The Ninth Configuration will be shown...

I caught the last showing of this at the New Beverly and I'm left feeling very ambivalent about the DVD representation of this film. The print shown the other night, despite having faded color, was still very clean and looked like it had barely ever been played. The clarity was STUNNING compared to the DVD, and this version had several bits of footage not contained elsewhere. It was in STEREO, unlike the DVD, which is in MONO!! This was the 112 min. Warner Brothers version, which I believe was the first version to see general release in early 1980, before Blatty pulled it, recut it and reissued it later that summer as TWINKLE, TWINKLE "KILLER" KANE thru United Film. Funny they played this version, since Blatty states in the DVD commentary that Warner Brothers doesn't have theatrical rights- only video; maybe that's changed since 2002. While it was nice to see an alternate cut of the film not available on video, the DVD edit (the director's current definitive cut) still plays out better, IMHO. If only it looked and sounded more like a film print, though... sigh.