‘Titanic’ Too Racy? Excise Those Scenes
The ship still sinks, hundreds still die and Leonardo DiCaprio still is every teenage girl’s heartthrob. Even on video, “Titanic” packs the same 3 hours and 14 minutes of impact that earned it 11 Academy Awards.
Except in Utah County.
Here, after Don Biesinger processes your copy, it’s more like 3 hours, 12 minutes. For $5, Biesinger’s Sunrise Family Video will splice out two sexually charged scenes - including a shot of Kate Winslet posing nude.
“Titanic” mania was rekindled Tuesday, the first day of the epic’s video release, with thousands of movie lovers across the country lining up for copies.
The fever hit Sunrise Video, too, with one big difference: Customers streamed in to drop off their copies. More than 50 were piled on Sunrise’s shelves by closing time - a four-day backlog for the process, which takes Biesinger’s employees about 35 minutes a copy.
Once word spread, Sunrise’s phone rarely stopped ringing, and customers like Connie Pixton rushed to the store.
“I’m thrilled. My husband and kids haven’t seen it” because of those scenes, the Lehi mother of five said. “My teenage daughter is excited. She’s going to invite her friends over to watch it.”
Biesinger discovered that many of his neighbors wanted a cleaned-up version of the film when a nearby theater packed the house in July by editing out the nudity and a steamy love scene - at least until Paramount Pictures revoked its print. He decided to offer his store’s video-repair equipment and expertise once “Titanic” was released for sale.
The editing doesn’t completely cleanse the PG-13 film; a sketch of the nude Winslet remains, and some profanity is scattered throughout, to say nothing of the violent deaths and icy corpses.
To wipe out the swearing, Sunrise Video, which doesn’t rent R-rated movies, sells the $149.99 TV Guardian, a device touted as “The Foul-Language Filter.” It scans closed-caption coding for vulgarities and automatically mutes the sound briefly to eliminate them.
One iceberg looms: Hollywood’s reaction. Biesinger expects to hear from Paramount Home Video, the distributor, but believes he is doing nothing illegal.
“There may be some rattling of sabers, but without any substance. These are people’s personal copies,” he said. “I’m not afraid of any repercussions.”
A Paramount spokeswoman said the company was investigating the matter and would have no comment Tuesday.
Copyright law is uncertain in such editing cases, said Susan Poulter, a University of Utah law professor. Consumers who buy books, for example, are within their rights to cut them up, loan them out or even resell them, she said.
“One concern is that this store is making money from this, which puts it into the commercial realm,” Poulter said. “But whether the copyright owners still retain their rights, that’s not clear. It’s a close call.”
Not to Biesinger. But his home library will contain an uncensored tape.