The Plague Dogs 103-Minute Cut Release?
Kudos to Shout! Factory and their prestige sub-label Shout Select! They announced yesterday that their upcoming release of the 1982 animated film The Plague Dogs (1982) has been pushed back for the very best of reasons.
It had been previously announced that Shout Select’s February 13th Blu-ray release of the animated adaptation of Richard Adams’ novel would be an HD upgrade of the widely available, truncated 86-minute version (after the studio ordered cuts to be made to the film in 1983). The original, 103-minute cut has been difficult to track down, apart from a 2005 Region 4 DVD release by Australian distributor Umbrella Entertainment, which supposedly was sourced from director Martin Rosen’s private print.
I don’t know if The Plague Dogs is a film that I will be able to watch, as just reading a synopsis of the plot makes me weepy. However, if I do work up the courage to view the film, I know I will want to see the most complete version. Thanks to Shout Select, that may just happen.
Here is the announcement from the Shout Select Facbook Page:
We have heard your concerns loud and clear! We have located director Martin Rosen and are working together in hopes of finding film elements for the extended cut of the film.
The process will take a little bit of time so we are moving the release date of the Blu-ray to TBD while we work on this. Thank you for your patience and stay tuned!
