"Once Upon a Time in the West" CVC (Italy) vs. Paramount Region 1 NTSC vs Paramount Region 2 PAL

(aka "C'era una volta il West" or "Spiel mir das Lied vom Tod" or "Il etait une fois dans l'ouest" or "Vestens hårde halse")

directed by Sergio Leone
Italy/USA 1968

Sergio Leone's masterpiece. In ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Leone pulls together all the themes, characterizations, visuals, humor, and musical experiments of the three "Dollars" films and comes up with a true epic western. It is a stunning, operatic film of breadth, detail, and stature that deserves to be considered among the greatest westerns ever made. Although the original release in America was a severely edited version (Paramount wanted to cram an extra show in every night to sell more popcorn), the film was rereleased, uncut, in 1984. (The videotape version is also uncut.) ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST's credit sequence is perhaps one of the most famous in cinema history. It unfolds slowly, deliberately, as Leone lingers on the strange behavior of Frank's (Fonda) three hired killers (two of whom are Jack Elam and Woody Strode in unforgettable cameos) who await the arrival of a train carrying "the Man" (Bronson), a stranger who has asked for an audience with Frank. The perfectly realized details--water dripping on Strode's bald head, Elam trying to shoo a pesky fly, and the third gang member cracking his knuckles--brings the scene immediately to life and create an almost unbearable sense of anticipation. It doesn't let up from there.

Excerpt from TV Guide located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 21st, 1968 - Italy

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Recommended Reading for Western Genre Fans (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)


The Crowded Prairie: American National Identity in the Hollywood Western (Cinema and Society) by Michael Coyne	The Invention of the Western Film : A Cultural History of the Genre's First Half Century (Genres in American Cinema S.) by Scott Simmon	The Searchers (Bfi Film Classics) by Edward Buscombe	The Western Genre by John Saunders	Westerns: Films through History (AFI Film Readers) by Janet Walker	The Encyclopedia of Westerns (The Facts on File Film Reference Library) by Herb Fagen, Tom Selleck	Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America by Richard Slotkin	Red River (Bfi Film Classics) by Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues

Check out more in "The Library"

DVD Comparison:

Cine Video Corp. (Italy) Region 2- PAL vs. Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Paramount (UK) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Bram Blijleven for the CVC captures and big thanks to Ole Kofoed for all the Paramount Screen Caps!

(CVC - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers CLICK PARAMOUNT'S TO SEE LARGER PACKAGES
Distribution	CVC (Italy) Region 2 - PAL	Paramount Region 1 - NTSC	Paramount (UK) Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	2:50:00 (4% PAL speedup)	2:45:10	2:38:25 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 5.74 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.34 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.60 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: Region 2- PAL (CVC)
Bitrate: Region 1
Bitrate: Region 2
Audio	Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian DD 1.0	English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DD 2.0 mono, French DD 2.0 mono..	English Dolby Digital 5.1, German DD 2.0 mono, French DD 2.0 mono, Spanish DD 2.0 mono.
Subtitles	None	English, English Closed Captions or none. The documentaries is also subtitled in French.	English, English for the hearing impaired, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch or none. All extras is subtitled
Features	Release Information: Studio: Paramount Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Interviews with Sergio Leone and Claudio Cardinale DVD Release Date: ? Keep Case Chapters 12	Release Information: Studio: Paramount Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Commentary with Sir Christopher Frayling, John Carpenter, Alex Cox, Sheldon Hall, John Milius and Claudia Cardinale. • An Opera of Violence (28:49). • The Wages of Sin (19:36). • Something to Do with Death (18:16). • Railroad: Revolutionizing the West (6:21). • Locations Then & Now (Stills) (4:41). • Prodution Stills (5:16). • Cast Profiles of Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Gabriele Ferzetti. • Original US Trailer (2:52). DVD Release Date: November 18, 2003 Keep Case Chapters 33	Release Information: Studio: Paramount Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Commentary with Sir Christopher Frayling, John Carpenter, Alex Cox, Sheldon Hall, John Milius and Claudia Cardinale (Subtitled in English, French, German and Spanish). • An Opera of Violence (28:49). • The Wages of Sin (19:36). • Something to Do with Death (18:16). • Railroad: Revolutionizing the West (6:21). • Locations Then & Now (Stills) (4:41). • Prodution Stills (5:16). • Cast Profiles of Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Charles Bronson and Gabriele Ferzetti. • Original US Trailer (2:52). DVD Release Date: October 6, 2003 Fold-out in slipcase Chapters 33

Comments:

NOTE: Addition: we are working on why the CVC Italian 'Restored" version is longer. Definitely there is some color manipulation and I think it may be on the part of both. The Paramounts both look too red for my eye. The CVC is not as sharp. We see the Paramounts are slightly cropped on the top edge.

From Imdb:

The Italian DVD as an extended version of the movie. Running time 171 mins (standard version use in other countries running time are between 155 to 165 mns). The principal differences are the opening sequence, who is much longer (look at Jack Elem game with the fly), and the closing too (the panoramic shoot is complete before the titles C'ERA UNA VOLTA IL WEST appear). Another missing scene, who as disappear from all the European edit, is in it: after the station scene, Harmonica take his arm because he has a terrible pain in it, and return on his horse.

So there we have it, the Italian version is longer, a little washed out and has Italian audio and no English subs.

NOTE: Differences in Italian Extended version (Thanks Jayson Kennedy) CLICK HERE.

Only minor differences in the Paramounts - the picture looks great on both releases, but the Region 1 is slightly sharper (almost negligible). The R1 has the original English mono soundtrack which is not included on the R2, but the new DD 5.1 remix is done extremely well. Paramount have done a bit more with the packaging on the R2. Great work by Paramount!

- Ole Kofoed.

The Region 2 has some excess 'red' in the image. Gary Tooze

DVD Menus

(CVC - Region 2 - PAL LEFT vs. Paramount - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE vs. - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

NOTE: CVC DVD (Italian extended version) has a different end sequence (see title above):