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Comparison between the US Blu-ray by Warner and the German Blu-ray by Plaion Pictures
- A different color filter
Releases of THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS and the legendary US versionPlaion Pictures' deal with Warner has already given us a few cult titles in worthy releases that German fans have been waiting for a long time. These include, in particular, some films of the old action stars, such as the unrated HD premiere of Showdown in Little Tokyo with Dolph Lundgren, or several 90s films by Jackie Chan like First Strike & Mr. Nice Guy. Roman Polanski's Dance of the Vampires (more widely known as The Fearless Vampire Killers) from 1967 is now joining this illustrious group with its German Blu-ray premiere, available from October 24, 2024. A brief classification: It was certainly surprising for many that an HD release was long in coming, even internationally. The Blu-ray released in France in 2015 was only in 1080i and was not convincing in terms of quality. In 2019, a new 2K scan was released in the USA on a Blu-ray in Warner's Archive Collection - a former manufactured-on-demand series and thus perhaps a bit under the radar for some interested parties. Of course, a German soundtrack was not included. As we reported at the time, the film was marketed more heavily as a comedy in the US at the time of its release with the addition “...or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck”, which was also accompanied by an alternative animated opening credits and at least one small additional scene, but above all, it involved cuts of almost 20 minutes – not to mention the fact that some actors who sounded too British were re-dubbed with American speakers. At the time, Polanski tried to remove his name from this version, and at least: this version has hardly been seen anywhere since. Obscure Russian TV recordings from the 90s still attested to its existence, unfortunately disfigured as usual with a Russian voiceover. As can be read on Lostmediawiki, a Portuguese recording was also widespread and TCM in Latin America probably broadcast the original version - as evidenced by a snippet of the well-known additional scene on YouTube with the American dub. And here comes the first sensation of the Plaion Blu-ray: In fact, they were able to track down a 16mm movie scan of the American alternative version (as we heard from our label contact: literally at the very last minute) and offer it as bonus material in the original language. With the complete alternative dub, it is an absolute rarity and, despite clear signs of wear and a zoomed image format, qualitatively better than the aforementioned, rather exotic TV recordings. According to a quick check, we can already say that this version was really extensively shortened in a number of small places. So hardly any scenes are completely gone, but there are a lot of extensive trims in every scene. A detailed report will follow in due course, but a mini-insight with a focus on the exclusive moments can be found here as an attachment.
Reconstructed night color filter & revised German audioTwo more goodies, with which Plaion has once again emphasized that, in contrast to in-house Warner products, they are thinking along the same lines and are rectifying the grievances of older releases, were already teased are now the focus of this report. Both the image and sound have been reworked at a few prominent points. On the one hand, many buyers of the US Blu-ray criticized a three-minute segment in the first half, which is supposed to take place at night. The classic trick of darkening the material, which was actually shot in daylight, with a color filter was used at the time. During HD remastering, however, this filter, which was present on most of the well-known earlier releases, was unfortunately forgotten. Plaion has now regraded this scene dark blue again. It doesn't look exactly like the DVD, but the DVD must not have been 100% accurate in color grading anyway. On the other hand, the German audio was problematic in some details. Two lines of dialogue strangely choppy and another one was left in English, although the VHS still had the original German dubbing. At least these are the most obvious mistakes. There are probably some smaller flaws that have been added over the years, which have also found their way into TV and VOD broadcasts since the DVD era. These three particularly striking sound errors are no longer objectionable. The audio on the disc includes a 35mm optical sound track in almost unedited form and a somewhat “cleaned” magnetic track. The interview with Polanski, previously only available on the French Blu-ray, is also included. Once again, a well-rounded release and clearly recommended for fans of the movie. At 02:34, there was the first jump cut in the German audio, which was already objectionable in Germany even in the VHS version. It can now be heard correctly again for the first time at Plaion.
Plaion soundtrack – 35mm magnetic sound And here is how it sounded before on DVD (already identical on VHS!) and also most recently at the German HD premiere on VOD providers such as Amazon Prime Video and iTunes. VOD soundtrack (Amazon Prime Video) At 28:00, the line “What?” was suddenly spoken in English only in the DVD version (identical for VOD providers and, for example, the last TV broadcast on Arte), while the VHS still had the original German dub “Was ist?”. Plaion has now re-integrated this.
From 36:00 onwards, the image for the night scene was again given a blue or night filter.
Here, too, first a comparison with the previous image on DVD. The German VOD version from Amazon Prime Video basically looked exactly the same as this DVD.
The night exterior shots end at 39:22, here are more comparison images.
At 106:31, there was a final jump in audio. This was also only introduced with the DVD and has since been used in TV and VOD versions. On VHS, you could still find the original dubbed snippet, which Plaion has also included here.
Enclosed is a quick glimpse of the bonus 16mm scan of the American theatrical version, which was released in US cinemas at the time under the title The Fearless Vampire Killers... or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck, shortly after the EU theatrical release and was considered lost. Comic + opening credits: The comic animation was already covered by the HD bonus material from Warner on earlier releases. There is a direct transition from the comic animation (characters are next to the MGM logo) and there are also a few different fade-ins here. The introductory “production of” information and the title addition of the US version are new. In return, the credit for the executive producer is missing at the end before “Produced by”.
31:06-31:37 / 37:24-38:12 After the downhill ski run, when Alfred stops the professor and the two of them fall into the snow there are several exclusive shots until the two reach the castle wall. The rest of the trudging and taking off the skis is completely missing in the US version, but here he gets up (suddenly without skis) right in front of the castle. After Alfred puts his hat back on, he rushes to the gate.
The theatrical version had a similar shot here from far away, but the US version is definitely something else:
How they try to get inside immediately afterwards is edited differently as well, with the US version longer and including exclusive moments such as Alfred holding on at the top and slipping while the pro below him sees the bars and goes through. 40:41-40:47 / 48:07-48:11 Alternative take in which the son initially looks at Alfred before turning around and walking down the aisle (in the US version until further back).
50:10-51:05 / 58:57 The dialogue scene in Alfred's room at the end, before they leave, as known from YouTube. The actual different part only comes after one minute of the YouTube clip. In addition, the first shots of their arrival at the crypt are missing in the US version directly afterwards. In any case, there are 55 additional seconds at the end of the scene. The Prof walks over to the window and emphasizes to Alfred, among other things, that the vampires sleep during the day because they cannot tolerate the sun. Then he hears something and they leave – this noise can still be heard in the scene inside the crypt, which has been reintroduced.
56:42-58:37 / 67:24-69:48 While Alfred is opening the coffin as instructed, the US has reaction shots of the prof in between and also offers alternative takes, albeit with the original version of the prof. For example, he says onscreen at the beginning that Alfred should now turn to the other coffin. Furthermore, the additional reaction shots from the POV camera also cover up a few cuts in the editing of Alfred's fumbling around. At the end of the scene, there is a much longer shot (6 sec) of Alfred at the gate in the U.S. version.
The end credits show the episode title again, otherwise they are identical. Other15:27 / 19:50 - A reaction shot of Alfred was moved so that it comes just before the moment when the hunchback runs back. This generally trimmed the scene a bit, and the re-ordered scene was done for continuity reasons to hide an edit. There are several instances of this throughout the film. Shortly afterwards, at 15:49 / 20:14: The US version doesn't have any black fades out like in the original version here (and in various other places). Instead, the actual shot is shown for a moment longer. The first cuts in the US version after the opening credits are also shown exemplary here: this continues to happen every few second with almost every change of shot and often only slightly trimmed at the beginning/end. There are easily over 100 deviations. Throughout the film, there are also scenes that run without any cuts, but for the most part, the pattern of the US version was: only tightening scenes to remove all rather slow moments, but not completely removing them. 04:44 / 03:29-03:52 Before the dogs bite, Alfred still turns around anxiously several times. 22.9 sec 04:46 / 03:54-04:00 Further re-ordered scenes between Alfred and the dogs. 5.8 sec 04:54 / 04:08-04:12 It takes a little longer before the dogs are finally shaken off. 3.2 sec |
