is shown earlier in the US Version.

US Version: 2 sec.


[00:58:47][01:00:35]

The US Version shows another shot of the walking dead walking around.

of
US Version: 10 sec.


[00:58:52][01:00:51]

The US Version shows a shot of the corpses.

In the German Version, a zombie attacks Roon. Ator comes back and cuts the zombie's head off. She says that he saved her life once more.

German Version: 24 sec.
US Version: 4 sec.


[00:59:28]01:01:07]

Ator realizes that the zombies are gone and leaves with Roon.

German Version: 9 sec.


[01:00:44][01:02:17]

Roon says that they cannot do anything without the horses. After a cut to the one-eyed man the camera cuts back to Ator.

German Version: 6 sec.


[01:00:59][01:02:27]

Roon adds that this is only true for the person who does not know how to negotiate.

German Version: 8 sec.


[01:13:51][01:15:44]

Roon kills one of the workers.

German Version: 3 sec.


[01:13:55][01:15:45]

Ator kills a worker.

German Version: 2 sec.


[01:14:00][01:15:49]

Roon kills another worker.

German Version: 5 sec.


[01:14:06][01:15:50]

US Version:

We now see a scene where Roon fights one of the workers. His death, however, is not included.

German Version:

Now we see Ator killing one of the workers.

US Version: 4 sec.
German Version: 1 sec.


[01:14:11][01:15:57]

Ator kills another worker.

German Version: 1 sec.


[01:14:23][01:16:09]

The worker falls into the fire.

German Version: 1 sec.


[01:15:12][01:16:59]

A shot of the temple. Ator and Roon walk towards it.

German Version: 11 sec.


[01:24:46][01:26:46]

There are two missing shots of Ator's battle against the spider.

German Version: 7 sec.


[01:24:57][01:26:50]

A small part of the battle was cut out.

German Version: 2 sec.


[01:25:01][01:26:51]

Ator fights the spider a little longer.

German Version: 3 sec.


[01:25:09][01:26:56]

Again, the battle is longer.

German Version: 1 sec.


[01:25:21][01:27:07]

Ditto.

German Version: 9 sec.