Thank you, DFC-2.
The title screen was different in many of the countries. The shorter director's cut was The Professional in the U.S. but Leon in other places. Besson called his book (published in French, 1995) about the film "Leon."
Good.
When the extended edition was made, they differentiated it from the shorter director's cut by calling it Leon: the Professional, just as you noted.
I have the extended edition (30 Aug 2000, 2:12:45 running time). Though the packaging says "
Leon: THE PROFESSIONAL", the title screen says "
LEON". That's all. Just "
LEON".
I've never seen the U.S. cut (UPC 043396747494).
Confirmation: The actual tltle screen at the beginning of the film says "
The Professional". That's great information and I appreciate it.
I understand it's approx. 1:50:00 running time. If you have the capability, a computer with a DVD reader, and it's not too much trouble, here's the stuff I'd really like to know:
1, The running time
H:MM:SS (usually shown at the bottom of the computer window, or in an info box.
2, The sizes of the '.VOB' files in the DVD's 'VIDEO_TS' folder. The movie (as opposed to the special features) will have names like 'VTS_02_0.VOB', 'VTS_02_1.VOB', 'VTS_02_2.VOB', and so on. The '02' might actually be '01' or '03' or '04' etc. -- that can't be known in advance -- but the right files in the set will each be about 1 G-byte except for the first one and the last one. For example, In mine,
2000-08-30 14:53 33,617,920 VTS_01_0.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_1.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_2.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_3.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_4.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_5.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_6.VOB
2000-08-30 14:53 38,776,832 VTS_01_7.VOB
3, The audio stream info. There will be an English, Dolby Digital (aka AC3) stereo stream (probably 192 K-bits/sec). There may be an English, Dolby Digital 5.1 stream (probably 448 K-bits/sec). There may be additional audio languages. ...whatever you can give me will help. Your computer's DVD player software might tell you what the audio streams are. I get this info from CyberLink PowerDVD. Considering the age of this DVD, I doubt you'll encounter DTS (Digital Theater Sound).
4, The subtitle info. ...Just which languages. I don't need the sizes. (I consider English captions for the deaf to be subtitles.)
5, Is it 16:9 anamorphic or "widescreen" letterboxed in 4:3? If you can do a screen grab and save it to a cloud somewhere, that'd be really, really kind. Don't worry if the screen grab looks "squashed". Regardless of whether it's 16:9 anamorphic or 4:3 letterbox, I'll be able to recognize it and apply the appropriate pixel aspect ratio to un-squash it.
Thanks for your help, and if you can do any of these, that would be really great. Or if you can't do anything more, that's okay too. You've helped.
Regards -- Mark.
PS, in case you're curious, here's the sort of stuff I do with this info:
///**Transfer as ''Leon'' [1994]:** 16:9 "NTSC" DVD, created 30 Aug 2000, 2:12:45 running time, 6481215488 bytes (video+audio+subtitles), UPC 043396061965 -- cover is titled: ''Leon: The Professional'', but the title screen says ''Leon'';
//**Video:** 2.32 aspect MPEG2/H.262 (lossy) @ 5.422 M-bit/sec average VBR (4:2:0 samples: 711 x 364 samp/frame @ 12 bit/pix average @ 30/1.001 frame/sec);
//**Audio:**
// English dialog: 2 chan DD/AC3 (lossy) @ 192 K-bit/sec CBR (samples: 16 bit/samp/chan @ 48 K-samp/sec),
// English dialog: 3/2.1 chan DD/AC3 (lossy) @ 448 K-bit/sec CBR (samples: 16 bit/samp/chan @ 48 K-samp/sec),
// Isolated music track: 3/2.1 chan DD/AC3 (lossy) @ 448 K-bit/sec CBR (samples: 16 bit/samp/chan @ 48 K-samp/sec);
//**Subtitles:**
// English dialog,
// French dialog,
// Portuguese dialog,
// Spanish dialog.
The /// and // and '' and ** are javascript formatting cues. If you are interested in the mathematics that produces 'aspect' and 'M-bit/sec average VBR', I'd be happy to divulge it, but I don't want to boggle anyone.
_____
I don't have a dog. And furthermore, my dog doesn't bite. And furthermore, you provoked him.
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DFC-2
9 years ago
I do have the version (UPC 043396747494), but don't use the DVD drive on my older desktop.
Side A is the original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio and side B is a full screen version. They include English 2-channel and 5.1 (Dolby Digital), Spanish and French, and English, Spanish, & French subtitles. As you note, it is approx. 110 minutes, NTSC
The main difference between this old edition and all newer ones prior to the latest Blu-ray special edition from Sony, is that it lacks flaws that must have affected the master used in all later editions, and has some anomalies (e.g. an example of what looks like subliminal text on one frame). It looks as though the master used was compromised when this DVD was made and again at some point prior to the next edition. That is the only reason I hang on to it.
There are things like "DEA" written on the backs of black-garbed officers ordered out of the building by Stansfield near the end that I wanted to insure was part of the earlier DVD (it is on the earlier print) and not some feature added later.
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markfilipak
9 years ago
I do have the version (UPC 043396747494), but don't use the DVD drive on my older desktop.
Well, I examine DVDs with the BD drive in my laptop. Generally, BD drives will also mount DVDs and CDs. I simply put the DVD in the drive (it's E:) and then browse it with Total Commander, my file manager. If I try browsing E: with Windows Explorer instead, the video player opens to play the movie. Instead, to browse the disc with Windows Explorer, I have to right-click on the drive-E: icon and select "Open" from the resulting context menu. Then I can browse the disc as normal (as though browsing a hard disk) instead of playing the movie. In Windows Explorer I can then look at the file dates and sizes. A set of '.VOB' files with the same names except just before the dot are a VOB (Volume OBject). For example:
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_0.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_1.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_2.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_3.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_4.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_5.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_6.VOB
e:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_7.VOB
Using Windows Explorer, to get the actual byte-size of each file I have to select the file, right click, select 'Properties' and read 'Size' (not 'Size on disc') -- Microsoft never makes things easy. The byte-size of most of the VOB files will be 1,073,739,776 bytes.
If this is all too much, don't worry. You've been very helpful already. But if this intrigues you, I can show you how to learn a lot about a movie before even watching it. Also, when there are several DVDs (or BDs) of the same film from which to choose, which will give you the better picture? the better sound? I can show you how to determine that.
Ciao -- Mark.
_____
I don't have a dog. And furthermore, my dog doesn't bite. And furthermore, you provoked him.
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