LEGEND Blu-Ray Thread

[Paul MacLean]

I got mine the other day. In many ways I think the directors cut looks better on disc than the American cut. The title sequence and some of the darker scenes suffer a bit, but the DC overall comes across better.

One thing I don't get though -- although the DC is obviously longer, many scenes in the DC are cut the same way as in the European version. So I don't understand why they didn't extract footage from the European cut for those scenes when restoring the DC. In particular, the title sequence (which is edited in the exact same way as in the DC) looks noticeably superior in the Euro version.

[AndyDursin]

I've resurrected and reworked my 2002 FSM LEGEND article for a special Aisle Seat next week, including my interview with Charlie de Lauzirika.

http://www.andyfilm.com/6-21-11.html

[Paul MacLean]

I've resurrected and reworked my 2002 FSM LEGEND article for a special Aisle Seat next week, including my interview with Charlie de Lauzirika.

http://www.andyfilm.com/6-21-11.html

Thanks for reposting that interview Andy. The preparation and release of the Legend directors cut remains a fascinating story from beginning to end.

I however remain baffled by the number of people who prefer the shorter American cut (which is bereft of important character development) and actually think Tangerine Dream's score works better!

[Eric W.]

I've resurrected and reworked my 2002 FSM LEGEND article for a special Aisle Seat next week, including my interview with Charlie de Lauzirika.

http://www.andyfilm.com/6-21-11.html

Thanks for reposting that interview Andy. The preparation and release of the Legend directors cut remains a fascinating story from beginning to end.

I however remain baffled by the number of people who prefer the shorter American cut (which is bereft of important character development) and actually think Tangerine Dream's score works better!

I actually was skimming Amazon the other day and some of the comments people wrote in to someone's review really made my already dim view of humanity go down even further when I saw not only praise for the American version but some rather harsh bashing of Goldsmith's score in favor of the TD score.

[AndyDursin]

I actually was skimming Amazon the other day and some of the comments people wrote in to someone's review really made my already dim view of humanity go down even further when I saw not only praise for the American version but some rather harsh bashing of Goldsmith's score in favor of the TD score.

For years I rented laserdiscs from the only store in Rhode Island who had them...the guy who ran it, Kevin, was a nice guy with a mullet who seemed like he was forever living in the '80s. I remember the first time going in there -- I was in high school -- and they had a copy of the LEGEND Japanese import LD available for rent. I was so psyched, it didn't matter that it was cropped (and they didn't even pan-and-scan it, they just left the frame in the center of the image) -- it meant I was seeing it with Goldsmith's music for the first time! I was so excited, but Kevin was like, "yeah it's cool but I still like the Tangerine Dream music." It was the first time I'd ever hear someone say they liked the TD music better -- and it's something I've heard a fair amount of over the years since.

I think in some ways it has less to do with the movie and more to do with personal musical preference. There are a lot of people into '80s new age/rock music and probably dislike classical music in general, so they hear TD's score and think it's "cool" or something. Maybe they were stoned listening to it? Who knows, but dramatically it doesn't work, and I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone -- in their right minds -- would ever think the 89 minute US version is better when so much dialogue is taken out. The movie makes almost no sense in the 89 minute cut!

Beyond that, I think TD's score just plain sucks on its own terms. I mean, I know LADYHAWKE has a dated main theme and the electronic stuff is of the era -- but at least that score has an orchestra, and a sense of thematic lyricism (I still like the love theme plenty) going on. There's some sweep, some classical elements to it. There's nothing of the sort in TD's LEGEND score. It's utter trash, there's no thematic cohesion, there's no melody -- it's like a group of guys tinkering on a keyboard for most of it. Embarrassing.

[kramer]

REMEMBER 1985 ?

LEGEND - Hated the film but loved J.G music...so I got the LP from a local Soundtrack specialty Record store in Sydney.

As I was playing the LP I remembered thinking to myself..."I dodn't recall ANY of this music in the film". That's because it wasn't. Australia got the U.K versoin with music by J.G...the LP was by T.Dream. I checked the movie poster & it said Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

When the J.G LP came in...I got it. We didn't have the "Net back then so I couldn't see there was 2 LP's.

I have Both versions on CD & a guy at work has both T.D & J.G Bootled CD's of the Legend Score. Is this true ???

[AndyDursin]

Weird...i don't know about boots of the respective scores per se...

Welcome aboard Kramer by the way!

[AndyDursin]

The UK Blu-Ray with the European (94 min) version is up for pre-order:

[Paul MacLean]

All region?

Would be nice if it included those those obscure trailers that used Goldsmith's score (rather than the confusing abstract one with that narrator trying to imitate Tim Curry and the Alien music!).

But it probably won't...

[AndyDursin]

All region?

Would be nice if it included those those obscure trailers that used Goldsmith's score (rather than the confusing abstract one with that narrator trying to imitate Tim Curry and the Alien music!).

But it probably won't...

Yup, sure to be all-region like the CONAN discs.

No idea on the trailers...we'll have to wait and see on that end.

[blargster]

I actually was skimming Amazon the other day and some of the comments people wrote in to someone's review really made my already dim view of humanity go down even further when I saw not only praise for the American version but some rather harsh bashing of Goldsmith's score in favor of the TD score.

For years I rented laserdiscs from the only store in Rhode Island who had them...the guy who ran it, Kevin, was a nice guy with a mullet who seemed like he was forever living in the '80s. I remember the first time going in there -- I was in high school -- and they had a copy of the LEGEND Japanese import LD available for rent. I was so psyched, it didn't matter that it was cropped (and they didn't even pan-and-scan it, they just left the frame in the center of the image) -- it meant I was seeing it with Goldsmith's music for the first time! I was so excited, but Kevin was like, "yeah it's cool but I still like the Tangerine Dream music." It was the first time I'd ever hear someone say they liked the TD music better -- and it's something I've heard a fair amount of over the years since.

I think in some ways it has less to do with the movie and more to do with personal musical preference. There are a lot of people into '80s new age/rock music and probably dislike classical music in general, so they hear TD's score and think it's "cool" or something. Maybe they were stoned listening to it? Who knows, but dramatically it doesn't work, and I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone -- in their right minds -- would ever think the 89 minute US version is better when so much dialogue is taken out. The movie makes almost no sense in the 89 minute cut!

Beyond that, I think TD's score just plain sucks on its own terms. I mean, I know LADYHAWKE has a dated main theme and the electronic stuff is of the era -- but at least that score has an orchestra, and a sense of thematic lyricism (I still like the love theme plenty) going on. There's some sweep, some classical elements to it. There's nothing of the sort in TD's LEGEND score. It's utter trash, there's no thematic cohesion, there's no melody -- it's like a group of guys tinkering on a keyboard for most of it. Embarrassing.

I've collected motion picture soundtracks for over 40 years now and while I normally prefer classical music, I do prefer the Tangerine Dream score over the Goldsmith.

I had (still have!) both the US Laserdisc and the Japanese LD set that contained the European cut. I was surprised how much I disliked the European cut - it just seemed like a meandering mess to me.

While I don't dislike the Goldsmith score (I love Lily's "My True Love's Eye's" song) and found it beautiful, it really didn't seem to fit the mood of the film.

The part that I don't like in the TD score is "Is Your Love Strong Enough" - where the heck did that come from? It was just a tacked on Brian Ferry pop song.

I guess it just a matter of personal preference. To me, the TD score is close to perfect and sets the stage right from the beginning.

[AndyDursin]

Blargster welcome aboard

[Paul MacLean]

I feel that Legend, which was a very classical European fairy tale, and strongly influenced by French filmmaker Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, was best complemented by Goldsmith's very classical score, which has a decidedly French Impressionist bent.

Goldsmith also wrote some of the music in preproduction, so to a significant extent, the film was actually inspired by his music.

[AndyDursin]

Bumping up this old thread because of a new European Steelbook release -- which I was excited about until I saw the artwork. It's "cute" but I hate these revisionist artworks labels are increasingly using -- why can't they use the original advertising materials or production artwork (of which LEGEND had infinite amounts of material at its disposal)?

http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/legend-lim ... 20289.html

[Paul MacLean]

I'm kind of tired of these arty, "minimalist" designs. Besides, this kind of artwork only works for well-known classics (whereas Legend is more of an obscure cult movie). I also think a film that looks as good as Legend ought to have more images from the film itself.