Legend: Ultimate Edition (2002)
(DVD Universal Home Video)
Although never intended, Ridley Scott's epic fairytale movie,
Legend, has become something of a cult film. Originally
over two hours long-complete with a rapturous, classical score
by Jerry Goldsmith, a fairy dance sequence featuring Tom Cruise,
and sporadic folk-song snippets-Legend was ultimately
released in the United States with a running time of 84 minutes,
with the fairy dance removed, and Goldsmith's score replaced
with pop music-and it bombed at the box office.
Although the two hour-plus original cut was lost, a 114 minute
cut of the film has survived and happily, Universal Home Video
has sought to right these wrongs in this new two-disc DVD, giving
Scott the chance to present Legend in a form much closer
to his original vision.
An homage to the fairytales of Britain and northern Europe, Legend
is a film of compelling luminosity, uncompromising in its evocation
of folkloric traditions, both sweet and bitter. Scott draws on
a variety of visual influences-Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the
Beast, Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream,
Disney animation, and the German Expressionist movement. This
is also the first US video release to present the film in widescreen,
where Scott's exquisite pictorial compositions can now be fully
appreciated. Best of all is the opportunity to hear Goldsmith's
score (the best he ever wrote), which enshrouds the film in an
aura of classical enchantment.
Special features include the documentary "Creating a Myth:
The Making of Legend," which features interviews
with the film's key personnel and cast (though Goldsmith and
Cruise are conspicuously absent). Workprint footage of an alternate
opening scene is also included, and storyboards from the lost
fairy dance are presented with a surviving sound mix. The shortened
American version of the film is also included in this release
(though why anyone would want to watch it today is hard to imagine).
Legend: Ultimate Edition grandly succeeds in presenting
Ridley Scott's original vision as it was meant to be experienced.
An unconventional film, no doubt, Legend's appeal will
probably be lost on those who have no innate taste for fairytales.
Those who do, however, will be swept away by its hypnotic enchantment,
and some of the most impressive images ever put on screen.
Paul Andrew MacLean
© 2002 
Shelton CT 06484 USA
(800) 232-2224 voice
(800) 775-2729 fax
LadyJanet@RenaissanceMagazine.com