What are some of the reviews of the LEGEND Ultimate Edition DVD?

November 22nd, 2011

Check out this awesome article called Restoring LEGEND - A Tribute to Ridley Scott's Resurrected Fantasy (Plus: An Interview with Charles de Lauzirika) by Andre Dursin at http://www.andyfilm.com/6-21-11.html.

August 25th, 2002

• Thanks to Matthew Wright for letting me know about the following five LEGEND DVD Reviews.
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews2/legendultimate.html.
  
  "Legend
  Ultimate Edition - 1985 (2002) - Universal
  review by Adam Jahnke of The Digital Bits
  
  Film Ratings (Director's Cut/U.S. Cut): B-/C-
  Disc Ratings - Video (Director's Cut/U.S. Cut): B+/B-
  Disc Ratings - Audio (Director's Cut DTS/Director's Cut DD/U.S. Cut): A-/B+/C
  Disc Ratings - Extras: A
  Specs and Features
  
  Disc One: Director's Cut
  114 mins, PG, letterboxed widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 enhanced, custom keep case packaging, single-sided, RSDL dual-layered (layer switch at 1:02:50 in chapter 10), audio commentary with director Ridley Scott, animated film-themed menu screens with music, scene access (18 chapters), languages: English (DTS 5.1, DD 5.1 and DD 2.0), subtitles: English, French and Spanish
  
  Disc Two: U.S. Theatrical Version
  90 mins, PG, letterboxed widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 enhanced, custom keep case packaging, single-sided, RSDL dual-layered (no layer switch), Creating a Myth: The Memories of Legend documentary, isolated music score by Tangerine Dream, 2 lost scenes, 3 storyboard sequences, 2 theatrical trailers (U.S. and International), 4 TV spots, 3 photo galleries, Is Your Love Strong Enough music video by Bryan Ferry, production notes, cast & filmmakers bios and filmographies, DVD-ROM features (script-to-screen viewer), Universal recommendations, animated film-themed menu screens with music, languages: English (DD 2.0 Surround), subtitles: English, French and Spanish
  
  I don't believe I'll get much argument when I say that the fantasy genre has had, at best, a very spotty track record on film. Other than Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast and (arguably) Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, there are very, very few real classics to boast of (before you start firing off angry e-mails, realize I'm only talking about live-action movies here - animated movies are an entirely different cauldron of newts). So it was with no small amount of anticipation that fantasy fans awaited Ridley Scott's Legend in 1985. Having conquered science fiction with Alien and Blade Runner, it seemed that Scott was just the kind of visionary needed to jump-start the genre. Well... that didn't happen. But even though Legend was not well received, the anticipation didn't die. Word quickly spread that American audiences had seen only a compromised version of the film, severely cut and saddled with a completely new music score by Tangerine Dream. Only in Europe could you see the original version, with a score by Jerry Goldsmith that, rumor had it, ranked with Scott's best work. It didn't take long for Euro-Legend to turn into the Holy Grail of fantasy films. Legend had become a legend.
  
  In one of the best corporate decisions a studio has ever made, Universal has released both versions of Legend on a splendid new two-disc DVD, allowing audiences to decide for themselves which version is better. Both have their champions but, for me, it's no contest. The director's cut is hands down the superior film. When I first saw Legend theatrically, I was deeply disappointed. Primed by Scott's prior two films, and publicity photos that focused on Tim Curry in Rob Bottin's amazing makeup as Darkness, I was more than a little let down to discover that Legend was basically a junior high girl's spiral notebook cover sprung to life, complete with unicorns, dancing fairies, glitter and magic pixies. This was not what I had in mind. Watching it again for this review, I found that I could swallow some of the treacle a bit more easily. Even so, I had some big problems with the film that I simply couldn't put my finger on until I watched the director's cut.
  
  The first difference between the two is the elimination of a text piece that, in the American version, basically tells you the entire story. It's a subtle change, one that I haven't seen commented on much, but it makes all the difference. Next, you'll notice that Darkness doesn't fully reveal himself in the director's cut until the famous scene in which he steps through the mirror to meet Lily (Mia Sara). In the American version, we get a pretty good look at him almost immediately. Obviously, the thinking was that since the publicity relied so heavily on this character, and they weren't trying to keep his look a secret, they should exploit it as much as possible. This rationale doesn't take into account the dramatic importance of a character's entrance. The director's cut has more mystery and more menace. Only in this version does the mirror scene have its full dramatic impact.
  
  And then there's the music issue. Jerry Goldsmith has crafted some of the greatest scores in movie history, but I don't think I'd go so far as to say that this is one of his best. However, it's certainly more appropriate. I don't dislike Tangerine Dream. In fact, I think their music for William Friedkin's underrated Sorcerer is a truly great electronic film score. But in this case, it marries the movie to the 1980's. And the awful pop ballads that end the movie will make you take back every bad thing you ever said about Limahl's title tune for The NeverEnding Story. Goldsmith's score is romantic and timeless. It does a better job selling the audience on the reality of the images. In the director's cut, Goldsmith's score makes you believe you're seeing unicorns. The Tangerine Dream score makes you believe you're seeing a couple of very pretty horses with horns glued to their heads.
  
  For all its improvements, the director's cut of Legend does not solve every problem. The biggest flaw with the movie is indicated by its bland title. Scott and screenwriter William Hjortsberg might just as well have called their movie Generic Fairy Tale. This is an extremely simple story of Good vs. Evil (or Light vs. Darkness if you prefer). It's a terrific movie to look at. In fact, this might be Ridley Scott's most beautiful looking film and that's really saying something. But we aren't given much reason to care. And sure, the movie hits most of the main totems of a classic fairy tale. But it misses one big one. There's no real moral to this story. Don't get me wrong here - I don't believe every movie must have a moral. Far from it. But the best fairy tales, from the Brothers Grimm on down, all have some little lesson to them. If there's a lesson to be learned here, I can't find it since, by story's end, we're right back where we started.
  
  As for the DVD itself, this is generally a very nice looking disc, though not without problems. The director's cut looks considerably better than the U.S. version. The American release suffers from a softer image and a bit of artifacting, resulting from cramming the entire thing onto a disc with a boatload of extras. The director's cut is much cleaner, with lovely, vibrant colors. The red of Darkness' skin is quite something. But this is a very dark movie, particularly in the second half. Details get washed out of the darkest shots with alarming regularity. At it's worst, you can simply be looking at a muddy black screen in which you can kind of see something moving around. There's also some distracting edge enhancement here and there, which keep this transfer well below reference quality. As for the sound, the director's cut is again given preferential treatment with DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks. The DTS track is best, with Curry's sonically enhanced bass voice rumbling tremendously through your speakers. By contrast, the Dolby Digital track is a bit weaker, with surround sound in the rear speakers coming off as somewhat anemic. The U.S. version boasts only a 2.0 Dolby Surround track, which is considerably weaker than anything on the first disc.
  
  Of all the hyperbolic brand names studios have given to their sundry DVD lines (New Line's Infinifilm, Buena Vista's Vista Series, etc.), none have been greeted with as much scorn as Universal's Ultimate Editions. The name implies that the disc will be the be-all and end-all for a particular title. You'll never have to buy another version of a title once you get the Ultimate Edition. Of course, most of us were probably never planning on buying another version of Patch Adams anyway, making an Ultimate Edition kind of pointless. But with Legend, Universal finally nails the concept (thanks, in no small measure, to the efforts of DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika). First off, J.M. Kenny's documentary Creating a Myth: The Memories of Legend covers the movie's tumultuous history in detail, interviewing Scott and Hjortsberg, actors Tim Curry, Mia Sara, Alice Playten, the late Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert and Robert Picardo (Tom Cruise is conspicuous in his absence, but I'm told they DID try to get him), makeup man Rob Bottin, producer Arnon Milchan, and a score of others connected with the film. It's an outstanding making-of piece. Scott's commentary on the director's cut is also terrific. It's better than his track for Hannibal, partly because this was a more difficult (and therefore, more interesting) movie to shoot. Scott generally avoids repeating material covered in the documentary and reveals a number of effects and camera tricks, at least one of which amazed me in its simplicity.
  
  Other material includes the complete Tangerine Dream score on an isolated music track. There's nothing similar for the Jerry Goldsmith score, alas, but the Tangerine Dream track wins points for including complete, uninterrupted tracks, as well as a number of alternate cues not used in the film. A long-lost alternate opening is interesting, even though it was understandably cut, and the extended Fairie Dance sequence is reconstructed using the original soundtrack, storyboards and still photos. Three other sequences are given the storyboard treatment, revealing some interesting moments that were never shot due to budget considerations. There's also the usual publicity related material: two trailers, four TV spots, photo galleries (including continuity Polaroids taken on set), and Bryan Ferry's music video for Is Your Love Strong Enough, a song which I don't recall being even close to a hit but it's nice that it's here for completists. Finally, the second disc includes a Script-to-Scene DVD-ROM feature. This is noteworthy in that the disc includes both the shooting script as well as Hjortsberg's original draft. Considering the number of people in the documentary who praise that first script as being amongst the best, most poetic screenplays they'd ever read, it's only fitting that it be included on the disc.
  
  Even in its best, most complete form, Legend remains a flawed movie that will not please everybody. However, it has enough going for it that even the most jaded and cynical viewer should find at least something to enjoy. If nothing else, Legend is a demo disc for the good old days of pre-CGI effects. This is a movie with a unique and, dare I say, magical look. A big factor in the success of that look is the fact that everything you see on screen is real, from the mammoth sets to the extraordinary makeup creations. CGI would rob a movie like Legend of much of its character. Whether or not you totally buy into the story, Legend is a visual feast with a few individual moments that approach the level of sophistication that Scott and Hjortsberg aimed for. And this DVD - truly an ultimate edition - is a wonderful way to experience it.
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://www.dvdshrine.com/reviews/show.shtml?id=1286.
  
  Legend (UE)
  Review by Brian Ludovico
  
  Studio: Universal
  Director: Ridley Scott
  Anamorphic: Yes
  Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  List Price: $24.98
  Release Date: May 21, 2002
                                             
  Film: 2
  Video: 3.5
  Audio: 4.5
  Extras: 3.5
  Overall: 4
  
  Tom Cruise stars in this visually stunning fantasy adventure in which pure good and evil battle to the death amidst spectacular surroundings. Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by faeries, goblins, unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story has Tom Cruise, a mystical forest dweller, chosen by fate to undertake a heroic quest. He must save a beautiful princess, Mia Sara, and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry), or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age. Co-starring Billy Barty and Alice Playten and directed by Ridley Scott, famed for his remarkable settings and unparalleled imagery, the incredibly realized tale is the stuff movie legends are made of.
  
  The phrase “visually stunning” on the back of a movie case immediately raises the eyebrow of suspicion (sort of like the words “seductive” or “steamy”). Every title I’ve come across that touts its “amazing imagery” so prominently always seems to do so at the heavy expense of interesting story. Obviously, I make mention of it for a reason: such is the case with Ridley Scott’s 1985 fantasy effort, Legend. No matter how much I wish I could tell our readers differently, the fact remains that yes, the story line behind Legend really is as simple as the blurb makes it out to be. There isn’t a single twist, not one solitary turn, no wrinkly in the storyline where the ultimate outcome can fall under even the shadow of a doubt (in fantasy movies, good invariably triumphs over evil on a long enough timeline; the trick is getting the audience to forget that for a few minutes). In three viewings of two different cuts of the movie, I found absolutely nothing of note to justify the time spent watching it, at least for anyone less than die hard in their fandom. It takes more than well-done unicorns and a cloven-toed Tim Curry to keep me interested.
  
  The problems with the story stem mainly from the flimsy script (by William Hjortsberg), as one might expect. The featurettes in the extras package will give the viewer some insight into the conceptualization stages of the script, a process that sounds like it developed in between bong-hits at a Magic the Gathering game. Basically, Scott wanted a script with “the fastest steeds” and a villain named “Darkness,” and basically, that’s all he ended up with. The other characters have almost no discernable depth or flair whatsoever. Jack, some strange guy who hangs around in the woods doing lord knows what, is supposed to be in love with Princess Lili (though the device of her being a princess is completely wasted). The problem is that these two characters seem so infantile that they come off as sexless children, and the effect completely undermines his love for her. Cruise spends the movie either trembling in fear or gazing in mouth-agape astonishment, delivering his lines so flatly, you’d have though George Lucas was at the helm. Sara reduces Lili to doleful stares and a British accent from the Kevin Costner school. That’s just the MAIN characters.
  
  Peripheral characters fall into two main categories. The first is “unbelievably annoying.” This category includes the goblins who never seem the least bit menacing, the two dwarf-like creatures who run with Jack’s posse for comic relief, and the utterly confusing fairy, who has a strange secret (that might have to do with how she gets her hair to look that way). The other category is “unsettlingly strange,” and only one character can reside here: Thorngump. He’s apparently sort of a wood nymph who runs around in oak leave underroos, and its implied that he has some sort of powers or dominion over the forest. Gump (as his friends call him) is so odd because the guy playing him, David Bennet, reminded me too much of one of the kids from that Simpsons movie, “The Bloodening.” I hope that’s shepherd’s pie in his knickers.
  
  The script also seems saddled with somewhat of an identity crisis. At times, the characters speak in rhymes, which would have been an unorthodox, and thereby at least superficially interesting, device to use throughout the movie. Instead, these characters seem to speak in metered rhyme only when it strikes them to, which makes it distracting and almost silly. Can there be any real threat from a ten year old (who’s actually eighteen) half nude boy with elf ears rasping “Squawk squawk, no more talk”? It was laughable, not menacing. Worse than those poetic moments are spots in the dialogue that actually take the viewer OUT of the time and place, the cardinal sin of the period piece film. Why are goblins talking about “encouraging initiative” and using the phrase “adios, amigo”? These lines are not only entirely superfluous; they’re jarringly incongruous. They’re poor efforts at unnecessary comic relief.
  
  The “amazing imagery” that the back of the box promises is lost on me. The only thing I found visually stunning was the amount of junk that Scott found a way to cram into every single scene. Scott will lay some of the blame for the film’s lukewarm commercial success at the feet of the movie being “too much,” too much score, too much visual, too many things going on in every frame. A good movie doesn’t rely on the background to take the focus off of its characters, which is the mistake Legend makes. The sets are intricately detailed and enormous, but they don’t ever approach looking “real” enough to get the viewer into the realm. In fact, parts of this scenery are downright gaudy. Too much time was spent on the look of this film, and there aren’t enough action sequences or engaging character exchanges to keep this movie from being…well, boring.
  
  Legend isn’t all bad, of course. Besides Mia Sara (albeit a disturbingly young Mia Sara) in a Goth-queen outfit, there’s the undeniably enjoyable and decadently over-the-top performance turned in by a completely unrecognizable Tim Curry. As the film’s only charismatic character, Darkness, Curry really sinks his fake fangs into the few scenes he gets. He absolutely commands the screen, enough that I found myself almost rooting for him (an effect no doubt aided by the fact that the Darkness’ enemies are entirely irritating). Curry’s performance makes every line Darkness has the only lines anyone cares to remember from this film. I just wish there were more of Darkness and less of the goblins.
  
  The default argument about movies like these, when they’re criticized, seems to be that we just don’t “get it.” We just don’t “get” the realm of fantasy, we don’t “get” the magic and wonder of it all. I beg to differ; I think I “get” fantasy. I think Harry Potter can qualify as fantasy, with its roots in magic and witchcraft, and a world that doesn’t exist, and I completely enjoyed that movie. I am a huge fan of the first three Star Wars films, all of which can arguably be said to count more as fantasy than as science fiction. I could even see positives in below average efforts like Dragonheart, or take guilty pleasures from the ever-watchable Beastmaster. I’m not even going to mention LotR. What I don’t get is why fantasy movies have this built in excuse that critics or viewers don’t “understand” the movie. A bad movie is just a bad movie, that’s all. Legend, I hate to say, is just a bad movie. In fact, I found Legend even less enjoyable than Willow. I admire its ambition, but the execution falls painfully flat, thanks to having too much running time and not enough script.
  
  Video:
  
  Both the director’s cut on disc one and the original US theatrical release on disc two are presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, but strangely, they are not the same in terms of prevailing quality. Any problems that this new DVD version has are far more pronounced on the shorter US version than on the director’s cut, which would lead one to believe that Scott really pushed for Universal to put some cash into a digital restoration effort for his vision of this film.
  
  Now, I know that Legend is aiming for a very whimsical, storybook visual style, and to that end, it’s understandable that the picture be somewhat soft-focus. At times, this effect is spectacularly effective, like the moments where sunshine literally streams over the virginal princess as she encounters the unicorn. Those moments, alas, are few and far between; much of the movie takes place in the dismal forest night, or in the dank halls of Darkness. This soft focus, coupled with some limited black levels, contributes to generally poor shadow detail, notable early on in chapter one, and again in chapter nine. In the daytime, Scott seems to try to cram so much ‘stuff’ into the frame that the ‘fantasy look’ can make the background looks like a multi-colored mess. The film’s immense palette is uniformly well rendered when not hampered by poor black depth or stylistic color ringing (as in the princess’s dress having a bit of a halo). The director’s cut is pleasantly free of compression artifacts, and print damage seems to have been kept to a minimum. I was impressed with the fact that unlike The Last of the Mohicans DC, the newly added footage seems blended perfectly with the old.
  
  Very few Legend fans will likely watch the original version as it is, because the European cut is what they’ve been asking for. Those that do are getting the video shaft (and wait until you hear about the audio options). The original theatrical version, and noticed that the picture just isn’t as ‘sharp.’ The best way I could describe it is that it just looks “old,” and I don’t mean “timeless.” I mean it looks tired; the colors seem more washed out, the picture has a bit of a grain layer to certain spots…it’s just a bit of an improvement over the VHS versions. On the digital authoring side, it’s got more than a few compression artifacts (mainly black flecks), which may be a result of putting all of the extras on this disc. Neither version had any sort of detectable edge enhancement.
  
  Main menus on both discs are animated, and this score represents an average of the two versions separate video ratings.
  
  Audio:
  
  Universal offers a number of audio-related incentives to the viewer who’d rather watch the longer director’s cut contained on disc one. First, it’s the only version that restores Jerry Goldsmith’s original score for the film. Fans of this movie have been clamoring for this score for quite some time now, and honestly, I’m not exactly sure why. It’s not as if this is a musical masterpiece, and it’s far from “glorious,” as Scott’s liner notes describe it. Goldsmith has done some of my favorite scores (most notably Rudy), but the way this score has been referred to, you’d think someone uncovered Beethoven’s Tenth. Perhaps the hype made out of its restoration put my expectations at an unreasonable level, though. It struck me as overblown in most spots, melodramatic and aurally grating. Still, it is better than the thematically incongruous electroni-crap Tangerine Dream version, which is preserved on disc two of this set. The other audio incentive: disc two contains a pair of six-channel mixes, one a Dolby Digital 5.1, the other an excellent DTS track.
  
  Afforded the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison of the two tracks, once again DTS comes out the clear winner. The subtler noises that the track uses in the rear channels to create the forest environment, ambient sounds like birds chirping or voice echoing are far more distinct and pronounced. Soundpans, underused though they may be, such as the fairy buzzing around Jack, or the spread of ominous thunder, are seamlessly executed, an accomplishment because of the source material. Overall localization work is outstanding, particularly when it comes to the voice of Darkness ubiquitous and enveloping whenever present. It’s through Darkness that the subwoofer finds most of its activity, backing up his voice and his footsteps. The standard 5.1 track isn’t bad per se (in fact it would be a 3.75 - 4.0 on its own), but the sounds have (as usual) less presence, less distinction, and the soundpans are just a tad choppy. Either way, both tracks are vastly superior to the 2.0 track on disc two. I doubt many fans will be watching disc two anyway, so that’s somewhat immaterial. The only true shortcoming of the two mixes is that they don’t really push the limits of sonic imagery, a product of sound engineering work done prior to the advent of six-channel home theater capability.
  
  For the masochist in all of us, disc two features the isolated Tangerine Dream score. The real quandary: is this movie better without the insipid dialogue, if one has to endure the awful score instead? Universal has also included English closed captions and French subtitles.
  
  Extras:
  
  When it comes to studios “subdividing” their catalogues into Special Editions, Limited Editions, Collector’s Editions or Super Special Limited Collector’s Director’s Cut Editions, Universal’s “Ultimate Edition” line has been perhaps more frustrating than most. The extras material has almost always been limited to extended promotional stuff for pending sequels, as was the case with American Pie UE or The Mummy UE. If there’s one overwhelming positive thing to say about the Ultimate Edition of Legend, it’s this: the bonus material is easily the best of that particular small bunch. I know, I know…bold words, putting this ahead of such vaunted fan favorites like Meet Joe Black UE, Notting Hill: UE and Patch Adams: UE, but I’m all about making bold statements. Legend is absolutely bursting out of its fancy clear plastic case. (Aside: I’m going to need reassurance that someone at Universal lost their job over the green light given to Patch Adams UE. Please tell me this person no longer has any decision making power over what forms of entertainment go to market.)
  
  Disc one, the digitally restored, DTS-sporting longer version, has but a single supplement, but it’s an important one: a full length director’s commentary, by none other than Ridley Scott. Scott, a director on whom I am overwhelmingly ambivalent (if that’s possible), seems less aloof on this track as I have always imagined him. He contributes a lot of behind-the-scenes stories, and explains at times what is actually going on in front of us. Most of the time, this narration becomes annoying, but on this particular title, I found it interesting mainly due to the fact that so much of the movie is so sort of ‘scattered.’ Fans of the film will be extremely happy to hear Ridley’s comments, and people (like myself) who don’t quite get the appeal of this movie will enjoy his anecdotes and remembrances.
  
  On disc two, the extras are the real star. First and foremost is a brand new, fifty-two minute retrospective documentary, featuring everyone involved in the film except Tom Cruise. Fans of the film will absolutely revel in the sheer volume of stories and behind-the-scenes details that this documentary reveals, from sources ranging from Scott to Mia Sara to Tim Curry to Billy Barty. As one might expect, some of the folks involved have a tendency to overstate the accomplishment of Legend. Special effects supervisor Rob Bottin (yes, I’m naming names!) calls this script “one of the most amazing scripts ever written” and “at least as good as Lord of the Rings.” That’s why he is the special effects supervisor and not “The script supervisor.” Everything from the evolution of the script (an anecdote that really explains a lot about how this movie feels so frail from a plot standpoint) to the hasty re-cut and re-scoring this movie received after disastrous test screenings has been included in some from or another. The most interesting details are the ones about how Scott and co. burnt down the 007 Stage in England. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise; sounded to me like they constructed the most flammable set in the history of movies. Trees made entirely of styrofoam, covered in a fine mist of shredded paper, don’t exactly mix well with a propane powered bonfire.
  
  The next section contains a pair of lost scenes. Shouldn’t the be called “newly discovered sequences,” as they’ve obviously been found and only one of them can actually count as a ‘scene?’ That one, the “Four Goblin Alternate Opening,” apparently found in a vault on a videotape somewhere, is entirely unproduced, devoid of music or effects. This alternate opening, which depicts Darkness as a far less charismatic “phantom,” runs about ten minutes and takes far too long to set the premise. The second sequence, “Faerie Dance,” is limited to a mix of storyboards and accompanying audio (as all original footage was lost). It’s an absolute blessing that this footage was lost, because as much as I disliked the movie, this particularly goofy sounding sequence would have cost it another half point. Here, in the extras package, it actually counts as a positive.
  
  From here, things become a little more pedestrian. The new Ultimate Edition of Legend also contains an extensive selection of storyboards, for three separate sequences (one of which was not filmed). The two that remain in the film are “Lili and the Unicorns” (seventy-five drawings running about thirteen minutes on its own) and “The Downfall of Darkness” (sixty drawings running ten minutes). Both of these sequences could really have done with some background music, or a side-by-side comparison, seeing as they both remained in the movie in some capacity. Watching silent pencil drawings in a slideshow gets a little dry in a hurry. The third sequence, “Jack’s Challenge,” was never filmed because it was considered to be cost prohibitive, features a two headed giant with a toothache. This sequence runs VERY long at a whopping one hundred and sixty one drawings.
  
  Getting away from the navigation-heavy extras for a few minutes, we’re treated to a pair of trailers, both running ninety seconds, with the only ostensible difference being one is labeled “domestic” and one “international.” Speaking of advertising material, there are also four television commercials, all of the thirty second variety. Universal has also assembled three different photo galleries for this two disc set. There’s a gallery of “publicity” (42 pictures), an “Images of Legend” section (72 pictures), and a particularly boring section of “continuity polaroids” (73 shots).
  
  Perhaps the worst extra yet to grace one of Universal’s “Ultimate Editions” is the god-awful Bryan Ferry Music video “Is Your Love Strong Enough.” Songs don’t get much more “Eighties Rock Ballad Cheesy” than this one. It lasts an eternal five minutes, and made me wish a thunderstorm would put out my power. In the text-based sections of bonus material (everyone’s favorite), the viewer can read ten pages of Production notes and a section of Cast and crew biographies totaling eighteen pages. That’s it, that’s your ultimate edition of Legend. Sheer volume is impressive, but for my taste, it contains far too many ‘click through’ sections to really go crazy over.
  
  Overall:
  
  Maybe it’s true what they say, maybe I just don’t “get” this movie. I’m not a twenty-sided-dice sort of guy, I have never had a single hit point in my life, never cast a spell, and I didn’t have a nickname like “Lord Goofhammer” (or whatever the guy in the next dorm at college called himself). Still, it does have a devoted following, and that following is getting a truly great deal when it comes to this DVD. At a reasonable price of under $20 through many e-tailers, the Ultimate Edition of Legend is replete with extra material, including the long-awaited fully restored director’s cut with Jerry Goldsmith score, a well-done DTS mix, and the best looking picture that we’ll find on this film. If you’re already sure you like the movie itself, this is an easy purchase. The rest of us will only be thankful that Lord of the Rings avoided being the next Legend, and we’re better off waiting until that hits our beloved format.
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://www.dvdmoviecentral.com/ReviewsText/legend.htm.
  
  "LEGEND
  Ultimate Edition
  
  Review by Gordon Justesen
  
  Stars: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennet, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert
  Director: Ridley Scott
  Audio: Dolby Surround (Theatrical), Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby Surround (Director’s Cut)
  Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
  Studio: Universal
  Features: See Review
  Length: 90 Minutes (Theatrical), 114 Minutes (Director’s Cut)
  Release Date: May 21, 2002
  
  “What is light without dark?”
  
  Film *** (Both Versions)
  
  Up until the recent Lord of the Rings, it seemed as if the fantasy movie genre had been lost for good, that is if you forget to include the disastrous Dungeons and Dragons a couple of years back. It was during the mid 80s that Hollywood made and endless array of adventure movies such as Krull, Willow, and The Princess Bride. Films of this type were set in either medieval times or generic mythical underworlds. Ridley Scott’s Legend is definitely a movie that takes place in the latter. This is a pure guilty pleasure as far as I can see, filled left and right with endless fantasy jargon about goblins and unicorns and ultimate darkness. It sounds as if I’m panning the film in that regard, but it’s directorScott’s sharp and atmospheric look of the film that saves it from being anything of a mess.
  
  The movie tells of a long, long time ago, when the earth was ruled by no less than that of the unicorns and the endless battle between light and darkness. Earth itself is a sylvan place, filled with flowers and little glades and grassy clearings - but also with dread swamps and moldy fens. Young lovers can kiss for an afternoon in a bath of sunshine, but fearsome storms come up suddenly and lash the land with their fury. A race of evil little druids lives in the woods, and they spread mischief wherever they venture. Their favorite pastime is frightening the unicorns.  
  In caverns far beneath the earth, a brutal prince named simply Darkness (Tim Curry) plots to take over the universe by way of blotting the sun and rule forever with the entire world engulfed in absolute gloom. Enter Princess Lili (Mia Sara), the heiress to the throne who has more in her heart for the land and the creatures than life in the kingdom. The man of her dreams is the heroic Jack (Tom Cruise), a defender of the earth’s creatures who vows to put an end to the powers of darkness and return the world back to normal. Unexpectedly, however, Lili is suddenly lured into a supernatural underworld controlled by Darkness, and is trapped in the prince’s lairs, and Jack vows to rescue her.
  
  For Tom Cruise, this was the last film he did before his breakout picture Top Gun, which coincidentally was directed by Ridley’s brother, Tony Scott. Watching the film, you simply can’t believe that you’re watching one of today’s biggest movie stars performing at such a young age. True to say that this will never go down as one of Cruise’s strongest performances, but with a film of this scale and scope, a tremendous acting job isn’t much required from him, or anyone for that matter. It’s Tim Curry, however, who steals the show with his memorable performance as Darkness. Curry, who’s long been known for his countless villainous portrayals is completely unrecognizable thanks to make up artist Rob Bottin’s jaw dropping work. I think when looking at the character of Darkness how painful and excruciating it must have been for Curry to sit in the chair and have make up applied on, because it certainly looks as if it took long to get it all on. In the history of make up effects, Legend is nothing short of a breakthrough.
  
  This is simply a well put together adventure, filled with endless beauty and atmosphere. Credit must go in Ridley Scott’s direction, because he is simply a master at bringing larger than life canvases to the screen. It’s not at the level of his other films Alien and Blade Runner, but it’s satisfactory enough.
  
  Video:
  Director’s Cut ****
  Theatrical ***
  
  I’m sure that many fans of this film are anticipating this disc simply because, as far as I can tell, it will finally be available in widescreen. This 2 Disc Ultimate Edition offers both the original 90 minute cut of the film, as well as the new director’s cut, with 24 minutes of restored footage seen internationally, but not in the states. Of the two versions, it’s the director’s cut version that fares much better in comparison in terms of video quality. This release was delayed numerous times, but it does look as though Universal took their time in ensuring that fans of the movie would get their money’s worth in terms of picture perfect quality. The director’s cut is virtually flawless, with no image flaws whatsoever. The theatrical version, while a mostly strong presentation, does encounter a few instances of grain and softness about midway through the movie.
  
  Audio:
  Director’s Cut ****
  Theatrical **1/2
  
  Again, with the new Director’s Cut version of the movie, Universal took their time in restoring this 1985 adventure with a furious sound that would rival that of a transfer of a fairly recent movie. Fired up with a 5.1 audio mix, the sound is consistently alive and all around with a perfected natural sense of the surroundings of the film. The director’s cut contains a new never before heard musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, whose score was replaced in the theatrical version by the synthesized sounds of Tangerine Dream. While the Director’s Cut soars in this department, the theatrical version suffers in comparison based solely on the fact that only a 2.0 channel mix is offered, while the Director’s Cut contains both a 5.1 Digital mix and a DTS 5.1 channel as well.
  
  Features ****
  
  Universal hasn’t resorted to an Ultimate Edition double disc in quite some time, and Legend certainly deserves title, because it’s one of the most superbly loaded discs the studio has ever put out. In addition to including the extended director’s cut, which is an extra bonus for sure, the 2 disc set includes a feature length commentary by Ridley Scott, who continues his knack for informative commentary following Gladiator and Hannibal.
  
  Disc 2 contains much more goodies, including a lengthy documentary titled “Creating a Myth”, which includes interviews with cast and crew members who reflect on the making of the film. Those expecting an interview with Mr. Cruise will sorely be deprived, as he is nowhere to be seen in this area. Also included is an isolated score by Tangerine Dream, a gallery of deleted scenes, Bryan Ferry’s music video for the song “Is Your Love Strong Enough?”, photo galleries, 2 theatrical trailers, 4 TV spots, and a DVD-Rom feature.
  
  Summary:
  
  Legend may forever be something of an acquired taste, but if you’re an admirer of Ridley Scott’s work, this one very much deserves a look at. It’s one of the more extravagant looking films I’ve had the pleasure of seeing lately."
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://dvd.ign.com/articles/358/358327p1.html.
  
  "Legend: Ultimate Edition
  Ridley Scott's fantasy epic finally arrives on a packed two-disc set. Our multi-page review.
  May 01, 2002 - Here's a DVD with a bit of history. Originally due for release quite a while ago, Ridley Scott's Legend has been a mythical DVD on the top of many DVD collector's list. Not only because a very good version of the movie doesn't exist right now, but also because this DVD edition promised the original cut of the film that includes a Jerry Goldsmith score.
  
  This two-disc set contains the Director's Cut on the first disc complete with a scene-specific audio commentary by Ridley Scott and Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks, while disc two is fully packed with the theatrical cut of the film, an isolated score track, featurettes, and much more.
  
  The Movie
  
  Legend is basically a children's storybook brought to life on the big screen, with a huge budget and Ridley Scott behind the camera. The Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry who is barely recognizable under layers of makeup) captures a pure princess (Mia Sara), and a forest dweller (Tom Cruise) must embark on a quest to save her.
  
  Even after all of these years, Legend still is visually impressive. The movie was made well before the advent of CGI effects, and using the huge James Bond soundstages in the UK for the elaborate sets, the movie really looks like a storybook painting brought to life.
  
  The forest scenes are full of texture with small particles floating around in every shot, then snow later. The early scenes in the forest are some of the most impressive, and all of it was shot live on a huge soundstage. Later in the film it gets a bit darker and the lighting is excellent as well with the only source of light being the hot orange light of fire.
  
  In the original theatrical cut, there were some abrupt edits that caused some scenes to not make much sense and made some of the transitions a little jarring. This new director's cut fixes all of that with about twenty-four minutes of footage added in.
   
  While there are bits and pieces of new scenes added (such as more footage with the Unicorns), the majority of the changes flesh out the movie. They fix those abrupt edits in the original cut; make the film flow better, and overall make this Director's Cut the definitive edition of the film. It's like comparing an unabridged novel to an abridged one. You still get the same story in both cases, but one is just a little fuller.
  
  There really shouldn't be any large fan separation on which version is better. This isn't like the Blade Runner situation as the original theatrical cut had many problems that almost everyone agreed on that are now fixed in the director's cut.
   
  Legend has a very simple story, but that's probably part of it's charm. But, like another childhood favorite of many (Willow), Legend is an either love it or hate it film. Myself, despite the simple story, I enjoy the movie if only as a visually stunning piece of film back before CGI invaded movies, and this director's cut is even better.
  
  8 out of 10
  
  The Video
  
  Both versions of the film feature 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, and in the case of the Director's Cut, the film has never looked better. Ever.
   
  Honestly, the clarity of the transfer and the richness of the colors make some scenes (especially close-ups) look as if they were filmed just a few months ago as opposed to seventeen years ago. There's hardly any edge enhancement in the picture, and compression artifacts are completely absent.
  
  The theatrical cut, while appearing better than ever on the DVD, doesn't feature the same level of clarity and color balance that the Director's Cut does. But since you won't really be watching it much it doesn't matter too much. At least it's anamorphic.
  
  8 out of 10
  
  The Audio
  
  Most of the time when an old mono or stereo soundtrack is remixed to Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS it sounds a bit artificial. Not so here.
   
  The Director's Cut features both Dolby and DTS 5.1 mixes, and while there isn't a huge difference between the two tracks, they both feature surprisingly good use of the surrounds and LFE with no distortion or "artificial sounding" effects added in.
   
  On the other hand, the Theatrical Cut simply features a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, so if you decide to watch that version it would be ProLogic time.
  
  8 out of 10
  
  The Extras
  
  Disc One of the set hold the Director's Cut as well as a feature-length commentary track by Ridley Scott. Now, you can listen to this track normally, or you can jump to a specific chapter in the commentary via it's own scene selection menus.
  
  I really like Ridley Scott commentaries. He tends to ramble a bit here and there while recounting conversations he had in the past, but it draws you into the track where he also gets pretty technical explaining how certain shots were done as well as camera techniques that were used to create some of live effects.
  
  He also talks a lot about the cast, including the boy who played the main elf in the movie who had a German accent, but a studio exec demanded it changed because he said the movie couldn't have a "Nazi elf". He then comments on how he wishes that that original dialog track were still around just to see how it would compare to the existing one.
  
  The score issue is also addressed in a couple parts of the commentary with Ridley mentioning how the Jerry Goldsmith score was closer to what he wanted to the film and how it should have stayed in the US release of the movie.
  
  Moving on to disc two, we find a horde of great extras in addition to the film's US Theatrical Cut that also includes an isolated Tangerine Dream score.
  
  "Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend" is an newly produced featurette that runs for nearly an hour and features interviews with nearly everyone involved with the movie with the exception of Tom Cruise. The featurette covers everything related to the production and includes some very, very, rare behind the scenes footage and photos sprinkled throughout the special. It's excellent.
  
  "Lost Scenes" includes two: an alternate opening that was actually completed as well as the lost Fairy Dance sequence. The latter is shown via the original audio track, still photos, and storyboards. It was one sequence that fans of the movie always heard about it, and although the video doesn't exist, at least it's on the disc in some form.
   
  The Storyboards section contains artwork for three sequences: "Lily and the Unicorns", "Jack's Challenge", and "Downfall of Darkness". You then get both the US and International Theatrical trailers shown full screen, four TV spots, three photo galleries (Publicity Photographs, Images of Legend, and Continuity Polaroids), the Brain Ferry "Is Your Love Strong Enough" music video, and a DVD ROM script-to-screen.
  
  As the packaging claims, this really is the "Ultimate" edition of Legend. Both cuts of the film, both lost scenes, commentary, and an excellent documentary. Highly recommended.
  
  10 out of 10
  -- Jeremy Conrad
  
  The Movie
  
  The Director's Cut fleshes out the original film, filling in the gaps where the editing was jarring. It's the definitive version of the movie. 8
  
  The Video
  While the Theatrical Cut's video isn't anything to be impressed with, the Director's Cut transfer is excellent. 8
  
  The Audio
  Dolby Digital and DTS mixes on the Director's Cut are very good. Theatrical Cut is stuck with Dolby 2.0 8
  
  The Extras
  An excellent commentary, and equally excellent documentary, lost scenes, storyboards, the script, and more.10
  
  Overall Score (not an average) 8"
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://www.jackasscritics.com/movie.php?movie_key=50
  
  DVD Cover for the Ultimate Edition of Legend
  Legend (1985)
  
  IMDB Link: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0089469
  DVD Release: 2002
  DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  DVD Extras: Loads of extras for the avid collector.
  DVD IMDB Link: http://us.imdb.com/DVD?0089469
  
  Review
  
  Story Summary
  
  Legend is a fantastic story of good vs. evil. Jack (Tom Cruise) must save mankind from the purest of evil, Darkness (Tim Curry). Darkness has a master plan to plunge the world into a dark and frozen wasteland for all eternity. Light is his destroyer and goodness is the weapon that keeps him at bay. But Darkness and his Goblin kin use the pure of heart to bid their evil doings. Jack and his lovely Princess Lily (Mia Sara) unknowingly deliver the last two Unicorns into the hands of a Goblin band waiting for a chance to steal the Alicorns (a Unicorn's horn) and use their power for their masters dark biddings. But all is not lost, one of the Unicorns escapes the Goblins poisoned darts and remains alive to keeping the world in check. Half in the light of day and half in the darkness of night, nature is locked in a frozen state of despair and Jack is the only hope of saving the Unicorn's and conquering Darkness. Along the way he is aided by the folk of the forest, the Elves and ever elusive Fairies. As the story progresses we see Jack, a young boy forced into the trials of the real world where he must make decisions that carry deadly consequences which transform him into a man fighting for not only his own life but the life of the woman he loves and of course the lives of all mankind. Lily is also forced to deal with her exposure to this new unknown world in her own ways. She's a fancy young princess who enjoys the spoils of wealth only to be wooed by Darkness with temptation and wicked desires. Her education in these matters are both seductive and deadly. Thus fully drawing her into the web of darkness in body and soul... How does the story end you ask? Watch the movie and find out!
  
  DVD features
  
  The features of this two disk set are what Legend fan's have been dreaming about for years. Until now this movie has only been available on VHS. And as we all know, VHS is a waste of time and effort for the true movie goer (I just had to say that). Until now, what we have seen is a bastardized version of what was and still is an excellent cult classic. In fact, the following of this film is so great, it has been the number one requested movie from Universal Pictures. Yep, that's what I said, the number one most requested film they've produced. Anyway, the new DVD has the original release of the movie never seen here in the United States. It is the uncut European version with the original Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack. The soundtrack by the way is excellent. What was released here in the U.S. was a hacked up edited version with a new soundtrack created by Tangerine Dream. While the Tangerine Dream soundtrack was ok and upbeat, the Goldsmith music was fantastic and it brought a surreal feeling of doom and darkness to the story. The DVD set also has the original U.S. release on the other disk if you must see that one too. There are also several other goodies on the discs that are a collectors treasure chest.
  
  Analysis
  
  While this film was shot in the mid 80's when the Star Wars craze was still buzzing strong and everything was seen as futuristic and visually amazing, Legend took a hard right turn to make a clean break from the money making Science Fiction mindset. It plunged us into a world of pure fantasy film making as visually stunning as any new special effects filled sci-fi thriller. The world we saw on the screen was anything but bright and clean (even in space). It was just the opposite, it was dark and dirty. It was almost real but at the same time totally unreal. The entire movie was shot on a sound stage in the UK, twice. Once for normal shooting then partially again later due to a fire that wiped out the entire building.
  
  The story is great in the way that we see how the innocence of youth gives way to the reality of the world around us. It's a slap in the face for both leading characters and in truth the movie didn't have one lead. Both Cruise and Sara balanced their parts equally with Curry tipping the scales one way then another... I think the youth of the actors lent itself very well to the story line too. In a short time (the length of the movie) we saw both main characters "grow up". The acting was pretty good on the part of Cruise and Sara while Curry did an excellent job as Darkness. He almost drew you into his servitude with just his presence in a given scene. The make-up was second to none considering the era the film was made and the visual impact was just as incredible. It won a Best Cinematography Award and was nominated for several others including an Oscar. I'm also a fan of Ridley Scott's work so it's no surprise that this movie turned out so good.
  
  All considered, this being a fantasy film and totally unrealistic, it was just that. So unreal that it just holds your attention until the very end.
  
  Final Thoughts
  If you've seen this movie on tape or at the theatre in the past and thought it was worth the time to watch it, it's well worth your time to see it again in it's uncut presentation. Or if you've never seen it before, see it in it's un-cut format. You'll love it if you're a fantasy film lover. It's a flat out all around good entertaining movie.
  
  Editors Note: If your thirst for Legend isn't quenched yet, visit the excellent Legend FAQ
  Rating: 10

May 26th, 2002

• Once again, thanks to Matthew Wright for letting me know about the following five LEGEND DVD Reviews.
  
  The following review can be found at http://www.digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=3480.
  
  Legend: Ultimate Edition (1985)
  "As long as they roam the Earth, nothing can harm the pure of heart." - Jack (Tom Cruise)
  Review By: Rich Rosell  
  
  Stars: Tom Cruise, Tim Curry, Mia Sara
  Other Stars: Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo
  Director: Ridley Scott
  Manufacturer: Ritek
  MPAA Rating: PG for (mild violence)
  Run Time: 01h:53m:18s
  Release Date: May 21, 2002
  Genre: fantasy
  
  DVD Review
  
  Throngs of fantasy fans (myself among them) have been eagerly counting the days for this highly-touted, 2-disc release of Ridley Scott's lush 1985 epic, Legend. Scott (Alien, Bladerunner, Hannibal, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) is certainly an accomplished filmmaker, and one who knows his way around dark and fantastic storylines. But his sole foray into the world of sword and sorcery came to be remembered more for its harshly edited U.S. release, and its out-of-place synth score (from Tangerine Dream) than anything else. While it is true that the visual scope of Legend is magnificent, and that it delivers one of filmdom's most striking villains, the problem that the faithful fanbase has encounter over time is that word leaked out that what we had been seeing in theaters in the States—where it flopped—was not the only version, and that a far different experience, closer to what director Scott had originally imagined, existed. In 1985, filmgoers in Europe were treated to an expanded version of Scott's vision, running nearly thirty more minutes and, most of all, it included a Jerry Goldsmith orchestral score in place of the bubbly electronics. Of course, this was pre-Internet, so much of the buzz came in slow trickles, popping up here and there in grubby film magazines, especially after it was eventually released on VHS (see, it was a looong time ago).
  
  We all know that memories have a way of sometimes tweaking the past, making things seem better than they really were. So the question is, now that Universal has dished out this beautifully-packaged "ultimate edition" that features the infamous European director's cut (as well as the original U.S. version), does Legend hold up? Was the hubbub about the longer version really true? I hadn't seen Legend in quite a few years (my VHS copy long since gone), so I was as curious as anyone.
  
  Much of the criticism of the film was that it was all eye candy, with no real narrative substance; that's not a completely incorrect statement. Scott had created a remarkable visual experience, but for many that was what made the film so memorable. The good news is that when you can compare the two releases, it seems as if the expanded version is an entirely new film (a much better one at that) due, I believe, in no small part to the inclusion of Goldsmith's score.
  But it's not just the score that is thematically different; I urge you to compare the drastically different opening sequences, and how the U.S. release featured a lengthy text scroll and full shots of the villain Darkness, while the director's cut opts for a more subtle approach, ditching the text scroll, featuring only the clawed hand of Darkness. This version of the opening alone changes the whole tone of the film, and signifies the inherent difference between the two releases.
  As with all good fantasy, the film is set in an indeterminable time period, when magic, faeries and sprites filled the forests, and all-consuming evil could be behind the next tree. The plot itself is remarkably spartan, and concerns the lovely Princess Lily (Mia Sara) and her flowery prose-filled relationship with the mysterious forest dweller Jack (a post-Risky Business Tom Cruise). Unknown to them, the vile lord Darkness (Tim Curry buried beneath a mountain of latex) has demanded the execution of a sacred unicorn, which brings about complete and permanent ice-covered darkness across the land so that he can rule.
  
  True to the genre, Legend becomes a quest and redemption film, as both Jack and Lily embark on separate adventures to ultimately undo what has been done, each blaming themselves for what has occurred. Jack is aided by an odd quartet, including the elvish Gump (David Bennent), dwarves Brown Tom (Cork Hubbert) and Screwball (Billy Barty), and the Tinkerbell-esque Oona (Annabelle Lanyon). Lily has to go it alone, and her involvement largely mirrors Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, as she finds herself deep within the lair of Darkness, enveloped in a strange mixture of sexual tension and danger.
  
  It's not the somewhat traditional fantasy plot that makes this such an enjoyable film. It is the vision that Scott has managed to bring to the screen that makes it really something to experience. Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings has set the new standard for serious and grim fantasy, but Legend cannot be far behind. It is a soft-focus world of deep, dark forests, where the air is constantly filled with rose petals and cottonwood seeds, and every locale looks like a Maxfield Parrish painting on acid. I can't remember when I've seen rendered as beautiful a depiction of a fantasy environment, especially one created in the pre-CG universe of 1985; the elaborate forest set is still as visually stunning today as it was then.
  
  A good fantasy is populated with eccentric and strange creatures, and this is one of the only areas of the film where it reads slightly dated. Made before CG effects, Rob Bottin's makeup effects for Tim Curry's devil incarnate, Darkness, are incredible (with his massive curved horns and cloven hooves), and the evil goblin Blix and dwarves Brown Tom and Screwball look like heavily costumed actors under latex appliances. Even the elven ears of Gump sometimes appeared glaringly artificial. If a film like this were to be made today, these characters would likely be computer-generated, but Scott was forced to rely strictly on in-camera shots, and the result is still, for the most part, a success.
  
  The director's cut is the preferred viewing choice here, and the roughly thirty extra minutes allow Scott to give his already leisurely-paced tale more time to meander along its way. This 2-disc set is also a great example of how a proper score can breath new life into a film, and more importantly, how the wrong score and studio-forced editing can be a tragic mistake.
  
  Rating for Style: A+
  Rating for Substance: B+
  
  Image Transfer
  
  Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 - Widescreen
  Original Aspect Ratio yes
  Anamorphic yes
  
  Image Transfer Review: Universal has issued Legend with sharp, pristine 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers for each version of the film. This was not intended to be a bright tapestry, but rather a soft palette of muted colors, and that effect is captured perfectly. The forest scenes are where this transfer excels, and they still stand as some of the most visually lush sequences in the film. Some of the interiors in Darkness' lair have inconsistent black levels, resulting in some muddy shadowing. A bit of grain, and some minor compression issues are evident, but not excessive. Beautiful.
  Image Transfer Grade: A-
   
  Audio Transfer
  
  Audio Transfer Review: The director's cut features DTS, 5.1, and 2.0 surround, while the U.S. release gets a solitary 2.0 mix; that alone should tell you which version is the anchor of this 2-disc set. Even with the DTS and 5.1 tracks, the surround mix is never too aggressive, so if you're looking for a solid reference disc, this ain't it. Dialogue is mixed well though, and anchored solidly in the center, ringed by sound effects and Goldsmith's generally superb score. The 2.0 track on the U.S. release sounds downright tinny when compared to the fullness of the DTS and 5.1 options on the director's cut.
  
  Over analysis of an audio mix is often a heated source of debate among DVD buffs, but this is an impressive sounding disc (disc one, that is), considering the age of the film.
  Audio Transfer Grade: B+
   
  Disc Extras
  
  Animated menu with music
  Scene Access with 18 cues and remote access
  Subtitles/Captions in English, Spanish, French with remote access
  Cast and Crew Biographies
  2 Original Trailer(s)
  4 TV Spots/Teasers
  2 Deleted Scenes
  Screenplay
  Production Notes
  Isolated Music Score
  1 Documentaries
  Storyboard
  1 Feature commentary by Ridley Scott
  Weblink/DVD-ROM MaterialPackaging: Unknown
  Picture Disc
  2 Discs
  2-Sided disc(s)
  Layers: dual
  
  Extra Extras:
  1. Bryan Ferry music video
  2. Photo galleries
  
  Extras Review: This 2-disc set is packaged in a clear tri-fold Amaray case that smudges kind of easily, and doesn't have a slot for the included foldout booklet. The extras are plentiful, though it's the commentary and the brand new, fifty-minute feature that make this DVD worthwhile.
  
  Disc One:
  Commentary
  In addition to the director's cut of Legend, the only extra on the first disc is another honest and revealing full-length scene-specific Ridley Scott commentary. A well-spoken Scott waxes nostalgic on the project, and though the first twenty minutes or so replicate much of the info found on disc two's documentary, it is still loaded with not only detailed production and casting insights (the benefits on CG vs. non-CG), but with a level of deeper discussion on some of the influences and origins for the screenplay. There is much discussion on the creation of the elaborate forest set, as well as the large-scale fire that occurred shortly before filming ended. Some of the factoids are cool movie nerd fodder, such as that Jack's shiny chain mail was made out of beaten beer bottle tops or that the actor who played Gump (David Bennent) spoke with such a heavy German accent that it was feared he would sound too much like a Nazi (he was later overdubbed by Alice Playten, who portrayed Blix). It's clear by listening to this track that Scott put a lot into this film, and that its subsequent theatrical failure was more than a bit startling to him.
  
  Disc Two:
  U.S. Theatrical Version (01h:29m:15s)
  Up until now, this was the only version available, including the infamous Tangerine Dream score, which now seems horribly dated. This is the version that's been in my memory banks since 1985, but now the juxtaposition of the synth score with the fantasy elements looks like a poorly conceived experiment. With a ninety-minute runtime designed for short attention spans, the U.S. release still retains the powerful visuals, despite a clunky opening sequence, but when compared to the more expansive director's cut, now seems choppy and uneven. While it is also presented in 2.35:1, it is only packaged with a 2.0 surround mix, and it's clear that it is the redheaded stepchild of the two versions, relegated to an already crowded supplemental disc. The image transfer is clean, but somehow a bit less vibrant than the director's cut.
  
  Creating a Myth: The Memories of Legend (50m:51s)
  This feature, created specifically for this DVD release, gathers up comments and recollections from just about every principle member of the production crew and cast (except for Tom Cruise, of course). The comments and anecdotes cover the gamut from story creation through production and makeup design, and the impact of the massive studio fire at the James Bond stage where Legend was filmed. Mia Sara (still adorably radiant, by the way) fesses up to having had a major crush on Ridley Scott, and there is some surprisingly good comedic moments when makeup effects wiz Rob Bottin's admits which rock and roll star was the influence for the character of Blix. On the more serious side, Ridley Scott openly confesses that the Tangerine Dream score "was the wrong thing to do". Excellent stuff, and extremely enjoyable.
  
  Isolated Music Score
  The loved-or-hated Tangerine Dream score, which includes some alternate cues not used in the final film, is available in an isolated form, though sadly only in 2.0 surround. Not their strongest film score by far (I prefer Miracle Mile), and certainly not completely representative of their overall work. I only wish the Jerry Goldsmith score on the director's cut had been given the same treatment.
  
  Lost Scenes
  A pair of "lost" scenes are collected here, and unfortunately neither is exceptionally memorable, but for Legend-aholics they will be appreciated:
  
  Alternate Opening: Four Goblins (10m:35s)
  This much ballyhooed lost footage was discovered in March 2001, and features a different opening sequence than was used in either the U.S. or director's cuts, in which Blix, Pox, and Blunder are joined by a fourth goblin, Tic. The rough (emphasis on "rough") print is non-anamorphic (though it is in 2.35:1), and it is in really bad shape. The scene runs far too long, and is more of a curiosity than anything else.
  
  The Faerie Dance (02m:45s) Editor Terry Rawlings preserved the audio portion of a scene featuring a wild dance done by Gump, Brown Tom, Screwball and Oona, when they first encounter Jack after the world has become ice-covered. The original footage has long since been destroyed, but here it is somewhat recreated via storyboards and production stills.
  
  Storyboards
  If you like storyboards, you're in luck. Three scenes are displayed in rather detailed storyboard format, and they are:
  Lily and the Unicorn
  Jack's Challenge
  Downfall of Darkness
  
  Trailers
  There are two theatrical trailers (U.S. and international), and both are presented in grainy full frame. The pair are virtually identical, and completely fail to capture any of the film's beauty.
  
  TV Spots
  Four television spots reinforce how poorly this film was marketed. No wonder it flopped theatrically.
  
  Photo Galleries
  There are three automated photo galleries of color and black & white images, each covering a distinct, self-explanatory area:
  Publicity Photographs (02m:45s)
  Images of Legend (04m:49s)
  Continuity Polaroids (04m:49s)
  The continuity group is easily the most interesting and unusual of the batch.
  
  Bryan Ferry's Is Your Love Strong Enough? Music Video
  One of rock's most debonair hipsters croons his way through a weak Avalon-ish song used over the credits of the U.S. release. Oddly enough, the over-produced music video features a lot footage from Legend's climax, which seems to be just another nail in the shoddy marketing coffin from back in 1985.
  The rest of the extras include some fairly copious production notes, subtitles (English, French, Spanish), bios and a DVD-ROM feature that allows access to script-to-screen comparisons.
  Extras Grade: A
   
  Final Comments
  Ridley Scott's fantasy epic finally comes to DVD as it was meant to be seen, and I can honestly say it was well worth the wait. This is not a razzle-dazzle action film, but instead it is a fairly slow-moving visual treat, and that fact may be a bit unsettling for some of today's quick-edit weaned viewers. Universal has kindly offered both versions of the film here, as well as an insightful director's commentary and a fine mix of other extras, including a new fifty-minute "making of" piece.
  Highly recommended.
  

• The following review can be found at http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s489legend.html.
  
  Savant Review: Legend Ultimate Edition
  
  Legend
  Universal
  1985 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic 16:9 / 114/90 min. / Ultimate Edition
  Starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Robert Picardo
  Cinematography Alex Thomson
  Production Design Leslie Dilley, Assheton Gorton
  Makeup and Special Effects Rob Bottin, Nick Allder
  Film Editor Terry Rawlings
  Original Music Jerry Goldsmith, Tangerine Dream
  Written by William Hjortsberg
  Produced by Tim Hampton and Arnon Milchan
  Directed by Ridley Scott
  
  Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
  
  A disconcerting flop on its first release, Legend is known more for being split into two versions, than for any particular success. It was cut by three reels in America and hastily rescored, and a lot of US fans have patiently waited to see the original version. Good, bad or indifferent, Ridley Scott's fairytale movie has been produced to perfection on this Ultimate Edition DVD - which includes both an Unreleased Director's version and the American cut, and a handsome selection of extras.
  
  Synopsis:
  
  In a magical land, young Princess Lily (Mia Sara) journeys into a deep forest to see friends but mostly visit with 'green man' Jack, a woods-dwelling young adventurer (Tom Cruise). He dares to show her the world's most treasured sight, a pair of beautiful white Unicorns. She makes the mistake of touching one, compromising its innocence and violating a rule of the universe. Meanwhile, an imposing red-horned demon called The Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) has dispatched several sub-demons, notably the hideous Blix (Alice Playten) to destroy these last unicorns by cutting off their horns ... which will plunge the world into eternal night. As the Lord of Darkness cannot exist in the daylight, this will set him free to rule the world. Blix de-horns one unicorn, and the forest instantly becomes a forbidding land of ice and snow. Lily is captured by the demons, and to save her Jack must thread a maze of menaces, like the formidable creature Meg Mucklebones (Robert Picardo). On his side are but a few forest elves and pixies.
  
  For his fourth film, Ridley Scott chose a fairytale story and wrapped it in his own brand of all-enveloping production detail. The incredibly beautiful forest in the film, like everything else we see, is an uncanny reproduction on a vast scale.
  
  Scott wanted to make fairy tale with a simple story, and that's what he got. For incident, it's fairly exciting, and his classical, visually-oriented direction is also a plus. But it simply doesn't seem very original or fresh. Without simply accepting the Hero and the Heroine at face value, there aren't any characters we can identify with.
  
  There's zero context given for these two: we know little about them except that they are young, inexperienced, and in her case, perhaps a bit spoiled. Since Jack doesn't simply avoid disaster by telling Lily WHY she shouldn't touch the Unicorns, we feel from the start that the story is highly rigged. They're innocent sweethearts victimized by a world with 'rules' that serve as a trap. Adam and Eve ate the apple, but they knew all along they were trangressing. There's nothing negative about Lily's actions and neither Lily or Jack's actions indicate character flaws that might give the story some meaning. But in this fairy tale, the price is terrible just the same.
  
  So most of Legend sees Lily and a very young and callow Tom Cruise fighting and suffering over a problem which seems totally arbitrary. Their entanglements vary in levels of excitement and interest, but since we are missing vital info on Lily (Where's her castle? Why hasn't anyone come to look for her?) it's hard to understand exactly what she's going through. The tendency is to see both of the leads as easy identification figures for the vapid, clueless teens who are the presumed audience. True, Mia Sara's fresh smile is a joy to see, and Cruise is well-matched to his athletic and determined character.
  
  Likewise, the baddies are interesting to a degree, but lack oomph. Blix, the number-one demon functionary, is so exaggerated a ghoul that he looks like he was drawn by a ten year old: long pointy nose, long pointy ears, etc. He and the rest of his cohorts do have that icky but authentic look of the creatures from Häxan, but just don't generate much impact. Their voices don't conjure up anything particularly menacing either, and they just seem too generic, as if they'd wandered in from Masters of the Universe. De-horning the Unicorn is unpleasant, but in their other actions, the demons don't seem all that potent or threatening.
  
  On the other hand, a couple of Jack's helpers are more interesting, particularly the little elf and the sprite-like creature. This pair could easily have wandered out of the Dieterle A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Billy Barty character would be better if he were used for less comedic effect.
  
  Part of the problem is the dialogue script, which is just too perfunctory. Tim Curry's Darkness is quite a technical achievement for Rob Bottin, with his colossal horns and huge cloven hooves, but he talks too damn much. He blabs on and on and says very little, except to let everyone know loud and clear that sunlight will destroy him. He stretches and makes faces and otherwise shows off, but he never seems particularly Evil, invulnerable, or even very smart.
  
  Are these quibbles as quibbly as they seem? There are obviously lots of people for whom Legend was a powerful experience. There is considerable grandeur in the sheer look of the film. As with Blade Runner, it's difficult to find fault with Ridley Scott's 'world', created this time by a large team of British experts. The forest is alive with light and leaves and crawling with animals and birds. The air is full of sunny bugs flitting back and forth. The light has texture and depth, and there really is the dense feeling of an ancient wooded enclave.
  
  Darkness'es caverns and fiery hearth are equally rich. Curious details straight out of Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, such as a stop-motion animated carved statue on a table top, are there to be found wherever you turn. As a production, it's phenomenal
  .
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  Universal's DVD of Legend is a fancy product in a fancy package. A clear wraparound case enfolds two discs. One has the American 90 minute cut, with the replacement score by Tangerine Dream. It is accompanied by a lengthy and well-researched docu that has the full involvement of Ridley Scott; two lost scenes; a recreation of the faerie dance with storyboards and stills; the isolated Tangerine Dream; storyboards; Brian Ferry music video; photos, trailers, tv spots, yadda yadda on and on. It's quite the completist's dream.
  
  The second disc (disc one, actually) is Ridley Scott's original 114 minute cut, before being cut in the UK. It has the original Jerry Goldsmith score intact. The only extra here is a full-length Scott commentary.
  
  Savant watched the long version and sampled the shorter American recut. The long version is a beautiful sight to behold. Even when I was tiring of the story, I was never bored by the look of the film itself. And the Goldsmith music was so stunning that the hastily cobbled Tangerine Dream replacement couldn't compete. I compared Lily's 'dance of death' with the hooded creature who possesses (?) her, on both versions. The dance is much shorter in the American version, with the music making a big difference. The Goldsmith track creates some wonderful dark magic, while the synth score just sits there. If you're already a fan of the US version, and aren't totally locked into the Tangerine Dream music, this will blow you away.
  
  The American cut looks grainy and has less detail than the Director's version, which is okay by me as I don't intend to watch it again except to compare. According to the IMDB, 70mm prints were originally struck for this show. I don't know whether it would have made a difference, but it's a shame that the director got cold feet and decided to undermine his first cut - I think the original would have been better received here. The only thing I remember about the release was being told that it had been cut down, with its symphonic score replaced with a synth rock track ... and I tuned out entirely.
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  On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor,
  Legend the Ultimate Edition rates:
  Movie: Good
  Video: Excellent
  Sound: Excellent
  Supplements: Plenty, see above.
  Packaging: Oddball see-through three-way folding case
  Reviewed: May 9, 2002
  

• The following review can be found at http://www.dvdcorner.net/html/legend.html.
  
  Legend-Ultimate Edition
  
  Universal-MSRP $24.98
  Anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen
  English DTS 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1
  English, Spanish, French subtitles, closed-captioned
  114 mins., 90 mins., color, 1986
  Rated PG
  
  Picture A, Sound A+, Content A, Extras A
  
  Intro-This Ridley Scott film finally comes to DVD with an Ultimate Edition, two discs with two different versions of the film. On disc one, we are treated to the longer, European version, with a score by Jerry Goldsmith, and disc two contains the US version with score by Tangerine Dream. Scott declares in the insert that the longer version is more what he was his vision was for the film and now , through the magic of DVD we get both films in one terrific package.
  
  Story-Lily (Mia Sara) ,a princess, is in love with Jack(Tom Cruise), who is a boy of the woodlands. One day Jack decides to show Lily something special; he knows where the magical unicorns play. Neither know that goblins, have been sent by the evil Darkness (Tim Curry) to capture the unicorn's horn and make the woodlands forever dark. At the moment when Jack tries to retrieve Lily's ring, the goblins strike, creating an instant winter in the forest. Lily is captured by the goblins and taken to the evil one's lair and Jack is recruited by fairies and elves to find her and combat the Darkness.
  
  So begins this magical, visually stunning fairy tale of good vs. evil. Scott's direction is superb and the entire film is very dreamlike in composition and script. While the forest scenes, created entirely at Pinewood Studios in England, are beautiful, Scott's vision of darkness is equally dark and foreboding as can be imagined.
  
  Picture-An excellent anamorphic transfer is provided by Universal for both versions of the film. The forest scenes are striking, as Scott introduced hundreds of live animals into the set. Makeup for some of the cast was critical and it is outstanding. Tim Curry went through five hours of makeup everyday for his role as Darkness. Alice Playten, as the head goblin, also went through many hours of preparation, which resulted in a goblin resembling Keith Richard.
  
  Sound-A DTS 5.1 soundtrack is provided, along with Dolby 5.1 digital and is powerful for the longer version of the film on disc one. Dolby surround is standard for the shorter, U.S. version. Obviously, Scott prefers the longer version as a more definitive film, along with the Jerry Goldsmith score. The music in this film is of critical importance as it helps set the atmosphere for the film.
  
  Extras-Commentary is provided for the longer version of the film by Ridley Scott. Other extras are delegated to disc two including an hour long feature "Creating A Myth: The Making Of Legend". Cast interviews include Mia Sara, Alice Playten, Cork Hubbert, and Billy Barty. Scott also is interviewed extensively for this feature, along with producers and story writers. Other extras include an isolated score by Tangerine Dream, two lost scenes; an original rough cut of an alternative opening sequence, and also a fairy dance, which was cut from the film. No existing footage remains of this but the soundtrack survived and the scene is played out by still photos and storyboard sketches of the original concept. Storyboard features include "Lily and The Unicorns", "Jack's Challenge" and "Downfall of Darkness". A music video of Brian Ferry's "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" is another highlight, plus three photo galleries, two theatrical trailers, four television spots and cast and filmmaker bios. The DVD-ROM feature is a script to scene comparison. These extras should keep you busy for weeks.
  
  Summary-After a long wait, "Legend " finally arrives with the personal touch of director Scott. This Ultimate Edition is sure to satisfy fans of the fantasy film and has been worth the wait.
  

• The following review can be found at http://dvdmg.com/legend.shtml
  
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  Legend (1985)
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  Reviewed by Colin Jacobson
  
  1985 proved to be an odd year for directors who worked at Universal Pictures. On one hand, one Universal release - Out of Africa - nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture. Another - Back to the Future - took home the crown as the year’s box office champion.
  
  On the other hand, a couple of directors had a rough time with their Universal projects in 1985. The most extreme problems befell Terry Gilliam and Brazil. He experienced legendary battles with studio chiefs over the tone and length of the flick, among other areas; it remains one of the most famous feuds in movie history.
  
  While it doesn’t appear that Ridley Scott went through Gilliam’s level of angst as he prepared his fantasy flick Legend, what ended up on screen in theaters wasn’t what he originally intended. After an unsuccessful test screening, the director apparently lost some faith in his vision and chopped up the film accordingly. What originally lasted about two hours dropped down to the 90-minute version seen on US screens. In addition, American audiences heard a different score than the one created by noted composer Jerry Goldsmith; they got a cheesy synthesizer offering from Tangerine Dream. (Oddly enough, Arnon Milchan produced both Legend and Brazil.)
  
  In 2002, it’s hard to imagine that a film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Cruise would tank at the box office, but that’s exactly what happened to Legend. The movie died a quick death, though it went on to gain a passionate following via video. Because of those fans, Legend apparently has been one of the most-requested titles that awaited DVD release. In fact, the disc was delayed repeatedly before we finally got it in our hands.
  
  In an intriguing move, this “Ultimate Edition” DVD includes both the original 90-minute US theatrical release and Scott’s 114-minute “director’s cut”. At last fans would be able to see the film as intended, complete with Goldsmith’s famous score.
  
  Speaking for myself, I never saw Legend - at least not all of it. I recall that I tried to watch it on video back in the Eighties but just couldn’t sit through it. The movie seemed so silly and fruity that it possessed no interest for me; I think I made it through the first 15 minutes or so and then bailed on it.
  
  When I watched the director’s cut, I did manage to last until the very end, but it remained a tough process. More than a decade and a half after my original attempt, it seems that I still feel the same about Legend: this is one bad movie.
  
  Legend places us in a land of faeries and magic. There forest-dweller Jack (Cruise) loves Princess Lily (Mia Sara) and desires to spend all his time with her. Although it’s against the rules, he tries to impress her when he shows her the romping grounds of the unicorns, the most sacred and special of creatures. Against Jack’s warnings, Lily approaches and touches one of the unicorns, an action that messes up the world badly. Concurrently, Blix (Alice Playten), the henchman of Darkness (Tim Curry), slays one of the unicorns and steals its horn. This places the world mostly in darkness, which is what Darkness desires. He needs to kill the other unicorn to finish the job, and Jack wants to stop this.
  
  In addition, Darkness wants to make Lily his wife and let the two of them rule the eternal night. Of course, this doesn’t sit well with Jack, and he gets the assistance of a bunch of magical little folk as they attempt to save the princess and prevent the victory of Darkness.
  
  Though not exactly an original story, I have no great quibble with the plot. After all, Star Wars featured a similarly Spartan basis for its action, and it worked awfully well. However, Legend is no Star Wars. Legend didn’t even live up to the fairly mediocre level of 1988’s Willow, a similar flick.
  
  On the positive side, I must admit that Legend looks great. Clearly a lot of work went into the production design, and the results are excellent. The forest and other settings seem lush and lively, and they create a fine environment for the action.
  
  Too bad that the events are so uninteresting. Like I mentioned, there’s nothing particularly wrong with the story itself; it’s the execution that seems problematic. For one, Legend seems to be poorly cast. Prior to Legend, Cruise made a name for himself as a cocky teen in 1983’s Risky Business. That tone of charming arrogance served him well through his career, and it would help him during his next big hit, 1986’s Top Gun. However, he was totally wrong for the part of Jack. None of his personality could emerge through this bland and semi-impotent “hero”, as Jack felt lost among the magic and wonder.
  
  Curry does acceptably well as Darkness, though he’s totally unrecognizable beneath many layers of makeup. Sara seems less satisfying as Lily. While she appears pretty enough for the part, she lacks much charm. Frankly, I could never understand why Jack loved her so much; she came across like a total bitch much of the time. In her first movie, Sara couldn’t find any depth or heart to the role, so Lily remains a beautiful but unlikable character.
  
  In the same vein as C-3PO and R2-D2, Legend’s sidekicks mainly exist to provide comic relief. They do so poorly. Virtually all of the movie’s gags fall flat, especially when executed by Blix and his buddies. The jokes dispersed by the various demons seem silly and pointless, and they serve to ruin any dark mood that the film might establish.
  
  Honestly, Scott seemed like the wrong director for this project. He works better within a gritty environment, and the light airiness seen much of the time during Legend didn’t suit him. Granted, even the darker bits still fall flat, but they seem less laughable than the parts where Lily plays Snow White and croons to the forest creatures.
  
  Actually, though I thought the Star Wars parallels seemed strong, it’s clear that Scott wanted Legend to be his version of a Disney animated flick. All of the staple elements are there, but he fails to imbue them with the charm and life seen during Walt’s best creations. Legend feels forced and cutesy much of the time, and the script saddles the actors with some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever heard. In one scene, Blix says to Darkness, “She’s just a female - she has no power!” To that the boss retorts, “Only the power of creation!” How did such a terrible exchange ever make it past the first rewrite?
  
  Unfortunately, Legend offers many more groaners where that came from, and it seems like a very forced and unnatural piece. It tries so hard to dazzle us with magic and wonder that it never achieves any of its goals. The characters become buried under elaborate sets and costumes and display little positive personality, while the story can’t overcome the various flaws. Legend offers a pretty experience, but it isn’t one that I enjoyed.
  
  Note: I also suffered through the original US theatrical cut. I’ll discuss that version and the ways it differed from the director’s cut when I get to the DVD’s extras.
  
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  The DVD Grades: Picture A- / Audio B+ (DTS), B (Dolby Digital) / Bonus A-
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  Legend appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Although a few minor concerns popped up, overall this was an excellent transfer that rarely belied its age.
  
  Sharpness seemed solid. At times the movie exhibited a mildly gauzy look, but this appeared intentional and made sense within the fantasy setting. Nonetheless, the picture always remained nicely distinct and accurate, with virtually no intrusive softness. Jagged edges and moiré effects caused no concerns, and I detected no signs of edge enhancement. Print flaws were very minor, especially for an aging film like this. I noticed a few specks and a little light grain at times, but these never caused any problems. Overall, the movie remained nicely clean and fresh.
  
  Colors appeared very strong. The movie utilized a glowing tone that made sense within the fantasy framework, and the various hues came across as rich and vibrant. The colors always looked clear and attractive, and they exhibited no issues like noise or bleeding. Black levels also were deep and dense, and shadow detail seemed appropriately heavy but not excessively opaque. During some of the “ice age” scenes, the movie essentially looked black and white, and the DVD showed fine contrast and delineation. Ultimately, Legend had a couple small problems, but I found it to offer a generally positive presentation.
  
  I felt the same way about the movie’s soundtracks. Legend boasted both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 mixes. For the most part, they seemed fairly similar, but in the end, I gave the nod to the DTS track. I’ll discuss it initially and then cover the reasons why I thought it appeared superior to the Dolby mix.
  
  The soundfield generally exhibited a forward bias. Within the front channels, the score showed solid stereo separation, while effects created a good sense of atmosphere. Elements appeared appropriately located within that domain, and they blended together nicely. As for the surrounds, they usually stuck with general reinforcement of the front track, but they came to life well when appropriate. For example, the sequence in which Jack chased after Lily’s ring offered clear and logical activity from the rear channels that helped make the scene more effective.
  
  Audio quality appeared erratic but acceptably good for its age. Dialogue came across as reasonably natural and distinct, with no concerns related to intelligibility or edginess. Effects seemed more hit or miss. Some of those elements appeared nicely clear and rich, but others sounded thinner and more dated. For the most part, however, the effects remained fairly accurate and vibrant, though high-end sounds occasionally were a little brittle sounding. Music showed positive fidelity, as Jerry Goldsmith’s score seemed bright and lively. Bass response could sound a bit loose at times, but it appeared pretty rich and deep as a whole. I noticed some light hiss at times. While the soundtrack of Legend won’t dazzle anyone, it stands as a good piece of work for its era.
  
  So how did the DTS track beat the Dolby Digital one? In the usual ways. The DTS version sounded a little richer and more natural, and the elements meshed together more cleanly. It also provided tighter bass response and greater dynamic range; the Dolby mix could seem a little too thin at times. Overall, the differences didn’t seem extreme, but I still gave the nod to the DTS edition.
  
  Virtually all of Universal’s “Ultimate Editions” offered expanded, repackaged versions of already-existing releases such as American Pie and The Mummy. However, Legend breaks that mold, as it gets an Ultimate Edition with its first appearance on DVD. Based on the slew of solid extras found in this set, I can’t imagine we’ll see another version of it anytime soon, for the DVD offers a wealth of materials.
  
  Most of these appear on DVD Two, but the first disc contributes one significant supplement: an audio commentary from director Ridley Scott. He’s a veteran of the format, and that comfort level shows during his running, screen-specific chat. Scott covers a nice range of information, from the origins of the project to various technical concerns and other production issues. He devotes relatively little time to the actors - which doesn’t come as a surprise, given the nature of the film - but he talks about his work with them at times. Scott touches on the alterations made for the release editions, but he also doesn’t get into this issue heavily; I’d like to know more about that process, as I get the feeling it was more controversial than he makes it out to be. Those minor omissions aside, I found this to be a consistently chatty and compelling track that added to my knowledge about the movie.
  
  After this, we move to DVD Two, where we find the majority of the supplements. To start, we locate the entire US theatrical cut of Legend. Presented in anamorphic 2.35:1 with Dolby Surround 2.0 sound, the presentation of the film seemed good, but it didn’t match up with the picture and sound of the director’s cut. Actually, at first I thought they looked pretty similar, but the more I watched the US version, the more defects I detected. The US cut showed muddier blacks, heavier colors - especially when we saw fire - and seemed somewhat softer. I also noticed a few additional print flaws, mainly in the form of speckles. If forced to grade the picture of the US version, I’d probably give it a “B-“.
  
  I found fewer differences between the various soundtracks, but the audio of the US edition did seem less satisfying. For the most part, they offered similar soundfields and quality. However, I found that the US cut seemed a bit less well defined and crisp, and the sound also appeared a little harsher at times. Again, these weren’t enormous variations, but they did occur. I’d award the audio of the US release another “B-“.
  
  As for the content of the US edition, it offered a lot of changes from the director’s cut. I thought it might simply be a shorter version of the latter, but actually, quite a few differences occurred. For example, the US film started with an explanatory text that didn’t appear in the longer version, and it also revealed the image of Darkness much earlier in the flick. Some omissions meant that other parts made less sense. For instance, during the director’s cut, Gump tries to stump Jack with a riddle. This didn’t appear in the US version, which meant that a later line in which Gump mentions riddles had less effect; it didn’t “throw back” to the prior occurrence.
  
  Of course, the two films featured different scores, which also made a big change. During the supplements, we hear discussions of the two sets of music, and people seem careful not to slam the Tangerine Dream score heard on the US version. Well, if they won’t, I will - it’s terrible! The music really dates the film, as it lacks the timeless quality of Goldsmith’s score. In addition, it includes a few New Age tunes during the flick, and those really kill it. Admittedly, I didn’t like the director’s cut, but the US version seemed even less satisfying for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, I appreciated its inclusion on the DVD, since it’ll please longtime fans of the film.
  
  Next we find a new documentary about the movie. Called Creating the Myth: The Memories of Legend, this 50-minute and 45-second program offers the usual mix of film clips, shots from the set, and interviews with participants. Unfortunately, Tom Cruise declined to appear, but we do hear from director Ridley Scott, writer William “Gatz” Hjortsberg, producer Arnon Milchan, director of photography Alex Thomson, editor Terry Rawlings, production designer Assheton Gorton, makeup effects creator Rob Bottin, set decorator Anne Mollo, stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, key makeup artist Peter Robb King, former president/COO of the MCA Motion Picture Group Sid Sheinberg, and actors Mia Sara, Tim Curry, Alice Playten, Robert Picardo, Billy Barty, and Cork Hubbert.
  
  My only complain about “Myth” related to the use of behind-the-scenes footage. We see too little of this, as movie snippets and interviews dominate. Nonetheless, the program offers a terrific look at the making of the film. It covers a wealth of topics, from the original script to the creation of the sets to working with the horses to makeup to the fire on the Bond stage to the different versions, and it adds much other material as well. Particularly enjoyable are Hjortsberg’s comments, as he’s consistently funny and informative; his impressions of Scott seem particularly hilarious. Overall, this is a fine documentary that should be compelling ever for folks who don’t like the film.
  
  For those with a high threshold for pain, they can listen to the Isolated Music Score By Tangerine Dream. This includes a mix of elements, as it provides unused music cues as well as the final score. Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, it doesn’t work any better on its own than it does when integrated with speech and effects, but fans should be happy to have it, I suppose.
  
  More interesting to me are the two Lost Scenes. One of these shows an “Alternate Opening”, and it runs for 10 minutes and 35 seconds. Taken from a video copy of the film, this expands the existing start to the movie as it focuses on the quest of the four goblins, one of whom didn’t make the final cut. Next we get “The Faerie Dance”, a two-minute and 45-second piece. No film footage remains for it, so instead we hear the scene’s audio played over a combination of production photos and storyboards. All I can say is that I’m glad this obnoxious little piece didn’t appear in the finished movie; it looks terrible!
  
  After this we get three sets of Storyboards. One of these - “Lily and the Unicorns” - basically hews to material seen in the finished film, but one of the others - “Jack’s Challenge” - was never shot, and the other - “Downfall of Darkness” - shows an alternate version of existing footage. The areas include between 69 and 159 boards for a total of 300 drawings.
  
  In the Trailers area we see both the US and International promos; they looked very similar to me. We also find four TV Spots for the film and the Music Video for Bryan Ferry’s “Is Your Love Strong Enough”. That clip lasts five minutes and 20 seconds and mostly uses the standard combination of movie snippets and lip-synch shots, though at times it appears to place Ferry in the action. It’s pretty lame.
  
  The Photo Gallery breaks down into three subdomains, all of which appear as running video programs. “Publicity Photos” lasts two minutes and 45 seconds as it presents 40 posed pictures used for promotional purposes. “Images of Legend” takes four minutes and 48 seconds to give us 71 shots from the set, some of which include unused concepts; for example, we see how Darkness would have looked if they’d made Tim Curry wear contact lenses. Lastly, “Continuity Polaroids” also runs four minutes and 48 seconds to display its 71 images, all of which show the actors in different stages to ensure they’d look the same from day to day. I’m not wild about the running video presentation - Disney does still galleries best, as they offer thumbnailed collections - but the material seems interesting.
  
  A few minor pieces complete the DVD. The Production Notes offer a brief but reasonably useful overview of the film’s creation, while Cast and Filmmakers gives us some short biographies. We find listings for Scott as well as actors Cruise, Sara, Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, and Cork Hubbert. These are standard Universal fare: good but unexceptional.
  
  Within the DVD’s booklet, we locate “A Message From Ridley Scott” that discusses the reasons for the creation of the new director’s cut. It also includes the usual chapter listings as well as a chart of the package’s extras.
  
  Finally, for DVD-ROM users, a few addition materials appear. Most significant are the Original Screenplay and the Shooting Script. These can be viewed as you watch the US cut of the film. They’re a cool addition to the package. Finally, the DVD-ROM area includes a few Weblinks. It gives us connections to Universal Home Video, Universal Pictures, Universal Theme Parks, and Universal Studios. You can also sign up for Universal’s DVD Newsletter.
  
  It’s the eternal dilemma for a DVD reviewer. Bad movie, terrific disc - what recommendation do I offer? Make no mistake: Legend is a terrible flick. It shows good visual imagination but wastes those efforts on a bland story that seems poorly executed. However, the DVD itself is a terrific piece of work. It provides very good picture and sound as well as a fine collection of supplements. Ultimately, I can’t fully endorse the DVD simply because I strongly disliked the movie. Nonetheless, fans of Legend should be absolutely delighted that the flick finally got such an excellent DVD release, and those who think it might be their cup of tea are firmly encouraged to give it a look.
  
  

• The following review can be found at http://www.dvdauthority.com/legendue.asp.
  
  DVD Reviewed: Legend: Ultimate Edition
  Studio:  Universal
  Reviewed by:  Matt Brighton
  
  Story
  
  One of the more "odd" things about DVD (essentially the next wave of home video) is the fact that there are several movies that are on the format that should be. Naturally, we're missing classic movies (as of this writing, anyway) like Sunset Boulevard, The African Queen and Treasure of the Sierra Madre as well as some more modern movies like Grease, Raiders of the Lost Arc and Star Wars. Now this brings me to Legend. Legend is essentially known to be Tom Cruise's worst movie (along with "Losin' It") and I have to admit that I had never seen it until it arrived on DVD. But Universal has been teasing us for almost a year now, with the title. Will it be a special edition or not? Finally, it became an Ultimate Edition, Universal's "Top of the Line" when it comes to DVD. Legend has achieved cult status, that's for sure. But to me, the movie just isn't very good. Tom Cruise has certainly done better since (both critically and he can obviously have a film make some money) and though Mia Sara had a good thing going with Ferris Bueller's Day Off, I don't think I recall her in anything of note since, but I could be wrong. So Ridley Scott's, who has become "hot" lately with Black Hawk Down and Gladiator Legend is finally on DVD and it certainly looks and sounds better than it ever has. But let's see what all the hoopla has been about.
  
  Legend is a fairy-tale, at least we hope so as unicorns don't wander around much anymore. The two heroes of the film are Jack and Lili (Tom Cruise and Mia Sara respectively). Jack's mission is to save the world from Darkness (both in the literal and physical sense of the word as "Darkness" is the villan played by Tim Curry) and let the sun shine forever. Lili is the woman who he meets and falls in love with. However, Lili is lured to the dark side, literally, and is taken prisoner by a priestess into becoming evil. So what is our hero to do? Take all of the muppet-like creatures and cast them aside, take the sets that are pretty amazing and what it boils down to is a basic struggle between good and evil. Naturally, most every movie in the world has this underlying concept, but it's expressed in its most literal form here. The good, Jack vs. the evil, Darkness.
  
  Now for all of it's faults, Legend is a very good technical movie. Helmed by Ridley Scott, who is known to be quite the perfectionist, the sets are amazing and it's a tribute to the director of Alien and Blade Runner that he can create the suspension of disbelief when he wants to. But I felt the roles were kind of miscast. True, Tom Cruise had only one "hit" under his belt in the form of Risky Business and he had not yet tasted the success of the star that he would become. It would not be a result of this movie, however. Love it or hate it, this fantasy genre will not go away. With the recent Lord of the Rings movies becoming one of the top-grossing movies of all time, it's clear that movies like this paved the way for the ones yet to come. So while all of the elements were in place here, it was maybe the execution that made Legend both the critically bashed yet cult classic that is Legend.
  
  Video
  
  Containing not one, but two cuts of the movie, Legend has the 114 minute "Director's Cut" of the film as well as the United States version of 90 minutes. While I would like to say that these look identical, I would be lying. Both are presented in their original 2.35:1 anamorphic ratio, but the Director's Cut looks better here...in many ways. The Director's Cut is presented on the first of two discs and has nothing else on it, save the commentary by Ridley Scott. Getting the benefit of added space, this version has the "room" to take advantage of the transfer. Black levels are great, edge enhancement is minimal and for the most part it is far superior to how the film has been handled on home video to date.
  
  This brings us to the United States version of the film. Yes, there are two different versions of the film in the set. This cut is only 90 minutes and what we saw here in the states. But, this version has been crammed on the disc with all of the extras, and there are plenty to go around. What's this mean for the quality of the image? It suffers. It's not un-watchable, but when compared with the UK version, this one is inferior. If you're looking for a better cut of the film and a better-looking version of the film, then by all means...go with the Director's Cut.
  
  Audio
  
  Like all of Universal's "Ultimate Edition" line, Legend has both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS tracks. As with the video, the Director's Cut gets all of the "benefit" of the audio, while the US version is only a Dolby Digital Surround track. Yet another reason to watch the Director's Cut, I suppose! Now, granted, the film (regardless of which version you choose to watch) is fifteen years old, so it's suitable to understand that the sound won't hold a candle up to the depth of today's soundtracks. It doesn't. While the DTS track on the Director's Cut is superior to the Dolby Digital version, it isn't that much of a difference here. There appear to be some more discrete effects, as is common with DTS/DD discs, but most of the action is limited to the front channels. Scott (Ridley, that is) is known for his use of sound (just look at Black Hawk Down and Gladiator), but for it's time, I'm sure Legend sounded pretty darn good. The US cut of the movie sounds far worse, as the mix is only a Dolby Surround mix. Dialogue is a bit mushy and the effects are almost non-existent. Let's face it, if you want the best audio and video mix, watch the Director's Cut. They almost make it so you have no choice!
  
  Extras
  
  The line of "Ultimate Editions" by Universal is hard to beat.  As one of the few studios that consistently put some good extras on their "bare bones" discs, this line of discs raises the bar to an even higher level.  True fans of the film might say that the 114 minute Director's Cut and awesome picture and sound would be just fine enough, but we have even more to offer so let's get started.  First up is the screen-specific audio commentary from Director Ridley Scott.  Scott has offered up plenty of commentaries for his movies and he's pretty good at them.  This is no exception.  As I noted above, he is very particular and very technical, though his commentary track is very upbeat and full of information about the production, shoot and casting.  He's obviously happy that his director's cut is on DVD!  A good track, and a must listen for true fans of the film.  "Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend" is not your typical "making of" documentary.  This is a relatively in-depth look at how the film was made, cast, edited, re-edited and so on.  New interviews with the cast and crew (minus Tom Cruise) make for a very interesting documentary that runs almost an hour.  Some deleted scenes (entitled "Lost Scenes") which do look bad, but they are presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer.  An alternate opening sequence, "Four Goblins" is presented as is the "The Faerie Dance".  While these don't have much to offer in terms of value to the film, it's nice to have them on this disc.
  
  Some storyboards can be found, three scenes in all and it runs nearly twenty minutes when all is said and done.  Some text is also supplied to describe what is actually going on, so that helps.  Also included is a still gallery of over 100 shots from the film.  Another nice touch, but still...very static.  Next up we have a music video "Is your Love Strong Enough" by Bryan Ferry.  Let's just say that it's definitely an 80's video!  And, as with most all Universal releases, some cast and crew bios are included, production notes and a theatrical trailer.  Some DVD-ROM material is also included with two versions of the original screenplay.  While fans of Legend will be happy that the DVD is finally here, it might gather dust on my shelf.  The DVD is great, don't get me wrong...it's just not my personal cup of tea.  Kudos to Universal for their effort though, the Ultimate Edition series is top notch!
  
  

May 22nd, 2002

• The following review can be found at http://www.cinescape.com :
  
  LEGEND
  GRADE: C+
  Disc Grade: A
  Reviewed Format: DVD
  Rated: PG
  Stars: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty
  Writer: William Hjortsberg
  Director: Ridley Scott
  Distributor: Universal Home Video
  Original Year of Release: 1985
  Retail Price: $24.98
  Extras: two-disc set; widescreen anamorphic; Dolby Digital 5.1; DTS; commentary; director’s cut restored version with Jerry Goldsmith's score; original U.S. theatrical version with Tangerine Dream score; documentary; storyboards; lost scenes; original screenplay with comparison to final film feature; isolated music score by Tangerine Dream; music video
   
  DVD Review
  LEGEND
  A goblin off Ridley Scott’s back
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  Dateline: Wednesday, May 22, 2002
  
  By: JEFF BOND, Contributing Editor
  
  With big screen fantasy making a big comeback courtesy of LORD OF THE RINGS, it’s the perfect time to go back and revisit Ridley Scott’s LEGEND, one of the most visually luxuriant, sumptuously scored and, ultimately, most problematic fantasy films ever made. Scott launched this elaborate, Brothers Grimm-style fairy tale after completing THE DUELLISTS, ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, and he saw LEGEND as the completion of a trilogy of genre films begun with his tremendous artistic (if not financial) successes on the latter two pictures.
  
  Filmed on the massive 007 soundstages in Great Britain, the film was set in a tremendous fairy tale forest completely constructed from scratch, a set so vast that live animals and birds inserted into the environment for filming purposes actually made a home there during the shoot. Scott got Tom Cruise hot off the success of RISKY BUSINESS, makeup effects expert Rob Bottin from THE HOWLING, and technical collaborators from BLADE RUNNER and ALIEN to complete the mix, and embarked on one of the most hotly anticipated films of the decade.
  
  Unfortunately, the final film as seen by U.S. audiences was a hollow fragment of Scott’s original, ambitious vision. After some rough test screenings and at the behest of Universal executive Sid Sheinberg, Scott reduced his original two hour cut of the film to 90 minutes and dumped a beautiful symphonic score by Jerry Goldsmith, replacing it with a work of abstract, vaguely Middle Eastern electronics by Tangerine Dream. The results pleased no one, from Tom Cruise fans who were put off by the vision of their hunky young hero playing a starry-eyed forest sprite, to fans of ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER who were ill-prepared to digest a Ridley Scott film that was essentially designed for children.
  
  European audiences saw something closer to Scott’s original intent and got to hear the Jerry Goldsmith score, but after its initial release LEGEND disappeared and thereafter was seen only in its bowdlerized American version, and then in dreadful pan-and-scan television and video screenings which devastated the film’s one undeniable strength: its stunning widescreen visuals.
  
  A DVD release of LEGEND has been in the works for a long time, and in the years since its release the film has built a small but fervent following that should be overjoyed at the treasures Universal’s DVD release offers. First off there’s a stunning anamorphic transfer of the film, reassembled by Scott into a one hour and fifty four minute director’s cut that gives the story the breathing room that the 90-minute version never offered, plus a rich 5.1 Dolby surround mix of Jerry Goldsmith’s score. Add a full length, indexed commentary from Scott, deleted scenes including the original opening of the film and the fabled “faerie dance” (alas reproduced only with storyboards and photos, although the original audio is heard) sequence, storyboards, photo galleries and continuity polaroids, Tangerine Dream’s score isolated and a DVD-ROM feature that allows you to compare the original script to the completed film, and you’ve got an already generous package. But Universal also throws in the U.S. cut of the film (albeit in a somewhat lesser transfer) and an exhaustive full-length documentary on the picture that should make LEGEND junkies very happy.
  
  The documentary features just about every major player involved in the making of the film, even a brief appearance by Sheinberg himself (who was also involved in a conflict with Terry Gilliam over BRAZIL around the same time LEGEND was released). Alice Playten, who plays the goblin Blix, discusses her initial suggestion to make the creature look like Keith Richards (a suggestion approved by Scott and makeup man Rob Bottin), Scott talks about one of the early screenings in which he states that a few pot-smoking audience members giggling at the action onscreen caused him to second-guess his cut of the film, as well as admitting that the movie’s budget was too low and that the film’s lack of large-scale action hurt its chances at the box office.
  
  Notable by their absence are Tom Cruise (who had one of his only box office bombs with this movie) and Jerry Goldsmith, who has publicly aired his grudge against Ridley Scott for dumping what he believed at the time was his best film score. It falls to actor Robert Picardo (interviewed on one of the standing sets of STAR TREK: VOYAGER) to sing the praises of Goldsmith’s score as well as Scott, who points it out as much as possible in his commentary.
  
  If you haven’t seen LEGEND or disliked it when you did, it’s questionable whether the new DVD is going to turn you around. The poetry of William Hjortsberg’s screenplay is sometimes haunting, more often thuddingly juvenile. And sometimes the universality of the story’s fairy tale themes impinges on other genres: when Tim Curry’s awe-inspiring Darkness character intones, “I feel a presence in the forest… a force I had almost forgotten exists…” it sounds like he’s channeling Darth Vader. Cruise gives his all and you have to admire the trust he put in Scott, but with his teased-out hair and Jolly Green Giant uniform (later on he puts on a suit of armor that looks like a gold lamé miniskirt), the box office superstar has never looked more feminine. And the antics from Playten, Billy Barty and other actors playing goblins and trolls comes off as second rate Sid and Marty Krofft material.
  
  Nevertheless, the film has its assets. Mia Sara (all of fifteen years old when she played the role) makes a convincing turn from an innocent forest princess to a black-lipsticked tramp under Darkness’ influence. Child actor David Bennent of THE TIN DRUM makes a mesmerizing elf, someone who might have stepped out of a Maxfield Parrish painting. Picardo gives a deliciously droll, terrifying performance as Meg Mucklebones, a disgusting, man-eating swamp witch. And best of all is Tim Curry’s overpowering turn as Darkness, a ten-foot tall, demonic satyr in one of the greatest latex makeup get-ups ever put on the screen. When Curry enters the fray midway through the movie LEGEND comes to hair-raising life; on the big screen the presence of this villain could almost drive you under your seat.
  
  Goldsmith’s score is a major asset, painting Scott’s gorgeous forest compositions in a wash of beautiful impressionism and bringing an operatic flourish that the film’s physical set pieces desperately needed (by comparison, the Tangerine Dream score offsets the movie’s treacley sweetness but leaves it feeling flat and unfinished). LEGEND never hits the bullseye of narrative that made LORD OF THE RINGS work, but it still stands well apart from other would-be fantasy epics of the period like KRULL—at least LEGEND tried to do something different instead of redoing STAR WARS without the spaceships.
  
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://www.daily-reviews.com/l/bmlegend.htm :
  
  Legend (1985)
  
  Director's Cut: 5.0 stars out of 5.0 stars / Theatrical Cut: 4.0 stars out of 5.0 stars
  Reviewed by Brian Matherly
  
  Cast: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O'Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo, Tina Martin, Liz Gilbert
  Written by: William Hjortsberg
  Directed by: Ridley Scott
  Running Time (Director's Cut): 114 minutes
  Running Time (Theatrical Cut): 89 minutes
  MPAA Rating: PG
  
  In the depths of a wondrous fairy tale forest, the evil entity known as Darkness (Tim Curry, in some of the most spectacular make-up ever seen in the history of film) has hatched a plot to steal light from the world and pitch it into eternal night. His plot involves two unicorns who hold the source of light and goodness in their horns, but he isn’t powerful enough to gain the objects of desire on his own. Instead, he relies on the power of innocence, in the form of lovers Lily and Jack (Mia Sara and Tom Cruise), in order to trap and remove the horns from the mythical beasts. When one of the unicorn’s horns is finally removed and the other is captured (along with Lily), the world becomes a bleak winter wasteland that consumes all but a few of the forest’s many residents. In the midst of this dramatic climate shift, Jack realizes that it is up to him (and a few of the local forest fairies) to penetrate Darkness’ lair, rescue his love, and restore order to the world.
  
  Released in 1985 to poor box office and even poorer reviews, Ridley Scott’s fairy tale masterpiece Legend is a film that has become legendary more for the history behind its release than it has for the film itself. One of three major sci-fi/fantasy projects released by Universal in the mid-eighties that was drastically altered before hitting theaters (the other two being Terry Gilliam’s brilliant Brazil and David Lynch’s mind-numbing Dune), Legend's story is one that not only echoes familiarity with the other two films involved, but also gives us a twist that involves director Scott severely second guessing the audience that eventually went to see his film.
  
  As Scott himself has explained many times, his original idea for Legend was to re-introduce the fairy tale back into the film world and he thought he had found the perfect story in his collaboration with writer William Hjortsberg. Mounting an epic story with some amazingly elaborate sets and the most brilliant make-up effects available, Scott shot a wonderful film that most filmmakers probably would have lost control of within weeks of beginning principle photography. Even in the face of a fire that destroyed his immense set, Scott carried on and completed what he hoped would resurrect the dying genre. During test screenings, though, the director was devastated when he heard some of the more jaded members of the audience (whom he claims were also probably high) snickering at some of the more fantastical elements of his movie. Reacting negatively to the audience response, Scott hacked out almost ten minutes of his film in an effort to appease a select few who had no desire to employ a little thought while watching the film.
  
  On the heels of this, Universal’s most notorious editor, studio head Sid Sheinberg, decided that the director’s edit was not good enough, so he had another twenty minutes removed and a prologue added that “dumbed down” the film’s story by explaining the entire plot within the first five minutes. There were also some dialogue changes made that confused the relationship between the main characters and a few edits that manipulated some of the film’s initial surprises. Not content to just alter the film’s narrative, though, Sheinberg also stated that Jerry Goldsmith’s fantastic score was not “hip” enough for the film’s target audience and had it completely removed (replaced by a more “modern” score by the band Tangerine Dream). For good measure, he also loaded the soundtrack with two pop songs performed by Yes' Jon Anderson and solo artist Bryan Ferry. Although the result was still a visually resplendent and entertaining film, it became obvious to the film’s ever growing fan base that there was something missing in the version that finally reached US theaters. When a European cut surfaced several years later that contained most of the altered and cut material restored, that fan base went crazy to try and find this more complete version.
  
  For a full listing of the alterations made between the American and European versions of the film, check out the Ultimate Legend FAQ (especially the section featuring the exhaustive Video Watchdog article written by Sean Murphy, which has been reprinted in its entirety with permission from Murphy and Video Watchdog).
  
  Though I had seen bits and pieces of the original theatrical version of Legend over the last few years, I had never fully committed to sitting down and watching it in its entirety until I sat down for this review. I’m kicking myself for this now, though, as I found Ridley Scott’s tribute to the old time fairy tales to be absolutely amazing and a film that was way ahead of its time. Not only is the story absolutely involving (despite its fairy tale familiarity and chopping at the hands of studio editors), but the visuals are beyond stunning and impress far more than the rampant CGI that has flooded the film world in recent years. Scott went out of his way to have the production designer on his film create one of the most life-like forests ever made inside a soundstage and even had it populated with real animals. The sheer dedication that Scott and his crew piped into this film to create complete realism make it a truly impressive cinematic experience.
  
  Also impressive are the make-up effects used in the film. I can guarantee that there are few creatures in the history of cinema that will impress quite as much as Darkness or the hag Meg Mucklebones (played by holographic "Star Trek: Voyager" doctor Robert Picardo). Created by the expert hand of Rob Bottin, the authentic look of the make-up is what really builds the world of this film and allows the audience to become fully immersed in it.
  
  If the theatrical cut of Legend was a work of art, though, the director’s cut is certainly a masterpiece. Scott had always intended for his story to stand on its own and play out with little of the narrative pushes that many filmmakers employ to help out less thought-driven members of the audience, so this director’s cut restores his original intent. Gone is the written prologue that proceeds the film, as well as the odd allusions that Lily MIGHT be of royal birth (the director’s cut plainly states she is a princess). Also altered in this cut is the removal of a scene that suggests Jack and Lily have a carnal relationship. This deleted element not only strengthens both of the characters’ personalities, but it also makes more sense when we see Jack rebuke Lily moments later in the film.
  
  Besides the restructuring and removal of certain scenes, the director’s cut also restores almost twenty minutes of film. These scenes include moments where we see Lily singing beautiful songs as she wanders through the woods in search of Jack (songs which become important later when they ironically ensnare the unicorn and rescue Jack at different moments in the film). There is also an extension of the Meg Mucklebones scene, which allows Jack the growth into the champion that he is supposed to be by the time he has to face Darkness. Where the theatrical cut’s edits tried to make the story more obvious, these new alterations allow the story to build entirely on its own.
  
  It has taken more than fifteen years, but fans of Legend can now rejoice. Though it was pushed back multiple times, Universal’s Legend: Ultimate Edition DVD has finally seen the light of day and it is everything that the fans have been waiting for. Filling two discs, this set not only includes both the director’s cut of the film and the original theatrical version, but also a bevy of extra features that help enrich one’s appreciation for Scott’s incredible work.
  
  Disc one features the director’s cut of the film, presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and anamorphically enhanced. For a completely re-edited film, the presentation is flawless and makes one truly appreciative of what the DVD format has brought us in just a few short years. This version of the film also finally restores Jerry Goldsmith’s flawless score, which fits the fantastical nature of the film far better than Tangerine Dream’s score did. Though both scores certainly have their own distinct musical merits, it is painfully obvious which score worked better for the film. Also on this disc is a highly enlightening commentary track by Scott, who not only discusses the studio’s editing of the film with candor, but also the decisions he made on his own affecting its outcome. Though he tends to slow a bit during the end, the track is one of the most informative I have heard for a DVD release in a while and it completely brought back the rush of what a commentary track used to mean.
  
  Disc two contains the theatrical cut, with the same 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer and clarity seen in the director’s cut, making this the absolute best way to own Legend in any form. The bulk of the extras also appear on this disc, as well. First up is the complete Tangerine Dream score isolated on its own separate track. Although I prefer the Goldsmith score, having access to the alternate score separate from the dialogue and effects track is still an invaluable resource. This disc also contains the complete never-before-seen "Four Goblins" opening sequence, which had been rumored to have been filmed, but no evidence of such had seen the light of day (until this disc, of course). Another lost scene, "The Fairie Dance", has also been included, but is simply recreated (due to lost film elements) from the original audio and still photos taken on the set at the time the scene was filmed.
  
  Following the lost scenes are three storyboard sequences (for "Lily and the Unicorns", "Jack’s Challenge", and "Downfall of Darkness"), three photo galleries (publicity photos, Images of Legend, and continuity Polaroids), an international and US theatrical trailer (which are the same, save for different credits for the disparate scores used for both films), four TV spots, and an incredibly cheesy video for Bryan Ferry’s Is Your Love Strong Enough?. The standard production notes (which moderately recount the tale of the fire that destroyed the sets) and cast and crew bios round out the text features, while a DVD-ROM portion features the original screenplay.
  
  The best feature on disc two, though, is the fifty-two minute documentary Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend. Featuring all of the major cast and crew (except for Tom Cruise), this extensive documentary covers just about every aspect behind the making of the film and its subsequent editing and release. All of the participants are incredibly candid about their feelings for the film and its treatment and it is truly amazing to see how much this film affected all involved. We also learn a great deal about Ridley Scott’s bizarre method of selecting a project, complete with all the profanity and discarded story ideas that seem to come with working on a Scott film. It's an enlightening documentary and makes this disc a complete experience for the Legend enthusiast.
  
  The wait is over, Legend fans! The true vision of Ridley Scott’s epic fairy tale has finally hit home video and in an edition that befits the film that contains it. Its a two-disc set that is well worth the purchase and one that can’t come recommended any higher.
  
  DVD Rating:
  * Overall Quality: A+
  * Extras: A+
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  DVD Features:
  * Director's and Theatrical Cut
  * Director's Commentary
  * Isolated Score Track
  * Documentary
  * Deleted Scenes
  * Storyboards
  * Music Video
  * Still Galleries
  * Trailers and TV Spots
  * Production Notes
  * Cast and Crew Info
  * Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
  * English 5.1 DTS
  * English 5.1 Digital
  * English 2.0 Surround
  * English, French and Spanish Subtitles
  
  
• Thanks to Matthew Wright for bringing this review from http://www.thebigpicturedvd.com/cgi-bin/master/viewer.cgi/Legend to my attention :
  
  
  LEGEND
  
  
   
   Reviewed by: Jeff McNeal
   Review Date: May 16th, 2002
   Studio: UNIVERSAL
   Genre: Fantasy
   Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 2.35:1
   Screen Format: Anamorphic - Enhanced for 16x9 viewing
   Sound: Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 Surround
   Exposure: Color
   Running Time: 114 Minutes
   Rating: PG
   Release Year: 1985
  
  Starring:  Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent
   Co-Starring:  Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O'Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon, Robert Picardo, Tina Martin, Ian Longmur, Mike Crane, Liz Gilbert
   Directed By:  Ridley Scott
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  COMMENTS
  
  When you stop to consider the critcal flop that LEGEND started out as when originally screened, the release of this deluxe, two-disc set from Universal might come as a surprise to anyone who hasn't seen and been drawn in by the artful spectacle of Ridley Scott's unsually ethereal LEGEND.
  
  Like the very title of the film itself, LEGEND has grown in myth and proportion since its original theatrical release.
  
  Desperate to "find an audience" the director was driven to the barbaric act of self-mutilation (in a manner of speaking) not only trimming over 20 minutes off the orginal 1:54 running time, but also scrapping Jerry Goldsmith's score in exchange for a new version featuring Tangerine Dream for U.S. audiences, which is of course what most U.S. filmgoers originally saw. Even with the changes, the film starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara (who seems to have dropped off the face of the earth), and Tim Curry in a deliciously wicked role as "Darkness" never really generated much heat at the box office. But then a funny thing happened... LEGEND became a cult hit with a loyal legion of fans who for years, hotly debated which version was "better" and later, which version should appear on DVD.
  
  Please don't ask me why it took so long for Universal to release this epic tale of good vs. evil. I reckon it has to do with legal and/or restoration issues. The good news is that if you're a die-hard fan of LEGEND, you will find much to rejoice about with this two-disc "Ultimate Edition" set. It's all here. Everything you could ask for.
  
  One disc features the original U.S. theatrical release with the Tangerine Dream soundtrack, but the real treat as far as I'm concerned, is the other disc containing a "new" director's cut, adding over 20 minutes of never-before-seen footage and restoring the Goldsmith score. Only the Director's Cut contains both DD and DTS 5.1 audio tracks. The bastardized U.S. version has to "settle" for DD 2.0 surround, but that should still satisfy most fans as that was probably the original theatrical mix (I'm not certain about that, mind you).
  
  To be candid, I never had any desire to view this film, somewhat amused by all the hype and bickering from the "believers". After having recently viewed the Director's Cut (the basis for this review) I don't think I'm going out on any limbs to suggest that this film does NOT contain one of Tom Cruise's better performances. However, it is an extraordinarily appealing film visually.
  
  Tim Curry is terrific and completely unrecognizable as the obscenely-huge-bull-horned, demonic Lord of Darkness, except for his voice, which wasn't processed enough to render it indistinguishable.
  
  My favorite character, oddly enough, turned out to be Gump, the little bow-weilding forest nymph or whatever the hell he is. I had to do a double take, because the actor who incorporates dramatic, Rumplestiltskin-like theatrics in one of his better scenes, bears an amazingly close resemblance to Frankie Muniz (MY DOG SKIP). So striking their facial features in fact, it's even a little bit creepy. Picture Frankie Muniz with Elizabeth Taylor's teeth, and you've got Gump.
  
  The direction is excellent with hypnotic set design and cinematography. One thing for certain. The forest-like world inhabited by the goblins, fairies, unicorns, birds, etc., would be an allergy-sufferer's unrelenting nightmare. There's all sorts of crap floating around in the air at all times it seems like, including birds which some stage hand is tossing into the frame with an almost comical frequency.
  
  My guess is that Darkness didn't hate the sun so much as he detested pollen and bird poop. Just kidding, you LEGEND zealots! (and you know who you are...) The real news is that the transfer is stunningly good, with rich, vivid colors and exceptional clarity. I only managed to watch the director's cut (and did so twice), but I would expect the U.S. theatrical version to look every bit as good. At least, there's no reason it shouldn't.
  
  This film enjoys the dubious distinction of being the only movie I've screened recently that both my 17-year-old son and my 13-year-old daughter could find common ground with. And for the parent of teens continually struggling to coax good relationships between bickering siblings, that's a very good thing.
  
  There's something in LEGEND for both sexes, but as for my better half, she found the story excruciatingly slow, even though it only clocks in at an hour and fifty four minutes. Maybe I should have screened the nintey-minute U.S. version for my wife, instead... Sorry, Ridley.
  
  Whether or not you sit in rapt amazement and find yourself becoming immersed in a different world while watching this, you will no doubt appreciate the wide assortement of extra content and features contained this is two disc set. While the packaging may leave some as cold as a unicorn without its horn, others won't give a flip, thanks to what's inside it. Check the features listing below to give you an idea what to expect. If you've never seen LEGEND before, you're in for a treat. If you have seen LEGEND before, you're in for an even bigger one.
  
  SYNOPSIS
  
  A beautiful princess (Mia Sara) is in love with a mystical forest dweller (Tom Cruise) and inadvertently upsets the delicate balance of power reaching out to commune with a wild unicorn. The unicorns are so pure and happy and positive, it seems that nobody is ever supposed to try to actually touch one. ...Fussy, these unicorns.
  
  Unbeknownst to the poor princess, she has made it easy for a Goblin to shoot a poisoned arrow into the beast and subsequently hack off its horn, which contains an immeasureable amount of power. Power desired by a gigantic, horned devil of a man-creature who dwells beneath the surface of the earth. Darkness (Tim Curry) bellows in the beginning of the film that "The sun is my destroyer!!" and he wants the pair of unicorns destroyed, since doing so will plunge the world into a permanent ice-age. Without the unicorns romping footloose and fancy-free in the woods, the sun will not rise again. At least, that's the working theory.
  
  By killing the unicorn, the world is instantly plunged into darkness and cold, but there's more work left to be done. One unicorn remains, and it is up to the princess and her mysterious forest boy to save the remaining unicorn. When the mare is captured despite all the forest denizen's best efforts, the princess tries to undue the terrible wrong that she has wrought with her foolish tampering.
  
  But the princess is captured by Darkness, who'd very much like to get jiggy with the frightened, unwilling lass. If you saw the size of Darkness' massive horns, you'd be plenty frightened too, lady. "Horny" doesn't even begin to describe the dynamic at play here.
  
  It's up to the man she loves to rescue the princess from being gored (in the biblical sense, anyway) and the last remaining unicorn from being turned into Centaur-kibble. After all, without the sun, it's way too cold outside! But defeating the devil man won't be easy and our protagonist is going to need a lot more than a vial of holy water and a set of rosary beads. Some lightness needs to shine on the darkness before the sun can come shining through and a little order can be restored to the forest.
  
  IMAGE
  
  Universal has taken their time and done things right with an absolutely gorgeous DVD transfer that captures the smallest detail and sparkles with clarity and vibrant colors. The contrast balance is terrific, the black level excellent and there were no blemishes in the print that I could detect. But who can really tell with all those damned feathers floating around in the forest?
  
  Seriously, a great effort by Universal to reward their loyal fans of this richly textured fantasy film.
  
  SOUND
  
  Whether you like the edgy techno-pop of Tangerine Dream or prefer the original, dulcet orchestral tones of Jerry Goldsmith's score, you'll find what you want on one disc or the other.
  
  We went with the original score, which is available on DTS as well, but we opted for the standard that most will be judging by, the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. This is an excellent, all-encompassing mix that adds greatly to the mystical undertones that permeat this strange fantasy world.
  
  Channel separation is very good, as is the dynamic range. We could find little to fault as even the dialogue is easy to understand at all times, which is really saying something with all the heavy processing going on and Billy Barty in the cast! One of these days, we'll get around to taking in the U.S. version, but it probably won't be anytime soon. Our respectful apologies in advance to the Tangerine Dream fans among our readers.
  
  FEATURES
  
  Scene acess to 18 chapter breaks
  Commentary by Ridley Scott
  Subitles in English, Spanish and French
  Director's cut on disc one, the restored version with Jerry Goldsmith's score
  Original U.S. theatrical version with Tangerine Dream score
  Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend
  Storyboards
  The Fairy Dance, music and storyboards depicting the lost scene
  Original screenplay
  Isolated music score by Tangerine Dream
  Music video - "Is Your Love Strong Enough" by Bryan Ferry
  Production notes
  2 threatrical trailers
  4 TV spots
  Cast and filmmaker bios
  Publicity stills
  Continuity photos
  
  
• Thanks to Matthew Wright for bringing this review from http://www.chud.com/chudvd/reviews/legend.php3 to my attention :
  
  LEGEND (ULTIMATE EDITION) - 7.1
  
  5-14-02
  By Nick Nunziata
  
  STUDIO: Universal
  MSRP:$24.99 RATED: PG
  RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
  SPECIAL FEATURES:
  • Commentary by Ridley Scott
  • Director's cut, restored version with Jerry Goldsmith's score
  • Original U.S. theatrical version with Tangerine Dream score
  • Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend
  • Storyboards
  • The Fairy Dance, music and storyboards depicting the lost scene
  • Original screenplay
  • Isolated music score by Tangerine Dream
  • Music video - "Is Your Love Strong Enough" by Bryan Ferry
  
  A proper version... Hell, ANY VERSION of Ridley Scott's Legend has been one of this merry format's biggest M.I.A. titles. Announced, then cancelled, re-announced and then bumped back... the Tom Cruise fantasy/fairy tale has finally arrived in one of Universal's snazzy "Ultimate Edition" packages.
  
  I remember being colossally jazzed about this film when it first hit theaters and then being almost as colossally disappointed with the end result. However, the more fan clamoring for this DVD I hear the more excited I got about the release I got.
  
  Was I right the first time, or is Legend a forgotten classic? You see, Scott has included TWO versions of the film. Let's see...
  
  The Flick
  
  The name Ridley Scott on a film instantly makes it something to look for. Even his misfires are interesting and gorgeous to look at. In fact, his White Squall is a film I hope someday emerges to people as a really solid little sleeper. Regardless, a resume including Blade Runner, Alien, Gladiator, and Thelma and Louise to only name a few, is prolific.
  
  In the 80's Ridley took what was at the time a hefty budget, who at the time was a virtual unknown, and what was at the time a dead end genre and weaved his wizardry on it. He told a tale of imps and unicorns, demons and fairies, and did it all around the concept of love.
  
  Today, a film like that would probably find its market without a hitch.
  
  Back them, it was tantamount to cinematic suicide.
  
  The foul being known as Darkness (Tim Curry, under more makeup than the wives of any four televangelists) craves a horn. Not just any horn, but the horn of a pure unicorn. With such a tool he could banish the light forever and bring about a new dawn of darkness (not unlike if Coca-Cola absorbed a few more big companies).
  
  When pithy humans (Mia Sara and then unknown Tom Cruise) accidentally allow such a horn theft to occur, the magic of the forest is disrupted and Hell literally breaks loose.
  
  What follows is fairy tale complete with point eared elfin kids, pig faced halflings, and an armor laden Cruise trying to make things right with his sword.
  
  I think the concept works better than the execution.
  
  Scott chose to create an amazing forest environment mostly within the confines of a studio and the result is astonishing in way of set design and craftsmanship... but the film feels very synthetic.
  
  ...and slow.
  
  It's as pretty as a fairy tale, but it really lacks warmth. Instead of the warmth and wide eyed wonder prevalent in most fairy tales, it's cold and barren. Stiff, even.
  
  None of Tom Cruise's patented charm is evident in his role as the feral jungle protector Jack. Mia Sara's vacant stare isn't enough to tide us over until the later scenes where she's a sexy leather-clad seductress. The assortment of "little people" under heavy make-up (by Rob Bottin!) don't help, because while the work isn't bad, it wiggles too much and took me right out of the picture. Nothing like gones with wobbly noses!
  
  If this was a collection of still images, it would have worked better...
  
  Except for Darkness.
  
  There has never been a cooler, more devilish looking villain ever. Even with CGI being as flexible as it is, I'll still take this fella over LOTR'S Balrog.
  
  Tim Curry (complete with a voice effect not unlike Hellraiser's Pinhead), laden with more rubber and plastic than the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders delivers a really solid performance even though there's not an inch of the actor visible. While the creation suffers during the action sequences (wobbly horns, and the fact Curry isn't the most impressive athlete even when NOT covered in tons of prosthetics), it remains the most identifiable aspect of the film.
  
  There's nothing like a muscular, cloven hoofed, 12 foot tall red being with horns that seem long enough to make John Holmes (rest his soul) envious.
  
  Before Michael Bay and his ilk infiltrated Hollywood, there was Ridley Scott. While he unloaded his share of classics, sometimes he was a victim of the "style over substance" school of directing and nowhere is that more evident than in Legend.
  
  A pretty, but hollow fairy tale of a movie with a few phenomenal bits of invention that still remain cool almost two decades later.
  
  6.0 out of 10
  
  The Look
  
  As I said above, there are TWO versions of the film in this DVD package. I'll go into differences in a few, but since the director's 114 minute cut is on the main disc while the 90 minute cut is lumped with the special features you'll get a clue.
  
  The longer version is superior in every way as far as presentation goes. That's a change of pace, because usually the director's cuts feature rough footage.
  
  Not the case this time, as the longer version is crystal clear and sharp as a busload of TAG students and while it's a film that doesn't feature much light in it (the whole second half is pretty much plunged in darkness), the transfer isn't murky or hard to discern.
  
  Very nice. The 90 minute cut is decent, but not what you'd show to a roomful of guests in the home theater.
  
  8.5 out of 10
  
  The Noise
  
  Once again, the long cut gets a sexy bit of DTS and 5.1 while the lesser cut is given a humdrum 2.0 track.
  
  To be honest, whether you dig the Goldsmith score or the Tangerine Dream one... it's not as bombastic or rich as you'd expect.
  
  A film as striking visually as this... really a music video as far as how its look goes, you'd expect a similar sonic assault.
  
  Nope. Decent, but unremarkable.
  
  6.5 out of 10
  
  The Goodies
  
  This thing's not called an ULTIMATE EDITION for its health.
  
  It's stacked.
  
  First, factor in the short (but still slow moving) 90 minute cut and the presence of the better (the new scenes don't add much but help give the film a little muscle, and the restored Jerry Goldsmith score OBLITERATES the dated one from Tangerine Dream) cut in addition is almost enough...
  
  But there's so much more.
  
  Ridley Scott has provided a scene specific commentary track (with chapter stops, a trend that's really coming into its own) and while he's always a great host... you kind of get the vibe that the film was more like a thing he had to get out of his system rather than a labor of love.
  
  Of course, he's on top of the world now and looking back probably seems like looking at missed opportunities and whatnot. Regardless, it's a good track and all directors who think they're above commentary tracks ought to see Ridley's dedication.
  
  Good stuff, and he also covers the divergence in cuts really well.
  
  There's a nice long documentary on the film which covers the whole shebang (including the fire that destroyed their sets), and features everyone but Tom Cruise (but Billy Barty was there!). Solid stuff, and there's literally HOURS more.
  
  Alternate opening (decent), lost scenes, storyboards, pictures, and on and on and on.
  
  LOADED. If you even KIND OF like this film, this disc is must buy stuff. The special features bring this review up a full point on their own merits.
  
  10.0 out of 10
  
  The Artwork
  
  Good stuff, even though the "Ultimate" packaging doesn't snap close or have a fastener to keep the front flap from staying open unless it's filed in a collection. And as much as I like the clear packaging, it detracts a little for this film.
  
  Still the cover of the film's villain holding the crystall ball with the lovers image encased is truly top notch.
  
  It could have been perfect, but as it stands it's a...
  
  8.5 out of 10
  
  THE FLICK: 6.0
  THE LOOK: 8.5
  THE NOISE: 6.5
  THE GOODIES: 10.0
  THE ARTWORK: 8.50
  OVERALL: 7.1
  
  

May 16th, 2002

• For a list of LEGEND reviews and links, check out http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Legend-1012164/.
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/legend.htm
  
  "LEGEND (1986)
  2002 CUT: ***1/2 (out of four)
  1986 CUT: ** (out of four)
  
  starring Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent
  screenplay by William Hjortsberg
  directed by Ridley Scott
  
  "Tom Cruise stars in this visually stunning fantasy adventure in which pure good and evil battle to the death amidst spectacular surroundings. Set in a timeless mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals, this fantastic story has Tom Cruise, a mystical forest dweller, chosen by fate to undertake a heroic quest. He must save a beautiful princess, Mia Sara, and defeat the demonic Lord of Darkness, Tim Curry, or the world will be plunged into a never-ending ice age. Co-starring Billy Barty and Alice Playten and directed by Ridley Scott, famed for his remarkable settings and unparalleled imagery, the incredibly realized fable is the stuff movie legends are made of."
  -Legend DVD jacket synopsis
  
  The American theatrical release of Legend is more impressionistic than the Director's Cut of the film that accompanies it on DVD--because it's the hollowed-out carcass of a complete cinematic experience. It's this gorgeous, dainty thing that hints at something beyond the horizon, lacking not colour but texture, which is in abundance in Scott's latest rendition of the picture. As a child, I watched Legend over and over again, never liking it yet always dazzled by it, hoping, perhaps, that repeat viewings would help me to see what isn't there; there is fire and ice but no warmth and no chill in the U.S. Legend. (I imagine the European cut is little different at five minutes more.) Ridley Scott's exclusive-to-DVD re-edit of Legend contains approximately twenty-minutes of heretofore-unseen footage and Jerry Goldsmith's regal original score, and with no pun intended, it's a fantastic film.
  
  As with the "Director's Cut" of Blade Runner (recently acknowledged as sloughed-off by Scott, who is preparing a definitive edit of Blade Runner), (henceforth) 'Legend 2002' is not just longer--deletions have been made, shots reshuffled, and exposition removed in an effort to sophisticate the piece on top of fleshing it out. Tim Curry's Darkness, for example, delivers his opening soliloquy off-screen, that great English basso sounding profoundly lonely as it bounces off the empty walls of his misty castle, which has but one window, mushroom in shape, that looks out into the stars. Darkness makes his first corporeal appearance at the 75-minute mark in Legend 2002, while his face is among the North American Legend's early sights; a Freddy Krueger figure, in other words, has transmogrified into a Jaws one, adding a rich layer of suspense to a film that lacked the thrill of, to borrow from another famous Curry grotesque, "anticipation."
  
  Having read Paul M. Sammon's skimpy, if worthwhile Ridley Scott: Close Up, I was familiar with Scott and screenwriter William Hjortsberg's intent for Lili, the Princess character (a "Lady" in the American version), to be manipulative. "Basically, she was a brat," Scott told Sammon. But she was toned down in the editing room until she became, in Scott's words, "innocence personified;" the restoration of Lili's personality places Legend 2002 in an emotional context removed from that of its forebear: we see her as more susceptible the forces of Darkness, while Jack's (Tom Cruise) desire to be with Lili now has a pathetic--as opposed to fatalistic--quality. (Moreover, the reinstatement of Lili scolding Jack in return for lecturing her against interacting with the unicorns strengthens Legend's theme of redemption.)
  
  The film is not suddenly a masterpiece except in comparison. The build-up to the ice age caused by a unicorn's castration, so to speak, suffers from a rather awkward transition in which Lili frolics with the edgy unicorns to Lili and Jack talking marriage in a tree--one wishes that these three turning points were better consolidated. Legend's middle still lacks punctuation in Legend 2002, although the supporting cast and even Cruise--less a cipher than single-minded here--are indelible in a way they weren't before. And the core idea remains simplistic; Legend seems to exist to show up previous attempts in the sword-and-sorcery genre, Hjortsberg's thin (but evocative) screenplay barely supporting the production's juggernaut credentials, i.e. Cruise, cinematographer Alex Thomson, the ingenious make-up designer Rob Bottin, etc..
  
  My final note is a positive one. Legend 2002's closer cleverly addresses the fate of Darkness and his "balance" prophecy instead of going for shorthand: the American film murders its happily-ever-after denouement with a cheesy, very '80s dissolve to Darkness chortling. Legend 2002 disposes of this gimmick and then some, leaving any kind of consummation for Jack and Lili to another day. With an impetuous Lili fleeing Jack, promising to visit tomorrow, the beautiful symmetry of the revised conclusion renders implicit the survival of Darkness--and cements Legend's boldly subtle new spirit.
  
  Universal's "Ultimate Edition" DVD of Legend is a 2-disc set that includes the 114-minute Legend 2002 on the first platter and the 89-minute American Legend along with supplementary material on the second. Legend 2002 distinguishes itself on a technical level with the cleaner, crisper, deeper 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of the two. The otherworldly quality to the mind-boggling visuals aside, it looks like a recent film--sounds it, too, in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 options that immerse you in bucolic exteriors and hellish interiors of constant ambience. Bass, however, is on the weak side, at times punchier on Disc 2's Dolby Surround track, but the bleariness of the domestic Legend's image speaks to a concentration of efforts on Legend 2002.
  
  Ridley Scott contributes an eager full-length commentary to his Director's Cut. Indexed by chapter headings separate from those found in the scene selection sub-menus, Scott incautiously remembers that David Bennent's vocals were re-dubbed by the New York-born Playten because a studio stooge said he "sounds like a goddamn Nazi;" that a 10-year-old doubled for a peak-diving Cruise; that the film's convincing fairy F/X were accomplished with a fishing line and a light bulb; and so on. The pooped Ridley of the Hannibal DVD has returned to the form of his first and best yak-track, Alien. Moving on, we have J.M. Kenny's sensational "Creating a Myth... The Memories of Legend" (51 mins.), wherein the major players, save conspicuous absentees Cruise (who's not so much as mentioned) and Goldsmith, recount the inferno-plagued shoot. The celestial Mia Sara, fifteen during filming, admits that she was love-struck by Scott's directorial confidence and felt devastated when she discovered that he had butchered Legend. (Contrary to popular opinion, Scott says that a ruinous test-screening--and not Sid Sheinberg, the man responsible for the "Love Conquers All" retooling of Brazil--persuaded him to get the scissors out.)
  
  "Lost Scenes" is comprised of an alternate opening that was missing until March of last year (it drags) and a reconstruction of the gone-forever "Faerie Dance" through production art. Storyboards for three sequences and three galleries of stills (one of which is devoted to continuity Polaroids!) are prefaced by thorough explanations of what you're about to browse. Legend's international and U.S. trailers, four Legend TV spots (with play-all function), cast and filmmaker biographies (Hjortsberg, entertaining in said doc, is denied his), production notes, a useless page of "Recommendations" and a page for the "DVD Newsletter," Bryan Ferry's video for the nostalgia-inspiring "Is Your Love Strong Enough" (a song nowhere to be found in Legend 2002), Tangerine Dream's score on an isolated audio stream backing the U.S. Legend (alas, Goldsmith's superior compositions didn't receive the same treatment on Disc 1), a DVD-ROM script-to-screen interface (with a link to Hjortsberg's poetic initial draft), and a handsome foldout booklet round out this choice package.-Bill Chambers
  
  DVD GRADES:
  Image A (NEW CUT)
  B- (OLD CUT)
  Sound B+
  Extras A+
  
  DVD VITALS:
  RunningTime
  114/89 minutes
  MPAA
  PG
  AspectRatio(s)
  2.35:1 ONLY, 16x9-enhanced
  Languages
  English DD 5.1,
  English DTS 5.1,
  English Dolby Surround
  CC
  No
  Subtitles
  English, French, Spanish
  2 DVD-9s
  Region One
  Universal
  
  Published: May 15, 2002"
  
  
• The following review can be found at http://www.joblo.com/dvd/legend.htm :
  
  "LEGEND (Ultimate Edition)
  
  WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
  
  Princesses and goblins, demons and unicorns, elves, faeries and trolls. A drop-dead gorgeous storybook setting is cast into a wintry darkness when the minions of evil attack two magical unicorns. Jack (Cruise) must set out on a perilous adventure (with an eccentric crew of sidekicks in tow) to rescue his beloved Lily (Sara) from Darkness while also saving the world from eternal night.
  
  IS IT A GOOD MOVIE?
  
  Whether or not you consider LEGEND a “good movie”, there’s simply no denying that it’s one of the most beautiful-looking films ever produced. For those who have a soft spot for mythical adventure tales will enjoy Legend enough to overlook a handful of flaws, and despite a few stumbles in dramatic narrative, this movie is more than entertaining enough to earn a look. Long before he was known as the workaholic director behind movies like BLACK HAWK DOWN, HANNIBAL and GLADIATOR, Ridley Scott was just another young director who had cut his teeth on TV commercials…oh, and the two sci-fi classics ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER. Watching Legend makes it obvious that Scott was shooting for something a bit more fanciful for his next project. Unless I haven’t made it clear yet, this movie is like a painting come to life. The early scenes in a lush, overgrowing forest are absolutely stunning, and when the action goes underground to visit the subterranean lair of Darkness incarnate, the film comes close to resembling a dank, sweaty nightmare. How this film didn’t win Oscars for production design and makeup is simply staggering.
  
  Tom Cruise plays the feral Jack, and although it’s hardly the actor’s finest performance, he acquits himself fairly well in a rather underwritten role. Mia Sara fares a bit better as the lovely Princess Lily, particularly later on when she flirts with the “dark side”, and Alice Playten is deliciously evil as the vile goblin Blix. But when movie fans talk about the actors in LEGEND, most of their enthusiasm is directed towards character actor extraordinaire Tim Curry. The transvestite from ROCKY HORROR, the butler from CLUE, and the one of the coolest villains ever conceived in this film. Covered from head to toe in stunning makeup and prosthetics, Curry’s performance could easily have been nothing more than a glitzy parlor trick, but the actor’s voice ALONE makes Darkness the epitome of all things horrifying…let alone his amazingly demonic appearance.
  
  The American version was released in 1985 with a running time of 89 minutes and a somewhat incongruous musical score by synth band Tangerine Dream. I’ve always been a big fan of this version, despite the film’s spotty pacing and relatively muddled sense of storytelling, but this new Director’s Cut goes a long way towards making LEGEND a damn fine movie after all. Characters are a bit more fleshed out, the original Jerry Goldsmith score has been reinstated (as well as some beguiling songs by the lovely Lily), and few extended scenes help fill the movie out to a more satisfying experience.
  
  VIDEO / AUDIO
  
  Both versions of the film are presented in a lush 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen aspect ratio. For a movie this visually stunning, only Widescreen will do! Sound options include Dolby Digital (5.1 Surround and 2.0 Surround) and DTS 5.1 Surround.  There are optional English captions and French subtitles included.
  
  THE EXTRAS
  
  When I say “It’s about time!!" to Universal Home Video, I do so with a grateful heart. This DVD has been delayed more times than your average Thanksgiving Day airline flight, but it was surely worth the wait. Fans of this movie simply MUST own this set, and the impressive array of features will surely entice some new ones as well. Let’s break it down by disc! (Oh, I didn’t mention this is a 2-disc set?)
  
  Disc 1 contains the Director’s Cut of Legend, which runs over 20 minutes longer than the original US version. On this disc you’ll also find a full-length audio commentary from director Ridley Scott. Legend is a film that’s had a lot of controversies surrounding it throughout its life, and Scott touches on just about all of them. As is the case in other Scott commentaries, the filmmaker can get a bit specific on minute details, but overall this track is a treasure trove of fascinating info.
  
  Disc 2 houses the original U.S. version of Legend (Yep, two versions of the same movie! Good stuff, eh?), and an extensive array of great features. Front and center is J.M. Kenny’s superlative documentary Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend (51:00), which brings together various actors and crew members to share their memories of the production. Everyone from Mia Sara to Ridley Scott to screenwriter William Hjortsberg to make-up designer Rob Bottin and Cinematographer Alex Thomon (and many others) discuss their contributions to this visionary (yet ultimately underappreciated) film. On this doc, you’ll see rare production footage, FX and production design tidbits, and several cool anecdotes. Hats off to J.M. Kenny for his work on this great little feature.
  
  Legend freaks will love the pair of Lost Scenes: one is an alternate opening which features an ill-fated goblin who never made the final cut, and the other is the “Faerie Dance”, which consists of soundtrack/storyboards only, but it’s still a nice little nugget.
  
  So far this set contains 2 separate movies, a great documentary, an even cooler commentary track, and a couple of welcome deleted scenes.  Think that’s enough for the rabid cult of fans that Legend has earned? Guess again.
  
  Littered throughout Disc 2 are a Bryan Ferry Music Video which covers the end title song “Is Your Love Strong Enough?”, three storyboard sequences (entitled “Jack’s Challenge”, “Downfall of Darkness” and “Lily and the Unicorns”), and a lengthy series of still galleries. Since this is of course a full-blown Special Edition, you’ll also find the requisite theatrical trailers, TV spots, production notes, and cast/crew bios.
  
  FINAL DIAGNOSIS
  
  I’ve been waiting to see a “longer version” of this childhood favorite of mine for over ten years, and this excellent DVD release has made my month. Although it’s a bit disturbing to see how many times this set was delayed, Universal earns a standing “O” for treating this cult classic like the fine film it really is. Fans MUST own this DVD immediately; everyone else should rent it (and then buy it)!
  
  -- By Dr. Scott, T.A.J."
  

May 8th, 2002

• Check out the latest LEGEND DVD review at http://www.davisdvd.com/Reviews/legend.htm.
  
  "LEGEND: ULTIMATE EDITION
  
  Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
  English DD 5.1
  English DTS
  English DD 2.0 Surround
  Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
   
  EXTRAS
  Audio Commentary with director Ridley Scott
  Creating a Myth: The Making of Legend
  Tangerine Dream Isolated Score
  Alternate Opening
  Lost Scenes
  Storyboards
  Still Galleries
  Music Video
  Trailers & TV Spots
  DVD-ROM Script to Screen
   
  MAIN
  Universal Home Video / 1985 / PG / 114 min / 89 min / DVD 9 (X2) / Region 1 
  Film: 5     Video: 4.5     Audio: 3.5 (DD) 4 (DTS)     Extras: 5+ 
  Reviewer: Patrick Mirza Reviewed: May 2, 2002 
     
  To say that I'd been waiting on this disc set would be an understatement. I first discovered Legend back in the mid-eighties on VHS. I was, and still am, a sci-fi and fantasy nut and Legend was everything I could have ever wanted from a movie: fantastic scenery, amazing creatures, dashing heroics and a beautiful princess I wanted as my own (sounds like Star Wars, eh?). But as a few years passed, I found out that that I hadn't been seeing the entire picture. Having originally been assembled at nearly 140 minutes, Legend's first cut clocked in at 125 minutes. Director Ridley Scott then trimmed this down to 114 minutes. With this cut in hand, Legend was then previewed before a test audience. But as was the case with Scott's previous film, Bladerunner, the test audience handed the film less than satisfactory numbers. With a nervous studio at his back and his own confidence shaken, Scott began to drastically re-edit the film to try and "save it". Working through a year-long delay, Scott and his editor Terry Rawlings finally settled on an 89 minute cut for the 1986 U.S. release. In addition to the massive loss of film material, Jerry Goldsmith's score was jettisoned and a synth-friendly Tangerine Dream score (as well as two pop songs) added. Meanwhile, a 94 minute version with the original jerry Goldsmith score had been released to European theaters in Winter 1985. To further frustrate fans, a TV version appeared in the late-80's that contained a few additional moments (with Goldsmith's music) not present in the U.S. theatrical cut. And for laserdisc fanatics like me, a Japanese release in early 1990 materialized with yet another version: this one clocking in at 91 minutes and scored entirely with Goldsmith's music. Add to all this a prematurely announced and then-cancelled laserdisc box set during the mid-90's and you can kinda see why my panties have been in a bunch for longer than I care to remember. But here it finally is: the 114 director's cut that previewed so badly and caused so much mental anguish for fans through the years. And you, dear DVD maniacs, will finally be able to own your own copy of it. Was it worth the wait? Hell yes!
  
  VIDEO
  
  Universal has supplied us with the director's cut on disc one and the U.S. theatrical cut on disc two. Both are presented anamorphically enhanced in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The print that was found to make the DC transfer is devoid of any nicks, scratches or dirt. Quite an amazing feat if you consider the fact that this print has been sitting around gathering dust for nearly two decades! Film grain, the bane of most DVD viewers, is hardly apparent. And even if it does show up once in a while, so what? Grain is what makes film look like film. The transfer has vibrant colors that never become oversaturated or slip into dreaded chroma noise (no need to fear: Darkness is rock-solid red when he finally appears). Black levels are extremely deep and contrast is pretty high. Actually, contrast is so high in some scenes (Lily in Nell's house, for example) that images tend to get a bit too dark for my taste. You'll notice in some scenes that the light areas just slip into blackness without any shadowing. But that's only a minor quibble. 
  
  The 89 minute U.S. version isn't quite up to the same quality as the longer cut unfortunately. Color, most noticeably, isn't as luminous as it is in the director's cut. Contrast is also a bit lower making blacks look dull and slightly dreary. The print used for transfer also exhibits some dirt and speckling. Not much, mind you, but enough to set it apart from the pristine director's cut. Overall, the 89 minute cut looks okay, but it's nowhere near the quality of the 114 minute version. 
  
  AUDIO
  
  The director's cut comes with three audio options: the original Dolby Surround mix, a new Dolby 5.1 discrete remix and a DTS Surround track. The Dolby Surround track is an adequate mix as far as Dolby 2.0 audio goes, but the real treat is the new discrete mix. Though it isn't as surround-heavy as I would have wanted with a film of this sort, the 5.1 mix is a marvel for a film that was made in 1984. Dynamic range is first-rate, with some thundering lows and naturally clean highs. The dialogue track is firmly planted in the center channel with the rest of the mix incorporated through the front speakers. Music, effects and dialogue all compliment each other, neither one competing with the other for dominance. And like I said, the surround tracks are used with more restraint than they should be with a fantasy film. There is occasional spaciousness with certain scenes, especially those set in Darkness's lair, but overall the mix is mostly centered around the front three speakers. The DTS audio is slightly more rounded and detailed than Dolby's compression. After seeing the movie with both discrete audio tracks, my personal preference leans more towards the DTS track.  
  
  The U.S. cut on disc two only comes with a Dolby Surround track. After hearing the discrete mixes, the pro-logic track comes across harsher and with less dynamic range. The U.S. version also comes with an option for the Tangerine Dream score isolated on its own Dolby Surround track. This track is really cool and includes the band's entire score, including some alternate cues not used in the final film. The fidelity on the score is amazingly good. I only wish I had a Pro-Logic II processor to make this track shine in surround.
  
  EXTRAS
  
  Now to the good stuff! With disc after disc nowadays labeled "special edition", here's one that actually deserves its moniker. To start off, the director's cut on disc one comes with a scene-specific audio commentary with director Ridley Scott. As fans know, Scott is one of a handful of big-time filmmakers to fully embrace the audio commentary. He has never been shy about sharing personal feelings, shortcomings or filmmaking "secrets". His commentary for Legend finds him again a charming and honest man who has a true passion for his profession. Scott's recollections about a nearly two decade old shoot are amazingly clear and focused - I only wish I had a memory as good as his! He touches upon all aspects of the film (all nicely chapter marked in its own menu as well) and recounts anecdotes I had never heard of. Trust me when I say this: when Ridley Scott talks, you should listen. This is no fluffy commentary track.
  
  The centerpiece of disc two is J.M. Kenny's 50 minute-long Creating A Myth: The Memories Of Legend. The documentary follows the film's genesis from idea to production to release crisis. There is a lot of overlap between this documentary and director Scott's commentary, but it's fabulous to see the actual participants share their thoughts on-camera. And great googily-moogily, Mia Sara is still as beautiful as ever (Ferris, you lucky bastard)! Not that I expected it, but actor Tom Cruise chose not to participate in the documentary. I hope he doesn't think of Legend as a blemish on his filmography (that I would reserve for Losin' It, Cocktail or Days of Thunder). About the only other obvious absence in this making-of is composer Jerry Goldsmith. When you realize how his contribution to the film was treated over the last seventeen years, you can sympathize with his still-raw feelings. It's also bittersweet that late actor Billy Barty was interviewed shortly before he passed away.
  
  A treasure found during the disc set's last year-and-a-half delay, an alternate 10-minute Goblin opening is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. Found on a PAL videotape of Legend's 1984 workprint, the footage isn't in the best condition, but it was cleaned up and tweaked as good as possible for the DVD. Nonetheless, the sequence is an important part of Legend's history that I thank God was found. Another deleted scene, "The Fairy Dance", doesn't fare as well. Unless it's found somewhere accidentally, the footage is thought to be permanently gone. Accompanying the surviving original audio, the scene has been recreated as best as possible with stills and storyboards. It's stuff like this that makes this more than just a special edition disc - this is an archival disc! In addition, there are some other deleted scenes of sorts to look out for. Three sequences appear in the 89 minute version that are absent in the 114 minute director's cut. Look for "wild things" jumping out of the ground and attacking Gump (54:24 - 55:15), Lily at Darkness's table (1:11:35 - 1:11:59), the rebirth of the unicorn (1:22:08 - 1:23:34) and an alternate take with both Jack and Lily running towards the sun (1:24:06). 
  
  The full storyboards for three key sequences ("Lily and the Unicorns," "Jack's Challenge," and "Downfall of Darkness") are presented in their own section and offer a glimpse into Scott's visual eye. Be sure to catch a glimpse of what Lily may have looked like if the budget had allowed her to turn into a "cat-person."
  
  Three still galleries encapsulate nearly all of the existing photographs relating to Legend. The sections are broken down into "Publicity Photographs," "Images of Legend" and "Continuity Polaroids". This last section was also found during the set's delay from November 2000 and offers a valuable inside glimpse at the movie-making process (remember what I said about this being archival?).
  
  Disc two is rounded out by a collection of vintage TV spots (oh, how I love old TV spots!), a couple of badly made original theatrical trailers, production notes, cast and crew biographies, and an ultra-cheesy music video for Brian Ferry's "Is Your Love Strong Enough," a song only found on the end credits of the U.S. version. You know what's really sad? I probably would have wanted Ferry's outfit back then to wear to a school dance.
  
  Finally, if you have a computer with DVD-ROM, be sure to check out the script viewer. You can read and print out William Hjortsberg's "Legend of Darkness" original first draft and the final shooting script or watch the film and read the matching script scene. Great stuff!
  
  FINAL REMARKS
  
  I am a bona-fide Legend junkie. I have dreamed many, many years for a package that would do this movie justice. And it's finally in my hands. The DC is a revelation to the story of Legend; scenes and characters are finally allowed to grow and acquire depth. And Jerry Goldsmith's music feels like it had always belonged there, tied to the visuals. This is finally one of a handful of fantasy films that succeeds in bringing the stories of print to glorious life. My heartfelt thanks go out to Scott Free Productions and DVD producer Charles de Lauzirika for finally making this set happen. It's been a long time coming".
  
  
  
• Check out another LEGEND DVD review at http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/archive/legend.html. Thanks to Matthew Wright for the link.
  
  "Legend
  
  Cast: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten, Billy Barty, Cork Hubbert, Peter O'Farrell, Kiran Shah, Annabelle Lanyon and Robert Picardo
  Directed by: Ridley Scott
  Screenplay by: William Hjortsberg
  Studio: Universal Home Video
  Street Date: May 21, 2002
  Running Time: 120 min
  MPAA Rating: PG
  Year: 1985
  
  If you love 80s relics, none come more gorgeously artificial than Ridley Scott's faerie-tale Legend. Darkness (Tim Curry) requires the solace of shadows and seeks to destroy sunshine by ridding the land of unicorns. Princess Lily (Mia Sara) frolics amongst the kingdom's poor folk, courts a pin-up forest dweller named Jack (Tom Cruise) and turns the kingdom to ice when her mortal hands touch a unicorn. Darkness captures Princess Lily, courts her and loses her when Jack and his army of fairies and elves turn a unicorn's severed horn against evil. Though it was poorly received at the time of its original theatrical release, Legend went on to become the most requested title in the Universal film library. Today, the film feels especially simplistic; Darkness may be wary of female fertility when the goblin Blix (Alex Playten) lets a unicorn mare live yet there's never been any real allegorical subtext to the film's Grimm tableaux. Still, the look of Legend is so luxuriously overwrought it merits surface comparisons to Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. In the film's most visually arresting sequence, Jack dives into a lake in pursuit of Princess Lily's ring, just as the forces of Darkness destroy the male unicorn. By the time Jack rises toward the now-frozen lake's surface, his kingdom has turned into a winter wonderland. What with the film's cotton-candy mise en the scene, rhyming goblins ("Mortal world turned to ice/Here be goblin paradise"), sexless pixies and elementary light/dark metaphors that reference the order of its universe, Legend is a Gothic fairy tale brought to life.
  
  Image/Sound:
  
  Universal's two-disc Legend DVD gives you the chance to compare the film's 90-minute U.S. theatrical release with Ridley Scott's 114-minute cut. Though shadow delineation is unfortunately steep during the film's dark interior sequences, Legend has never looked as good as it does on the superior Director's Cut. This is cotton candy for the eyes: the colors are luxuriant, the bleeding is slight and the edge enhancement is virtually non-existent. The Director's Cut comes equipped with a powerful Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track and an optional DTS 5.1 track. Though the sound on the theatrical cut is noticeably flat, the ambience and dynamic range on the Director's Cut is unbelievable.
  
  Extras:
  
  Legend's packaging and layout alone is a work of art. The first disc contains the Director's Cut and an informative, engaging commentary by Ridley Scott. Like the film itself, the commentary track comes with its own chapter stop descriptions. Scott discusses the film's ties to Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, the building of the film's CGI-less sets, Alan Parker calling him a "softy" (because the film was such a departure from his three previous films: The Duellists, Alien and Blade Runner) and his need for Darkness melodrama. "Creating the Myth" is an in-depth look at the making of the film, replete with stock footage of the making of the film's lifelike forest set, early camera tests and rare photographs of the Andalusian horses-turned-unicorns and Tim Curry in the make-up chair. This featurette serves both as a condensed version of Scott's commentary track and a trivia treasure trove (yes, Blix was modeled after Keith Richards). Cinematographer Alex Thomson was hooked when he first read how the hooves of the film's unicorns would leave rings of posies behind whenever they lifted from the ground. Though this conceit was never actually filmed, it's the kind of magic that immediately lured Thomson to the project. The second disc allows you to listen to the isolated score by Tangerine Dream. (Jerry Goldsmith's ominous score accompanies the Director's Cut.) A video dupe of the film found in March 2001 is responsible for a ten-minute alternate opening sequence included in a Lost Scenes section. Using rare photos, storyboards and original music, the producers of this DVD edition of Legend have also recreated the destroyed "Faerie Dance" sequence. Also included here is a section for storyboards, the film's U.S. and European theatrical trailers, Brian Ferry's "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" music video, production notes, three photo galleries (one devoted to continuity Polaroids), four TV spots, and cast and filmmaker bios. The disc's DVD-ROM feature gives you the chance to compare the original Hjortsberg draft of the film to the final shooting script.
  
  Overall:
  
  Seventeen years after its original theatrical release, the folks at Universal have given Ridley Scott's cult classic a legendary DVD treatment.
  
  Ed Gonzalez
  
  DISC FEATURES
  
  Specifications:
  · DVD-Video
  · Two-Disc Set
  · Region 1
  
  Aspect Ratio:
  · 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
  
  Dolby Digital Formats:
  · English 5.1 Surround
  · English 2.0 Surround
  
  Subtitles/Captions:
  · English Captions
  · French Subtitles
  
  Standard Features:
  · Interactive Menus
  · Scene Access
  
  Additional Features:
  · Commentary by director Ridley Scott
  · "Creating A Myth" featurette
  · Isolated Score by Tangerine Dream
  · Lost Scenes
  · Storyboards
  · "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" music video
  · Three Photo Galleries
  · Two Theatrical Trailers
  · Four TV Spots
  · Production Notes
  · Cast and Filmmaker Bios
  · DVD-ROM: Script-To-Scene Comparison
  
  
  
• Check out another LEGEND DVD review at http://www.currentfilm.com/dvdreviews4/legenduedvd.html. Thanks to Jorge da Cunha for the link.
  
  "The Movie:
  
  Ridley Scott's 1985 "Legend" has been one of the most requested DVD titles since the format's birth. While more of a cult picture than some of the bigger "wants" for the format, it was at least hoped that Scott, along with the director's usual ace DVD producer, Charles de Lauzirika, could provide something special. The result, while long delayed (likely due to rights issues or more time to finalize supplements), is the first of Universal's "Ultimate Editions" not to follow a previous "Special Edition".
  
  This DVD edition provides both the theatrical release and Ridley Scott's director's cut, which extends the film by about 24 minutes. The film was a costly effort and, according to director Scott's text notes in the insert, wasn't finding an audience originally. It was re-cut and re-scored, but never really matched the vision that the director had in mind.
  
  As for my thoughts on the film itself, I find it to be a flawed, but ambitious and fascinating film, full of striking visuals. The story itself is a rather simple bit of swords and sorcery lore: an evil force named Darkness lives beneath the land, desiring to cover the sun and launch the world into, well, darkness, where he can reign supreme. We then are introduced to two young lovers, Jack and Lili (Tom Cruise and Mia Sara). Jack takes Lili to see the unicorns that live in the forest, but she's kidnapped by the dark forces and it's up to Jack to rescue princess Lili.
  
  The film does not seem to be about the story as much as it is about the visuals, which are nothing short of stunning, as Scott and team have somehow managed to keep every single widescreen frame busy in one way or another. While this film is now nearly 20-years-old, the production design is still impressive, with an exceptional amount of detail and imagination going into every one of the sets. Still, while these aspects are impressive, I still would have liked a bit better of a balance between story and visuals. While the director's cut does provide a fuller experience, it's still a film that's smoewhat lackluster in character development.
  
  The performances are good, if not outstanding. Cruise is a good actor who has gotten better, but he's not incredibly commanding in this role and only remains moderately interesting. Elsewhere, Sara is elegant and engaging, while Tim Curry is respectable as the villian of the piece. While "Legend" isn't a film without problems, I still remain entertained by the film and especially the dark world that director Scott has created. It's also wonderful that the director's cut of Scott's film is finally available for audiences.
  
  The DVD
  
  VIDEO: The director's cut and theatrical cuts of the film are both presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Both editions of the film have their own disc of the two-DVD set, but it's the director's cut that mostly gets a disc to itself, while the theatrical cut is accompanied by a lot of supplementals on the second disc. The director's cut looks pretty stellar for an extended cut of a film of this age. Sharpness and detail do occasionally are inconsistent throughout the movie, but never became lackluster. While most of the film appeared pleasantly crisp and well-defined, some scenes appeared noticably softer, although this occasionally seemed due to intent or effects.
  
  The director's cut was surprisingly clean and free of all by some minor faults. The primitive early special effects look pretty good, when these kinds of effects can tend to either look muddy or as they did in "The Neverending Story", rather grainy. Edge enhancement is very minimal and barely noticable. The print even looked unexpectedly good condition, with only some very minor grain and a speck or two.
  
  Colors looked splendid throughout, appearing well-saturated and vivid, with no noticable flaws. I was very pleased with the effort displayed for the director's cut. The theatrical cut of the picture looked less pleasing, if certainly not terrible. The theatrical cut appears somewhat softer at times and displays some additional print flaws in the form of occasional specks and other, minor forms of wear. Colors seem slightly more vivid and fresh in the "director's cut", where the picture as a whole generally seems more crisp and clean. The theatrical cut certainly doesn't look terrible, but the director's cut is definitely a more pleasing viewing experience.
  
  SOUND: The director's cut of the film is offered in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 as well as Dolby 2.0. The theatrical cut of the film is presented only with the film's original 2.0 soundtrack. Given the fact that this film and its soundtrack are now about seventeen years of age, I wasn't really expecting a great deal from the new 5.1 presentation in either choice of soundtracks. As it sometimes goes, my expectations were exceeded, if not overwhelmingly so.
  
  The 5.1 soundtracks on the director's cut are pretty impressive at times, boasting a pretty healthy amount of bass and a rich, crisp presentation of Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful score. Surrounds are used fairly actively - if not for the Goldsmith score, they provide some slight ambience and a few instances here and there of more noticable sound effects. While I would have liked a bit more participation from the rear speakers, I'd think there can only be so much done with a film of this age. As much, this is a more than satisfactory soundtrack offering. Both the Dolby and DTS soundtracks provide an almost equally enjoyable experience, but the DTS soundtrack has the slight edge with a slightly more crisper and detailed sound.
  
  The theatrical cut's 2.0 soundtrack is fairly decent, but certainly lacks the envelopment of the 5.1 soundtracks. The 2.0 soundtrack still remains clear and crisp, but certainly the director's cut soundtracks are the way to go for the listening experience. The theatrical cut also offers the less effective Tangerine Dream score instead of the richer and more enjoyable Jerry Goldsmith effort on the director's cut.
  
  MENUS: The animated main menus are slightly animated, but all menus contain striking background images and are quite well-done overall.
  
  EXTRAS:
  
  Commentary: This is a commentary from director Ridley Scott. As with the director's other commentary tracks, he provides everything that is "right" with commentaries. Scott does not simply narrate what is currently going on in the film and when he praises the cast or those he worked with, he provides additional backstory on their role in the film. For a film that was released a considerable while ago, it's impressive that Scott is able to remember so much detail about the production, from stories on the set to technical details. There's also some fine insight into character, filmmaking and working with the actors. This commentary is only available on the director's cut edition.
  
  Making of a "Myth": This is a 51-minute documentary produced by JM Kenny. Many of the folks involved with the production, including the production, stunt coordinator, actor Curry, actress Sara, director Scott, the writer and others, provide their thoughts about the production and offer some technical comments about how scenes were accomplished. The first half of the documentary provides a lot of detail about the pre-production of the film and how everyone got involved. The second half provides more details about where things began to go wrong for the production: Scott and others discuss the very saddening event where one of the biggest sets burned down as well as the changes and alterations that the film had to go through when audiences weren't responding well to the original cut. This is an excellent, informative documentary that takes an in-depth look at all aspects of the production of this film.
  
  Deleted Scenes: 2 deleted scenes, long thought lost, are included here. One is an alternate opening and one is called the "Faerie Dance". The alternate opening is a rough video copy, while the "Faerie Dance" is recreated from storyboards and audio.
  
  Storyboards: Storyboards for 3 sequences: "Lily and the Unicorns", "Jack's Challenge" and "Downfall of Darkness".
  
  TV Spots/Trailers: 4 TV spots, the US trailer and the International trailer.
  
  Also: Brian Ferry music video, production notes, bios, recommendations, DVD-ROM weblink.
  
  Final Thoughts: "Legend" certainly created the magic and universe for this kind of film; the technical side of this production is pretty remarkable - even more so considering this is a 1985 picture. Yet, I never really had that strong of an interest in characters. Overall though, I still find the film entertaining. Universal's long-awaited DVD edition of the picture provides a strong amount of very informative supplements, as well as the terrific addition of the full director's cut of the picture. Recommended."
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Film Grade
  The Film ** 1/2 (theatrical)/***(DC)
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  

May 7th, 2002

• Check out the latest LEGEND DVD review at http://www.darkhorizons.com/dvds/d-legen.htm.
  
  "A DVD Review of LEGEND
  
  Genre: Drama
  Cast: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennet, Alice Playten
  
  Synopsis: This movie is a magical adventure whitch features elves, demons and other mythical creatures like this. Darkness, the personification of evil, plans to disprese eternal night in the land where this story takes place, by killing every unicorn in the world. Although he looks unbeatable, Jack (Tom Cruise in his first important role) and his friends, are disposed to do everything to save the world and princess Lili (who Darkness intends to make his wife) from the hands of this evil monster.
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  Film Review: The term "failed masterpiece" is rather loosely thrown about because the so-called one bad element that ruins or more often simply detracts from an otherwise work of pure genius by a director many consider a god can vary greatly depending on the project. James Cameron's "The Abyss" remains one of, if not the most emotionally resonant movie o his career - a film with a perfect mix of character, story, action, FX, themes, etc. and yet in the last two minutes a cheesy and somewhat perplexing ending takes away slightly from what is otherwise quite frankly one of the best science fiction films ever made. Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" is the most visually lush and certainly the most accurate adaptation of the classic horror tale and yet there's problems ranging from Keanu Reeves' awful acting and a not so great romance subplot to an overall lack of direction and narrative jumbles. Pretty much every great director has a project which for the most part clicks but never really translates all that well on screen or with an audience and leaves many scratching their heads why. For Ridley Scott, a man who had just come off the brilliance that was "Alien" and the overrated but still excellent "Blade Runner", "Legend" was that failed masterpiece.
  
  "Legend" remains to this day one of the most richly visual movies you'll ever see - every scene is filled with so much colour, movement and astonshing natural and magical imagery its overwhelming and is rightly considered "music video" in appearance - production design and cinematography in this film are Oscar calibre. Indeed Scott's aiming was high - here is a pure fairytale movie but with a mean streak. Sure there's cutely distorted voice goblins, a somewhat dimwitted but beautiful singing heroinne, a dashing young hero and lots of little kids as magical fairy like creatures - all in all quite cliched Disney-esque things. However also in this are some quite sinister elements which certainly rule out the kids ranging from the goblin's maiming a quite beautiful unicorn to Darkness, the devil but one who is more human in personality than any other character in the film which makes his persona more frighteningly effective and gives the film a real bite which separates it from the family friendly fantasies of the time like "The Neverending Story" or "Dark Crystal". The visuals, the sound, the lighting all are used to brilliant effect to establish different moods.
  
  Yet the problems are very quick to spot - not only is the story unoriginal to the point of boredom, the fact is there almost is no story - Scott's concentration on visuals has given us (aside from Darkness) very one-dimensional and unengaging protagonists (Sara easily outshines Cruise but even she comes off as a bimbo), truly woeful dialogue, an awful and overly pervading score and one of the worst editing jobs in history which has left an already narratively challenged film in a woeful mess that even the most dedicated filmgoer will have a hard time finding some coherence too. Heavily visual reliant films like "2001" lacked story sure, but its no-dialogue scenes were filled with a building sense of awe, tension or power - Kubrick mindf*cked us yes but it always feels like he was in control and showed us exactly what he wanted to. Here there's long gaps of no dialogue but other than setting mood it feels more like filling in time than anything else. This is a world where at one can dive in a lake and half a minute later come up to find the world has changed from mid-Summer climate to an Ice Age, a world so full of drifting pollen that all hayfever sufferers would've died off long ago, and its all part of a film which seems to be struggling to make a pointed and grown up philosophical statement about fantasy and the themes but never does more than scratch the surface. Its style works, its substance falls flat on its face.
  
  Thank god for things like DVD and Director's Cuts. The 'Special Edition' of the aforementioned "The Abyss" cleared up a LOT of the problems and showed the film for the true modern classic it is. DVD in the last year has brought out re-edited Director's Cuts of films like the first "Star Trek" movie and showed how just some snipping here and odd new FX scene there cleared up a similarly troubled project into a very good and epic tale. This new Director's Cut of "Legend" restores Scott's original 20-minute longer cut of the film along with Jerry Goldsmith's original score. Does it save the film? Sort of, "Legend" remains an astonishing looking but a still somewhat empty mess. Does it improve the film? Absolutely - the film makes a LOT more coherent sense and both looks and sounds more alive than ever before. Distinct differences appear right from the start - the introduction of Darkness is now much more effective, instead of a cheesy UV-lit scene in a well lit torture chamber the new version never shows us more than his claw and the back of his throne whilst the cavern looks a lot darker and creepier - this helps make the mirror revelation that much more effective as you don't know what to expect. Some other scenes are completely changed such as his attempt to tempt Lili which is now trying to make her sit on a throne rather than eat the food (the throne itself pulses with sinister life).
  
  The score is also a big improvement - after seeing a scene like the dance of the black wedding gown with Goldsmith's tune, there's no way you can go back to hearing the Tangerine Dream version without wincing. Its not one of Goldsmith's better scores, but not one of his worst either despite elements from it being used in other films. The original cut will remain a disappointing mess, the Director's Cut is a quite likable fantasy which can in no way compare to the quality of "Lord of the Rings" but now at least can hold its own a lot better. - Garth Franklin
  
  "Legend: Ultimate Edition"
  DVD Details In Brief (Region 1)
  
  Rating: PG
  Runtime: 114mins (DC), 90mins (Theatrical)
  Versions: 16:9 Enhanced Widescreen, 4:3 Letterboxed
  Aspect Ratio: 2.35: 1
  Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0, DTS 5.1
  Language & Sub-Titles: English, Spanish, French
  Audio: Commentary with Director Ridley Scott (DC Version Only), Isolated Tangerine Dream Score (Theatrical Only).
  Documentaries: "Creating A Myth: The Making of Legend"
  Clips: Deleted Scenes, Music Video, Trailers, TV Spots
  Other: Storyboards, Still Gallery, Production Notes, Biographies
  DVD-Rom: Script-to-Screen Feature
  Region 1 vs. Region 4: No Region 4 Available.
  
  DVD Review: The two disc set comes in similar plastic packaging to the first "Sex and the City" box set, but with a cute little booklet containing a message from Ridley. Disc 1 contains the new Director's Cut of the film and its a beauty - despite the age of the material the transfer is excellent, this is a film filled with all sorts of oddly lit environments and yet the print remains very clear and grain free throughout, colours and blacks are surprisingly rich, and edges are clean aside from the occasional bit of softness in some of the very dark scenes. Towards the end these dark scenes are too highly contrasted due to the poor lighting conditions of certain scenes within the film and you'll have to watch closey during these scenes to understand what's going on as its sometimes difficult to make things out. The FX themselves haven't aged too well but some of the more obvious cheap ones seem to have never been in this cut. The audio is suprisingly strong with an excellent use of surround - not only does Goldsmith's score ring through and the FX noise come out well, but what little dialogue there is proves nice and clear.
  
  The only extra on Disc 1 is the commentary by Director Ridley Scott who yet again delivers with an excellent and insightful track, the guy has done so many by now he's a master at it. Even more than usual though Scott seems excited by seeing his original vision for the film on screen and talks about everything from casting, on-set incidents, theme, script and most importantly the changes to things like the score and the editing. There's cute stories from the use of kids (incl. Scott's daughter) dressed up as the leads to make things look bigger to the time when the production nearly burned down Pinewood Studios. A surprising but very welcome feature about this commentary is that it lists what Scott talks about in each 'disc chapter' so if you want to seek out a specific topic its quite easy to find.
  
  Disc 2's version of the film (the theatrical cut) on the other hand is not so fortunate. The video is better than VHS no doubt, and it makes a good use of colour and edging but grain is more visible - colours are lacking somewhat, contrast is even more out of wack and the problems of editing within the film seem to stand out even more than when on television. The Dolby 2.0 track is fine, better than you may expect for a stereo track, but still lacking something whilst the isolated score is pretty much the same. Extras on the disc kick off with "Creating a Myth", a 51-minute making of special with all new interviews of practically all the major crew and cast (bar Cruise but Sara looks even better now than she did back then). The interviews are well edited together as each talks about the complex and difficult production, combined with fascinating takes on the deeper meanings of the story - Curry is a real delight, Bottin is very impressive, and on the set footage is really fascinating - its double the length of most making of docos but way more interesting and never drops off at any point.
  
  "Lost Scenes" shows the quite lengthy 10-minute alternate opening (shown in very rough video) in which four Goblins make their way through the woods to find a strain of unicorn hair to take back to Darkness who appears here as a wind swept dark silhouette. Also in this section is "The Faerie Dance" with production audio combined with storyboards and photos to recreate a sequence which hs since disappeared - not particularly ineresting and thankfully cut. Also on the disc are storyboards for three sequences which ended up being quite different to watch on screen (originally it seems the Unicorn used its horn to slay a certain baddie). The photo gallery is quite extensive with publicity shots, 'continuity polaroids' (makeup FX shots) and promo art/photos. For a flashback check out Bryan Ferry's music video - him standing in front of a screen in full denim and looking like he's just tripped on acid, shame the song isn't anywhere near as fun. There's two trailers, both are the same though the international one seems a little shorter, four rather bland TV spots, production notes and filmographies. Capping it all off on DVD Rom is the script - actually the final script and Hjortsberg first draft which are quite different in style and tone. A definite collector's item for Scott fans, and even those who didn't think much of "Legend" first time around should check out this new Director's Cut as this is quite frankly a different and all over better movie with a very collectible disc set. - Garth Franklin"
  

May 3rd, 2002

• Check out the latest LEGEND DVD review at http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67827.
  
  "Legend
  
  Review by Ronald Epstein
  
  Year: 1985
  Rated: PG
  Film Length: 116 minutes (DIR); 90 minutes (U.S.)
  Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
  
  "Mortal World turned to ice here be goblin paradise"
  
  First of all, I must confess that I am not a huge fan of Legend. I originally saw the movie back in the mid-eighties when it was released to Home Video. I saw it once, thought it was a decent fantasy film, but have not thought about it until it was announced for DVD almost a year ago.
  
  Watching this film after all these years has given me new appreciation for Ridley Scott's fantasy masterpiece, which came on the heels of his Blade Runner and Alien releases. Legend was a film Ridley always wanted to make -- a film in the genre of mythology or faerie story, inspired by his childhood fantasies.
  
  I always wondered why there were so many different versions of this film. Upon further research I found that Legend went went through 15 rewrites before a final script was selected. Ridley's first cut of the film ran a total of 125 minutes. He took this work print and cut it down to 113 minutes. After a unsatisfactory preview showing, the film was cut down to 98 minutes and then 94 minutes. Ridley Scott brought Jerry Goldsmith aboard to write the score. Universal Studio executive Sidney Sheinberg thought the film was too long, and did not like Goldsmith's score. Wanting to make the soundtrack more popular to the MTV inspired teens, Sheinberg hired a German electronic group called Tangerine Dream to compose the replacement soundtrack.
  
  The story takes place in a mythical forest inhabited by fairies, goblins, unicorns and mortals. It's the story of a Lily (Mia Sara), a beautiful innocent princess who loves a forest dweller named Jack (Tom Cruise). When Jack shows her the sacred Unicorns of the forest, Lily disobeys his orders not to touch them. Her disobedience causes a Unicorn to be trapped and killed. It's the story of the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) who depends on the death of both unicorns to give him ever-lasting power as he plunges the world in eternal darkness. Can Lily, Jack and their company of elves and faeries overcome all odds to save the last unicorn and the future of their world?
  
  Succumbing to the demands of fans, Universal has reassembled and released the long thought lost "Director's Cut" of the film, restoring nearly 25 minutes of footage along with Jerry Goldsmith's score.
  
  In a new 2-disc Ultimate Edition, Universal has also included the U.S. Theatrical Version with the Tangerine Dream score.
  
  How is the transfer?
  
  In a word, remarkable.
  
  Watching the Director's Cut of this film, I was marveled by the clarity of this transfer, which while filmed rather dark and soft, I never noticed any background video noise, which is usually very evident in these sort of transfers. Picture remains clean and glitch free, with colors remaining mostly vibrant without flesh tones suffering from over saturation. For a film of this period, this transfer is about as good as it gets.
  
  The 5.1 DTS track is surprisingly active throughout all its channels. The film's main thrust action stays firmly in the front speakers, with dialogue remaining squarely in the center. The rears play a remarkable part of the film's ambience, particularly in the forest scenes where we hear Lilly's calls to Jack echoing in the background, or the sound of howling wind that supports the film's snow covered landscape. Though the film has its share of LFE channel bass during the Dark Lord's emergence, I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more bass mixed into the soundtrack -- especially as the Unicorns trotted in fear across the snow. Overall, however, this is certainly more active a sound mix than I would have expected from a film this age.
  
  Special Features
  
  To show you how special this release is, Universal has released this title in a a very unique clear plastic packaging with Ridley Scott's signature across the front that opens to a 3-pane gatefold. Although I really admire the packaging and artwork, it is a magnet for fingerprints.
  
  Inside the packaging is a 2-sided 8 page foldout that contains an introduction by Director Scott, as well as a text breakdown of the film's scenes and bonus materials. All this is supplemented with original film photographs and poster artwork.
  
  Disc One holds the Director Cut of the film, and unfortunately, the menu is rather simple with only a slight touch of animated skyline behind the Lord of Darkness. This is the only version of the film that has been remixed for 5.1 Dolby Surround and DTS.
  
  A full-length audio commentary with Director Ridley Scott is also featured on this disc.
  
  Disc Two contains the U.S. Theatrical Cut in Dolby Surround. It too has a very simple animated menu of a unicorn set against the dawning sky.
  
  Fans of this film will be delighted by the abundant amount of material that is presented here. Let's take a look at it....
  
  Creating a Myth: The Memories of Legend is a wonderful newly produced documentary that starts with a wonderful montage of scenes from the film set against Lily's song. Producer Aknon Milchan was an admirer of Director Ridley Scott's work from his earliest days of making commercials. Ridley came to him with two film ideas, one of them being a crazy Alien spaceship musical, and the other...Legend. Director Scott explains that after completing two very grueling movies with gruesome carnage (Alien & Blade Runner), he wanted to make a faerie tale. He approached writer William Hjortsberg and gave him a brief description of what he wanted the story to be about. Hjortsberg went on to create a tale that would be considered "classic" -- a tale that ultimately inspired Scott to shoot his dream project. Tim Curry recalls how the script reminded him of a Grimms fairy tale, full of horror and grit. Mia Sara recalls her falling in love with the script at such a young age. She talks about her reaction of seeing a movie set filled with forestry and live birds, done on such a huge scale on a 007 soundstage. The documentary goes on to interview the production designers, make-up artist, set director and even then Universal chief Sid Sheinberg. This an extremely thorough look at all production aspects of the film, and includes makeup photos and even brief shots of test footage taken on the set. (length: approx. 50 minutes)
  
  Isolated music Score by Tangerine Dream allows you to play the U.S. version of the film with uncut music cues from the group Tangerine Dream. Because of the nature of this presentation, some of the cues may fall out of place, but you do get an idea of how drastically different this score is from Jerry Goldsmith's original concept.
  
  Two Lost Scenes are included. The first is an Alternate Opening. Thought long lost, this opening features goblins Blix, Pox, Blunder and an unintroduced goblin named Tic who are lured through the forrest, eventually coming upon the shrouded Dark Lord. The scene doesn't play very well, and the video quality is not especially clean. (length: approx. 11 minutes)
  
  A deleted musical number, The Faerie Dance, has been lost forever. However, the scene's audio tracks were recently discovered and are presented here against original photos and storyboards. (length: approx 2.5 minutes)
  
  Three sets of storyboards give you the original layouts for the scenes they proposed. It demonstrates how closely a film can match the work of the storyboard artist. Using your remote, you can individually pan through each storyboard picture. While this is certainly interesting to look through, I miss having these storyboards shown in 2 separate windows as they compare the conceptual drawings to the final filmed sequence.
  
  Trailers are included for the U.S. Theatrical version as well as the International Trailer. Both trailers are nearly identical (scenes shown against logo lettering), though the U.S. version is longer and shows more footage. Five TV Spots are also included here.
  
  Over 100 images make up the Photo Galleries section ranging from publicity portrait captures of the entire cast to some rare pictures that show shots behind the camera as well as alternative scenes. Script Supervisor Polaroids taken for continuity purposes are also shown here. It's an eerie look at the cast in full makeup. Please be aware that all these pictures run automatically, so in order to view them for extended periods of time, you will have to use your remote's pause control.
  
  Final Thoughts
  
  I'm not as huge a fan of Legend as many members of this forum are, who have followed this DVD release since it was announced well over a year ago. Still, I appreciate the fact that this is a visual masterpiece that only Director Ridley Scott could have pulled off so masterfully. It's a wonderful fantasy film that still holds up to today's standards. With this incredible 2-disc Ultimate Edition selling for under $20 on-line, there is no question that it should become a part of your collection.
  
  Release Date: May 21, 2002"