Blu-ray

[1] A new High Definition Limited Edition Blu-ray release of LEGEND was released by Arrow films on September 28th, 2021.  You can order it from from Diabolik and Amazon. Read the Legend FAQ interview with Arrow Films' Legend Blu-Ray Producer James Flower!

Description

“After changing the face of science fiction cinema forever with Alien and Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott turned his visionary eye to the fantasy genre, teaming with writer William Hjortsberg (Angel Heart) to create a breathtaking cinematic fairytale with one of the screen’s most astonishingly rendered depictions of Evil.

In an idyllic, sun-dappled forest, the pure-hearted Jack (Tom Cruise) takes his true love Princess Lili (Mia Sara) to see a pair of unicorns frolicking at the forest’s edge. Little do they know that the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry, in a remarkable make-up designed by The Thing’s Rob Bottin) has dispatched his minions to capture the unicorns and sever their horns so that he may plunge the world into everlasting night. After Lili and the unicorns are taken prisoner, Jack must team with a group of forest creatures and descend into Darkness’ subterranean lair to face off against the devilish creature before it is too late.

Despite a troubled production in which the elaborate full-size forest set was accidentally incinerated and a lengthy post-production that resulted in multiple versions of the film (with competing music scores by Jerry Goldsmith and Tangerine Dream), Legend has since been restored to Scott’s original cut and embraced by generations of film fans eager to see a master director’s unique vision of a world beyond our imagination.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

– High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of the U.S. Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut

– DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio on both cuts

– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both cuts

– Illustrated perfect-bound book with new writing by Nicholas Clement and Kat Ellinger and archive materials including production notes and a 2002 interview with Charles de Lauzirika about the restoration of the Director’s Cut

– Large double-sided poster with newly commissioned artwork by Neil Davies and original theatrical artwork by John Alvin

– Glossy full-color portraits of the cast photographed by Annie Leibovitz

– Six double-sided postcard-sized lobby card reproductions

– Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Neil Davies and original theatrical artwork by John Alvin

DISC 1: US THEATRICAL CUT

– Brand new 2K restoration of the U.S. Theatrical Cut from original materials, including a 4K scan of the original camera negative

– Brand new audio commentary by Paul M. Sammon, author of Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies

– Reconstructed isolated score by Tangerine Dream from 2002

– Isolated music and effects track

– Remembering a Legend, a brand new featurette interviewing grip David Cadwalladr, production supervisor Hugh Harlow, costume designer Charles Knode, co-star Annabelle Lanyon, camera operator Peter MacDonald, set decorator Ann Mollo, and draftsman John Ralph

– The Music of Legend, a two-part featurette focusing on the scores for both versions, with film music experts Jeff Bond and Daniel Schweiger, and Austin Garrick & Bronwyn Griffin from the band Electric Youth

– The Creatures of Legend, a two-part featurette looking at Rob Bottin's make-up effects, with illustrator Martin A. Kline and make-up effects artist Nick Dudman

– Incarnations of a Legend, a comparison featurette written and narrated by critic Travis Crawford discussing the differences between the various versions of the film

– The Directors: Ridley Scott, a 2003 documentary in which the director discusses his career up to that point, including Legend

– Opening narration from the edited-for-television version

– Music video for “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” by Bryan Ferry

DISC 2: DIRECTOR’S CUT

– Audio commentary by Ridley Scott

– Creating A Myth: Memories of Legend, a archive documentary from 2002 featuring interviews with Ridley Scott, William Hjortsberg, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, Rob Bottin and several other cast and crew members

– Original promotional featurette

– Two deleted scenes, the alternate ‘Four Goblins’ opening and ‘The Fairie Dance’ deleted scene

– Extensive storyboard galleries

– Two drafts of William Hjortsberg’s screenplay

– Alternate footage from the overseas release plus textless footage

– Three theatrical trailers and four TV spots

– Image galleries (Production Stills, Continuity Polaroids, Poster & Video art)

Read the Legend FAQ interview with Arrow Films' Legend Blu-Ray Producer James Flower!

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This is the James Flower Twitter thread discussing why there was no 4K UHD version

When the Limited Edition Legend release from Arrow Video was announced on June 25th, 2021, some folks noted that there was no 4K UHD version. James Flower, a producer at Arrow Video, addressed this on twitter the same day. The thread starts here: James Flower. You can read the whole thread in one place at threadreader. The twitter thread is reproduced below.

"So, the big controversy from today’s @ArrowFilmsVideo announcement: no 4K UHD for Legend. As I hinted a few weeks ago, there are sound reasons for this, and I’m going to try and explain why in this thread.

Obviously we wanted to, and it’s not Universal stopping us (they have no plans either AFAIK). It’s a visually stunning film and I understand people’s dismay when Alien and Blade Runner are both on UHD and they want Legend to sit alongside those. Believe me, I get it. But...

It’s important to understand Legend’s post-production and release history and the materials issues relating to it, which is much more complex and fraught than Alien or even Blade Runner, both of which have enjoyed multi-million dollar restoration projects by Fox and Warner.

Reputation is an important factor too. Alien and Blade Runner are undisputed classics, one an instant franchise-spawning hit and the other a hard-earned unlikely triumph. Legend has still never quite enjoyed that level of respect, as much as we may love it.

There are three versions of the film (not counting TV edits): the 113-min Director’s Cut, restored by Universal in 2002 (SD) and 2011 (HD); the 93-min International cut, released outside the US by Fox; and the 90-min cut with Tangerine Dream score released in the US by Universal.

The Director’s Cut was restored from one of only two surviving 35mm answer prints, with additional post-production by Universal. There is no better quality source for this version, certainly not a negative. So why not scan the answer print in 4K? I mean, go big or go home right?

These are Scott’s notes from the 2011 Blu-ray explaining the inherent quality issues on the Director’s Cut master. He sums it up well; even though an answer print is often struck direct from the negative, there is significant generational quality loss that cannot be reversed.

In addition, the answer prints do not wholly represent what is in the Director’s Cut HD master; they contain unfinished effects and other issues that would need to be corrected all over again in 4K.

Universal spent a lot of money in 2011 getting the Director’s Cut to look as good as it does in HD, but make no mistake: its imperfections would be utterly naked in 4K, and the diminished dynamic range would make HDR a moot point.

Some wise aleck might be piping up with one of the rare examples to prove me wrong. “What about the Cannes cut of Dawn of the Dead, restored in 4K HDR from a CRI!” True, but the Cannes cut is a curio, not Romero’s preferred cut that most people would reach for before any other.

The negative of Legend is conformed to the 93-min International Cut... and here’s where things get tricky. The negative is owned by Universal, there’s even a Universal copyright at the end... but Fox/Disney own distribution rights to that particular version of the film.

We went ahead and did a 4K scan of the negative anyway, knowing we could still put it to some use and hoping that we might be able to pull off a miracle and clear a US/UK edition with all three cuts, which might make UHD a little more feasible logistically and financially.

We tried very, very hard to make headway with Fox on clearance to include the International Cut as an extra, but no dice. Ever notice that the International Cut’s never been released in the US, nor the US cut in the UK? You need both to sign it off and we couldn’t make it happen.

You may ask, “Why not use the negative to make the Director’s Cut look even better? It’s only 20 mins shorter, right?” In fact, there are so many tiny cuts and minute differences throughout that less than an hour of negative material could be used in a Director’s Cut restoration.

So even if we used our 4K negative scans to upgrade portions of the Director’s and US cuts, what does that leave us on UHD? Two compromised, Frankenstein masters that would inevitably fall short of people’s high expectations, no matter what we did.

Make no mistake, if Arrow does a new 4K master, whether it’s Tremors or King of New York or Donnie Darko, and spend as much as we do on restoration, UHD authoring etc, we want it to be a massive improvement. Legend in this form would not qualify.

So here’s the deal: the Arrow Blu-Ray, in addition to awesome new extras, has both Director’s and US cuts in the best quality they’ve ever been seen in. It’s still a stonking upgrade, thanks in no small part to those neg scans of the one cut that’s unfortunately missing.

(Side note: if you desperately want this cut of the film, it is still available on Blu-ray from Fox in the UK and elsewhere – for now! Just a shame you haven’t seen our master of it which looks even better…)

If Disney ever play ball and the opportunity ever comes to do a UHD with three cuts, we can re-assess what to do with the Director’s Cut, whether it’s a rescan or AI upscaling with fake grain and fake HDR (as I know one non-US label has done without you lot noticing)...

Because at least then there’ll be one cut of the film that looks amazing, 100% restored from negative, which would make the visual flaws in the other two cuts a little more forgivable. I sincerely hope it happens one day... but knowing what we know, don’t hold your breath.

Once again for those at the back: there is no surviving negative of the longer cut, and any 4K improvement on what’s been released before would have been nominal and not currently worth the substantial hassle and expense. One day, that may change... but not today.

Until then, the story of Legend remains, such as it ever was, one of messy compromise. We’ve done the best we could with what we have in the meantime – so, enjoy! (FIN)"

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Neil Davies posted this full wraparound image of the LEGEND Limited Edition cover art on twitter: "This is the full Legend wraparound bluray cover art for @ArrowFilmsVideo. A total joy to work on!"

[2] LEGEND Ultimate edition Blu-ray

Starring: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Robert Picardo
Directed by: Ridley Scott

Disc 1: Director's Cut: Theatrical Version
Run Time: 1 Hours and 54 Minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated (N/A)
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English)
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Picture: Widescreen (2.35:1)
Color

Bonus:
Feature Commentary With Ridley Scott
Lost Scenes
Creating A Myth: The Making Of Legend
Byan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough"
Theatrical Trailers
TV Spots
Photo Gallery
My Scenes
D-Box
BD-Live
Pocket BLU App

Run Time: 1 Hours and 30 Minutes
MPAA Rating: PG (N/A)
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English)
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Picture: Widescreen (2.35:1)
Color

Bonus:
Isolated Music Score by Tangerine Dream

[3] LEGEND Blu-Ray UK version

Actors: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten
Directors: Ridley Scott
Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Polish
Dubbed: French, Spanish, German, Italian
Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired: English
Region: Region B/2 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Classification: PG
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Blu-Ray Release Date: 6 Feb 2012
Run Time: 93 minutes and 113 minutes

This Blu-Ray version of LEGEND from UK contains only the UK version of LEGEND and the Director's cut of LEGEND. There are no other bonus features.

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• Lily and the Unicorns
• Jack's Challenge
• Downfall of Darkness

Photo Galleries
Publicity Photographs
Production Photographs
Continuity Polaroids
Bryan Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" music video
Trailers and TV spots
DVD-Rom features including the original screenplay

LEGEND DVD from Germany

LEGEND Released by 20th Century Fox in Germany, DVD (Region ?), Date unknown
The cover claims "90 minutes" but this is most likely the 94 minute version

Legend DVD cover from Germany - Thanks to Christian

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VIDEO

LEGEND (U.S.) MCA/Universal Home Video #80193, Videocassette 1986
89 minutes, Panned and Scanned.

LEGEND (U.S.) MCA Home Video BTA #80193, Beta Cassette, 1986
89 minutes, Panned and Scanned.

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This image from the video of LEGEND was provided by Russell Stenson.


This image of a bootleg version of the European Version of LEGEND being marketed as a Director's cut (it isn't) was provided by Kenny Lacaze.



This image from the video of LEGEND was provided by Simon Sinclair.
Even though the box cover says music by Tangerine Dream, this is the European version with the Jerry Goldsmith music.


This image from the first sell through video of LEGEND was provided by Mr Lovebucket.



Can anyone confirm that this was the second sell through video for LEGEND? Are there any more?



LEGEND video cover from Spain - Thanks to Gary



LEGEND video cover from the Netherlands - Thanks to Gary




LEGEND (UK-pal) Warner Home Video # PES 38054, Videocassette 1988
91 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format), Panned and Scanned.

LEGEND (UK-pal) Warner Home Video # S035637, Videocassette 1994
90 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format), Panned and Scanned. (Thanks to Simon Sinclair for bringing this to our attention.)

LEGEND (Japan) Videotape (c)1996 Tohogawashi ltd - King Video
91 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format) "handsome and startlingly DELUXE cover, gold embossed"

LEGEND (Spanish subtitled) Video Search of Miami, Videocassette 198?
89m 38s, False Letterboxing of Panned and Scanned image

* Review of Video Search Of Miami video :

Stay away from the Video Search of Miami videotape of the European version of LEGEND. This video is at least a third generation dub though more likely fourth generation. The picture quality is horribly dark and some action cannot be seen at all. Even sadder is the fact that 7 minutes and 20 seconds into the tape the sounds disappears for about 6 seconds.

The VSoM video is subtitled in Spanish and runs 1h 29m 38s. The image of the video is panned and scanned and, on top of that, letterboxed as well, further reducing the visual information. There are fragments of Spanish sentences that appear as subtitles intermittently on screen suggesting that the rest of the sentence is hidden behind the black bar. Since it seems that the black bar was put there to cover the Spanish subtitles, another bar was also added to the top of the image in order to balance everything off, producing a false letterboxing. Whether this was done by VSoM or not is unknown.

The only redeeming quality about this video is that the soundtrack and effects track are mixed WAY up, allowing you to hear Jerry Goldsmith's music very clearly. The negative side of this heightened track is that it helps to amplify some of the lousy edits that appear early in the film.

 

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LASERDISC

 

LEGEND (U.S.) MCA HOME VIDEO # 40193, Laserdisc 1986
89 minutes, Panned and Scanned.

LEGEND (France) Warner Home Video #3852813, Laserdisc 1991
91 minutes (94 minutes PAL format), Letterboxed (Scope 2.35), dubbed, no trailer. This version is the same print as the UK and Japanese version except that it is letterboxed and dubbed in French.

LEGEND (France) L'Ecran Laser #LD008, Laserdisc, 1996
91 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format), Letterboxed (Remastered Widescreen Cinemascope 2.35 edition), Dubbed, Dolby Surround, Theatrical Trailer, second side is CAV. This version is the same print as the UK and Japanese version except that it is letterboxed and dubbed in French.

Front Cover


Back Cover

LEGEND (Japan) Warner Home Video # NJL-38528, Laserdisc 1990
91 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format), Opening credits letterboxed, rest of film Panned and Scanned.

LEGEND (Japan) Warner Bros, Gold Rental Edition, #RL38528, Laserdisc 1990
91 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format), Opening credits letterboxed, rest of film Panned and Scanned. Same as the above Japanese laserdisc except that it has a new part number, is "gold" plated and priced lower for rental in Japan.)


LEGEND (Japan) Tohokushinsa/King Video K88L-5091, Laserdisc
91 minutes (94 minutes in PAL format), Opening credits letterboxed, rest of film Panned and Scanned.

Same print as Warner Home Video (Japan) above, no chapter markers during the movie. No Copyright date except C 1985 Universal City Studios, so I don't know when exactly this was issued.

"The cover has LEGEND in gold with A RIDLEY SCOTT FILM written under the title. The cover is preferrable to the artwork on the Warner Bros Japanese LD, and includes a still of David Bennett playing the fiddle from the excised "riddle" sequence on the back! The front has a large still of Tom Cruise & Mia Sara sunbathed in the forest sun in the middle, with a smaller still of Mia Sara's face (in the dark make-up) in the upper-left hand corner, and a still of Tim Curry's face in the lower-right hand corner. The back has the before-mentioned Bennett still, plus three other pictures and brief notes in Japanese." This information was provided by Andy Dursin.

Front cover of Japanese laserdisc (Thanks to Christian)

Back cover of Japanese laserdisc (Thanks to Christian)

Insert from Japanese laserdisc (Thanks to Christian)

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This page was last updated on September 18th, 2021.
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