"The Kingdom" Seville Region All NTSC vs Zentropa Danish R2 PAL

(aka 'The Kingdom' or 'Geister' or 'L' hôpital et ses fantômes' or 'Riket')

directed by Lars von Trier and Morten Arnfred
Denmark 1994

DVD Comparison:

Seville - Region All - NTSC vs. - Zentropa - Region 2 (DK) - PAL

Big thanks to Ole of DVD-Basen for all Screen Caps!

(Seville - Region All - NTSC - LEFT vs. - Zentropa - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Seville Region All - NTSC	Zentropa Region 2 (DK) - PAL
Runtime	4:14:39	4:12:21
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.74 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.22 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Seville
Bitrate: Zentropa
Audio	Danish Dolby Digital 2.0.	Danish Dolby Digital 2.0.
Subtitles	English (Not removable).	English, Danish for the hearing impaired, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian and none.
Features	Release Information: Studio: Seville (Canada) Aspect Ratio: FullScreen - 1:33:1 Edition Details: • Bio/Filmography of Lars von Trier • The Dogme Manifesto (The Kingdom is not a Dogme movie!) • Interview transcript with Lars von Trier DVD Release Date: March 12th, 2002 Keep Case Chapters: 11 for each episode	Release Information: Studio: Zentropa (Denmark) Aspect Ratio: FullScreen - 1:33:1 Edition Details: • Selected Commentary by Lars von Trier, Niels Vørsel and Molly Stensgård (The Kingdom=31:40, The Kingdom II=29:10). •Behind the Scenes (Interviews with Trier / Cast) (24:21). •In Lars von Trier's Kingdom (Television docucmentry about Lars von Trier)(39:52). •8 TV Commercials for the Danish newspaper "Ekstra Bladet" directed by Lars von Trier, 7 of them with Ernst-Hugo Järegård in "The Kingdom" style and the last is the "famous" Sauna(4:40). •The Shivers Music Video (1:54). •Trailers for Europa, Breaking the Waves, The Kingdom, The Idiots, Dancer in the Dark and Dogville •All extras is in Danish and subtitled in English and Portuguese (including commentary). DVD Release Date: August 1, 2003 Keep Case Chapters: 10 for each episode
Comments:	This is a easy one, Zentropa release has a more detailed and a sharper image quality. The Seville suffers with ghosting when there is any motion. You might wonder why the picture looks so grainy but that was intended by Lars von Trier, The Zentropa looks a little bit more grainy compared with the Danish TV premiere that I have recorded on tape, but it might be the condition of the old tape or my recorder that has "optimized" the picture. On the other hand it looks like there is "removed" grain from the Seville DVD as a result of their digital processing. The Seville version is also slightly cropped. The sound is better on Zentropa, clearer and sounds more natural than the Seville edition. The Zentropa has substantial and informative Extras and they are all subtitled in English. We can't compare the running times because the Danish is in 4 episodes (as shown on Danish television) and Seville is in 5 episodes (resulting in one more opening/end credit). I can tell that the "rat shooting" scene mentioned on IMdb is in both versions, but there are other scenes cut out on the Seville, probably to make it suitable for television showings. An example is in episode 1 where Dr. Helmer arrives to the hospital for the first time. There are 84 seconds missing. I haven't looked for others cuts, but there is a possibility of further removed segments. Overall the Zentropa is a strong release. I can't wait for the other releases in their Lars von Trier Collection. Notice this DVD is sold only in Danish supermarkets that are members of the COOP chain for the first 3 months. From November it will be available elsewhere in Denmark. Be careful to order the right version as there is also older import versions available in Denmark. *- Ole Kofoed*

DVD Menus

(Seville - Region All - NTSC - LEFT vs. - Zentropa - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures