1900 (Special Collector's Edition) | 
| Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Actors: Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Francesca Bertini, Laura Betti
Studio: Paramount
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $13.09
You Save: $6.90 (35%)
New (34) Used (11) from $10.49
Rating:  69 reviews
Sales Rank: 4231
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), English (Published), Italian (Published), French (Published)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 315 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 088044
UPC: 097360880441
EAN: 0097360880441
ASIN: B000IHYXGM
Theatrical Release Date: November 4, 1977
Release Date: December 5, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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Amazon.com essential video
1900 is one of Bernardo Bertolucci's adventures in epic filmmaking that never found the reception he had hoped for. Originally more than six hours long, it was chopped down to four hours for its U.S. release and as a result looked, well, choppy. Eventually, he restored it to five hours--but one wonders at all the effort on behalf of this alternately muddled and stunning story. The film, with a decidedly socialist agenda, examines two lives that begin the same year in rural Italy: the weak-willed son of the aristocracy (Robert De Niro) and the hardy, courageous son of peasants (Gerard Depardieu). They grow up as best friends on the same estate, until class differences pull them apart and then the era's fascist politics divide them for good. Despite strong performances by both leads, as well as Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda, and Burt Lancaster, this one is strictly for Bertolucci's most avid fans. --Marshall Fine
Product Description
Bernardo Bertolucci's sweeping epic follows the friendship of two men from opposing classes in early 20th-century Italy. Robert De Niro stars as a wealthy but weak-willed landowner who becomes a pawn of the fascists and Gerard Depardieu is a Marxist insurgent farm worker. With Burt Lancaster Dominique Sanda Donald Sutherland Sterling Hayden Stefania Sandrelli.System Requirements:Run Time: 345 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: UNRATED UPC: 097360880441 Manufacturer No: 088044
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| Customer Reviews: Read 64 more reviews...
 Bertolucci's epic masterpiece restored....one of the finest epics ever made... November 2, 2006
Grigory's Girl (NYC)
113 out of 121 found this review helpful
This is, in fact, Bertolucci's original cut of 315 (!) minutes. Having seen both the 255 minute version and the director's cut, one may actually say what kind of difference can there possibly be between these 2 versions? One is 4 1/4 hours, the other is 5 1/4 hours. They are both incredibly long versions, so what's the point? The point is that there is a huge difference. As incredible as it may sound, the shorter version seems longer, as it doesn't have the same narrative flow as the longer version does. There are subtle differences between the versions that make certain scenes different. For example, there is a scene where the leaders of the town go duck hunting (warning! Bertolucci shows the actual killing of ducks here, along with animals being slaughtered for food). They then go into a church to discuss bringing a new fascist order to the town. In the short version, the church scene only consists of the men talking. In the longer version, Bertolucci intercuts the dead ducks with the men talking, giving the scene a graver effect. The sex scenes are longer and more explicit in the longer version as well. I saw this long version at a Bertolucci retrospective, and there were college kids in the audience who were laughing at the sex scenes! The sex scenes, like in all of Bertolucci's work, are meant to be serious and natural, which they are. I suppose the young people of America have a difficult time taking sex seriously after a decade or so of lowbrow, childish, teenage "comedies". Some of the magnificent camera work got lost in the shorter version, because Bertolucci cut some of the beginnings and ends of scenes, where they would be a wonderful camera move opening or closing the scene. As for the film itself, it is incredibly ambitious and amazing to behold. Bertolucci just came off the amazingly successful Last Tango in Paris, and did something grandly ambitious. He should be commended for that. Many current day filmmakers would probably do a sequel to their already successful film to fill their pockets, and not give a hoot about anything else. Bertolucci originally wanted to release it in 2 parts, but the producer Alberto Grimaldi, who was reeling from the financial failure of Fellini's Cassanova (a film he produced), wanted no part of a 2 part film. So Bertolucci compromised. He only cut one entire scene. He made cuts within scenes (a technique that Terry Gilliam used on his film Brazil, when he had to trim his film from 142 minutes to 131). While this film is magnificent, it took a ton out of Bertolucci. He never worked with Grimaldi again (Grimaldi had produced Last Tango in addition to this film), and he didn't really recover his reputation as a great filmmaker until 10 years later with another epic, The Last Emperor. Since then, he's been erratic, but he can still make great cinema (watch The Dreamers, one of Bertolucci's best films). Since this is in fact the director's cut, by all means see it, rent it, buy it.
This is arguably one of the finest, most ambitious, and unique epic films ever made. When it was made in 1977, it was met with derision, confusement, and indifference. Many people are now able to view this film, and appreciate it for the masterpiece that it is.
Returning to 1900 October 21, 2007
Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States)
90 out of 99 found this review helpful
Though this epic drama by Bernardo Bertolucci was originally released thirty years ago, revisiting the film, now available in its entirety of 315 minutes, is like reading a favorite old classical history novel. Bertolucci obviously loved this story of two disparate boys, one from wealth and privilege and the other from peasant worker status, born on the same day in 1900 who proceed through the year 1945, bonded by country, intertwined by a developing friendship, and separating on political views. It is a film that examines capitalism versus socialism, Communism versus Fascism, two World Wars, and the effects that the changing political milieu of Italy had on the lives and loves of two men and their respective families.
Of course this summation is far too brief for a film of over five hours in length, but the beauty of the film is the slow manner in which this set of ideas unfolds. The actors include not only such durable stars as Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Burt Lancaster, Donald Sutherland, and Sterling Hayden, but also some of Italy's finest actors and an entire town of 'naturals', adding a sense of verismo to the film. The cinematography Vittorio Storaro is simply breathtaking and the musical score is by the inimitable Ennio Morricone. A mega-budget epic, the money seems well spent in retrospect. This is Bertolucci as an artist, a craftsman, an intellectual, and a committed politician. The DVD is somewhat hampered by the fact that the film was filmed in both English and Italian with two sets of dubbing choices and if the viewer has a problem with dubbing, then it is inescapable here. Despite this rather minor flaw, 1900 remains a film unlike any other in giving us a flavor of a country torn by the realities that the world faced in the first half of the 20th century. It is a long song, but well worth the time invested to absorb it all. Grady Harp, October 07
 A big project overwhelmed by its own intentions January 6, 2002
G. Shkodra (Montreal, Canada)
89 out of 107 found this review helpful
"Novecento" was one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the seventies. It was meant to be, as Bertolucci himself intended, the italian "Gone with the wind", an epic story about what happened in the bel paese during the first half of the twentieth century, the political turmoil between WW1 and WW2, the rise and fall of the fascism, the birth and widespread of the communist and socialist movements as a response to the social injustice. There was a big project, the financial means to carry it out (american studios financing communist propaganda - can you believe that?), some of the world best actors at the time. And what maybe matters the most there was Bernardo Bertolucci, whose political ideas have never been in glaring contradiction with the "Communist Manifesto". So who else could make this movie better than him? Having put this fabulous international team together the standarts were set very, very high.
As much as I love Italy and italians, as much as I love Bertolucci, and as much as I adore De Niro, Depardieu, Lancaster and Sutherland, I have to say this movie let me down a little bit. I mean it's a good movie, but it could have been much better. The snag is that one has to know what happened in Italy during that period of time to fully understand what the movie is really about. Bertolucci knew it beforehand, which probably explains his need to have the best french actor, the best american actor, some other excellent american actors besides his italian actors troop (some of them are excellent by the way) to be in this movie. I think I can say that I know pretty well the italian twentieth century history, and yet I think this movie is a little bit of a mess.
The italian paysage, the countryside, the photography and the colors are really breathtaking. The director really knows how to suit the locations and paysage to almost every moment and particular scene of the movie. But to me, what misses the most in this movie is the dialog. You sit and watch scene after scene and you have the feeling that the movie is finally about to take off, but it doesn't, it quite never does. Yes, there are many excellent scenes, some of them being very explicit in a way or another, but this is the classic example of the total being too inferiour to the sum of its separate parts.
As far as the acting is concerned, Lancaster is undoubtfully the one who gives the best performance here, and he seems really lucky to have played a relatively small part. Some of the scenes he's in are among the best of this movie. Depardieu is excellent too. Donald Sutherland is good, but every time he's on-screen one can't help wondering if he's frustrated because of the bizarre acts he has been told to perform or simply because he knows he has to act someone who, whatever the reason, seems to be permanently in anger.
But to me the most disappointing is my all time favourite actor, De Niro. He comes in and out, makes faces, smiles, chuckles, moans, groans and never seems to really be in this movie. Anonymous, that's the word that occured to me while watching this film, as far as De Niro's acting is concerned. Luckily enough, this movie didn't harm that much his reputation at the time, and he went on later to give absolutely mesmerizing performances in gems like "The last tycoon", "The deer hunter" and "Raging bull".
I have only watched the original 6 hours long version, both in english and italian, and I have to say I don't have any problems with the accents. I still keep watching this movie 25 years after its release, just to make sure I haven't missed anything before and to see if I can appreciate it more now. And I still keep thinking that this is a somewhat messy movie which failed to deliver the message and the promises it was supposed to deliver to the italian public, and to a greater extent to the international public. To me this movie is a big project overwhelmed by its own intents.
If you're new to the italian cinema you'd better try "Il conformista", "The last emperor" and "The last tango in Paris" by the same director, and try also the best of Fellini, Scola, Visconti, De Sica, Antonioni, Tornatore, and...oh yes, how could I forget, the master of the masters, Sergio Leone!
An Operetta December 7, 2001
Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States)
30 out of 36 found this review helpful
This has been called both a masterpiece and a mess. I am more inclined to side with the masterpiece assessment but with a few qualifications. Bertoluccis political sympathies have always fallen left of center and in this film he presents two characters born on the same day in 1900 but on opposite ends of the economic spectrum. Depardieu is the peasant, and De Niro the spoiled heir of a large estate. The film traces their friendship from childhood to old age. It is obvious that their friendship is the class struggle acted out in miniature but the story is not limited or overly burdened with that fact. In fact the story is too engaging and their experiences together too varied and complex to really see the class struggle as being more than just one factor in a friendship that has many sides to it.
There is so much for the eyes to savor in this film from the unbelievably opulent interiors of De Niro's palazzo to the estates surrounding gorgeous and lush farmlands where the very earthy Depardieu works and lives.
The most enjoyable part of the film is the 1920's when we meet a beautiful femme fatale played by Dominique Sanda. Bertolucci may like to play at being a communist but his camera betrays him when he films all the luxuries the rich surround themselves with. The period decor, the costumes, the cars, everything is greedily enjoyed by the camera. As good as De Niro and Depardieu are, Sanda steals the show whenever she is in view. She is one of the most beautiful actresses of the seventies and she gives a giddy performance. So long as she is indulging in all of her favorite vices she is immensely enjoyable to watch but eventually her naturally fragile, impressionable and wayward temperament(and Bertoluccis script) leads her to sympathize with the poor and despise her wealthy status.
Donald Sutherland is equally entertaining as Attila the blackshirt. He gives a very convincing portrait of a lowly subordinate who joins the fascists in a desperate attempt to lift himself up in the world but all he knows how to do is bully and coerce and commit gruesome acts to make him feel momentarily powerful.
A good part of the film transcends any agenda Bertolucci might have had. The characters each have a life that allows for complexity and contradiction. Bertoluccis communism, sincere or no, is just like a quiet guest at the table most of the time.
105 years later! Release the DVD already! December 11, 2005
Iconoclassicist (NYC, NYUSA)
28 out of 30 found this review helpful
I'm still awaiting the American release of this magnificent epic. I've had this on VHS for over 15 years and have seen the film over 10 times. What a great way to spend five and a half hours!
There are magnificent performances by Deniro and Depardieu, by Dominique Sanda, Sterling Hayden, Burt Lancaster and others, including chilling performances by Donald Sutherland and Laura Betti. There are many memorable scenes as we travel through the 20th century captured by the always amazing cinematography of Vittorio Storarro which was at its apex in this film and il Conformisto.
While I appreciate Bertolucci's Socialist bent and his brilliant attacks on Fascism, the only down side to the film (if you don't mind the length) is Bertolucci's Socialist didacticism which is the only times the film loses its subtly and sinks to levels of propaganda.
Still this film compares favorably with other great epics of film history like the Godfather I & II and Lawrence of Arabia. Release it on DVD already!
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