Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ive bought Masada in its single VHS and its 4 VHS version. I own the soundtrack. I'm a MASADA-MANIAC. I scooped up the DVD on first sight, although the DVD art looked a little.."unofficial" by comparison with the lavish 4 tape box set. It seems that MASADA is owned by MCA-Universal, but this release is put out by KOCH Entertainment. Okay, I thought, so the cover art is a bit flat...at least it's out on DVD! Well, I watched it, and it looks REALLY good. Not restored or even cleaned, mind you. You can see scratches and damage to the negative, but its only minor and to be expected with anything that's been in the vault since the 80's. However, what I was aghast to notice are gaps in the scene where Silva is deciding to torch the wall of Masada or not. The scene is clipped short on the DVD. In the original film, Silva (Peter O'Toole) says "Burn it!" to his engineer, and storms off. Then we see the archers setting their fires. Before he says that line on the DVD, the screen goes black, and they cut to the archers shooting fire-arrows into the wall. Hmmm. I dug out my 4 tape VHS to be sure. Sure enough, his "Burn it!" line is missing from the DVD. Indeed, I noticed there is other dialog missing from this scene as well. Silva asks for suggestions other than fire from his officers. When no one speaks up he tells them he doesn't blame them, and would probably keep silent if he was in their place. Those lines aren't there either. Now, this is just ONE scene I noticed, but I suspect there are probably other bits missing as well. While its not the end of the world, I am disappointed. Why couldn't MCA have just put out a decent and COMPLETE version of Masada themselves? Suffice to say, Im holding on to my 4 tape VHS set, which I have to recommend over this DVD release. Sorry folks. Keep your fingers crossed, maybe next time they'll get it right.