Shameless and I both apologise for the delay in getting this info out. Shameless have been excruciatingly busy trying to organise their amazing 2011 release slate and have only just had time to sit down and document this info for me.
I, on the other hand, don't want to open my big gob and put my foot right in it by giving out half-baked info so I'm sure you can all understand my wanting to wait.
Righty, so, the 15 secs of footage not in the BU release?
This is the scene of the Professor alone, in pensive mood, outside the hospital (Mount Sinai Hospital, fact fans!) after he’s left the cop who has driven off in brown car. This then cuts to an exterior night scene showing a hotel sign. This sequence does include a freeze frame, as per the original theatrical release, but it isn't "just" a freeze frame, if you follow me.
Why a freeze frame at all? We can't be sure but Shameless thinks it's to do with the way Italian films used to be shown in Italian cinemas. Shameless think that this is the scene which linked the
Fine Primo Tempo (end of 1st half) - and this was printed on the projection print - and
Inizio Secondo Tempo (start 2nd half) which is the way ALL Italian films used to be shown in cinemas – and indeed it is more or less half-way through the film. This would also explain why that (otherwise innocuous) scene was cut: it may be that materials were being exported with the writing above which made no sense to countries outside Italy. Most have cut it and some other releases have inserted that scene in the wrong place.
Of course, we could be wrong on this, but Shameless think this could be why this little scene has been all over the place, or not in at all, in various releases over the years.
In addition to this extra scene, both the end credits and soundtrack now run a bit longer, because both music and sound ended abruptly before.
As for the other 3 minutes of footage that aren't in the previous Shameless release? Well, you want some surprises for when you watch the film, don't you? I'm not going to detail everything but I can confirm that this additional 3 minutes is
not framerate difference. Shameless would
never cheat their fans by quantifying framerate timing and describing it as a longer version. This is a whole 3 minutes of extra footage not in the earlier Shameless release. The new HD master has several scenes that have a few seconds more each, which generally enriches the viewing experience, allowing you to see it as near to how it was originally intended as is possible in the UK.
So, does this answer your questions?
