THE SWARM Coming on Blu-Ray

[AndyDursin]

I showed this to Lukas when he was visiting -- rented the laserdisc and couldn't stop laughing.

[Eric Paddon]

The Blu-Ray I assume will be the "long cut" like the DVD? Would it even include both cuts of the film?

I once read an on-line review of "The Swarm" years ago that shed some light on why the film is that bad. Stirling Silliphant was a very good writer (an Oscar winner no less) who more than proved his ability in film and TV (creator of "Naked City" and "Route 66' among other things). Did his writing skills suddenly desert him? No, the article noted how the script has a LOT of similarities to things from various 1950s sci-fi "B" movies (no pun intended). He made the argument that Silliphant was purposefully doing a script riffing off these 50s movies and Allen, in his total stupidity (combined with his foolish insistence on directing. Allen was a terrible director of actors) wasn't "in" on the joke of what Silliphant was doing and the results served to make the movie worse than you could have imagined. Combined with the dead seriousness Allen used in the marketing, this film set itself up for disaster.

[AndyDursin]

They havent said but I would expect it to be the 156 min version...its all they made available on laserdisc and DVD I believe. I have never seen the theatrical release version and I just doubt they would bother to do a 2 disc set or branching on this.

Movie is long but some of the funniest stuff is in the 156 min version I believe....lol.

And at least the movie is entetainingly bad, unlike BEYOND THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, which is just a total snooze.

Hopefully we will get the long cut of WHEN TIME RAN OUT next!!

[Eric Paddon]

Yes the long version is where we get extra scenes of flipping out before the "giant bee" illusion (Fonda's death scene and Ross opening the door to her room and being confronted by the giant bee illusion in her ill state).

[Monterey Jack]

As funny as this film is, the 150+-minute version is just too much of a good (bad) thing. It'd be nice if Shout offered the theatrical cut as well, and they've made a laudable habit of that with a lot of recent films (Dawn Of The Dead, Drag Me To Hell, etc.). Even if a director's cut is technically "better", I always push for the theatrical cut to be included as well, just for the sake of historical preservation (plus, how many movies are only available on Blu in a crummy, inferior director's cut? ).

[AndyDursin]

I may be wrong, but I believe the 156 min. version of THE SWARM is in fact the original cut of the movie -- it's not a pieced together TV version or something padded after the fact. I thought I remember reading Warner hacked it down before release. Either way, I'd rather have all the funny stuff even if parts of it are dull -- and frankly this is the kind of thing I would fast-forward through anyway.

This is also coming from Warner Archive -- not Shout Factory -- which is why I doubt they'd include the theatrical edit. I don't think they've released that in any form since VHS.

[Eric Paddon]

I think you're right on that being the "original" cut of the film. There was some reshuffling I think when they cut the giant bee illusion terrorizing Fonda before he dies. In the long cut I remember Caine comes in and does a badly acted, "Oh Walter!" moment holding the dead Fonda in his arms. In the short cut, they break away as Fonda dies and then after one other scene we later see Caine walk in and see Fonda's glasses left behind on the table after they removed him and its a quieter silent bit of contemplation about his death. That's the one instance where they may have used a different take in the short cut as opposed to just deleting scenes outright.

[KevinEK]

I could never bear to watch either The Swarm or When Time Ran Out again. I had enough of both bad ideas back in the day when they were originally inflicted upon unsuspecting audiences.

And this is prime "Bad Michael Caine Movie" stuff too. Right in the middle of the period of "Beyond the Poseidon Adventure", "The Island" and of course, everyone's favorite: "The Hand"!

[jkholm]

I watched THE SWARM for the first time earlier this year. I thought THE CONCORDE was bad, but THE SWARM is something special. Usually when someone says a movie is "so bad it's actually good" I find that the movie is merely bad. Not so with THE SWARM which truly was entertainingly bad.

[AndyDursin]

Caine is absolutely over the top at the height of his Shouting phase. Its truly, delirously delicious from a bad movie fans perspective.

[Eric Paddon]

The best review of the film ever!

https://web.archive.org/web/20160305200 ... /swarm.htm

[Monterey Jack]

This is also coming from Warner Archive -- not Shout Factory -- which is why I doubt they'd include the theatrical edit. I don't think they've released that in any form since VHS.

Whoops, lumped this in with all of the Shout announcements.

Still, my point stands...I'd rather see every movie preserve what was originally shown in theaters if possible.

[AndyDursin]

I think the original, intended cut of any film is what we should get first and foremost, always. If a studio mucks around on their own, hacking out material against the filmmakers intent, that doesnt make it valid just because it played in theaters.

That said, why not make everyone happy by including both?

[Monterey Jack]

That said, why not make everyone happy by including both?

Precisely. I would never sit through the studio-butchered theatrical cut of Ridley Scott's Kingdom Of Heaven again, but I'm sort of happy the Blu-Ray includes it, because it's a FASCINATING example of how the dramatic "guts" of a movie can be torn out by a studio more concerned with getting in more opening-weekend showtimes than creating good or even coherent art. Same thing with Ridley's Blade Runner and Legend. And I've avoided getting The Warriors on Blu until the theatrical version is made available, because you KNOW Shout's gonna get that at some point.

[KevinEK]

There's an interesting dichotomy that comes into play.

On the one hand, there are the released versions of movies, which are what made them popular and perennials and which stay in our consciousness - Superman: The Movie, Superman II, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now. And later on, there are revisionist versions of those movies, where the filmmakers have gone in and tinkered with something that already worked, and in many cases did not improve the situation.

But on the other hand, there are movies where the director had one version in mind, and then the studio or the producers or both made a drastic decision and hacked the movie into some other vision - Brazil, Once Upon A Time in America, The Outsiders, Legend, etc. And in several of those cases, the director participated, trying to keep the studio or producers or both happy. Getting to see the actual original vision of the director in those cases tends to really help see what was really the intention.

Blade Runner is a whole other kettle of fish, as everything I've seen indicates that everyone involved was completely confused as to what would be best for the film by the time it opened. For me, there are still grace notes for that one that remain in the Workprint that never made it to the "Final Cut" of 2007.

I agree with the notion of trying to just include whatever versions can be included - as was done with the Blade Runner set. Ridley Scott is said to hate the Workprint version being available, but he didn't stop it from being included in the comprehensive edition of his movie.