Cinema Paradiso (Four-Disc Deluxe Edition Box Set)

What's Different about the New Version
Cinema Paradiso is one of my favorite movies. I finally found the new version available for rent through Netflix when I couldn't find it in any Blockbuster.
For those who have already seen Cinema Paradiso it needs no introduction. For everybody else, it won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film in 1989 and features one of the most nostalgic treatments of the role of movies in people's lives. Ennio Morricone's theme song has also been recycled in countless commercials and movie montages and trailers.
What's good about the Director's Cut or "New Version" DVD is that one can view the director's cut with added scenes on one DVD side and the originally released version on the other.
For those of us who wanted some kind of closure to Toto and Elena's relationship, the Director's Cut has it-- there's about an hour more of footage of their relationship. The new version also more footage of Toto's military service and his adulthood. The added scenes somewhat...

Begs the question: When is a movie too long?
I became aware of the existence of over 50 minutes of additional scenes in this film in the past two years. The original, pruned version received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990. I have owned the video for a decade. Then, last summer, the "new version" was shown in limited release, and a DVD was promised. With the addition of the deleted scenes, an entirely different film is created. Owning this DVD is owning a brand new version of the film's events.

Initially, the film was considered too long, and massive scenes were cut, removing any and all references to whatever happened to Salvatore's great love, Lina. The original version of the film focused mainly on the young boy, fatherless in post-WWII Sicily, bonding with the childless cinema projectionist, Alfredo. The young Toto grows into the teen-aged Salvatore, who falls in love with the beautiful and unattainable Lina. They are parted. That is the last we see. Salvatore returns to his village many years...

5Get the full length version of this movie - you'll love it
5 stars - I've seen the original in Italian (at least 25 times) since its release... however, the version we saw in the U.S. was half hour shorter than the Italian release (I was lucky enough to obtain the original length VHS version years ago.) In the original, after 30 years we learn that Elena did come to meet Toto prior to her departure as they had planned but... well ... It would be a crime to give it away (In the hopes that you see the original.) The missing pieces make the ending - and all the pieces in between - fit like a perfect glove. The gift that Alfredo made to Toto (the pieced together clips of missing kissing scenes) has a greater meaning when put in the full context (I still get emotional seeing it.) It's even more poignant than before but, unfortunately, the meaning of a lot of the symbols and scenes, although pretty good in the U.S. release, were catapulted onto a different level in the longer version.

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