When the film was released in the US it was cut so it would be only 4 hours (a more reasonable running time) and to not get an X rating. Over an hour of the movie was cut in order to get an R-Rating and for people to be able to watch it. Then in the year 1993 the uncut version of 1900 was released on video in the US and had an NC-17 rating with it. This version is over 5 hours long. There is also a rumored 6 hour long version
The German, Australian, Scandanavian, and Italian DVD releases are all the uncut 311-minute version of the film (302 minutes due to PAL speed-up) divided into two parts and featuring all of the above scenes including the main characters as young boys examining each other's genitals (this scene is much less graphic than many believe), and the prostitute masturbating Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu. However, they are not color corrected, hence there is a red tint on many scenes. The Paramount DVD, released in the U.S. on December 5th, 2006, is the completely uncut version and was color corrected for DVD.
Among a dozen or so scenes that were extended in "versione integrale", there are a number of new scenes featuring:
- Longer shot of the boy dying in the very beginning
- Berlinghieri digging the wine out of the cellar before serving it to the peasants
- After Elma tells everyone of Berlinghieri's suicide, the crowd rejoices and dances
- The first scene with Attila is extended into a speech
- Graphic scenes of the mutilation of pigs is extended
- After Regina taunts Ada with keys to the wine, Ada pours wine over Regina's head
- Olmo's closing speech is longer
Original Italian version is 311 minutes long and was released as two separate films (Novecento, part 1 & 2). US R-rated version is 243 minutes long and deletes several scenes, including an explicit one in which a prostitute masturbates Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu. A restored integral version was re-released in the USA in 1993 with a NC-17 rating.
In the UK, the movie was released by Fox video in 1992 as a twin VHS set. This ran for just over 303 minutes at 25 frames per second, the speed at which films are transferred for the PAL video format. This 18-rated release was not cut by the BBFC, but is missing the explicit masturbation shot when Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu visit the prostitute. Otherwise, it appears to be the complete Italian language version, and includes the scene where the two main characters play with their genitals as young boys.
