The Soong Sisters (1997)

Zusatzinfos

von Venom138

Infos zur Zensur

Quelle: asiandvdguide.com

Here's some info on the running time of THE SOONG SISTERS. I spoke to Mabel Cheung and Alex Law earlier this year, and they told me that after the mainland censors cut several scenes - including one of Mei-Ling and Ching-Ling parachuting together...god forbid the symbols of Taiwan and China HELP each other! - the running time of the film was just under 2-1/2 hours. I remember Variety reviewing the film from the Berlin (?) Film Festival and listing the time as 146, 147 or 148 minutes. This version played in theaters in Hong Kong and wherever else it played theatrically (unless it was further censored). The stuff cut out in China is still in China.

The version on the laserdisc and tape is 136 minutes, because the genius who transferred the film at Mei Ah "accidentally" left out some footage! Cheung didn't imply that this was political...it was just Mei Ah's stupidity (i.e. the GOD OF GAMBLERS DVD). Asking her if the longer version would be re-released, she said it was very unlikely since the film did poorly at the box office.

And it doesn't end there. For some unknown reason, the DVD of THE SOONG SISTERS runs 128 minutes, so more footage is missing. A friend had just got the disc before I went to HK, so I told Cheung this and she said she was unaware of this and would look into it.

Jeff B.