"The Winter War": the Movie

[KG Erwin]

Just watched it. Great movie, but one major complaint : the US DVD is just 125 minutes. The original Finnish release was over 3 hours. Why the hell did the US distributor decide to cut 1/3 of the film?

I'm sure I could find the original, but it's gotta be a Region 1 DVD and it's gotta have English subtitles.

I wouldn't mind buying it again. After all, I have two versions of "Das Boot" : the Director's Cut, and the 5-hour complete edition.

Any ideas?

[Whitmire]

They feared that the U.S. market would not accept such a long movie, so they made it more like an action movie.

On the webpage of NetAnttila (Anttila is a reliable, Finnish chain of department stores), it says that the Finnish version of Talvisota DVD has English (englanti) and Swedish (ruotsi) subtitles.

So I guess you could look around for a Finnish retailer that can send you the DVD all the way across the Atlantic.

The thing you're looking for is:
"Tekstitys: Ruotsi, Englanti"

("Tekstitys" means subtitles.)

http://www.netanttila.com/webapp/wcs/st ... uctDisplay

I found another store, and it's cheaper there. Some of my friends have ordered DVDs from there, so it should be reliable too.
http://www.cdon.com/main.phtml?prod=617 ... MAodHjr01A

Alas, CDON doesn't deliver abroad. At least the only option for the buyer's nation is "Suomi".

Hmm, some of the other Finns on this forum might be able to recommend a retailer, but I need to get back to work for now.

[Kuokkanen]

I would like to point out, that Talvisota as movie is truncated version of TV serie. There are number of finnish shows that have been made as TV serie and then shortened to lenght of movie. Talvisota and Vääpeli Körmy are among those, Unknown Soldier and Ambush are straight and complete movies and made as such.

[Whitmire]

Are you sure? As far as I know Pekka Parikka directed Talvisota as a movie. It may have been shown as a tv-series later, but it started out as a movie. However, if you know better, please let me know!

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: Whitmire


http://www.netanttila.com/webapp/wcs/st ... uctDisplay

Whitmire, thanks for the info. One thing I need to know, though. Would this version be a Region 2 DVD, or is it a multi-region version? My DVD player was sold in the US, so it is a Region 1 player, but will handle NTSC (whatever that means).

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin

NTSC (whatever that means).

Short and sweet: it's screen resolution in which movie is displayed on CRT TV. Generally used in North America and few other places. For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ntsc

[Whitmire]

I know just about nothing about DVD Regions and NTSCs, sorry.

[Whitmire]

Oh, I almost forgot.

Here's a heads up for those who like Finnish movies!

http://www.tali-ihantala.fi/

It's a brand new movie about the battle of Tali-Ihantala in 1944. I was there in the filming as an extra, some 1,5 years ago, and got to see real StuGs and T-34s roaming around with their actual engines still intact!). The movie is coming out in December, and it will probably take a few months before the first DVDs come out.

The page is fully in Finnish, but you can probably spot the word "Teaser" in the lower right hand corner. That's where the trailer is hidden.

[KG Erwin]

I e-mailed the folks at Belle & Blade Studios. THEY were the ones that did the hack job on "Talvisota".

I wanna start a write-in campaign to get those folks to release the uncut film. The thing that really bugged me is that the President of Belle & Blade rates this as one of his top-ten all-time faves.

Why, then, did he only offer his customers a truncated version?

Belle & Blade's e-mail addy is here: armchair@verizon.net

I hope some of you will join me in my write-in campaign. If you know me, you know that I can be a persistent and stubborn SOB.

The object is simply this: to get a US release of the uncut 3-hour "Talvisota" DVD.

I need your help, guys. Write them.

[Whitmire]

Indeed. Why truncate anything in this time of DVDs and "extra long", "director's cut", "uncut" and "deleted scenes" features?

Writing a sample reclamation here might help, too!

[Whitmire]

I visited a DVD store during the weekend, so I checked, and the Talvisota DVD said "Regions 1-6". Perhaps that helps in answering your question above?

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: Whitmire

I visited a DVD store during the weekend, so I checked, and the Talvisota DVD said "Regions 1-6". Perhaps that helps in answering your question above?

Thanks for the info, Whitmire. Region encoding was something established by the movie studios. "Talvisota", then, can be decoded by any DVD player regardless of where it was manufactured.

Briefly -- movies can be released in one region of the world on DVD while they still can be seen in theaters in other regions of the world. In other words, region encoding was devised to protect ticket sales.

So, a region 1 DVD can only be played by DVD players manufactured and programmed to decode that particular DVD type (Region 1 being North America).

Many DVDs are now released as "multi-regional". This is an example of the movie moguls being too clever (and greedy) for their own good.

That being said, I could order the uncut widescreen "Talvisota" from an overseas dealer, once I figure out exchange rates and how the financial transaction actually occurs.

Alternatively, I could send someone the money in US Dollars (you say you found it in a nearby store, Whitmire?[;)]), and have that individual ship it to me.

[Kuokkanen]

ORIGINAL: KG Erwin


So, a region 1 DVD can only be played by DVD players manufactured and programmed to decode that particular DVD type (Region 1 being North America).

Many DVDs are now released as "multi-regional". This is an example of the movie moguls being too clever (and greedy) for their own good.

I would also like to add that many DVD players are multiregional too, and computer DVD drives just don't care about regions [;)]