This is a comparison between the cut French DVD released Metropolitan and the uncut German DVD released by Sony.


- 13 cuts
- Difference in time: 806.9 sec (= 13:27 min)

Several minor cuts with a runtime of under one second were not regarded for this report, since they are the result of a faulty mastertape. These scenes (along with alternative logos at the beginning) are the reason for the additional difference in time of just under 30 seconds.



Jackie Chan's second big Hongkong movie from 1978 was - as is well-known - cut down in several countries. The Hongkong-DVD for example misses out on roughly 4.5 minutes (these moments were still missing on the soundtrack of many international uncut releases when switching to the original soundtrack), and in Japan they cut out 17 minutes; the Germans got the worst cut, with old VHS tapes and DVDs missing out on more than 20 minutes.

French audiences had to make do with a similar bad version: Over 13 minutes were cut out at yet again different moments of the movie. Similar to the aforementioned three versions this mainly concerns humorous sequences. Even though this is rather a report with documentary value - especially since those who are interested in the movie will probably not have bought the French DVD in the first place - it is still interesting to see which scenes - in the eyes of the studios - seemed not to work for different audiences all over the world. The uncut DVD released by Sony by the way also includes a French soundtrack as well as French subtitles.



Time designations are given as follows:
French DVD [PAL] / German DVD [PAL]

Logos

Different logos at the beginning.

German DVD 15.4 sec longer

French DVD	German DVD

Credits

The following credits are different, too.

Note: The bad image quality as well as the zoom are solely an issue for the opening and end credits. Apart from those seuqences, the French Version has a different, yet similarly good master as the uncut Sony DVD.

French DVD	German DVD

03:15 / 03:30-03:32

A shot of the pupils exercising starts slightly earlier.

2 sec



07:09 / 07:27-10:39

A longer block of scenes in the village is missing.
Jackie makes some jokes with his schoolmates. Then they notice the girl and Jackie starts hitting on her. Immediately, the mother comes to them and attacks Jackie; this results in a small fight.

192.7 sec (= 3:13 min)

11:46 / 15:17-16:34

Due to the previous cut, they also had to cut out Jackie recognizing the two women at his father's house. For a while, he tries to hide his face. Once they spot him, the mother of course uses the situation to make a little joke by embarassing Jackie in front of his father.

77.8 sec

16:10 / 20:59-21:07

For whatever reason, a smaller artistic part of the fight was cut out.

8.5 sec

18:51 / 23:49-24:15

Jackie's father tells his son off for a while, also thanks to the two girls.

25.7 sec

24:37 / 30:01-32:39

The scene inside the restaurant starts earlier: Jackie is hungry. In the end he spots a – what seems to be naive – old man next to whom he is allowed to sit down after politely talking to him. Jackie chose the old man to be the payer of his bill. When the waiter comes to the table, Jackie acts arrogant and orders a lot of food. At first he bites into something really spicy. After that, he starts eating a lot of food.

158.4 sec (= 2:38 min)

33:17 / 41:19-41:20

A slightly longer mastertape-related cut of Jackie running away from So Hai in the woods.

1.1 sec



44:34 / 52:40-52:41

During the previous minutes there were several minor mastertape-related cuts that increased the difference in time. Here is a longer one: Hwang Jang-lee puts his foot on Jackie's head.

1 sec



54:14 / 62:24-63:35

Jackie and So Hai are shown earlier in the village while they (successfully) gamble. The bald guy looks rather sceptical and when he takes tover the game, the French Version continues.

71.2 sec

59:34 / 68:57-69:20

Jackie is shown inside the restaurant a little earlier. Again he eats a lot of food and orders some more wine from the waiter.

23.4 sec

64:54 / 74:40-75:11

Jackie and So Hai talk to each other at the table a little longer.

30.3 sec

65:02 / 75:19-75:22

Another cut that is probably mastertape-related: So Hai puts the cup back down in the same shot and gets up.

2.7 sec



67:13 / 77:33-78:29

They drink much longer until Jackie eventually falls asleep.

55,8 sec

71:48 / 83:05-84:22

This scene seems to have been a thorn in the flesh of pretty much all cutters, after all, sequences of this scene were cut out in the Japanese, Hongkong and German Version: Meister Li and Jackie's father discuss their son's wrongdoing and territorial issues much longer.

77.7 sec

73:22 / 85:57-86:27

Jackie provokes the guy in the village a little earlier.

30.6 sec

79:05 / 92:11-92:12

Bad mastertape: The plump man is shown earlier during his training.

1.4 sec



82:17 / 95:26-96:17

Jackie goes to his master's rescue and gets ready for the battle. At first, however, he is intimidated when recognizing Hwang Jang-lee. Then follows some trashtalk.

51.5 sec

90:23 / 104:25-104:28

In essence, this is probably just a longer mastertape-related cut, however we still include it with screenshots: Two shots during the battle are longer towards the end/beginning. Jackie parries an attack off and Hwang rolls over the floor.

3.2 sec

Credits

Different end credits.

French DVD	German DVD