SABATA Question about the running time

I have the two DVD releases of Sabata. The oldest is the 2005 MGM/UA release that gives a running time of 106 minutes. The most recent release is the Kino Lorber version which came out in 2014 and their Blu-ray release of this year which lists the running time at 111 minutes. I can’t find where the extra five minutes comes from in the 2014 copy, or where it was removed in the 2005 MGM copy. Does anyone know which scene it is? Even Imdb lists the movie’s running time at 111 minutes, so I’m just wondering which scene was restored from the earlier release to the most recent. Is it from one scene or several scenes which were cut?

As far as I know all Sabata discs contain the same version.

The German Blu runs a little over 106 min, that’s the usual version distributes on DVD and Blu. The 111 min are maybe just an error, cause I think that Lorber just got the usual MGM master.

The Italian version is listed in the Bruckner book with 109 min, but that’s maybe as so often not true. So far I never heard that a different version was released elsewhere.

Thank you Stanton and everyone else who responded. I checked the actual running time of both versions of Sabata and it appears the 2004 MGM/UA copy was incorrect when it listed the time as 106 minutes. It actually is 111 minutes long. No missing scenes were taken out or inserted on the Kino Lorber edition. I guess the 106 time must have just been recycled on a later release and not verified.
Thanks again all!

But with 111 min it would be 5 min longer than the European discs. And I’m sure that all the MGM disc in this world were taken from the same master.

I checked the net, and according to DVDBeaver both discs run (as expected) about 106 min, just like the new German Blu: Sabata Blu-ray - Lee Van Cleef

I have 2 MGM R1 releases, the 2005 Sabata Trilogy and 2007 single release. I checked both on 2 different players. The run time is 1:46:07 on both with about 7 seconds at the beginning displaying the MGM logo. Does anyone have the Kino release?

It could be an NTSC/PAL thing. PAL (European) discs have a run time about 4% faster than their US NTSC counterparts. It’s to do with the 1 frame rate differential between the 2 systems.

But PAL would be shorter. Hence BluRay, NTSC = 106 min, PAL = 102 min (1hr 42min)

@El_Indio would you mind checking for a slight conversion error? Was your time 1:51 … (111min) or 1:41:something (almost 102min) if you are in PAL land? Thanks.

So is the Kino Lorber run time correct?

Carlos, I have played both versions: the MGM/UA Region 1 from 2004 and the 2014 KINO LORBER Region 1 edition on my bluray player. Both running times are definitely 111 minutes (1:51 min long). No mistaking it. I’m not using a PAL system. Maybe it’s like some have suggested. Maybe the running time is a little faster in the PAL system. Hence the film wraps up 5 or so minutes earlier. And when it was released in Region 1 they kept that 106 min running time on the DVD sleeve without changing it.
I’m not surprised MGM/UA did that. When they released the digitally remastered Good, Bad and Ugly on DVD in 2004 they added those four scenes that extended the traditionally-released Region 1 version from 141 minutes to approximately 164 minutes. Yet their DVD sleeve still listed the shorter running time. Now every Region 1 reissue of GBU will forever more include those previously deleted scenes yet they always list the shorter running time in the packaging. I think it’s just laziness on MGM’s part not to finally correct it. But it’s the same distributor again with both Sabata and GBU.

Thanks El Indio. Like I said above I also am in R1. Looks like I’ll be investing in a new version :slight_smile:

Hmm, now that’s all very strange.

Haven’t you checked the DVD Beaver link? Runtimes of the MGM DVD and the new Lorber Blu are about 106 min. The uncut German Blu runs also about 106 min. European Pal DVDs of Sabata run about 102 min. Again, I’m very sure all contain the same version.

Your runtimes for GBU are also wrong. The 2004 disc runs about 178 min, and contains more than 4 new scenes compared to the US theatrical version, which runs 161 min.

I have the Kino DVD and it runs 106 minutes.

There’s at least one exception, the shorter Italian DVD from CDE (about 99min at 25fps).

For the original Italian version that’s correct

Sab

And the other Italian discs also run 106 respectively 102 min?

Why a shorter one with only 99 min (in Pal)?

As far as I know, apart from Fabbri (same disc according to reports) there is no other release from Italian label.

I’ve no idea.

I didn’t check the whole movie, but the first cut is from 20:55 to 21:25 (25fps) and another one is for instance from 36:28 to 36:42.