Hellboy (2004) Original Theatrical Cut

[Turisu]

I recently stumbled across this:
http://www.film-tech.com/ubb/f1/t006686.html

Suggesting that the original theatrical prints of Hellboy had 45 seconds of silent black screen at the end of reel 5. This should occur immediately after Liz's powers 'explode' destroying Sammael. All home video releases have the screen black out but then almost immediately the next scene begins.

I can see how having a period of silent black here would add a lot of gravity to the sequence but 45 seconds really is a long time to be staring at nothing and would have most viewers yelling at the projection booth or reaching for the remote. Interestingly the cinema DTS track that I have for this movie does not have the 45 seconds of silence suggesting perhaps that later prints removed it.

I was interested in trying to put the black screen back in to the UHD and was wondering if it might be possible to do this losslessly. The point where the black should occur is on a keyframe so should it not be possible to encode a 45 second stretch of black video and 'patch' it into the movie?

[stwd4nder2]

Never knew about this. 45 seconds seems like a lot, I haven't seen the movie since it came out on DVD so I can't comment as to whether it worked in context.
Weird about the C-DTS not having it. Though I guess it wouldn't have mattered much as it would just revert to the optical track which would be silent.

[bendermac]

I also doubt it was 45 sec.
Remember when people freaked out on The Last Jedi Suicide attack? It was 10 sec of silence and people wanted their money back.

[BDgeek]

Never heard about this before. but 45s seems like a huge stretch for a movie.

But to answer your question Turisu, if the original BD has some black sreen frames, you could cut it with tsmuxer, replicate it many times as it takes to reach the 45s then mux it all back.

It should be lossy and simple if there's a few seconds of black screen throught the movie or most possibly at the end (there's usually 3 to 5 seconds at the end), which whould make it even easier to cut, replicate and merge back with tsmuxer and insert at the appropriate spot. I've done some edits with tsmuxer before and it worked fine.

[Turisu]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pleased to hear that this could be achieved losslessly. I'm still in two minds as to whether it's worthwhile. If this was Del Toro's original intent he evidently chose not to restore it for the "director's cut".

I still think some black silence would enhance the dramatic effect of the scene but 45 seconds is potentially movie-breaking and if I shorten it then it just effectively becomes a fanedit.

[zoidberg]

Interesting information, with confirmation from projectionists working at the time. It's not uncommon to have an extended amount of black in films, if I'm not mistaken there's a long period of black/silence at the end of Saving Private Ryan before the credits. GDT is fairly active on social media, he may be able to confirm/deny this himself.
WRT the DTS, I'm wondering if the lack of 'silence' at the end of R5 is down to how the disc was mastered, if the timecode allowed a loop of audio or simply muted it.

[BDgeek]

That's a very good idea zoiberg! Try to confirm with the man himself.

And unless he actually confirms it, I personally wouldn't bother with it, keeping to the TC as presented on the UHD.

BTW, I don't know if it's a widely know issue, but the DC on the UHD has an error regarding Rasputin's eye. If I remember it correctly, in one of the branched segments, he appears back with his eyes after he has lost them. I haven't checked it myself, but it's been discussed at bluray.com. Suposedly it only affects the DC.

[The Aluminum Falcon]

@Turisu did you ever end up syncing the DTS to Hellboy?