Hi, Gary!  All I can tell you about the French DVD version (the only one I have) is that the only version that Welles had anything to do with, to the best of my knowledge, is the original release. I never heard that Welles re-edited it at any time; this sounds extremely unlikely, especially because there's nothing about this in THIS IS ORSON WELLES (the book by Welles and Peter Bogdanovich that I edited), which is Welles's own account of what he did, reliable in most other respects. I certainly wouldn't ever think of using IMDB as a source in this; I revert to them only when I don't have any other sources. As I wrote in my Cinema Scope column, the alternate version has no legitimacy that I'm aware of; it's just a casualty, I assume, of some stupid distributor plus the film's public-domain status.

Also, the dialogue for the silent extra scene, which Welles cut just before the premiere, has long been available in the published version of the script, available in both French and English editions, so I can't imagine why the producers of this DVD didn't bother to add subtitles with this dialogue. Simple laziness or ignorance, I guess, but that's no excuse.

The French edition looks by far to be the superior edition for image quality. It exhibits none of the brightness boosting of the Warner (UK)editions and is sharper than all other releases. It also shows excellent contrast.

- Gary W. Tooze

There are two versions on the French edition. The original version and then a Welles re-edited (according to imdb.com) 1984 version which drops the pinscreen prologue.  There's also a deleted scene (without sound) and a nice looking documentary, which isn't subtitled in English.

 Doug Cummings

Hi, Gary. The French The Trial is superior to my eyes in just about every way. I have both now (the UK Warners and the French), and for image-quality the French can't be beat. It's been a while since I checked, but I think one of the versions on the French has forced French subtitles - I'll doublecheck to be sure. If my memory is right, then the other version (some later version without the pinscreen prologue) doesn't have forced subs. ...

Disc one (which is actually mis-labeled with the wrong running time - it has disc two's running time and vice versa) has the film as released, complete with the pin-screen prologue (and a little pre-credits scroll in French, which was never part of the US release). It runs approximately one hour and fifty three minutes. The titles of the film are in French, and in addition to Welles speaking the credits at the end, the credits he's speaking are also presented in French - which is not the case in the US release, wherein Welles speaks the credits over a freeze frame of the smoke from the blast that occurs at the end of the film. If one chooses English as the language, the French subtitles cannot be removed. The trailer and extras are all in French, no subs.

Disc two has something called the "Montage" version, which carries a new copyright notice of 1984. This version omits the pin screen prologue (app. 4 1/2 minutes), doesn't have the little pre-credits scroll in French (app. 30 seconds), presents the film with its titles in English and has the original spoken credits ending over the freeze frame of smoke. Here the subtitles aren't forced and aren't even an option. This version runs app. one hour and forty-eight minutes. I haven't actually sat down and done a side by side, but I believe those are the only differences between the two versions. I don't think anything is missing from the film proper, and, in fact, the chapter stops are the same on both versions. They are both taken from the same source, and I will reiterate that The Trial has never looked as good as it does on the French DVD - it's a superb spectacular presentation of the film, and it really shows you the brilliance of the cinematography by Edmond Richard. The film, for me, remains one of Welles' greatest achievements.

WhiteSheik

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ADDITION (May 2004) - Warner - Region 2- PAL :

Hi, Gary.  While I don't have the Warner DVD of The Trial yet, from your screenshots I can tell you that that is exactly what the film looks like.  I've owned 35mm and 16mm prints, and have seen it many times in the theater.  It looks to be from a similar or same source as the French DVD (which has two cuts of the film on it). 

WhiteSheik

The new Warner DVD is brighter and shows cropping of the other 2 discs on the left edge, but it is definitely cropped itself on the top. The contrast seems uneven and I suspect a little zooming as certain screen captures show irregular cropping in comparison to the Focus Films and Image DVDs. Bottom line is the Warner DVD initially looks better, but it has its flaws. The 2 older discs look hazier in comparison, but the Warner image is artificially boosted. It's superiority will be most felt by widescreen television or front projections system owners. The screen captures below don't really do it justice for clarity. It is just s shame that Warner felt the need for digital manipulation to enhance the picture - which, by all accounts is dark - matching the mood of the film. There definitely is some edge enhancement on the Warner, but I had to really zoom in quite a bit to catch it. It's a pretty tough call - If you have the system to support 16X9 enhancement then the Warner is the way to go for image - If you own the Image Entertainment DVD, I don't think I'd bother upgrading. And to confuse things further - the Focus Films has the better Extras and superior audio and the Warner Region 2 has PAL speedup. 

- Gary W. Tooze

Well so much for the "amazing" restoration process of Focus Films... perhaps they just should have used a better print? The Image Entertainment DVD version of this film is much sharper than its counterpart. The Focus Films restoration demo looks like they have purposely degraded the "before" print. How silly. Sound in the Focus Films version has been bumped to 5.1 but then again, that is not the original soundtrack that Welles had intended. Stick with the Image Entertainment, they have done a decent job, but some more bonus features would have been nice. 

- Gary W. Tooze

NOTE : Focus Film "The Stranger" comparison HERE