-
Horrors of the Black Museum AKA Crimes in the Museum of Horrors (1959)
SEE! The fantastic binocular murder! SEE! The vat of death!Director: Arthur Crabtree
Year of Copyright: 1959
Year of Production: 1958
OVERALL: Draw-
OVERALL: Draw
The 2003 VCI release has the best offering of contextual material. However, it is a PAL-to-NTSC transfer and suffers from severe "combing" at times.
The R2 release from Anolis/e-m-s contains some minor exclusive bonus footage (principally the German titles sequence) and the UK release from Network is a brand new transfer from original film elements featuring a 2.66:1 AR (the film was intended to be framed at 2.35:1 while the negative transfer here exposes area intended for the optical soundtrack).
All available DVDs contain the uncut UK version.
GENERAL NOTES:
The original submission to the BBFC was 81:27 (78:12 PAL) but had pre-release cuts arrived at by mutual discussion between the film makers and the BBFC. Material removed included:
- The ice-tongs stabbing.
- Sounds of screaming during the binocular murder.
- Shots of a woman's decapitated head being placed into a bag.
The film was released on videocassette in the UK, in 1993, with a runtime of 77:59 PAL. Variation in length of distributor credits presumably accounts for the time differences between these releases.
The film exists in four primary versions:
- the uncut British version before BBFC cuts (~82 minutes);
- the British X-certificate version (~81 minutes);
- the U.S. theatrical version with added ~12 minute Hypno-Vista prologue (~93 minutes);
- the U.S. television version that removes the prologue and features cuts to violence.
Also available from:
- Cecchi Gori Home Video (Italy) -
CUTS:
- R0 America- VCI - No cuts - British version (78:07 PAL-to-NTSC)
- R0 Herman Cohen Classic Horror Double Feature America- VCI - No cuts - British version (78:07 PAL-to-NTSC)
- R2 France- Studio Canal - No cuts - British version
- R2 Germany- Anolis/e-m-s - No cuts - British version (78:12 PAL)
- R2 United Kingdom- Cinema Club - No cuts (78:28 PAL)
- R2 United Kingdom- Network - No cuts - British version (78:34 PAL)
-
Do you own a release not listed? Then please visit our forums and let us know!
-
Comparison added by Paul_Lewis on 30/07/08
Comparison last updated by Rick_Curzon on 27/11/23UPDATE LOG:
29/11/12 : R2 Spain added.
Please ensure you read our disclaimer.
11/05/13 : Added info on VCI PAL to NTSC problem and details of upcoming UK Network release.
30/07/13 : Specs of Network release confirmed & extras RTs added.
22/10/13 : Corrected Network AR.
26/05/14 : Added DVD Beaver link and Amazon IDs.
23/06/19: Tidyup.
25/11/23: Notes revisions, added US double feature.
27/11/23: The cuts were all in bold due to a tags being added unnecessarily to the notes above.
-