Legend FAQ V4.0
Sean Murphy
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Subject: LEGEND FAQ V4.0 (Film 1985/86 directed by Ridley Scott)
Approved: news-answe...@MIT.EDU
Followup-to: Poster
Summary: The LEGEND FAQ is dedicated to the film directed by
Ridley Scott and released in 1985/1986. The film was
seriously cut, the original score replaced, and LEGEND has now
become a cult film in search of a director's cut and
letterboxing.
Archive-name: movies/legend-faq
Posting-frequency: Monthly
Last-Modified: 1996/02/14
Version: 4.0
URL: http://www.slip.net/~figment/index.shtml
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( ____(-' _( )_(-'_/ )_(_/ / __/ |__(_ <
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LEGEND Frequently Asked Questions
Version 4.0
Compiled By
Tony Anderson
(dem...@eskimo.com)
Sean Murphy
(Figme...@aol.com)
Geoff Wright
(Ge...@halcyon.com)
INTRODUCTION
------------
This FAQ contains information on the film LEGEND (1985/1986), directed by
Ridley Scott, that is both factual and sometimes speculative. As often as
possible, references are listed from direct sources. If you have anything
factual or substantial to add to this document, please E-Mail Geoff at
Ge...@halcyon.com and we will work to incorporate it within.
This FAQ was last updated on February 14th 1996. We will try to post it
about once a month to the following newsgroups :
Alt.cult-movies
Alt.video.laserdisc
Rec.arts.movies.past-films
Rec.arts.sf.movies
Rec.music.movies
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
List of additions to the LEGEND FAQ in version 4.0 :
- Consolidated questions 6 and 7.
- Added section 8 concerned with where to find videos, CD's, etc.
- Slightly revised Section 12.
- Added section 13 which conatains a bibliography of Legend articles.
- Added Section 17 about other works by the FAQ authors.
- Additional information on video version including information about the
rumored 2 hour German version.
- Some changes to the script differences section (section 11).
- The Mr. Showbiz chat with Ridley Scott that occured on February 1 can be
found under question #14
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To FTP the latest version of the FAQ:
FTP to FTP.FUNET.FI and look in the directory /pub/culture/tv+film/misc.
For access to this FAQ on the World Wide Web the URL is:
http://www.slip.net/~figment/index.shtml
*Request for other versions and the "Making of" documentary
We are looking for ANY version of LEGEND longer than the 94 minute European
version as well as any copies of the 20 minute "Making of" Documentary on
LEGEND. The "Making of" featurette on LEGEND was produced by Nickelodeon and
was part of the series called "Standby : Lights, Camera, Action" hosted by
Leonard Nimoy.
WARNING: This FAQ does contain spoilers!
QUESTIONS
---------
1. What is Legend?
2. How many versions of the film are there?
3. What are the differences between the three confirmed versions?
4. Why are there so many versions?
5. What versions are available on Video and Laser?
6. What are the differences between the two versions of the score?
7. What versions of the score are available on CD or cassette?
8. Where can I find the CD/Tape/Video/LD?
9. What are the liner notes found in the Goldsmith CD?
10. Is there a "Making of..." documentary?
11. Can I get a script of the film?
12. What's wrong with this picture?
13. What articles have been published on the film?
14. Miscellaneous information.
15. Cast and Crew filmography.
16. Who do we write to get a Director's Cut of LEGEND?
17. Other Legend related articles by the authors of this FAQ.
THE ANSWERS
-----------------------
*******************************************************************
1. What is LEGEND?
The following information is taken directly from the CD booklet that
accompanies the SILVA SCREEN release of the Jerry Goldsmith score on CD (See
Question #8 for more information). This text was written by Paul Andrew
MacLean (c) 1992 and he has graciously allowed us to reprint Pages 10 - 12
here. (Pages 2 - 9, and 13 - 18 can be found in Question #9).
THE PRODUCTION
"It is not a film of the future, or the past. It is not even a story of now.
The conflict between darkness and light has been with us since the
creation...and will remain with us throughout eternity." Ridley Scott
Reflecting upon the grim, dark atmosphere and gruesome carnage which pervaded
his previous two films, ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER, Ridley Scott felt his next
project should be a more uplifting, family-orientated film, and of a very
different nature. In spite of his unparalleled skill at depicting
technologically-saturated environments, fancy gadgets and technology have
never really interested Scott, who describes himself as "anti-mechanismo" at
heart. When directing his first film, THE DUELLISTS, Scott determined that he
very much wanted to make a film in the genre of mythology or faerie story,
inspired by his childhood fantasies.
Scott originally sought to adapt the tragedy of "Tristan and Isolde" (the
story of one of King Arthur's Knights, Sir Tristan, and his forbidden love
for Isolde, the sister of a slain enemy - made famous by Richard Wagner's
opera), but abandoned this idea, concerned that the classical nature of the
story was perhaps too esoteric to interest most audiences. Instead, Scott
opted for an original faerie-tale type of story, not based on any specific
tale, although stylistically rooted in folklore of Britain and northern
Europe, with the classic conflict between the powers of light and darkness at
its core.
LEGEND OF DARKNESS, as it was initially titled, was written by Montana based
writer William Hjortsberg, who himself is no stranger to stories concerning
good and evil, as his novel FALLING ANGEL was later made into the film ANGEL
HEART. Working with Scott, Hjortsberg forged a story which evoked the
feeling of tales such as "Sleeping Beauty" and those of the Brothers Grimm,
although the overall plot concerning the Lord of Darkness rising to possess
the world has probably has more in common with the Biblical Book of
Revelations than any mythological source. Also, Christian concepts such as
temptation, sin, forgiveness and redemption are all explored in LEGEND, as
are most importantly powers of light and darkness.
Hjortsberg's first draft of LEGEND was disturbingly dark and nightmarish, and
actually contained a *sex scene* between Lili and the Dark Lord. Scott's
desire to make a family orientated film was steadfast however, and Lili's
temptation by Darkness was to find it's portrayal in more subtle ways.
Scott also described LEGEND as a celebration of nature, which abundantly
comes across in the film's enchanted, storybook images; the cottonwood fluff
and forest mist drifting about the creaking branches of ancient oaks, the
black bear scooping honey from a bees' nest in a moonlit forest, the rain of
pink petals in a stormy wind. Scott's imagery captures that profound
reverence for nature and dream-like enchantment which lies at the heart of
faerie tales, where nature is intrinsically spiritual, and trees and flowers
are the abode of elves, gnomes and wood nymphs, while dark caverns and swamps
hold nasty terrors like goblins, hags and trolls.
The symbol of ultimate purity in LEGEND is also a nature symbol: the unicorn.
However, the unicorn can also be found in many allegorical Medieval writings
as a symbol of Jesus Christ, which would indicate further Christian symbolism
in LEGEND. Likewise, the symbol of ultimate evil, the Lord of Darkness, is
the most frightening Christian evocation of a fallen angel a towering, blood-
red demon with massive black horns, and cloven hooves, who, significantly,
also resembles a *pagan* symbol of lust and animal passion: the satyr.
Scott scouted locations for the numerous forest scenes among the Giant
Sequoia trees of northern California, but sound stages eventually won out,
being ultimately cheaper and logistically easier. A huge forest set was
constructed on the "007 Stage" at Pinewood Studios in England. While nothing
can equal the true enchantment and visual impact of the Sequoia forests,
Production Designer Assheton Gorton's forest set was certainly a noble effort
to do so, and was one of the most convincing "outdoor" interiors ever
created.
In addition to Gorton, others in the group of talented artists that
contributed to LEGEND included cinematographer Alex Thomson, BSC (EXCALIBUR),
costume designer Charles Knode (BLADE RUNNER), and make-up artist Rob Bottin
(a long-time Joe Dante collaborator). The film was produced by Arnon
Milchan, and was a co-production of 20th Century Fox and Universal Studios,
who distributed the film in Europe and North America, respectively.
As Jack, Scott cast popular young actor Tom Cruise, whose youthful vigor and
handsome, yet somewhat feral looks, greatly contributed to his portrayal of
the naive woodland boy who must become a hero. Newcomer Mia Sara's storybook
beauty and perfect blend of mischief and seriousness made for a convincing
Princess Lili, while Alice Playten's mime-like mannerisms brought out the
wickedness of Blix, the slimy androgynous goblin. David Bennent, who had
given a brilliant performance as the impish Oskar in Volker Schlondorff's THE
TIN DRUM, conveyed a true enchantment in the part of Honeythorn Gump. But
versatile British character actor Tim Curry was most memorable as the Lord of
Darkness, and was ironically helped rather than hindered by the heavy make-
up, through which he conveyed a diabolical intensity and visceral sensuality
that John Milton would have admired.
Once underway however, LEGEND was to have it's share of difficulties. There
were several script alterations, and many elements which initially made the
script so captivating were dropped along the way. Another major blow came
when the 007 stage completely burned to the ground before shooting had
completed, forcing the remaining scenes to be shot on hastily constructed
sets. [Editor note : See Question # 13 for more information on the fire]
Principal photography was ultimately completed, and delivered into the hands
of editor Terry Rawlings (who had also cut ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER for Scott).
Scott and Rawlings arrived at an initial cut of 125 minutes, but then further
reduced the film to 113 minutes. Scott was happiest with this version, but
preview audiences in Southern California were not so the distributor insisted
another 20 minutes be cut. LEGEND was ultimately released in Great Britain
in December of 1985 with a running time of roughly 95 minutes. The studio-
imposed cuts hurt the film, but even in its truncated state LEGEND is still
an impressive and unique fantasy, its shimmeringly enchanted atmosphere so
exquisitely brought to life by Ridley Scott's obvious knowledge and love for
such lore.
[Editors note : Before LEGEND was to be released in the US, significant
changes were made to the film to try and sell it to an "MTV audience". When
it was released in the US in 1986, it proved a box-office disaster. See
question #9 for the rest of the liner notes from the Goldsmith CD.]
Film Credits :
Jack Tom Cruise
Lili Mia Sara
The Lord of Darkness Tim Curry
Honeythorn Gump David Bennent
Blix Alice Playten
Screwball Billy Barty
Brown Tom Cork Hubbert
Oona Annabelle Lanyon
Pox Peter O'Farrell
Blunder Kiran Shah
Nell Tina Martin
Meg Mucklebones Robert Picardo
Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by William Hjortsberg
Produced by Arnon Milchan
Music by Jerry Goldsmith/Tangerine Dream
Director of Photography Alex Thomson, BSC
Production Designer Assheton Gorton
Make-up effects by Rob Bottin
Edited by Terry Rawlings
Special Effects Supervisor Nick Allder
Costume Designer Charles Knode
Lyrics by John Bettis
Choreography Arlene Phillips
*******************************************************************
2. How many versions of the film are there?
The Confirmed Versions (as in versions we have actually seen and/or owned)
are accompanied with a (G) for the Goldsmith Score and a (T) for the
Tangerine Dream score :
[1] American (T), 89 minutes.
[2] European (G), 94 Minutes.
[3] Television version (T & G in two spots), 94 minutes as taped off PBS.
The Unconfirmed Versions (which have not been found by us yet but have been
reported in various magazines) :
[1] (G) 140 Minutes. The length of the film that Goldsmith
claims he originally scored. (Larson, Randall D. and Benair,
Jonathan. "The Musics for LEGEND." Cinemascore.
Volume 15, Summer 1987: P. 38.)
[2] (G) 125 Minutes. Ridley Scott's first cut of the film (Jones,
Alan. "LEGEND." Cinefantastique. Volume 15, Number 5,
January 1986: P.27.).
[3] (G) 113 Minutes. Scott's second cut of the film (Jones,
Alan. "LEGEND." Cinefantastique. Volume 15, Number 5,
January 1986: P.27.).
[4] (G) 98 Minutes. This is Scott's third cut of the film (Jones,
Alan. "LEGEND." Cinefantastique. Volume 15, Number 5,
January 1986: P.27.).
Does the two hour German version of LEGEND, which was mentioned in The Video
Watchdog Book as LEGENDE, exist?
No, this version does not exist. In The Video Watchdog Book, on Page 221,
Tim Lucas wrote,
"And there's the issue of language. Even if one understands German, is it
possible to accept the German video of Legende - which retains Ridley Scott's
original two-hour, Jerry Goldsmith-scored cut of LEGEND (1985; rescored by
Tangerine Dream ans cut to 89m for American release) - as the director's cut,
when the voices of Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, and Tim Curry have been redubbed by
Teutonic Talent?"
When I asked Tim Lucas about this quote, he replied,
"My initial reference to a German version of LEGEND was written off the top
of my head, and what I was really thinking of was the French [widescreen]
version."
Tim Lucas publishes Video Watchdog Magazine, which is an excellent source of
information about film and video. Video Watchdog was responsible for
publishing Sean's article on LEGEND and more information about that can be
found under question #17.
*******************************************************************
3. What are the differences between the three
confirmed versions?
[1] The American version vs. the European version:
- Early in the American version we see someone being tortured by demons
before an open view of the star filled Void. Darkness is shown in blue with
yellow glowing fingernails and he delivers a different opening soliloquy. In
the European version we do not get the torture scene nor to we see more than
the arm of Darkness.
- When Lili enters Nell's cabin there is a shot of Nell's sleeping husband in
the European version.
- Lili is a princess in the European version, but called merely a Lady in the
American version.
- In the American version, Lili has a vision of the future when she sees the
revolving figures of the clock (death chasing a maiden) become encased in
ice for a moment--no ice in the European version of this shot.
- The cutting of the scenes with Jack, Lily, and the stalking goblins is
arranged differently between the two version.
- Lili asks Jack to teach her rabbit in the European version, whereas she
asks him to "tell me our future" in the American version.
- There is more footage of Jack swimming underwater to find the ring in the
European version.
- Lightning strikes a tree just before the unicorn falls in the American
version. We also see the cutting of the alicorn in this version.
- In the American version we see Jack struggling through the dark forest snow
calling Lily before he succumbs. We also see an extra shot of the goblins
riding in the snow. In the European we cut from Lili in the cottage to the
shot of Jack sleeping in the snow.
- When Gump queries Jack in the American version, Jack immediately admits
that he took Lily to see the unicorns. In the European version, Jack first
denies that he did anything and then admits his transgression. Gump becomes
bug-eyed and threatening in the European version and makes Jack solve a
riddle before all will be forgiven. The American version does not contain the
riddle and is much shorter and simpler.
- The scene of Blix and the goblins intoxicated with the power of the alicorn
is split into two segments in the European version separated by the scene
with Jack and Oona in the cave. In the American version, the cave scene is
followed by the goblin scene in its entirety.
- The scene with Meg is very short in the American version, whereas in the
longer sequence from the European version, Jack uses flattery to distract
her before killing her.
- When we see Lili in the dungeon for the first time, there is a shot of
Darkness that appears to be taken from the goblins fire sequence in the
European version. In the American version, the camera explores the walls of
the dungeon where we see to "eyes" light up.
- After Lili enters Darkness' hall, the American version cuts to a scene not
in the European version of an attack on Gump and Jack by what the script
refers to as Pygmies.
- The Dress Waltz scene is shorter in the American version and contains a
flash cut to Lili suddenly wearing the dress--no flash in the European
version.
- The American version contains some added footage showing wine filling up a
cup magically and is missing a scene where Darkness attempts to get Lili to
sit on his throne (he does this twice in the European version vs. once in the
American.
- There are some added lines to the American version just before Darkness
falls into the abyss having been defeated by Jack: "You think you have won.
What is light without dark? I am a part of you all. You can never defeat
me. We are brothers eternal."
- When Darkness falls into the abyss it causes three shooting stars to be
generated in the American version.
- The scene of Jack diving into the pond for Lili's ring is inter-cut with
the unicorn's horn being restored and his subsequent revival in the American
version. These shots are missing in the European version.
- One last shot of Darkness laughing can be seen in the American version.
- The American version does not contain any of the songs sung by Lili in the
European version, or the Goldsmith score. It contains a score by Tangerine
Dream whose score was also altered (against the wishes of TD) to include a
song by Jon Anderson of Yes and an ending song by Brian Ferry.
[2] Television Version (T,G) - Same print as the American version except for
three differences: The opening crawl is read by an unidentified voice over;
Jack's first meeting with Gump is almost the same as in the European version
with small differences that are outlined in the section called "What's wrong
with this picture" below; and Jack's encounter with Meg Mucklebones is the
longest of the three versions. The extra footage of Meg and the Faeries was
most likely taken from a test print and contains the Goldsmith score.
*******************************************************************
4. Why are there so many versions?
To begin with, LEGEND went through 15 rewrites before a final script was
settled on. According to Cinefantastique (Vol. 15, # 5), Ridley Scott's
first cut of the film ran a total of 125 minutes. He considered this a work
print and edited it down to a more manageable cut of 113 minutes. The 113
minute cut was shown to a preview audience and the results were
unsatisfactory. The film was again cut, to 98 minutes and then 94 minutes.
LEGEND was slated to be released in U.S. theaters in June, 1985, but
MCA/Universal then canceled and rescheduled the date for November 8, 1985. At
this time, the film was released in the UK and other parts of the world with
the Jerry Goldsmith score and a running time of 94 minutes.
In the Summer of 1985, the film's trailer with the Goldsmith score ran in
U.S. theaters. This trailer/teaser was very short and consisted solely of the
unicorns and the title presented in glass lettering on a black background.
When November, 1985, rolled around, Ridley Scott and producer Timothy
Hampton's only response to the film's continuing delay was, "Universal will
be releasing the film." The film was then cut to 89 min. and the Goldsmith
score was replaced by the more Pop/Synth orientated sound of Tangerine Dream.
The studio decided that the film's new release date would be in the Spring of
1986 and yet in May 1986 MCA/Universal makes plans to cancel the film's
release yet again, this time citing that audiences would not accept Tom
Cruise with long hair. They feared the film would be laughed at, so they
considered an August release. Instead, the Spring release went ahead as
planned and the film opened and remained in theaters for a short while.
Critics found the film empty, characterless and possessing a simple and weak
storyline.
In March, 1989, MCA/Universal prepared the film for syndicated television on
it's "Universal Debut Network", the same that ran the extended version of
"DUNE". This slightly extended version of the film was shown on March 1st,
1989. This version contains the Tangerine Dream score except for the extra
scenes which contain the Jerry Goldsmith score.
In March, 1990, the film is released in Japan on laser videodisc with the
Goldsmith score and a running time of 91 min.
*******************************************************************
5. What versions are available on Video or Laser?
[1] LEGEND (U.S.) MCA/Universal Home Video #80193,
Videocassette 1986, 89 minutes
[2] LEGEND (UK-pal) Warner Home Video # PES 38054
Videocassette 1988, 91 minutes
[3] LEGEND (France) Unknown, Videocassette 198?, 91 minutes.
This version is the same print as the UK and Japanese version except
that it is letterboxed and dubbed in French.
[4] LEGEND (Spanish subtitled) Video Search of Miami, Videocassette 198?,
89m 38s *
[5] LEGEND (U.S.) MCA HOME VIDEO # 40193, Laserdisc 1986,
89 minutes
[6] LEGEND (Japan) Warner Home Video # NJL-38528,
Laserdisc 1990, 91 minutes
* Review of Video Search Of Miami video :
Stay away from the Video Search of Miami videotape of the European version of
LEGEND. This video is at least a third generation dub though more likely
fourth generation. The picture quality is horribly dark and some action
cannot be seen at all. Even sadder is the fact that 7 minutes and 20 seconds
into the tape the sounds disappears for about 6 seconds.
The VSoM video is subtitled in Spanish and runs 1h 29m 38s. The image of the
video is panned and scanned and, on top of that, letterboxed as well, further
reducing the visual information. There are fragments of Spanish sentences
that appear as subtitles intermittently on screen suggesting that the rest of
the sentence is hidden behind the black bar. Since it seems that the black
bar was put there to cover the Spanish subtitles, another bar was also added
to the top of the image in order to balance everything off, producing a false
letterboxing. Whether this was done by VSoM or not is unknown.
The only redeeming quality about this video is that the soundtrack and
effects track are mixed WAY up, allowing you to hear Jerry Goldsmith's music
very clearly. The negative side of this heightened track is that it helps to
amplify some of the lousy edits that appear early in the film.
*******************************************************************
6. What are the differences between the two versions of the score?
There are two versions of the LEGEND score : The original score composed by
Jerry Goldsmith, which is found on the European cut, and the replacement
score composed by Tangerine Dream for the American cut. The Goldsmith score
was replaced with the Tangerine Dream score after studio pressure in the hope
that the popular group would help the film's appeal with the teenage
audience.
The following information is taken directly from an article by Paul Andrew
MacLean that was originally published in Cinemascore, Vol. 15, Summer 1987.
This article is copyrighted by Paul Andrew MacLean and he has graciously
allowed us to reprint it here.
FROM A LEGEND TO A DREAM
A comparative Critique of the two LEGEND Scores
by Paul MacLean
Ridley Scott's LEGEND is a very traditional fable and faerie tale, both in
its subject matter and its imagery. It's clear Scott has a deep
understanding of this genre, since everything in LEGEND looks so right.
True to form, Scott takes enormous pains to create the correct atmosphere,
and it pays off magnificently. The forest air is filled with down to
simulate little insects and tree fluff floating around, and smoke is used to
simulate mist. Likewise, glitter sparkles and bubbles float through the air
to suggest the presence of faerie magic, just as red dust and gold glitter
accompany Darkness' emergence from the mirror amplifying his imposing
presence. The sets designed by Assheton Gorton are also a triumph. The
forest set is the most convincing I've ever seen - it is difficult to tell
which scenes were shot on the set and which are actually shot outside. The
diabolically grotesque halls and caverns of Darkness' tree-castle are by
themselves frightening to behold.
The characters too, are all the classic faerie tale types. Jack and Lili are
the perfect storybook lovers - the beautiful princess, and the naive boy
hurled into taking up a sword and becoming a hero. Blix and Pox, the slimy
goblin and his pig-troll sidekick are the epitome of villainous faerie-tale
henchmen, viciously ill-mannered and vile. The Faerie folk - Gump, Oona,
Screwball and Brown Tom - are likewise the classic faeries; mischievous, yet
filled with goodness. But the most imposing image of LEGEND, however, must
be the Dark Lord himself. Huge, with sweaty, blood-red skin, gigantic curvy
black horns and that deep malevolent voice, he is the classic medieval image
of the devil, looking as if he just stepped out of "The Divine Comedy" or
"Paradise Lost". the photography by Alex Thompson (EXCALIBUR) is
breathtaking and all of the other elements of LEGEND are equally superb
(costumes, sound design, editing, the latter of which still comes off
seamlessly, despite the removal of 30 minutes).
All of these elements must, in order to flourish into their fullest
potential, be supported by the correct musical backdrop if LEGEND is to work
at all. Mythology, legends and faerie tales have long inspired classical
composers - Mozart's "The Magical Flute", Wagner's "Ring Cycle", "Lohengrin"
and "Parsifal", Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel", Debussey's "Afternoon of a
Faun", the list could go on. Clearly, these types of stories have had their
strongest musical expression in the concert hall, by classical composers, and
this type of music is what best captures the essence of these tales.
Since LEGEND is a traditional faerie tale in every conceivable way, there is
absolutely no way it could be well-served by a modern, pop-tinted synthesizer
score. Pop and rock music, by the very fact that they are totally a product
of the late 20th century are completely inappropriate to a film such as
LEGEND. This is not to say that rock does not have its place in serious
films - it clearly does, but if used in the wrong ones, in most cases it will
severely reduce the film's impact, if not destroy it utterly (remember
LADYHAWK?).
Jerry Goldsmith's score for the European version of LEGEND is dynamic,
broadly orchestrated with symphonics and choir, superbly matching every
delicate nuance of the film and its characters. Tangerine Dream's score, on
the other hand, is, for the most part, too laid back. It is often not nearly
assertive enough in scenes of dramatic intensity, and is also too often, cool
and detached, providing inadequate support for the characters. It isn't
completely their fault that their LEGEND score is wrong, since they do not
seem to have a sense of what is correct for this genre. It is possible that
Universal instructed them to compose their score in this way, but whatever
the reason, it remains a dramatically weak score that severely hurts the film
and lessens its ultimate impact.
Jerry Goldsmith knew what was correct for LEGEND. His use of orchestra and
chorus was effective and certainly traditional, along the lines of Maurice
Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe" in its evocation of the fantasy world and its
magical elements (particularly in the forest scenes). Goldsmith's LEGEND is
a clever amalgamation of different styles. Much of it is a blend of Romantic
and Impressionistic music - the harmonies are reminiscent of Romantic music,
but the orchestration and often fluid texture of the score is more in the
vein of the Impressionists. There is also a trace of European folk music in
his score, the most obvious example being the plainsong "Sing the Wee". The
music for Screwball and Brown Tom and sometimes Jack, has a definite folk
song flavor.
Though partly influenced by other styles, Goldsmith's score has a healthy
dose of its own innovation, the most notable example being his ingenious use
of synthesizers which, when coupled with the orchestra and chorus create an
enchanted musical landscape, the type of which has not been heard before. His
synthesizers sparkle, bubble and sing, seamlessly woven right into the
orchestral/choral texture.
One might say, "Wait a moment, here you praise Goldsmith for using
synthesizers, yet a moment ago, you criticized Tangerine Dream for doing the
same thing". I criticize Dream because they use only synthesizers, which
lack the broadness of tonal color required for a film such as this. a score
for only woodwinds or only strings would as much lack the necessary tonal
color. Goldsmith's use of synthesizers is ingenious because of how he
integrates them with the orchestra and choir.
While I of course mourn the fact that Jerry Goldsmith's score was removed
from LEGEND, out of this whole unsavory situation did come a truly unique
opportunity - the chance to compare two different scores for the same film -
a superb example of how a score can literally make or break a film. So lets
compare the two in detail.
The opening of Universal's American release of LEGEND starts with a prologue
of scroll titles that tell what happened with the Lord of Darkness long ago,
and a vague description of what is to happen in the film. It is unnecessary
and badly written, with silly lines like "A beautiful girl named Lili loved
Jack with all her heart". This is of course underscored by Dream, and their
music here is actually rather well-written. However, it is not very magical
sounding, thus not offering the support to these lines that they're very
badly in need of. This cue is rather reminiscent of Goldsmith's synthesizer
work for UNDER FIRE, except that the synthesizer here has a tendency to sound
rather like a slide whistle.
The title sequence, which introduces us to the forest and the animals that
inhabit it, as well as Blix making his way to Darkness' tree-castle, is
handled beautifully by Goldsmith. He opens with long, sustained, ethereal
chords for strings, synthesizer and female voices, against which are played
woodsy, bird-like synthesizer sounds. Goldsmith emphasizes nature and the
forest, as well as the enchanted aura surrounding the world in LEGEND. The
blurby, wickedly mischievous "Goblin" motif comes in when we first see Blix
sneaking through the woods. goldsmith perfectly captures the slimy and
utterly loathsome character of the Goblins with this motif. This is what is
so wonderful about Goldsmith's score, its emphasis on character. This is
something all composers working on films should do well.
Dream's music for the title sequence is, by contrast, much more dissonant. It
sounds vaguely mysterious, but it does not convey any specific feelings
toward what we are watching. The cue continues in this manner until we meet
Blix, at which point it takes on an evil sound, remaining so for the rest of
this cue, which ceases during the conversation between Blix and Darkness.
Goldsmith is silent for the duration of the castle scenes in the beginning,
but Dream has low, whiny "evil" music running the whole course of their
conversation (ceasing only for about 30 seconds).
When we first meet Lili, in the European version, she is singing Goldsmith's
song "My True Love's Eyes". Jerry Goldsmith conforms to the specific needs
of this scene. The sinister Goblin motif underscores Blix, Pox and Blunder
as they stalk Lili, but aside from that his music here is delicate and sweet,
becoming staccato and innocently mischievous as Lili unties Nell's laundry
line.
In contrast, Dream underscores this scene with quasi-nature music that has a
slight hint of foreboding and tragic dread to it. The tone and temper of
this cue remains the same throughout, never accenting things that should be
accented. The music is the same for Lili walking through the woods as it is
for the Goblins stalking her, and for when she unties the laundry line. when
Lili enters Nell's cottage, Dream's music suddenly becomes low and sinister.
Why? Is there something to be feared in there? There doesn't seem to be.
Lili looks around, eating a biscuit and this sinister music is playing. This
cue is pointlessly misleading. Goldsmith, for this scene, has the chorus
and synthesizers playing the "True Love's Eyes" melody, and it works
wonderfully, portraying Lili's innocence and purity. Again, Goldsmith is
emphasizing character.
The meeting between Lili and Jack, and their subsequent long kiss (not used
in the European edition; most likely Universal's attempt to appeal to
American teenagers' impatient sex-drive), is blandly handled by Dream,
employing the "slide whistle" music (which seems to serve as love theme) this
time accompanied by Guitar-like synthesizer.
The Unicorn scene is a Goldsmith masterpiece, surely one of the best cues
he's ever written. With the Unicorns' appearance the orchestra and chorus
swell in magical splendor, to be broken by the arrival of Blix and Company.
As Lili goes out to get a closer look at the Unicorns, Goldsmith's music
becomes suddenly frightening and filled with tragic dread, signifying that
what Lili is doing is something not be done and could bring about untold
disaster. Lili sings to the Unicorn, and the music is invested with a
momentary and fleeting beauty. This is abruptly broken by the Goblin motif
as Blix aims the poison stinger, and the orchestra builds in a frightening
variant of Lili's theme. Blix fires the stinger and the orchestra violently
explodes into the Goblin theme, led by French horns and Trumpets.
Dream, on the other hand, opens the unicorn scene with a little three note
motif for synthesized pan flute (they use this quite a lot throughout the
film). This crescendos into turgid grandeur -- synthesizers and twangy
electric guitar, sounding like something out of a pubescent brat-pack movie.
When the Unicorn comes into Blix's line of fire, the music becomes dissonant
and ethereal, but does not express the urgency of this moment with nearly
enough strength. As Blix fires and the Unicorns flee, a pulsing, almost
rockish beat comes in -- boring, commonplace and thoroughly grounded in jaded
reality.
In the sequence where the Unicorn dies and winter comes in the American
version, the music is dubbed at such a low level it is difficult to make a
concrete judgment regarding Dream's music, although what one can hear of
their music is not very powerful in its support of what is happening. In the
European version, for some inexplicable reason, Ridley Scott decided to use
only bits of the cue that Goldsmith scored for this scene (the full cue is on
the album, however, entitled "Bumps and Hollows"), alternating with music
written for the film's climax. Even in the Goldsmith version, though, it is
dubbed at a ludicrously low level.
The scene where Jack first meets Gump is played by Goldsmith with a sustained
chord on strings and synthesizer when the faeries swarm around Jack and he
glances about to see what is happening. As Gump jumps down in front of him,
Goldsmith uses a quick, staccato excerpt led by oboe, from the "Sing the Wee"
theme. As Gump stands and bows, exclaiming "Honeythorn Gump, at your
service", Goldsmith continues the staccato music, now led by woodwinds,
xylophone and synthesizers. In this scene we are also introduced to Oona,
who is portrayed musically by a three note motif played by a high-pitched,
whistly synthesizer.
When the faeries swarm around Jack in the American version, Dream has noisy,
metallic percussion going, evoking more the feeling of MAD MAX's
"Bartertown", than faeries in a wintry forest. When Gump jumps down in front
of Jack, he is accompanied by a bamboo flutelike sound.
In the European version, Gump goes on to perform a frolicsome dance. This
entire dance sequence was cut from the American version. When Jack passes
the wine around, Goldsmith's music is based on "Sing the Wee" and led by
woodwind and strings, expressing the goodness and folksiness of the faeries.
Dream's music for this same scene is a weak, slightly jazz-tinted theme,
played on synthesized bamboo flute and pan flute.
In the cave scene, where Jack learns Oona's true identity, Goldsmith uses
Oona's theme on synthesizer as she leads Jack through. When she reveals
herself to be human in appearance the theme is played by high strings -
amorous and siren-like. When Jack goes to remove the sword from its resting
place, Goldsmith comes in with a heroic melody played on French horns and
trombones which conveys Jack's heroism and purity. Goldsmith's music here is
extremely important because, again, it expresses the characters. Dream's
music for this scene starts out as rhythmic, then becomes sparkly, dissonant
music that offers no insight into Oona's character at all. When Jack reaches
for the sword, they use their Jack theme (the melody that opens "Loved by the
Sun" on the album). It doesn't work, however. It uses Rock-style harmonies,
and is thus too "hip" and cocky. It sort of conveys Jack's heroism, but not
his humility. In the film, Jack is seen as unsure of himself until well into
the movie. And even then he certainly is not anything remotely resembling
cocky. But this brief music here strongly conveys cool self assuredness;
indeed, even arrogance. Thus, it is contradictory to what the character is
shown to be.
One very powerful moment in Goldsmith's score is one which he achieves
through rather limited means. In the scene where Jack and Co. follow the
goblin's tracks to Darkness' tree-castle, Goldsmith has the bass drums and
synthesizers playing a deep, pulsing rhythm, while another synthesizer sounds
a shivery, whooshing motif. It perfectly captures the immense size of the
castle, its great age, and the unimaginably perilous evil that lies within.
Dream's music for this scene is rhythmic and not nearly as effective as
Goldsmith's, but it does create an aptly creepy atmosphere. Goldsmith ceases
when they go down to the swamp, but Dream continues with murky sounding music
that actually suits the visual rather well.
Jack's confrontation with Meg Mucklebones, by the old tree in the swamp, was
not scored by Goldsmith. Dream's music for this scene is absolutely horrid.
As Meg hovers over Jack, Tangerine Dream employs a rock-ish five-note motif
over and over, counterpointed by old-fashioned, cliched 'scary' electric
organ music. This cue is really obnoxious and gets in the way of what's
happening. The "organ" (actually synthesizer) motif continues as Meg departs
and the camera tilts up toward the tree castle - an image crying out to be
perceived as frightening and formidable, but Dream's music fails to provide
the necessary support, instead providing old-style "haunted house" music
making the castle appear at best, quaint.
Goldsmith, for the castle shot, employs Darkness' theme (the first time we
hear it). Brooding, black-hearted, yet legato and impressionistic, it
features mainly woodwinds and male voices, and really brings out the
oppressive horror and dread of this image.
When Jack and his group have been captured, and Oona promises to help them
escape from the cage if Jack will kiss her, Goldsmith's music is spritely
and innocently sensuous, providing great insight into Oona's character. When
she impersonates Lili in order to seduce him, Goldsmith employs the Jack and
Lili love theme on flute, while counterpointing it with whistly synthesizer,
reminding us that here is indeed faerie magic at work here. When Jack
refuses to yield to her, the high, staccato woodwinds and synthesizer
perfectly convey her feelings of insult and rejection as she gets up and
flees in anger.
Tangerine Dream on the other hand, employs low dissonant walls counterpointed
with "slide-whistle" when Oona asks Jack to kiss her. This music sounds
appropriately strange and mysterious, but offers absolutely no insight into
the characters and how they are react. This music is too detached. When
Oona impersonates Lili, that slide whistle and guitar love theme comes back
and shatters the magic of the scene.
Nowhere is Goldsmith so sorely missed in LEGEND as in the "Dress Waltz"
scene. As I understand it, this is one of the pieces Goldsmith composed in
preproduction, to which the dance was choreographed. Ravel-like, his waltz
is dizzying and seductive, perfectly underscoring Lili's seduction by the
figure in black, yet at the same time acting as a very foreground element.
The orchestra and chorus swell in magical fury, finally reaching an explosive
climax as Lili is transformed into the dark figure herself. With Goldsmith,
the scene is hypnotic and of such an indescribable intensity that one is
exhausted after having experienced it.
Dream's substitute waltz for this scene is devoid of riveting power of
Goldsmith's waltz. It sounds like calliope music! It does not build or grow
in intensity, it simply goes along, sounding silly and marring the scene's
impact. The black apparition, whose appearance is so diabolical when
accompanied by Goldsmith, is stripped of its formidable presence. The
apparition and Lili look quite ridiculous dancing to this "carnival" music.
In the scene where the Dark Lord emerges from the mirror, Goldsmith uses the
"Darkness" theme, with male voices and woodwinds creating a chilling air of
black-hearted evil, superbly defining the towering wickedness of this
character. Dream's music here employs sampled voices (which sound overly
phony in transition from one note to another), counterpointed by synthesized
sitar playing Eastern-flavored pentatonic melody, which is absurd. Indian
music in LEGEND? This cue is used non-stop with little variation, in
virtually every moment of Darkness' screen time.
For the scene in the kitchen, Dream starts out with peppery synthesizer
accompanying the characters sneaking through the kitchen, which at first
works pretty well, but as the fight ensues the music degenerates into a
percussive rock cue with noisy electric guitar. This music, coupled with
Jack's fight with the chef expresses not his heroic character, but rather the
cocky Tom Cruise we all know from TOP GUN and RISKY BUSINESS. Until seeing
the Goldsmith version, I thought this scene was very confusingly shot and
edited. Not so, Dream's raucous music only made it seem so.
However, even in the Goldsmith version, this scene is flawed, as none of the
music here was even written for LEGEND. When Jack and Co. sneak through the
kitchen, the music is a suspense cue from Goldsmith's PSYCHO II! As for the
ensuing fight scene, though I don't recognize the music. It too sounds like
something written for another film, a straightforward action cue apparently
unrelated to the rest of the score. Another moment of recycled music occurs
after the fight, when the faeries cheer Jack. Ridley Scott tracks it with
the title music from PSYCHO II. While a little too soft for this moment, it
does at least serve to reinforce the innocence and goodness of these
characters, and certainly works better in this scene than Dream's music with
their haughtily heroic Jack theme (last heard in the cave).
When Darkness attempts to turn Lili to his wickedness, Dream just has their
"India" music smearing over the whole scene. Goldsmith, though, waits until
just the right moment to bring in his music. That moment occurs when
Darkness says "It is enough that we are alone together (he takes a step
toward her)... just the two of us". Right here Goldsmith comes in with a
low, eerie bell-like boom on synthesizer, beginning the sinister, yet legato
music for Darkness which continues as he speaks. The music crescendos as the
camera moves in closer to Darkness, and a sustained chord is held by male
voices and lower-register instruments.
We then cut to a shot of the setting sun nearing the horizon - the sustained
chord continues, countered by two "booms" on synthesizer doubled with piano.
The music here is immensely powerful, conveying the dread of what will happen
if the sun sets before Jack can put his plan into effect. The sunset shot is
invested with immense power, because Goldsmith's expresses the horrifying
connotations of what it represents. Dream, however, simply inserts their
"India" Darkness music; when we cut to the sun, the Darkness music abruptly
ceases, and they play their emotionally neutral "pan flute" Unicorn motif,
which does little to make us feel the urgency of this moment. The setting
sun is cause for alarm, but one does not become alarmed, because Dream's
music is not assertive enough to punctuate this sense of danger.
The climatic dungeon scene is handled fairly well by Tangerine Dream until
Lili frees the Unicorn by severing its chains with the sword. Here Dream
comes in with thoroughly unimaginative, generic suspense/action music,
accompanied by a thumping beat (in 2/4 time) that underscores the rest of the
scene with little variation.
On the other hand, Goldsmith begins the dungeon scene with a suspenseful four
note motif for high strings and woodwinds, moving into a suspenseful
variation of the love theme as Jack is faced with having to kill Lili since
she has apparently turned to evil. As Lili cuts the Unicorn's chain, proving
Jack's suspicious wrong, Darkness strikes her down and Jack, in desperate
rage swings down on a rope to do battle with him. As he swings down,
Goldsmith accompanies him with a heroic trumpet fanfare (in 6/8 time). When
Jack swings down in the Dream version, however, they accompany him with their
electronic thumping and a simple minded, "desperate" action cue.
Darkness gets a hold of Jack and traps him between his massive horns. This
is a significant moment as Jack is finally fact to face with his adversary,
and this adversary has the upper hand. Jack is in the clutches of the most
evil being in the world, and Goldsmith masterfully conveys Jack's feelings of
fright and horror with a searing, dissonant chord held by synthesizers and
strings. As Jack escapes the Dark Lord's clutches and engages in a sword
duel with him, Goldsmith's music becomes bold and heroic, its 6/8 tempo
suiting the exciting action perfectly. This is one of the best heroic cues
Goldsmith has ever written, in the style of his fine heroic music for
SUPERGIRL and KING SOLOMON'S MINES (though here more dramatic and
heavyweight.
This sequence of the film is parallel edited, cutting between Jack battling
Darkness in the dungeon and Oona attempting to wake up Screwball on the
castle top, and Goldsmith accents both situations as they appear. The tempo
of the music remains the same, but Jack is accented by heroic brass, while
Oona is personified by the whistly synthesizer. When Jack is overpowered and
subdued by Darkness, Goldsmith employs crescendoed low brass which
frighteningly portrays the Dark Lord's seemingly unstoppable power. Darkness
with one hand hurls jack against the wall and onto the floor. Lying there,
Jack looks over to see the Unicorn's horn slipping slowly into a pool of
burning water. Here Goldsmith brings in female voices that express both the
magical power of the horn, and the horror of what will happen if the horn is
lost - that Darkness will win, bringing eternal night and chaos on the world.
As the shaft of light blasts into the dungeon and engulfs Darkness, the
chorus is the dominant force, heralding his demise with storm-like fury. Jack
strikes him down and he is sucked into the abyss, accompanied by a solo
whistly synthesizer that rises in pitch as he is swept further and further
from our view. The excitement of this whole climactic sequence is just
indescribable when accompanied by Jerry Goldsmith. My only complaint is that
his music is dubbed at an annoyingly low level, hindering its contribution.
The thumping music by Tangerine Dream's that underscores the climax in the
American release offers little support to the visual, its 2/4 tempo being too
wooden to generate the excitement that Goldsmith's 6/8 tempo does. Nor does
their music provide the vital accenting for the significant events of this
sequence. Jack is cornered by Darkness, but the music does not convey the
chilling intensity of the moment. The generic, rock-ish music thumps through
the whole sequence, never altering to portray Oona's ethereal delicacy,
Jack's sterling heroism, Darkness' satanic evil or the significance of the
horn being nearly lost. Their music does turn momentarily triumphant as the
shaft of light burns into the dungeon, and appropriately black-hearted when
Darkness is dragged down the corridor (fortunately, they don't use their
"sitar" here).
Interestingly, in the Dream version this scene contains additional dialog
that actually makes the ending slightly different than in the Goldsmith
version. Darkness defiantly exclaims he cannot really be destroyed and that
his evil influence is within all of us. A few scenes later, the seemingly
happy ending is broken by a dissolve to a shot of the Dark Lord cackling
wickedly, with the implication that he truly cannot be destroyed. This was
probably derived from the ad-lib footage that Scott always shoots when making
a film (in case he wants to make changes while editing). Always thinking
with their wallets, Universal most likely altered the ending because they
wanted the option of doing a sequel if the film did well, and what's a sequel
without the old villain coming back?
The final scenes of Goldsmith's version are scored beautifully, as Jack
brings life back to Lili and Gump returns the horn to the Unicorn. One is
swept away by the majestic enchantment these scenes possess when invested
with his music. Dream, however, uses their haughty "Jack" theme over the
final scenes, referring briefly to the Unicorn theme. In an effort to make
it even more commercial, Universal added lyrics and singing by Jon Anderson
(the lead vocalist of the rock group, Yes). His lyrics are banal, and his
whiny, high-pitched singing demolishes the carefully crafted mood of the
moment. The Bryan Ferry song that follows into the end titles (creating an
awkward change of pitch in the segue) is equally boorish.
Jerry Goldsmith's score for LEGEND is simply perfect, which comes as no real
surprise as Goldsmith is the best there is, and his stylistic versatility has
been unmatched by any other composer in his more-than 125 film scores.
Tangerine Dream's score for LEGEND, on the other hand, does not at all fit
the delicate fabric woven by Ridley Scott. The Eastern-influenced,
transcendental type of music they specialize in is just fine on their
abstract recordings, but they don't seem to be able to function very well
outside of that realm, as is often needed for films. Their score is a
synthesizer score which occasionally leans toward pop. This kind of
electronic pop music seems to be a favorite among film and TV producers these
days. It is everywhere - commercials, TV shows, movies - particularly in
those sleazy, superficial kids films by John Hughes and other great thinkers.
This music is catchy and inexpensive. It is also commercial, and thus would
logically take care of Universal's dilemma concerning how to get the kids to
go to LEGEND. Unfortunately, the Universal execs didn't stop to think that
doing this would be the essential equivalent to trying to get children to eat
their veggies by putting chocolate syrup on them - it just makes it taste
worse, and the veggies get ruined in the process.
Now, this is not to say that electronic scores don't work. There have been
many highly effective scores of this kind - WITNESS, SUMMER LOVERS, JAGGED
EDGE. Of course, there have also been many inappropriate uses of synthesizer
scores in films: THE BOUNTY, SWORD OF THE VALIANT, among others. You'll
find that the most effective synthesizer scores are by the serious film
composers who understand the dynamics of film scoring, and not by musicians
who specialize only in synthesizer music. It's really the pop aspect of
Dream's score that makes it ill-fitting more than the fact that it was played
on synthesizers.
If they had to have a synthesizer score for their American release of LEGEND,
Universal could have at least asked Goldsmith to re-do his score for
synthesizer (as he did with part of his EXTREME PREJUDICE score when one
sequence was trimmed). But it's clear that Tangerine Dream were chosen for
LEGEND simply because they are a popular group and Universal wanted a name
which would (they thought) draw a larger audience. I wish Dream had stuck
closer to the approach taken by Goldsmith. Even though it would be
synthesized, it would still suit the film much better than a pop approach.
Its a tragedy that Jerry Goldsmith's best score to date should have ended in
this way. I hope he never applies his genius to scoring another film for
Universal.
*******************************************************************
7. What versions of the score are available on LP, cassette or CD?
LP
---
Jerry Goldsmith (International soundtrack) (1986) FILMTRAX
RECORDS # MOMENT 100
Cover: Close-up of Darkness with a playful smile.
Titled "LEGEND: The music of Jerry Goldsmith"
SIDE ONE
--------------
1. My True Loves Eyes
2. The Riddle
3. Sing The Wee
4. The Goblins
5. The Dress Waltz
6. The Ring
SIDE TWO
--------------
1. The Unicorns
2. Bumps and Hollows
3. Forgive Me
4. Re-United
(I was told at the time when I purchased this LP (1987) that it was a very
limited pressing by Goldsmith himself. - Tony)
=========================================================
CASSETTE
----------------
Tangerine Dream (U.S. Soundtrack) (1986) MCA RECORDS # MCA-6165
Cover: Darkness standing posed with eyes closed, holding staff.
Titled "Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack LEGEND"
SIDE ONE
--------------
1. Is Your Love Strong Enough?
Performed By Bryan Ferry
2. Opening (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
3. Cottage (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
4. Unicorn Theme (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
5. Goblins (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
6. Fairies (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
SIDE TWO
--------------
1. Loved By The Sun
Performed By Jon Anderson
2. Blue Room (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
3. The Dance (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream
4. Darkness (Instrumental-Tangerine Dream)
5. The Kitchen/Unicorn Theme Reprise (Instrumental-Tangerine
Dream)
=========================================================
COMPACT DISCS
[1] LEGEND - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Music By Tangerine Dream (c) 1985
Varese Sarabande VSD-5645 ISBN# 30206 56452
(same tracks as the previous release on vinyl
and cassette).
[2] Legend: The Music of Jerry Goldsmith
1986 UP-ART
Compact Disc: 86002
TIME: 46:40
(International soundtrack)
This is the compact disc version of the above vinyl LP. It is the exact same
in content and it's cover is the same. There are pictures on the back of the
LP cover that are not contained in the CD packaging. This CD is very basic,
cover and CD. It's not available in the U.S.
[3] Original Soundtrack Recording LEGEND: The Jerry Goldsmith Score
1992 Silva Screen Records America, Inc.
Compact Disc: FILMCD045
Time: 70:54
(International soundtrack)
Cover: A picture of the two unicorns galloping down the stream.
THE TRACKS :
---------------------
1. Main Title*/The Goblins
2. My True Love's Eyes#/The Cottage
3. The Unicorns
4. Living River*#/Bumps and Hollow#/The Freeze
5. The Faeries*/The Riddle
6. Sing The Wee#
7. Forgive Me
8. Faerie Dance*
9. The Armour*
10. Oona*/The Jewels*
11. The Dress Waltz
12. Darkness Falls*
13. The Ring
14. Re-United#
*contains previously unreleased material
# Lyrics by John Bettis
(This cd may be hard to find in many cd stores although I originally found
my copy at a Tower Records. If you are having any trouble tracking the Jerry
Goldsmith cd down, try some of these sources mentioned in section 8 and let
us know how you fare.
- Sean)
Currently available on "Born On The Fourth Of July: Music From The Films Of
Tom Cruise" is a single track from both the Goldsmith score and one from the
Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Although the Tangerine Dream cut is not the
original composition, this version is a very close rendition, what with a few
varying musical instruments. If you are fond of this score then I suggest
seeking out this music collection.
Track (6) LEGEND (Jerry Goldsmith) "The Unicorns" 7:58
The National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducted By Jerry Goldsmith
Track (7) LEGEND (Tangerine Dream) "Opening/Unicorn Theme" 6:28
Arranged, Performed and Produced By Mark Ayres
*******************************************************************
8. Where can I find the CD/Tape/Video/LD?
You can find the Japanese laserdisc of the European version of Legend at:
Virgin Megastore
2 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 397-4525
FAX : (415) 397-6126
Also try Site and Sound -
Sight & Sound Laser Discs
27 Jones Rd.
Waltham, MA 02154
(617) 894-8633 during our normal business hours(10AM - 7PM Eastern Time,
Mon-Sat)
http://challenge.tiac.net/users/amadeus/s&slaser.html
or Ken Cranes -
Ken Cranes LaserDisc
15251 Beach Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683
Phone: 1-800-624-3078
Phone (in California): 1-800-626-1768
Phone: 1-714-892-2283
Fax: 1-714-892-8369
http://www.kencranes.com/laserdiscs/index2.html
The following is taken from the rec.music.movies FAQ and should be of help
if your looking for soundtracks on CD or information about film Music
Periodicals
If you have anything to add to this or wish to get the full FAQ for
rec.music.movies please e-Mail:
SILVA SCREEN RECORDS AMERICA
1600 Broadway
Suite 910
New York, NY 10019
Voice: (212) 757-1616
Fax: (212) 757-2374
SILVA SCREEN RECORD LIMITED
Silva House,
261 Royal College Street
London NW1 9LU
Voice: +44-171-284-0525
Fax: +44-171-482-2385
Also has a first-rate mail order services for soundtracks from the USA.
Distributes GNP CRESCENDO RECORDS in the UK.
SCREEN ARCHIVES ENTERTAINMENT
PO Box 34792
Washington, DC 20043
Voice: (202) 328-1434
Fax: (202) 328-0745
E-mail Address: nipp...@aol.com
Specializes in soundtracks, and carries some of those scores you just
won't find anywhere else, including some older scores. Write for a free
catalog.
FOOTLIGHT RECORDS
113 East 12th Street
New York, NY 10003
Voice: (212) 533-1572
Fax: (212) 673-1496
A fast mail order service including both new and out-of-print material.
No catalog available; call to see what's in stock. Note that if you fax
your order, they WILL NOT REPLY to the fax to confirm that they got it.
They will also not reply to fax requests for information.
(There is a lot more information in this FAQ that will be of much
interest to anyone who is interested in Soundtrack CD's. -Sean)
[I have used Footlight and they get the product in the mail the day you
call. A plug because I appreciate this kind of fast service -Geoff]
*******************************************************************
9. What are the liner notes found in the Goldsmith CD?
The following information is taken directly from the CD booklet that
accompanies the above SILVA SCREEN release of the Jerry Goldsmith score. The
liner notes list each music track and explains the context in which the music
is found in the film. Two of these pieces, denoted by the #, are The Goblins
and Faerie Dance which are cues for sequences entirely cut from the film.
This text was written by Paul Andrew MacLean (c) 1992 and he has graciously
allowed us to reprint it here. Pages 2 - 9, and 13 - 18. (Pages 10 - 12 can
be found in question #1.)
THE CD MASTER
Preparing this new CD master was akin to combining a mystery story with a
jigsaw puzzle - a certain amount of detective work linked with a large degree
of patience.
The score of LEGEND has always been generally regarded as one of Jerry
Goldsmith's finest achievements although the original CD release proved to be
something of a disappointment - not because of anything lacking in the
musical content but due to the sub-standard packaging and shallow sound
quality. As the initial release of the soundtrack did not remain in catalog
for very long it was Silva Screen's original intention just to reissue the
original album with improved artwork, notations and sound. However, when it
was discovered that the original album master had been lost, we contacted the
recording engineer for the LEGEND sessions, Mike Ross-Trevor of the Hit
Factory Studios (London) in an effort to find alternative tapes. Fortunately
he had stored a set of 2-track digital tapes from the original sessions
(mixed-down from 8-track) which he knew "would be worth preserving".
These tapes featured some complete "takes" but many were just sections of
cues which had then been edited for the soundtrack and later for the album
master. Those edits had now to be "recreated", which proved difficult
especially as the film company had lost all of the printed scores for LEGEND,
so this work had to be done without the aid of following bar lines. Where
possible we have remained faithful to Goldsmith's edits, and because of great
advances in digital technology since 1985, have in some cases made "cleaner"
cuts. Whilst preparing the new CD master a wealth of other material was
found. So, an alternative master utilizing some of the additional music was
prepared and then sequenced in the order they would have appeared in the
uncut version of the film - Goldsmith's complete score was composed for a
film of 14 reels which was then trimmed down to 12 reels with the first 4
reels being left virtually intact, but then in other reels music from
completely different scenes appear, e.g. cues from reel 13 find their way
into reel 6! It was then decided to release this alternative master as it
gives a more complete and "darker" view of this landmark score from Jerry
Goldsmith's illustrious career.
Special thanks are due to Mike Ross-Trevor without whose skill, patience and
infinite care for detail, this release would not have been possible. -James
Fitzpatrick
LEGEND: Eons ago, the Lord of Darkness reigned sovereign over the world.
Then came the splendor of light which bestowed peace and harmony upon the
world, and the Dark Lord retreated to the solace of the shadows deep beneath
the world. Hateful of light, his destroyer, the Dark Lord plotted his return
to power by one day banishing light forever. But the secret and power of
light is safe from the clutches of the Dark Lord, resting in the souls of two
unicorns, who are hidden from all but the purest of mortals.
1) MAIN TITLE/THE GOBLINS#
An enchanted, "woodsy" atmosphere is conjured by ethereal chords from chorus,
synthesizers and strings, counter pointed by bird-like calls from the flute
and synthesizers, as the moonlit forest is seen. However, three goblins,
Blix, Pox and Blunder, disrupt the peace, as they espy two shafts of light
emanating from a forest glade. The noisy goblins rush to investigate, but the
light recedes, and the many animals gathered around it flee. All are gone as
the goblins reach the glade, save for a long, silvery hair caught upon a
tree-a strand from a unicorn's mane. The goblins snatch it up and ride off.
Goldsmith perfectly captures the wicked essence of the goblins in their
theme, which is most often voiced by an eerie synthesizer, the sound of which
has a strikingly "vicious" quality, suggestive of slime, flatulence and the
uncouth vulgarity so characteristic of these creatures.
2) MY TRUE LOVES EYES/THE COTTAGE
Sent out by the Dark Lord to destroy the unicorns, and bring back their
enchanted horns, the goblins stalk Lili, a young princess who sings to
herself as she wanders through a woodland glade. Arriving at the cottage of
her friend, a peasant woman named Nell, Lili mischievously plays a trick on
Nell by untying her laundry line. Lili enters the cottage, and the music
expresses her love of nature and longing for the simple agrarian life. But
this soothing air is interrupted by an eerie glissando from a synthesizer, as
Lili has a vision of Nell's chiming clock frozen in ice and snow, portending
the terrible fate which is to come from Lili's mischievous nature. The
pastoral mood returns however, when Nell enters, and Lili forgets her
premonition.
3) THE UNICORNS
Lili runs deep into the forest to meet her sweetheart, Jack, who lives alone
in the woods among the animals. Jack brings Lili to a secret place in the
forest, where they are able to gaze upon the unicorns who frolic blissfully
in a stream, and the unicorn's theme crescendos in its most soaringly
beautiful setting of the score. Not content merely to gaze, Lili leaves
Jack's side to get closer, but the goblins have been following the lovers,
and close in, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
4) LIVING RIVER/BUMPS AND HOLLOWS/THE FREEZE
Lured by Lili's song, the stallion inadvertently walks into Blix's line of
fire, where he shoots it with a poison dart from his blow-gun. Terrified,
both unicorns flee, and the goblins set-off in pursuit, their theme now
voiced by belligerently triumphant brass. Jack chastises Lili for her
blasphemous attempt to touch a unicorn, still unaware of the goblins and the
doom which has been sown. Lili sings to Jack to soothe his troubled spirit.
When he questions her true devotion, she hurls her gold ring into a deep pool
of water, joking that she will marry "he that can retrieve it." To her
startled surprise, Jack dives in instantly. However, in another part of the
forest, the Goblins corner the dying stallion and sever the spire from it's
head. The sky darkens and a raging tempest engulfs the world in snow and ice,
leaving Jack trapped beneath the frozen surface of the pool. He manages to
break through, but Lili has fled, believing him drowned. Running blindly
through the blizzard, Lili arrives at Nell's cottage, and the same
synthesizer glissando now signifies that her earlier vision has come to pass,
for Nell and her family (and the clocks) are all frozen stiff. Lili's trance
of horror is broken by the arrival of the goblins, (announced by the nasty,
viscous synthesizers) who burst through the door, narrowly missing the
princess as she ducks into the loft.
5) THE FAERIES/THE RIDDLE
Having collapsed from cold and exhaustion into the snow, Jack is revived by
woodland faeries, where he is introduced to Honeythorn Gump, a child-like,
but wise and ancient elf. Agreeing they must set things right, Jack sets off
with Gump and three faeries - Screwball, Brown Tom and Oona, to find the
remaining unicorn mare, and retrieve the spire of the stallion. After nearly
killing Jack with a spell to make him dance uncontrollably (as punishment for
allowing Lili to touch a unicorn), Gump offers Jack the chance for absolution
by answering a riddle- "What is a bell that does not ring, yet it's knell
makes the angels sing?", to which Jack correctly guesses, "bluebells". Being
bested by a mortal sends Gump into a temper tantrum, and he smashes his
fiddle in a rage, underscored by a frantic solo violin. Snapping out of it,
he befriends Jack and offers him faerie wine. The briefly happy mood is
broken however, when they are reminded of the peril the world is in, and that
they must try to do something about it.
6) SING THE WEE
Though aware of the terrible tragedy that has befallen the world, the faeries
retain the compulsion to sing, and launch into a song which celebrates their
faerie ways - ways which seem so frivolous to mortals who do not understand
them.
7) FORGIVE ME
Jack and the faeries discover the dead stallion in the snow. Angry brass
signals the appearance of the mare, who regards Jack with rage at having
caused the death of her mate. Tears well up in Jack's eyes as he begs the
unicorn's forgiveness, and the music shifts into a gentle, somber setting of
the unicorn theme on solo flute, expressing the mare's forgiveness (it is
appropriate to note that the unicorn's emotions of rage, sorrow, and finally
forgiveness, would not come across were it not for Goldsmith's music). Jack
explains to the faeries what he has learned from the unicorn. The stallion's
spire must be retrieved if the world is to be returned to normal, and a
mortal champion must be found to accompany the faeries in their search. Gump
chooses Jack, who is reluctant, but agrees.
8) FAERIE DANCE#
When Jack reveals he took Lili to see the unicorns and she touched one, Gump
and the faeries are so incensed that they cast a spell upon him and Jack
begins to dance uncontrollably. In an interesting blend of source music and
underscore, Gump plays his fiddle, while orchestra and synthesizers accompany
him. The tempo of the dance grows more ferocious, as Jack is literally danced
to the brink of death. With his last breath Jack proclaims "I did it for
Lili, I did it for love, and I would do so again!", at which point Gump
breaks off the spell, for folly out of love is a different story altogether.
(This dance was cut from the film).
9) THE ARMOUR
Jack is led by Oona, a tiny faerie who resembles a floating point of light,
into an ancient cave containing weapons and armour from eons past, which Jack
must take up to be the champion. Alone with Jack, Oona transforms into her
true form - that of a beautiful and alluring young nymph with dragonfly wings
and makes him promise to keep it a secret. A new theme, for Jack the
Champion, is introduced here by the noble French horns, as Jack reaches for
an ancient sword. Oona is personified by a three-note motif, heard on a high,
whistle-like synthesizer when she is a point of light, then joined by strings
and woodwinds when she transforms into a nymph.
10) OONA/THE JEWELS
Lili and the unicorn mare have been captured by the Goblins and taken to the
Dark Lord's fortress - a huge, decaying oak hundreds of feet tall, with the
facade of a castle in its thick trunk, surrounded by a dark, sinister swamp.
In pursuit of the goblins, Jack and the faeries overcome the peril of a
carnivorous swamp hag, only to be trapped in the cell- like larder of the
fortress's kitchen by ogre-chefs. Jack suggests Oona fly out and get the key,
forcing Oona to reveal her true form (infuriating Gump, who never had any
idea of it). She agrees to do as Jack wishes, if he will only kiss her.
Unsatisfied with Jack's quick peck on her lips. Oona takes the form of Lili,
hoping to seduce Jack, but to no avail, for Jack's love for Lili is true.
Hurt and rejected, Oona transforms back into a tiny light and angrily flies
away - but in seconds returns with the key and they escape. Meanwhile,
watching Lili, the Dark Lord is overcome with feelings of lust and desire,
and resolves to corrupt her soul and make her his bride. Lili, lost in the
cavernous fortress, wanders into the Dark Lord's empty throne room. Although
alone and frightened, she is seduced further into the chamber by a shimmering
box of precious and exotic jewelry.
11) THE DRESS WALTZ
A dark, wraith-like spirit wearing a grotesque, black gown appears to Lili
and dances hypnotically about her. Lili is soon bewitched and seduced into
the dance, which crescendos in euphoric fury. As the waltz reaches a climax,
Lili finds she is suddenly alone, and attired in the wraith's gown herself.
Dazed, she gazes with intoxicated vanity into a large mirror and admires
herself in the dress.
12) DARKNESS FALLS
Having confronted Lili, the Dark Lord reveals his plan to destroy the last
unicorn, which will prevent the sun, his destroyer, from ever rising again,
and make him lord over all. He attempts to seduce Lili with lies that her
true nature is one of evil, calling her responsible for the unicorn's death
and the tragedy which has befallen the world. Her corruption seems complete
when she consents to be the Dark Lord's bride, if he will permit HER to kill
the unicorn. However, Jack has devised a plan to bring light to darkness, by
arranging a series of giant shiny plates (stolen from the kitchen) to catch
and reflect the rays of the setting sun into the fortress to destroy the Dark
Lord. As the sun nears the horizon, Darkness and Lili make ready to spill the
blood of the unicorn, while Jack and Gump, hidden, look on in horror. But
instead of killing the unicorn, Lili remains true and uses her sword to cut
the chain which holds it captive, and it flees. Enraged, the Dark Lord
strikes her down, but he is attacked by Jack and they engage in a broad sword
duel, where the "Champion" motif now struggles to be heard against the
onslaught of the Dark Lord's theme. Meanwhile, high atop the fortress, Oona
tries desperately to rouse Screwball, who has fallen asleep after the long
climb to set-up the final plate. Jack fights valiantly against the Dark Lord,
but is overcome by the strength of the demon, who laughs at Jack's puny
efforts to defeat him. All seems lost until Oona and Screwball manage to
raise the plate at the last second. Heralded by a chorus in triumphant fury,
the final moments of sunset blast through the dungeon doors and engulf the
Dark Lord. Jack smites him down with his sword and the demon is swept into an
eternal abyss.
13) THE RING
Lili lies sleeping, still bewitched by a dark curse. Jack returns to the pool
and this time retrieves the ring. Placing it upon Lili's finger, Jack kisses
her and she awakens, the spell broken, and the two lovers embrace. In another
part of the woods, Gump restores the spire to the stallion's forehead, and it
is raised to life and reunited with the mare.
14) REUNITED
The world restored to the warmth of summer, Jack and Lili wave farewell to
the faeries and unicorns, and run hand-in-hand into the morning sunlight. The
end credits reprise the music for Jack, Lili, and the faerie theme of "Sing
the Wee" in a fuller setting, bringing the score to a finale of ethereal
reassurance, where light truly has overcome the darkness.
THE MUSIC
As much as the visual essence of faerie tales is captured in Ridley Scott's
images, Jerry Goldsmith deftly conjures their musical ambiance in his score.
Goldsmith is clearly imbued with an uncanny insight into the characteristic
playfulness and ethereal sensuality of faeries and woodland spirits, as well
as the dark brooding and hate of demonic forces, and his score rings
quintessentially true.
Goldsmith had previously worked with Ridley Scott on ALIEN, but found it a
frustrating experience, sighting lack of creative input and feedback from the
director as a major difficulty. As a result, Goldsmith's score for ALIEN was
not used as it was intended, and some of his original music was discarded in
favor of temp music (consisting of Howard Hanson's "Symphony #2") and
Goldsmith's own music for the 1962 film FREUD". In spit of his experience on
ALIEN, however, Goldsmith was the never the less very eager to score LEGEND,
having been utterly bewitched by the beauty of William Hjortsberg script.
Written in London over 3 months, Goldsmith scored LEGEND for a full orchestra
and chorus, embellished by an ensemble of synthesizers, including the YAMAHA
DX-7, ROLAND JP-8, MEMORYMOOG, OBERHEIM OB,-8 DMX & DSX, and Sequential
PROPHET-T8. Unlike the coarse, propulsive synthesizer music of RUNAWAY (a
futuristic action adventure thriller Goldsmith completed shortly before
LEGEND), the electronics here complement the orchestra and chorus with a
sparkling, effervescent air, evoking faerie enchantment and black magic,
while at the same time fulfilling more specific character expression, in
particular for the goblins and Oona.
Stylistically, the score is lushly Romantic, yet suffused with the fluidity
of Impressionism as well. The way Goldsmith veers from familiar tonality
into the mysterious and uncertain atonal realm, makes the score inherently
evocative of fantasy. As the music drifts between tonality and atonality, so
does fantasy drift within that twilight realm between dreams and reality, the
concrete physical world and the spirit realm. The use of voices also lends a
spiritual atmosphere, with a vocalize chorus suggestive of angels (and
sometimes demons), swirling about the orchestra in a fashion somewhat
reminiscent of another great fantasy score, Maurice Ravel's ballet DAPHNIS ET
CHLOE. Elements of folk music are also prominent in Goldsmith's score, most
notably in the faerie music, such as the song "Sing the Wee", and Gump's
reel-like solo fiddle in "Faerie Dance".
Goldsmith's contribution to LEGEND was also more than an ordinary film score.
While most of the music was written for the completed film in post-
production, Goldsmith actually began working in pre-production, with
choreographer Arlene Phillips on the film's dance sequences, and with
lyricists John Bettis on the songs sung by Lili and the faeries (Goldsmith
had previously worked with Bettis on THE LONELY GUY and TWILIGHT ZONE-THE
MOVIE). However, while dances and songs were featured in the film, LEGEND is
not a musical, where dramatic "reality" is suspending to accommodate musical
numbers. Rather, these songs and dances occur within the context of their
respective scenes as part of the story (for example, Lili singing in order to
attract the Unicorn, or the faeries casting a spell on Jack to dance him to
death).
The score is thematically complex, although Goldsmith refrains from using
leitmotifs, per se, believing that a score should instead be built from one
basic theme, and out of that theme a few notes extracted and re-configured to
develop more themes, so that all the material is related and indigenous to
that one score.
When LEGEND was reduced to its 95 minute release cut, this of course
necessitated that the music track be cut-down as well. Unfortunately this
was executed with little regard for the cohesion of the score. Cues were
indiscriminately edited, if not needlessly removed altogether. Worse, bits
of different cues were cut together to make "new" pieces of music (Resulting
in awkward shifts in key, tempo and orchestration), while other cues were
used more than once, resulting in redundancy. Additionally, as in ALIEN,
temp music was again retained (this time from Goldsmith's score for PSYCHO II
plus library music by British composer Tim Souster), resulting in a breach of
stylistic structure.
But even in its ravaged state, Goldsmith's score still contributed greatly to
LEGEND, bringing to life its faerie-tale heart and soul. Fortunately,
preserved on disc, the music's evocation of nature, spirituality, heroism,
love and the epic struggle of powers of light and darkness can be heard in
its fullness, as it was originally meant to be.
THE COMPOSER
Jerry Goldsmith was born in Los Angeles in 1929. He studied piano with Jacob
Gimpel, and composition with Mario Castelnuovo - Tedesco. Goldsmith's strong
love of drama, coupled with the prospect of how difficult it might be to make
a living writing concert music, convinced him to pursue a career composing
music for films. Goldsmith continued his education at UCLA, while studying
film scoring with Miklos Rozsa at USC. Expertise with another kind of
keyboard, the typewriter, enabled Goldsmith to land a position as a
clerk/typist at CBS radio in Hollywood, where, as he put it, "a lot of
persistence and nagging" finally gave him the opportunity to write music for
radio drama programmes. Goldsmith ultimately broke into television, where he
contributed noteworthy scores for many productions, including DR. KILDARE,
PERRY MASON, PLAYHOUSE 90, GUNSMOKE and THE TWILIGHT ZONE.
In time, Goldsmith graduated to feature films, and during the sixties his
talents were sought-out by legendary film directors such as John Huston, Sam
Peckinpah, Otto Preminger and Robert Wise. Since then, Goldsmith has earned
a reputation as perhaps the most continually eclectic and prolific composer
for films, with diverse scores for over 150 productions, among them A PATCH
OF BLUE, PLANET OF THE APES, PATTON, CHINATOWN, MAGIC, STAR TREK - THE MOTION
PICTURE, POLTERGEIST, UNDER FIRE, TOTAL RECALL, THE RUSSIA HOUSE and BASIC
INSTINCT.
Goldsmith has also established a reputation in the concert hall as well as
films. He made his public conducting debut in 1969 with the Southern
California Chamber Symphony, performing his cantata "Christus Apollo". His
orchestral concert works have been premiered by ensembles such as the St.
Louis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and the Dallas Symphony
conducted by Goldsmith himself, while his ballets have been performed by the
National Ballet of Australia, the San Francisco Ballet, and Ballemet, a young
dance company in Columbus, Ohio. Over the last several years Goldsmith has
also conducted a successful series of live concerts of his film music with
many of the top orchestras in Great Britain, the United States and Canada.
Jerry Goldsmith is one of the most trend setting and respected of composers,
and his influence on an entire generation of younger film composers is most
apparent. Conductor Leonard Slatkin has noted Goldsmith as an example of how
film music is sometimes more adventurous and forward-looking than much of the
music that has been written for the concert hall in recent years. Goldsmith
is also a strong advocate of electronic instruments being accepted as a new
section of the orchestra, and that their inclusion is part of the orchestra's
necessary and inevitable evolution.
As an artist, Jerry Goldsmith is not a great believer in waiting for
"inspiration", nor does he subscribe to the notion of creative burn-out. For
him, creativity stems from being disciplined enough to just sit down and
write, and as long as one has mastered one's craft, music will come.
Goldsmith has been the recipient of many honors, including six Golden Globe
nominations, seven Grammy nominations, and fourteen Academy Award
nominations, winning the Oscar for THE OMEN.
THE AMERICAN RELEASE
Although Jerry Goldsmith's score was noted in many reviews of the European
release as one of the film's most positive attributes, Universal Executive
Sidney Jay Sheinberg determined that the success in America was dependent on
replacing Goldsmith's score with more commercial, pop/rock-style music. This
would theoretically make the film more "accessible" to, and attract, teenage
audiences, as well as allow for a more marketable pop-music soundtrack album.
The fact that LEGEND had been conceived in pre-production with Goldsmith's
dance sequences and songs as an inherent element (the script actually
contained John Bettis' lyrics) was apparently considered irreverent.
The Universal version was also cut differently, with a few shots and quick
scenes which were not in the Fox release, including an ill-fitting kissing
scene early in the film (derived from different shots of Jack and Lili's kiss
at the film's end), which utterly ruins the faerie-tale innocence of Jack and
Lili by implying they have had sex. [Editor's Note : See question #3 for more
information)
Scott was bitter about the changes imposed by the American distributor, which
were against the essential nature of the film, and a clear attempt to capture
the core audience of MTV and John Hughes' teen-narcissism films, which were
big money-makers at the time. But Scott, now wallowing in the all-to-common
post-production doldrums where director's are convinced their latest creation
is a flop, bowed willingly to Sheinberg (who personally presided over the
editing), welcoming the "objective" collaboration of someone who also desired
the film's success. However, when LEGEND was released in America, it
received scalding reviews and failed to be the hit with teens that Sheinberg
had hoped after all his "improvements".
Interestingly, around the same time, Sheinberg also attempted to "improve"
the other Arnon Milchan production awaiting release by Universal - Terry
Gilliam's BRAZIL, by dumping Michael Kamen's score (again in favor of pop
music), as well as other radical narrative alterations. Gilliam however
remained steadfast that BRAZIL be released his way, and threatened to burn
the negative if his wishes were not honored. The director's cut of BRAZIL
wound-up winning the award for Best Picture of 1985 from the Los Angeles Film
Critics Association, and Sheinberg was left with abundant egg on his face
(and within a year, Sheinberg was to have an even worse disaster, having
personally "green-lighted" the infamous HOWARD THE DUCK).
Had LEGEND been released as originally intended, who can say what its
reception might have been? But shorn of one quarter of its running time, and
one of its most powerful elements - Jerry Goldsmith's score, its failure was
unsurprising, and in that state, perhaps deserved.
THE OTHER SCORE
Selected to replace Goldsmith's score was Tangerine Dream, the German
electronic group, consisting of synthesists Chris Franke, Johannes
Schmoelling and Edgar Froese (who originally formed the ensemble).
It is probable that the Dream's work on RISKY BUSINESS was a deciding factor
in their selection, as it was at that time Tom Cruise's most successful film,
and Universal no doubt thought the Dream's involvement in another Tom Cruise
film would invest LEGEND with the "successful formula" to attract the youth
market.
The Dream approached LEGEND differently from Goldsmith, scoring the film
"wall-to-wall" (with roughly 85 minutes of music for the ninety-minute cut),
largely retaining their signature style of Eastern-influenced "New Age" pop
throughout.
While the Dream have not been unsuccessful in some of their film endeavors,
their adherence to purely electronic music, and their admitted desire to
retain a consistent stylistic "identity" even when doing films, limits the
spectrum of assignments to which they can effectively contribute. Although
the "metaphysical" electronic sound of the dream would seem on the surface
correct for LEGEND's air of spirituality, its appropriateness is
questionable, as the Dream's style is strongly rooted in Eastern traditions,
while LEGEND's was rooted in Western lore of Britain and northern Europe.
There are moments of effectiveness in their LEGEND score, but much of their
music feels stylistically out-of-place, such as the sampled sitar playing a
quasi-pentatonic melody, while the more gritty, rock-styled cues clash with
the delicate, faerie-tale quality of the film, as well as affecting the
credibility of Tom Cruise's performance (the slick, RISKY BUSINESS-style of
certain cues clashing with Cruise's playing a kinder, gentler, kind of
teenager).
One thing Tangerine Dream's score did have in common with Goldsmith's
however, was that it also fell victim to studio meddling. When Universal
decided a song was needed over the final scene of the film, they simply
overlaid the Dream's cue for the finale with the vocals of Jon Anderson
(without the Dream's cooperation). The Dream were obviously not pleased by
this interference, but had no say when it was done, nor when a totally ill-
fitting rock song by Bryan Ferry was put over the end credits (Universal no
doubt felt that Bryan *Ferry* was the right choice for a *faerie* tale).
While Goldsmith's score complemented LEGEND perfectly, it would appear that
Ridley Scott is somewhat indecisive when it comes to music, as was previously
illustrated by Scott's hiring electronic composer Vangelis to score BLADE
RUNNER, even though much of that film was in fact temp-tracked with
*orchestra* music from Goldsmith's PLANET OF THE APES and James Horner's
HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP.
Ironically, when Universal sold LEGEND to American television, they beefed-up
its running time by adding footage from the Goldsmith-scored version, so that
in one scene Goldsmith's score suddenly pops in for a few minutes, then the
Dream's music returns, causing a jarring clash of styles.
In the final analysis, few involved with LEGEND came away particularly
pleased, but the fate of the film served to reinforce the notion that
entertainment businessmen should best remain in their swivel chairs and leave
creative work to creative people.
Music Composed, Conducted & Produced by JERRY GOLDSMITH
Lyrics by JOHN BETTIS
Performed by THE NATIONAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (Leader : Sydney Sax)
Recorded and mixed at CBS Studio 1 (London), January 1985 by Mike Ross Trevor
Album sequenced at The Hit Factory (London) by Mike Ross-Trevor and James
Fitzpatrick, July 1992
Published by Filmtrax PLC
Executive Producer for Silva Screen Records Ltd: Reynold da Silva
CD release Supervision: David Stoner
All Stills and Artwork 1985 20th Century Fox Film Corp.
Layout Design and Artwork: Stephen Pettman
Typesetting by Diamond Graphic Ltd.
1985 Filmtrax plc
Issued under license from Trax Music Ltd.
1992 Silva Screen Records Ltd.
For information on the Goldsmith Society, write to :
Jonathan Axworthy
102 Horndean Road
Emsworth, Hants. PO10 7TL
Marketed by SILVA SCREEN RECORDS LIMITED
SILVA HOUSE, 261 ROYAL COLLEGE STREET, LONDON NW1 9LU
TEL: 071-284-0525 TELEX: 8951182 GECOMS G FAX:071-482-2385
For further information about our film soundtrack catalogue, please send a
SAE to Silva Screen Records.
*******************************************************************
10. Is there a "Making of" documentary?
As far as we know. What we've been able to find out is that a documentary
does exist and that it was produced by Nickelodeon. It was part of the
series called "Standby : Lights, Camera, Action" hosted by Leonard Nimoy.
We've never seen it but we know it's out there somewhere. If anyone has a
copy or knows how to get one, please drop Sean a line at Figme...@aol.com.
*******************************************************************
11. Can I get a script of the film?
There are two versions of the script that can be readily obtained from
Hollywood Book and Poster. They are :
LEGEND of Darkness (A Screenplay) by William Hjortsberg, Early draft with no
date, 145 Pages.
LEGEND Original Screenplay by William Hjortsberg, 2nd Draft Revised 10 March
1984, 121 Pages.
Both scripts can be found at :
Hollywood Book & Poster
6349 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(213) 465-8764
FAX : (213) 465-0413
One other script dated the same as the March 10 script was found by Geoff
Wright at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Library in
Hollywood. They do not allow one to make xerox copies so the major
differences from the March 10th script available from Hollywood Book & Poster
are described below. This version of the script has dates on the pages that
are long after principal photography was completed. Some of the dialogue
that is missing from this version of the script is included in both the
March 10th script AND in the European version of the film. So we can
surmise that this represents the film as cut at one point rather than as
filmed. Keep in mind these differences will not mean much to those who don't
have the March 10th script for comparison. [A subsequent trip and more
careful reading of the script in the library revealed that the differences
were much greater than those outlined below. The greatest differences have
been mentioned, but to detail them all would add a tremendous amount to an
already large FAQ. -Geoff]
[1] "New Opening Sequence" dated September 25 1984, after principal
photography was completed. This new opening is similar to but longer than
the opening in the European release of the film. Following this is the
segment where the 4 goblins encounter the unicorns in the woods much like in
the March 10th script where the goblins, unable to catch them, manage to
find a magical hair from one of them and return to Darkness with it. The
sequence is different in small details (for example Blix participates in the
killing of Tic by causing him to fall into the abyss near the entrance to
Darkness' Tree rather than have him eaten by Meg at the swamp). The lines
about Lili being the bait that never fails, i.e. innocence, comes after this
segment when the goblins meet up with Darkness again at the Great Tree. There
is less rhyming in the goblin dialogue in this version.
[2] As in the European cut, Lili does not see a vision of the icy future on
the clock as she does in the American version. Also the dialogue between
Lili and Nell is changed somewhat.
[3] The dialogue in the forest after Jack tells Lili he has something special
he has been promising to show her and before he blindfolds her is shortened a
bit.
[4] No snake is seen in the water when the two come to the stream, but the
part about the alicorn purifying the water is there.
[5] Jack and Lili's dialogue at the stream is much like the film (the page
is dated May 1 so perhaps this is what was filmed). Lili does tell Jack she
wants to touch one before leaving to do so, followed by "you can't stop me"
in answer to his objection.
[6] As in the film, some of the dialogue between Jack and Lili at the stream
was moved to a point following the fleeing of the unicorns shown here:
[after Lili asks Jack why it was wrong to touch the unicorns]
J: It is known, Lili. They're sacred animals.
L: I don't care.
J: You risk your immortal soul talking like that.
L: And you sound just like my confessor. I only wanted to touch one...
Oh Jack, where's the harm in that...? Don't be such a scold...It was
magic...thank you.
[7] Lili sees many frozen animals around the grounds when she returns to the
cottage after the disaster. She has no encounter with a house brownie. The
brownie was most likely written out before filming.
[8] The dialogue at the fire is slightly different but almost as long as in
the March 10 script and therefore much longer than that shown in the film.
See the answer to question 12) "What's wrong with this picture?" for details.
[9] At the unicorn death site the dialogue is slightly shortened, but still
there is the question whether Jack is truly human and not immortal.
[10] The faeries blindfold Jack when taking him to the cave much as he did
earlier to Lili. This scene at the cave is very much like the film--not
Gump's house as in the March script. Jack is disturbed by the fact that they
intend to rob a grave, but Gump says, "What can you steal from a man who's
lost his life?"
Jack sees a corpse of a beautiful knight there and decides he cannot go
through with it and starts to leave. At this point Oona reveals herself to
him and pleads with him to help them.
[11] The encounter with Meg Mucklebones is very much like the longer film
version (seen in Universal's longer cut for TV).
[12] Blix calls the screaming pygmies away to help with something and this is
why Jack and Gump escape them (they are both trapped in a small room or
closet as in the March script).
[13] Lili does not turn into an animal and Screwball does not go into the
great hall to steal food though he is trying to run away as in the March 10th
script. There is a page missing from the script in the library at this
point, so the lines where hear Screwball say he is getting out are gone. But
from the subsequent dialogue, we can assume that he said this. When he
collapses at the top, this script attributes it to exhaustion.
[14] Jack is not explicitly shown to be immortal and the fight between him
and Darkness is very similar to the one we have in the film (although he
doesn't throw the alicorn into Darkness' stomach as in the film).
[15] The ending was very different (see the end of next section for a
description.)
In all there were fifteen rewrites to the script.
(The only other place I can imagine finding a different version is at a
Science Fiction Convention or from someone who deals in scripts. - Sean)
[And if you do find another version, PLEASE tell us. -Geoff]
*******************************************************************
12. What's wrong with this picture?
"As far as I'm concerned, we had an amazing piece of work,
and then we were told to make LEGEND much shorter. It lost
something and the audience will never know what that was."
-Terry Rawlings
"I think the real victim is the picture. The entire concept
of the film has been totally changed."
-Jerry Goldsmith
The editing of the film in both the American and the European versions is
particularly bad. The massive cutting left the film with many
discontinuities in both image and music as well as in dialogue which no
longer flows as it once did judging by the script. In this section I analyze
the film scene by scene focusing on the European version with respect to the
editing decisions and where I feel they harmed the film. Whenever my
comments concern the American version, I say so in the comment. Keep in mind
that it is likely that no one could have cut almost an hour from this film
and made it look smooth. So my criticism is more with those at the studio
who forced the cuts than it is with Rawlings. But Rawlings too is deserving
of some criticism. He seems to have a habit of second guessing the composer
when he edits the music, moving cues around even when they contain motifs
inappropriate to the new scene. Goldsmith strongly resents the changes he
made to both ALIEN and LEGEND in this regard (see CinemaScore, Summer 1987).
The characters of the film were seriously flattened by the cuts and this, as
much as anything else, is responsible for the failure of many in the audience
to become engaged in the film. In a large section below taken from the March
10 script the reader can see that Gump's character was changed significantly
and becomes completely one-dimensional in the American version. Lili's
character in the script had more of a regal arrogance to it. Her "I'm a
princess--you can't tell me what to do" attitude toward Jack's warnings about
touching the unicorns that initiates the disaster in the film is not nearly
as evident as in the script. With this (and other) dialogue, the audience
would more easily realize that it is truly Jack who is the innocent one in
the film (Scott, in an interview in the French publication, L'Ecran
Fantastique, says exactly this about Jack's character). The shortening of
the scene between Lili and Darkness also weakens a crucial sequence in the
film to the point where her decision to kill the unicorn appears to come out
of nowhere. Screwball also had much of his original "Grumpy" character left
on the cutting room floor as can be seen in the comments below.
Above all, however, cutting the film after it has been scored harms the
integrity of the music unless Goldsmith could have re-scored the altered
sequences. After 15 drafts of the script, Scott must have had what he wanted
from the writing. If a director's cut is ever made, I hope they will
preserve the music's integrity by returning to the cut that was scored by
Goldsmith. Anyone who is familiar with the soundtrack will know that it was
severely harmed by the cut and paste editing it was subjected to.
I make use of the March 10th script and the Final Shooting Script that is in
the Margaret Herrick library in Hollywood. I believe the latter script to a
large extent reflects the film as cut in the early stages, and thus is a very
good source of Scott's original intent. The final script is clearly not a
perfect reflection of the film as shot, however. There are sequences which
remain in this script that were changed during filming, so no attempt was
made to clean it up in its entirety to make it perfectly match the finished
film. On the other hand, some sequences in this script seem to reflect the
film as edited rather than as shot, because some of the dialogue from the
March 10 script, that is shown to be trimmed in the final script, is later
restored in the European version of the film. There are dates on the pages
that run late into September, which is after principal photography was
finished--the film started shooting on March 23 and was a 21 week shoot,
which means that shooting wrapped in August, even if it did run over a few
days as Scott claimed due to the fire--so some shooting most likely continued
as those who looked at the edited product began to second guess its impact
and clarity. An example is the New Opening Sequence that is dated September
25, 1984. -Geoff
- The shot of Blix at the end of the credit sequence staring with a look of
wonder and awe does not work at all as cut. The next shot is that of the
Great Tree (Darkness' castle), with the clear implication that this is the
object of his gaze. This makes little sense since he is one of Darkness'
goblins and surely knows the Tree well. Originally the opening credit
sequence was followed by a sequence showing four goblins on a hunt chasing
after the unicorns, creatures they have never before encountered. Almost
certainly this gaze of Blix would be directed at the unicorns who in the
script were shown as streaks of light at this point, adding to their mystery.
The FOUR goblins, consisting of Blix, Pox, Blunder and Tic, are unable to
capture these elusive creatures but find a hair in the bushes with magical
properties which they take back to Lord Darkness. There are a number of
reasons to restore this sequence: here we see how Blunder gets his chicken-
claw arm (Darkness changes it with a blast of energy from his hand after
Blunder brags loudly to him about being the one who found the unicorn hair);
the characters of the goblins are developed; in the March 10th script, we see
Tic (the fourth goblin) fall into the swamp and to be eaten by Meg which
would increase the anticipatory tension in the audience during the swamp
scene later in the film; alternatively, in the final script, Tic is dropped
down what seems to be a bottomless pit after attempting to swing across it on
a vine as the other goblins had before him--Blix pushes him back and cuts the
vine. Again, in the latter version, the audience's tension would be
increased later in the film when we see Jack and the faeries standing on the
rock/trap that covers this pit as they are trying to gain entry to Darkness'
lair. It is a much better introduction than the one seen following the
credits in both released versions where Darkness is introduced. The latter
scene was a late addition and very poorly written. We know it is a late
addition because the top of the page in the final script says, "New opening
sequence" and is dated September 25th. The film would be better if it were
deleted altogether (though I do think it contains a nice allusion to
Michaelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" with Darkness finger touching the
finger-like nose of Blix).
- We hear Lili singing in the beginning but see no lip movement. I think the
first part of this scene was cut for time and the singing (shortened from
that heard on the soundtrack CD) dubbed over a later shot as Lili is coming
through the woods toward the cottage.
- The cut from the clock to Nell's entrance is too abrupt. The editor should
have allowed the clock scene to continue through to the frozen vision of the
future as seen in the American version. Goldsmith wrote a very nice cue for
this scene, but it too is cut short due to the editing decision.
- Some of the reaction shots of Lili during the conversation with Nell are
too long. They look a bit false and don't always seem appropriate for the
words we hear from Nell in voice-over.
- The problem with this entire cottage sequence, and so many other sequences
throughout the picture, is that it FEELS tightened up as one watches it; the
dialogue suffers greatly in the process. Lines like Lili's, "Nell, not a
country proverb nor king's command could keep me from the woods today," would
work much better with the supporting dialogue about her father the king and
Nell's warning proverb that came just prior to this line. Instead, this line
now follows, "Oh, have you got a sweetheart waiting?" with none of the prior
dialogue that would make the conversation sound natural.
- In the woods, Lili meets Jack but her line, "You're so clever" doesn't work
as well as it should because the prior shot of Jack talking with the bird has
been cut from the film. The only cleverness we see is the fact that a bird
lights on his shoulder.
- The Bouquet of flowers that she has brought with her to the woods is
suddenly and inexplicably gone. In the script, it was a gift to Jack; within
it Lili had hidden a tart for him.
- Jack compliments Lili on her ability to speak to a bird she holds in her
hand but no bird call is heard from Lili in the European version. In the
American version her bird call is heard.
- As stated above, Lili's dialogue with Jack when they first see the unicorns
is almost completely gone. Her character is flattened, and so is the scene.
- One shot they chose to use of Lili singing to the unicorn during her
attempt to seduce him to come to her has far too much duck down floating
about in the air. Perhaps there were no alternate takes, but it looks as if
a load of the stuff was simply dumped on top of her.
- There is a jarringly bad musical discontinuity as the goblins take off
after the wounded unicorn.
- In one shot, as the goblins are chasing after the wounded unicorn, four
goblins are seen riding around a bend in a shot that presumably was taken
from the first part of the film where the group was made up of four.
- After Jack dives into the water, Lili's first scream doesn't fit. She
should have seen the pond freezing over (and so should we) before this, so
her reaction would be more meaningful.
- The music was re-edited for the scene where Lili is running back to the
cottage. The music for "The Freeze" segment was nicely written by Goldsmith,
but now most of it is gone, with large sections replaced by sections from the
"Darkness Falls" cue.
- Cuts during the scene of the goblins in the cottage are far too quick, too
MTV.
- The music is dubbed too low for most of the film. The faerie sequence is a
good example of this.
The editing of the faerie scene:
Many cuts are made throughout the dialogue between Jack and the faeries. The
following is the scene in its entirety from the March 10th script. The
columns on the right show what parts of the dialogue occurred in the
American, European, and TV versions of the film. You will be able to decide
for yourself whether you think the editing was well done or not. My belief
is that it works much better in its full version and strengthens the
character of Gump significantly to see his more threatening side. There are
some lines which are a bit wordy like Gump's, "How does a migrating
swallow...", but on the whole I felt the cuts to be far too deep here so that
the editing broke the mood that the scene should have evoked. Now the
inflections sound off at times and the visuals too often appear clipped and
choppy.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Text from the March 10 script with additions in curly brackets |AM|EU|TV|
___________________________________________________________________|__|__|__|
46 EXTERIOR FAERIE CIRCLE NIGHT | | | |
| | | |
A Campfire blazes. Jack sleeps beside a tiny fire. | | | |
Shivering under his new cloak. | | | |
| | | |
A tiny glowing LIGHT streaks out of the woods. It circles | | | |
around Jack. The LIGHT touches the fire and it BLAZES up | | | |
like a bonfire, waking Jack. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
What....? | | | |
Lili....? Lili....? |X |X |X |
| | | |
{ GUMP | | | |
Jack! } |X |X |X |
| | | |
46A JACK'S POV : LIGHT | | | |
| | | |
Jack stares at the radiant bubble hanging above him. He | | | |
sees a tiny woman-child with delicate dragonfly wings | | | |
trapped inside. This is Oona [called Luna in this script]. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (CONT OS) | | | |
Who're you? |X |X |X |
| | | |
46B EXTERIOR FAERIE CIRCLE NIGHT | | | |
| | | |
Oona ZOOMS off into the treetops. | | | |
| | | |
Jack grabs a flaming brand and jumps to his feet. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (CONT) | | | |
Who's there....? |X |X |X |
| | | |
[These last 2 lines are in the opposite order in the film | | | |
and directed toward Gump, not to Oona.] | | | |
| | | |
Watching him through the drifting smoke is GUMP, an elf | | | |
no more than waist high. Slightly built, he is near-naked | | | |
in spite of the cold. His face is that of a child, yet | | | |
his eyes shine with a wisdom centuries old. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (smiling mysteriously) | | | |
Here you be a forest child and not know the Gump... |X |X |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
Gump, is it? |X |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Aye, Jack.... | | | |
Honeythorn Gump at you service.... |X |X |X |
| | | |
The air is filled with frenzied CLICKS and SNAPS: stones | | | |
tapping, sticks rubbing, logs being thumped etc. | | | |
| | | |
Numbers of green-glowing eyes stare at Jack out of the | | | |
shadows. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
{ I...I must be dreaming. | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
If life is a dream, better you dread the waking. | |X |X |
| | | |
Oona flies around Jack, pestering him. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (OS) | | | |
Stop it! | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
That's Oona. She likes you. | |X |X |
| | | |
JACK (waving and blowing at Oona) | | | |
Go Away! | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Does your blood run so cold, Jack? You'll be | |X |X |
a corpse before your time. } | |X |X |
| | | |
JACK (frightened) | | | |
How d'you know my name? |X |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
How does a migrating swallow know the way south | |X |X |
in winter....? Or a spawning salmon find the | |X |X |
tiny freshet of its birth from the cold black | |X |X |
depths of the mysterious sea....? | |X |X |
I know everything, Jack. |X |X |X |
| | | |
[Gump's speech is relooped to change the word "freshet" to | | | |
"source". There is no need for this since the context makes | | | |
it clear what a freshet is to anyone who might not know the | | | |
word and it weakens the scene when the lip movements don't | | | |
match the word.] | | | |
| | | |
{ Yet I do not understand what has happened today. } |X | | |
| | | |
[This line is delivered OS. It was clearly re-looped | | | |
after principal photography was finished, not delivered | | | |
by David Bennent during shooting.] | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
Everything....? Why has this happened? Why is | |X |X |
it winter now? | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
I'd be a powerful wizard indeed could I answer.... | | |X |
(shrewdly) | | | |
Suppose you tell me, Jack. |X |X |X |
| | | |
JACK (uncomfortable) | | | |
Me? | |X |X |
How can I do that? |X | |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
You know these woods as well as any elf.... |X | |X |
Did you not see something odd today? Any strange |X |X |X |
spirits? Did nothing untoward happen? |X |X |X |
| | | |
{ JACK | | | |
No. | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
No?....No, nothing? } | |X |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
No.... | | | |
well....I took Lili to see the unicorns.... |X |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP (furious) | | | |
You did what? |X |X |X |
| | | |
Numbers of elves and faeries appear out of the dark woods. | | | |
They come in all sizes, from sprites no larger than | | | |
squirrels to plump hobmen as big as small children. | | | |
| | | |
BROWN TOM is a plump, tipsy leprechaun, draped with pots | | | |
and pans like a tinker; SCREWBALL, a tiny pixie wearing | | | |
an ill-fitting cap and garments tasseled with flowers. | | | |
| | | |
FAERIES (whispering in chorus) | | | |
What....? Codfish and cockles....! Never....! |X |X |X |
Pewterpots and....pumpkins....! Poo-poo |X |X |X |
pudding....! Doo-doo dumplings....! Shit-willy |X |X |X |
whatnot....! |X |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Silence! |X |X |X |
| | | |
The whispering stops. All eyes are on Jack. He writhes | | | |
with guilt under their scrutiny. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (deeply ashamed) | | | |
Oh God, {Gump,} she touched him.... |X |X |X |
| | | |
A GROAN rises from the crowd of faeries. They are outraged. | | | |
Gump is maddest of all. His face darkens. His eyes glow. | | | |
He trembles with banshee fury. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Touched it! A mortal laid hands on a unicorn? |X |X |X |
{Jack!} |X |X |X |
| | | |
BROWN TOM | | | |
Bad....terrible bad! | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
We meant no wrong. |X |X |X |
| | | |
[This last line is moved in all versions to the point after Gump | | | |
says, "Do you think you can upset...and not pay the price"] | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (screaming) | | | |
What was it you did mean, Jack?! | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
Nothing.... | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (cold and hard) | | | |
Nothing, he calls it! | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
I wanted to share something special with her. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Well....I have something now to share with | | | |
you....a lively reel to warm your bones! | | | |
| | | |
Gump magically pulls a violin out of thin air. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
I'm in no mood for dancing. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (screaming with wrath) | | | |
Squawk! Squawk! No more talk.... | | |X |
Do you think you can upset the order of the |X |X |X |
universe and not pay the price? | | | |
| | | |
Brown Tom produces ancient bagpipes, Screwball a tambourine. | | | |
The other wee folk tune up an incredible variety of oddly- | | | |
shaped instruments: seashell trumpets, acorn cellos, | | | |
gossets, serpentines, blossom-bell horns, bone flutes, all | | | |
manner of drums and rattles. | | | |
| | | |
A wild and haunting overture begins. The rhythm is | | | |
compulsive. | | | |
| | | |
Jack cannot control his body. His feet move against his | | | |
will. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (frantic) | | | |
No! I want no part of your nonsense. | | | |
| | | |
Gump leers demonically. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Time to dance, Jack! | | | |
| | | |
Playing his fiddle, Gump is possessed, demonic. | | | |
| | | |
Screwball beats on a log with a pair of shin bones. The | | | |
faerie orchestra breaks into an other-world melody. Jack | | | |
leaps and jumps like a zombie. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
No....! Please....! | | | |
| | | |
BROWN TOM (chanting) | | | |
Round and round and round and round, | | | |
Before you're lost, you must be found. | | | |
| | | |
The tempo increases. The musicians leap and cavort. | | | |
| | | |
Jack twists and capers, dancing against his will. | | | |
| | | |
SCREWBALL (chanting) | | | |
In and out and up and down, | | | |
Behind each smile there lurks a frown. | | | |
| | | |
Gump leaps wildly, fiddling like a demon. Jack is a | | | |
prisoner of the frenzied music. | | | |
| | | |
BROWN TOM (chanting) | | | |
Spin and spin and spin and spin, | | | |
To learn to lose you first must win. | | | |
| | | |
Gump hops into the fire, dancing and playing as sparks | | | |
leap about him. The music grows wilder. Jack will never | | | |
survive. | | | |
| | | |
SCREWBALL (chanting) | | | |
Twist and reel and toe and heel, | | | |
The end to pain is to learn to feel! | | | |
| | | |
Jack's face is a mask of agony. With a supreme effort, he | | | |
hurls himself onto the ground, his body jerking | | | |
spasmodically to the music. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (screaming) | | | |
Enough! | | | |
| | | |
The faerie orchestra falters, their tempo broken. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (angry) | | | |
Is the music not to your liking? | | | |
| | | |
JACK (gasping) | | | |
I....won't....go....on.... Take my life, if | | | |
you must.... | | | |
What I did is unforgivable ["done" in the film].... | |X |X |
(boldly) | | | |
But, I did it for love! |X |X |X |
And I'd do it again! I love Lili with all my | | | |
heart and would sooner die than break a promise! | | | |
| | | |
More chattering among the faeries. | | | |
| | | |
{ GUMP | | | |
Silence! } | | |X |
| | | |
Gump stares at Jack. A tender expression softens his | | | |
flinty eyes. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Hmmm.... Love, you say....? |X |X |X |
Love is another story.... |X |X | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
I meant no disrespect.... | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Answer me this riddle and all is forgiven. | |X |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
And if I cannot? | | |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Why, Jack....then 'tis your death song I'll | | |X |
be playing. | | |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
Ask away, and pray God my answer pleases you. | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
What is a bell that does not ring, | |X |X |
Yet, its knell makes the angels sing? | |X |X |
{Answer me this and all will be forgiven. } | |X |X |
| | | |
Gump laughs, knowing Jack can't solve his riddle. Jack | | | |
frowns in concentration, then grins, as the memory of | | | |
Lili's song rushes back. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
{Flowers?....} Bluebells! | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
What? | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
The flower. Bluebells. | | | |
To hear them ringing means your life is at an end. | |X |X |
| | | |
Gump hurls his violin to the ground and stomps on it. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
{No!} Damnation! Codfish and cockles! | |X |X |
Gammon and trotters! | |X |X |
| | | |
Screwball and Brown Tom run for cover as Gump explodes in | | | |
an insane frenzy. He throws himself on the ground, kicking | | | |
and screaming. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (CONT) | | | |
Rabbit noodles....! Schweinhundt sauerkraut mit | |X |X |
schlagober....! Piddle-puddles und ka-ka | |X |X |
crumpets....! Piss pots and thunder mugs! | |X |X |
Demkopf doo-doo brain riddle-widdler! | |X |X |
| | | |
{Gump lays on the ground as if unconscious. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
Gump....? Gump....? | |X |X |
| | | |
Gump springs up suddenly to a sitting position and takes | | | |
Jack's hand in his. [slightly different in script] } | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
| | | |
You bested me, Jack....Bested me, bested me.... | |X |X |
| | | |
JACK (modestly) | | | |
A riddle without an answer is like an empty | |X |X |
cup when you're thirsty for wine. | |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Well spoke! And if it's wine you want, | |X |X |
it's wine we shall have. | |X |X |
| | | |
[This is the point at which the TV version switches back to | | | |
to the regular American version with the TD score] | | | |
| | | |
Gump claps his hands and four tiny glasses magically | | | |
APPEAR, floating in the air before them. | | | |
| | | |
{ GUMP (CONT) | | | |
Brown Tom! } |X |X |X |
| | | |
Another clap and Brown Tom's hat POPS off his head, | | | |
revealing a wine bottle balanced underneath. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (CONT) | | | |
{A toast to love.} |X | |X |
A small measure of entertainment at best. | |X | |
| | | |
Gump snaps his fingers and the wine bottle floats off | | | |
Brown Tom's head, pausing in mid-air to fill each bobbing | | | |
glass. [in the film Gump is pouring into small thimble | | | |
like glasses that the drinkers are holding--less magic] | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (CONT) | | | |
Elderberry wine....no finer drink under |X | |X |
heaven. |X | |X |
| | | |
{ BROWN TOM | | | |
But Gump, it's the last bottle of me best wine. |X |X |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Shh! |X |X |X |
| | | |
BROWN TOM | | | |
Well, if you say so, sir. | |X | |
| | | |
Gump pours. | | | |
| | | |
BROWN TOM (CONT) | | | |
Now, Gump, don't you be forgettin' me. |X |X |X |
| | | |
Gump pours for Brown Tom. | | | |
| | | |
BROWN TOM (CONT) | | | |
Oh, careful now. Ah! It's so precious. } |X |X |X |
| | | |
Each one takes a glass. Gump raises his in a toast. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Here's to Jack.... |X |X |X |
Riddle solver.... | |X | |
{loving fool....} |X | |X |
dancing fool, | |X | |
and faerie friend. |X |X |X |
| | | |
They all clink glasses. Jack regards his with suspicion. | | | |
| | | |
{ SCREWBALL | | | |
Tip it. |X | |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
And to Lili. } |X | |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
I'm honored, Gump....but no more tricks! | | | |
| | | |
GUMP (to the others) | | | |
Here be precious summertime frozen into a | | | |
winter memory and the blamed fool won't drink | | | |
faerie wine for fear of enchantment. | | | |
| | | |
They all drink, Jack with some reluctance. The faeries | | | |
enjoy the wine. Jack gags, as if he's swallowed fire. | | | |
| | | |
JACK (coughing) | | | |
Pranks....! Is that all you're good for....! | | | |
I've lost Lili....! Gump! Help me! Use your | | | |
magic to find her....set the world right. | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Changing this frozen hell is beyond my | | | |
modest powers. | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
Is there nothing you can do? | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
If you want more tricks, I'm your man.... | | | |
but, for big questions you must go elsewhere. | | | |
| | | |
{Screwball puts a cloak onto Jack's back. | | | |
| | | |
SCREWBALL | | | |
This'll help. } |X |X |X |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
But don't you care what's happened? |X |X |X |
| | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
Course we care....What good's the world locked |X |X |X |
in a season of death? |X |X |X |
No folks to scare on a summer's night.... | | | |
| | | |
BROWN TOM | | | |
No babies to tickle.... | | | |
| | | |
SCREWBALL | | | |
No lovers to tease.... | | | |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
No more spells to cast....Does that sound | | | |
like an enjoyable prospect? | | | |
| | | |
JACK | | | |
We must find the answer! |X |X |X |
{We must find what's happened to my Lili.} |X | |X |
| | | |
GUMP | | | |
That we must. |X |X |X |
But first, we better see that no harm's | |X | |
come to the unicorns. | |X | |
| | | |
SCREWBALL | | | |
I sadly fear the worst.... |X |X |X |
| | | |
Gump claps his hands and everyone is magically holding | | | |
luminous flower lanterns. | | | |
_____________________________________________________________________________
- The dance from the above scene was obviously filmed. One moment we see
Jack with a guilty expression talking to Gump, and the next time Cruise is in
close-up his hair is stringy with sweat and he is breathing heavily.
- The bubbles that float through the air during this scene take on more
meaning in the original version since we are able to associate them with
faerie magic. They are used again when Oona transforms herself into the
image of Lili. This nice atmospheric touch of Scott's is obscured in the
released versions, especially in the shorter American version where the
audience must wonder what they are doing there. But, like the down used as
floating seedlings to evoke the generative richness of nature, and the
metallic sparkles as Darkness magically steps through the mirror, these
bubbles enhanced the scenes they were in if used properly.
- At the end of faerie fire sequence, the line "this'll help" by Screwball is
not in the script as I have shown above by delineating the section within
curly brackets. It is also missing from the later version of the script in
the Academy library in Hollywood. It's hard to tell what this line is in
reference to, but one may surmise that it had something to do with the
effects of the wine on Jack, or perhaps there were extra lines about the
cold. In either case, it comes out of nowhere and is another example of the
kind of the patch-work dialogue that distances the audience from the film.
- The musical theme accompanying the wine drinking is from the song "Sing the
Wee". It may be that this instrumental cue followed the song itself. But
wherever this song was meant to occur, the fact that it is missing weakens
the impact when it is reprised during the closing credits. The closing cue
is particularly well written and adds a wonderful evocative finish to the
film which should keep most patrons in their seats to the end.
- During the search for the unicorns we hear Lili's scream which Jack hears
faintly and then stops to listen for more. We are shown no reason for the
scream, however. In the European version, we see her running through the
snow but nothing that would evoke such a scream.
- At the unicorn death site the mare charges at Jack with her head down
threatening to skewer him. The cut comes too quickly, so the threat is
weakened.
- There is missing dialogue concerning Jack's humanity at the end of the
sequence at the unicorn death site. Gump asks him if he's sure he's mortal,
and the others wonder why he is able to speak with unicorns and why he is not
frozen like all other humans if he is indeed mortal. This dialogue at the
death site was shot, I believe, since it still exists in slightly altered
form in the final shooting script. It adds an interesting dimension to
Jack's character that I go into in more detail at the end of this section.
- The scene in the cave between Oona and Jack was considerably shortened. In
the final script there is a corpse of a knight who is the former owner of the
armor they find and Jack is very disturbed over the idea of robbing the dead.
Oona reveals herself to him at this point because he has started to leave
wanting no part in the disturbance of the grave. She pleads for him to
continue helping them. Oona's dialogue in the released version of this scene
is not only shortened but was taken from another scene (as you can tell from
the dialogue in the final script and by the fact that Oona's lips don't match
the words she delivers); the scene it belongs to is the one in the dungeon
where she tries to induce Jack to kiss her. In the process, both scenes were
weakened. In this scene, following Oona's transformation, the camera lingers
on Cruise's face with its expression of awe far too long. Presumably this is
because the dialogue which Oona is speaking does not match her lips, but it
makes Cruise's performance here look terrible.
- The goblin fire sequence works better as scripted where it was not broken
up into two segments as it is in the European version of the film. There was
to have been a scene where Darkness plays with the fire which was very
reminiscent of the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence in FANTASIA:
"Like a mad orchestra conductor with a magic baton (the alicorn), Darkness
controls the fire's movements. The blaze twists and swirls across the
black night [...] Columns of flame shower around the Dark Lord and from
within their incendiary interiors, evil wraith-like spirits emerge,
swirling like ghosts."
This would have been a nice additional homage to Disney since many of the
characters in the film are intentionally patterned after Disney characters.
It may never have been filmed, however, since it is cut from the final
shooting script.
- Blunder yells the line, "Adios, Amigos" when he is falling down a pit in
the arms of a mummy and the line doesn't fit into the world of LEGEND at all.
Furthermore, it was not found in any version of the script. It would be easy
(and a good idea) to redub this as a simple scream.
- The music used over the goblin attack and Brown Tom's "death" is taken from
the Darkness theme, but Goldsmith wrote a very nice cue for this segment that
would work better. Why it wasn't used is a mystery to me since it still fits
the scene in length. (This cue was not included on the CD.)
- The editing at the swamp is another example of cutting far too deeply and
harming the picture in the process. Many of the cuts are clipped and jarring
to the audience, such as the shot where Screwball is dragged under the water,
and the next shot where we see the faeries already half way over the log
running to help him.
- Jack's encounter with the hideous swamp creature, Meg Mucklebones is
different in each of the three versions. The American theatrical version is
the shortest--Jack cuts off her head very quickly, just after she lets him
know she plans to eat him. However, we have just been shown that her
reactions to his attempts to flee are lightning quick, so his ability to
behead her stretches our credibility. In the European version, we have more
footage: here Jack persuades her to look at the "beauty of [her] reflection"
in his shield, and as she looks, he draws his blade and cuts off her head,
the distraction taking care of the credibility problem. But the TV version
is longer still and very close to the script. Here, when Jack suggests that
she look at her reflection, she takes the shield from him stepping back out
of range as she does. He continues to flatter her and, as she gets carried
away by her image, he surreptitiously draws his sword, nearly losing his
balance and falling into the water, then hides it out of sight until she
moves in for the kill with the words, "Give us a kiss before dining". Now
that the sword is already drawn, the surprise factor allows him to get the
jump on her. It works much better and is more entertaining, with small
touches of humor like Meg's line, "Such discerning taste for one so young,
Jack".
- There is a shot of Darkness from the goblin fire scene that is used again
the first time we see Lili in captivity in the castle. It does not seem at
all appropriate here. In the American version we see a shot of two red eyes
peering at her from the wall instead of this shot of Darkness which works
much better. Better still is the scripted scene:
As Darkness grips the arm of his throne, his fingers start to melt,
dripping to the dank stone floor.
[then in the dungeon]
Darkness bleeds through the groin vault ceiling, spreading like a stain
across the curving stones.
Below, the unicorn is locked in a steel halter, a woven steel cable
binding her to an iron windlass.
The Princess paces the dark and dripping cell. Her dress is in tatters,
her hair tangled. There is something wild and free about her now, and
yet she has never appeared more alluring.
The melting shadow of Darkness drips from the ceiling, forming a small
demonic shape as it falls.
We hear the beating of Darkness' heart in time with each evil drip.
The sound grows louder and louder until the echo reverberates within
the vaulted chamber.
Lili is terrified. She looks frantically around as the pulsing rhythm
continues. The Princess sees nothing and hugs the unicorn's neck for
comfort.
Darkness later proclaims his desire for Lili (in conversation with his
father's spirit) but most of the scenes where this interest begins and grows
are cut, further weakening the story.
- The sound mixing in the European version (as judged by the Japanese
laserdisc) is significantly weaker than the American version. The lack of
the birdsong from Lili was mentioned above; also, in the scene where the
blind cook comes to fetch Blunder to cook him dinner, the "This little piggy"
rhyme he delivers is drowned out by the background noise while in the
American version it is much clearer. In this same sequence, Brown Tom's nose
is grabbed to keep him from sneezing, but we don't hear any lead-in to the
sneeze (in either version). We also see Gump speaking to Oona during this
scene but we hear nothing of their dialogue.
- In the shot where the cook grabs for Blunder we see him slip out from under
the cook's grasp but then, there is an immediate cut to Screwball and Gump,
and we hear Blunder screaming as if he is already caught. Next we see he is
in the cook's arms and being carried out. This sloppy editing ruins the
continuity of the scene.
- After Oona flies out of Gump's hands she immediately says "our secret!".
This would work much better if the previous line from Jack about her ability
to transform, which, in the script, she is clearly reacting to, were not cut.
- Brown Tom reacts to her ability to perform this transformation with shock
and the line (not in the script), "I..It's faerie magic!" Are we supposed to
believe that he's never seen magic before? The line doesn't work.
- The dialogue during the scene where Oona tries to convince Jack to kiss her
is tightened up too much. Lines like Jack's "human hearts don't work that
way" would work better in the original context (March 10th script version--
the final script moves these lines later.)
Oona
You....! You....mortal! I could vex you! Dance
your life away!
Jack
Threats can't make me love you. Human hearts
don't work that way!
- Oona comes back a bit too soon with the keys (almost immediately). A bit
more time would be better to allow the faerie's angry response to Jack's
"fine sensibilities" to have the appropriate threatening impact.
- The American version has a scene where Gump and Jack encounter what the
script refers to as pygmies. This scene is not in the European version. It
is not an important scene but does increase the threat to them and keeps the
audience on edge waiting for the next unexpected attack. In the European
version, the faeries almost seem to have free run of the place once they
escape the kitchen. In the March 10th version of the script, these creatures
were sent against them by Darkness who knows full well that they have invaded
his domain; in the final script, Blix is directing this attack by the
Pygmies.
- Goldsmith wrote a very nice cue for the "Hall of Columns" sequence (not on
the CD), but the music was changed to the "Main Title" cue. The original cue
is more appropriate since the "Main Title" contains the goblin motif and
there are no goblins in this sequence. The original cue is much longer than
the sequence in the film, so this shortening may be the reason for the change
of music. This is a wonderful, haunting sequence showing the mesmerized Lili
gliding among huge ornate columns. I wish Scott had left this beautiful
scene uncut.
- While looking through the crack between the huge doors, Oona says, "You
should see your princess now!" What she is referring to is not clear. It
would make more sense if she were spying during Dress Waltz but that scene
comes later.
- The music for "The Jewels" scene is inexplicably faded out. It would have
worked well if Scott had let it continue through the scene.
- Darkness' father's voice during the beginning of the Dress Waltz seems
unnecessary and doesn't work very well here.
- Brown Tom's open-mouthed reaction shot after Gump's line, "Jack has a plan,
and a good one" seems out of place.
- The temp music of the plate gathering scene is very poor. The scene needs
music, but Goldsmith must not have written the cue. Paul MacLean claims that
Goldsmith said he never finished the score due to another commitment (though
he did write about 84 minutes of music!).
- The scenes between Darkness and Lili are quite good but the change in Lili
from someone who is disgusted with her captor to someone who will marry him
if he will allow her to kill the unicorn is completely unbelievable. The
March 10 script has Lili transformed into a catlike creature and her despair
is much greater. Following Darkness' proclamation of his love for her the
script has her say, "If this is true...hope is yet alive..." Her agreement
to marriage is a ruse, as we find out later, but at least in the longer,
scripted segment (March 10th version) we can accept the idea that Darkness
might believe her. The script in the Academy library is much closer to the
version of these scenes in the film, though still quite a bit longer than in
the released film. Interestingly, the date on these pages is July 30. The
fire took place on June 27th. Was this set not part of the 007 stage, or is
this perhaps an edited down version of this sequence while the actual filmed
segment was much longer as in the earlier script?
- There is a howl that frightens Screwball and Brown Tom that is still in the
film. Following this Screwball says, "I vote we run like hell." According
to the script, this was Lili's howl of despair in her animal form. But now
it is disembodied and lacks the impact of the original idea.
- The ritual sacrifice of the unicorn was longer and more elaborate in the
script, and, I believe, in the original cut as well. There is a cue that
Goldsmith wrote with chanting in low male voices that is quite good that
should go here (again, this cue is not included on the CD). Also, when
Darkness says, "Here is our offering....sanctified with blood and with fire",
he punctuates these lines by crushing a bat and splattering the blood onto
the unicorn, and then branding the unicorn with a burst of fire from his
finger. It could have been very effective. As it is, the entire scene is
very choppy.
- There is an interesting sequence involving Screwball in the March 10 script
(and at least part of it is in the final script--it's hard to tell how this
sequence, on pages dated July 30 and August 17, was changed, since a page is
missing in the library script at this point), but may have been filmed. It
adds greatly to his character (and as I hope I have shown, character was one
of the elements of the film that suffered tremendously from the cutting.) In
this subplot, Screwball has agreed to carry the plate up the chimney only to
give him a chance to escape--he wants no part of this entire nightmare and is
willing to let the others fend for themselves. This attitude ties in well
with the angry (Grumpy) character who often complains about the orders he has
to obey from Gump. As he is climbing up the chimney he comes into view in
the twin fireplace opposite the one burning in the banquet room. He sneaks
in and steals an apple until Darkness, seeing the soot covered faerie and
thinking him one of his minions, angrily shouts at him to get out, and he
flees back to the chimney. As he is continuing up the chimney, he hears Lili
claiming to want to kill the unicorn and, convinced she means it, has a
change of heart and decides not to run away. At the top, overcome by hunger,
he takes one bite out of the black apple and falls over unconscious. This is
more believable than in the film where we must presume he passes out from
exhaustion, not to mention that it provides another nice Disney allusion. It
might have been changed in the editing room, but he is not covered with soot,
so at least some of this scene was filmed differently from the script.
Still, one could presume that the symbol of the apple originally held a
greater significance in the film due to the fact that the European poster for
LEGEND shows Darkness holding a crystal ball in the shape of an apple within
which we see the images of Lili and Jack.
- In the American version (and in both scripts), after he has lost the battle
with Jack, Darkness says, "You think you have won. You can never defeat me.
I am a part of you all, we are brothers eternal." Darkness' plan to destroy
the balance between light and Dark has failed. His proclamation before he
falls into the abyss is a warning to Jack that any attempt to tip the balance
in favor of Light is equally doomed to failure. This should have been
maintained in the European version.
- The cue called "The Ring" (when Jack restores Lili's ring) is very chopped
up and is severely harmed. It is a beautiful piece of music and should be
restored. Some of the missing shots of this sequence can be seen in the
American version, for example, that of Gump restoring the alicorn to the
stallion which subsequently comes back to life.
- The final script says that Lili leaves Jack in the forest and vows to visit
him every day. This is very different from the "strolling hand in hand into
the sunset" ending of the film. The following is from an interview in Le
Monde from August 1985. In it Scott describes the original ending for the
film:
Le Monde: Did you change the final scene somewhat so that you didn't put
off your American audience?
Ridley Scott: Perhaps I'm a little perverse. At the end of the film, when
the princess awakens and the young lovers talk and embrace, there is a
certain voyeurism, a thread of sexuality, and still more of innocence, for
the sexuality comes from Lord Darkness. The princess removes the ring
from her finger and gives it to him saying, "I want you to accept this
before I leave." He looks at her and they gaze at one another with
delight, then he asks her: "Will you sing for me?" She bursts into
laughter and begins to sing joyfully without music for one or two bars.
She runs into the forest, turns around and waves, beaming with happiness.
We see him alone, standing, contemplating his domain, the forest. Slowly
he begins to cry.
I loved that moment, like a suspension of innocence. The immediate
reaction is: What, he's not carrying off the girl? Obviously he will have
the girl. But a little later, the next day perhaps. Their relationship
is going to develop, their love become reality. I like this ambiguity.
For me, this is a completely optimistic ending.
But Mr. Scott was certainly not being perverse. This scene also hints
(albeit only slightly) at something that I believe Scott wished his film to
convey subtly. In the March 10 script, Jack discovers that he is in fact
immortal in a scene between him and Darkness that was completely changed
before shooting. I also noted above that the dialogue at the unicorn death
site dealt with questions about his mortality. I believe that Scott wished
to hint at Jack's immortality similar to the way he hinted that Deckard was a
replicant in BLADE RUNNER. There is no support for this in the released
versions of the film and only a small bits of support in the script in the
Academy library, but enough hints so that I'll stand by this. Lili realizes
at the end that they are so different that they can never marry. But she
will also never leave him. For me this ending is more than merely
optimistic, it is the perfect ending. -Geoff
*******************************************************************
13. What articles have been published on the film?
Legend Articles:
AIP. and Co., Number 71, January/February 1986, P.16-17 "Set Pieces" by
Unknown
American Cinematographer, Volume 67, August 1986, P.65-70 "Labyrinth and
Legend, Big Screen Fairy Tales" by Ron Magid
American Film, Volume 11, Number 6, April 1986, P.68 "Trailers - Legend" by
Unknown
Boxoffice, P.R-62 "Legend" Review by Tom Matthews
Cahiers du cinema, Volume 376, October 1985, "Legend" Review by U. Ostria
Cinefantastique, Volume 15, Number 4, October 1985, P.9, 53 "Legend" by Alan
Jones
Cinefantastique, Volume 15, Number 5, January 1986, P.25,26,57 "Legend
Makeup" by Steve Biodrowski
Cinefantastique, Volume 15, Number 5, January 1986, P.22,24,27 "Legend" by
Alan Jones
Cinefantastique, Volume 16, Number 3, 1986, P.42, 61 " The Score/Tangerine
Dream, in the shadow of a Legend" by Randall D. Larson
Cinefantastique, Volume 17, Number 3/4, 1987, P.122 "Hjortsberg on Legend" y
Dan Scapperotti
Cineforum, Volume 25, Number 250, December 1985, P.69 "Legend" Review by E.
Comuzio
Cinemascore, Volume 15, Summer 1987, P.38-45, 147 "The Musics for Legend" by
Jonathan Benair and Randall D. Larson
Cinemascore, Volume 15, Summer 1987, P.42-45 "From a Legend to a Dream" by
Paul Andrew Maclean
Cinemascore, Volume 15, Summer 1987, P.147 "Legend" Review of Goldsmith
score by Paul Andrew MacLean
Cinemascore, Volume 15, Summer 1987, P.147 "Legend" Review of Tangerine
Dream Score by G.M. Tucker
Cine Telle Revue, Volume 65, August 22nd, 1985, P.20-23 "F. Dhont and Joan
Mac Trevor vous racontent le film de Ridley Scott Legend"
City Limits, Number 206, September 13-19th, 1985, P.24 "Trailers" by Unknown
City Limits, Number 218, December 6-12th, 1985, P.23 "Legend" Review by
Nigel Matherson
Films and Filming, P.6,8 "The Visualist" by Sheila Johnston
Films and Filming, Number 375, December 1985, P.43 "Legend" Review by Tim
Pulleine
La Revue du Cinema, Number 408, September 1985, P.28,29 "Legend" Review by
Max Tessier
L'Ecran Fantastique, Number 58, July 1985, P.13-15 "Legend - Les Premierres
Images" by Unknown
L'Ecran Fantastique, Number 59, August 1985, P.45-50 "Legend - Entretien de
Laurent Bouzereau avec Tom Cruise" by Unknown
L'Ecran Fantastique, Number 60, September 1985, P.7 "Legend - Au-dela du
reel..." by Bertrand Borie
L'Ecran Fantastique, Number 60, September 1985, P.20-22,75 " Ridley Scott a
propos de Legend" by Tchalai Unger
L'Ecran Fantastique, Number 60, September 1985, P.23-25 "La Construction de
la Foret de Legend" by Unknown
Levende billeder, Volume 1, November 27th, 1985, P.14-17 "Hurde Heste Med
Menneskeojne" by Inge Eriksen
Millimeter, Volume 14, July, 1986, P.150-154,156 "Ridley Scott and the
Forces of Darkness" by Diane Rafferty
Monthly Film Bulletin, Number 623, December 1985, P.380 "Legend" Review by
Kim Newman
New Statesman, Volume 110, 1985, P.30-31 "Horses for Courses" by John
Coleman
Positif, Number 295, September 1985, P.29-30 "L'image pour l'image sur
Legend" by Alain Garsault
Photoplay, November 1985, P.16,17 "Behold a Legend" by Unknown
Photoplay, December 1985, P.42 "Legend" Review by T. H.
Positif, Number 295, September 1985, P.31-37 "Entretien avec Ridley Scott"
by Hubert Niogret
Screen International, Number 504, July 6-13th, 1985, P.21 "Ridley Scott
changes direction with 'Legend', an original fairy story" by Chris Brown
Sequences, Number 125, July 1986, P.30-32 "Legend" Review by Patrick Schupp
Soundtrack!, Volume 5, March 1986, P.21 "Legend" Review of Goldsmith
Soundtrack by James Fitzpatrick
Starburst, Volume 8, Number 1, September 1985, P. 16 "Legend" Review by
James Olsen
Starburst, Volume 8, Number 3, November 1985, P.10-14 "Legend" by Unknown
Starburst, Volume 8, Number 3, November 1985, P.18,19,21,22 "Script Drawing"
by James Olsen
Starburst, Volume 8, Number 6, February 1986, P.38,39 "It's only a Movie" by
Unknown
Starlog, Number 101, December 1985, P.64-67 "Ridley Scott SF's Visual
Magician" by Adam Pirani
Starlog, Number 103, February 1986, P.48,49,52 "Terry Rawlings Cutting
Fantasy Films" by Anthony Timpone
Starlog, Number 103, February 1986, P.64-67 "Rob Bottin Crafting Fantastic
Faces" by Brian Lowry
Starlog, Number 106, May 1986, P.23-25 "Tim Curry : Eight Foot Tall, Bright
Red Demon" by Willaim Rabkin
Stills, December 1985-January 1986, P.53-55 "Malice in Wonderland - Legend
and Dreamchild" by Unknown
Stills, Number 24, February 1986, P.13 "The late, late show" by Pat H.
Broeske
Telerama, Number 1859.31.6, September 6th 1985, P.11 "Les Avis sont partages
sur Legend" Review by Gilbert Salachas
Televisual, May 1986, P.42,43 "A Bit of a Legend" by Rod Powell
Time Out, Number 789, October 3-9th 1985, P.43 "Off Screen" by Walter Burns
Time Out, Number 798, December 5-11th 1985, P.65 "Legend" Review by Anne
Billson
Variety, Volume 320, August 21st, 1985, P.16 "Legend" Review by Strat.
Video Watchdog, 10th Anniversary Issue (#29) "Fairy Dust : Reconstructing
LEGEND", by Sean Murphy
Village Voice, Volume 31, May 6th, 1986, P.61 "Film Trackies" by J. Hoberman
*******************************************************************
14. Miscellaneous information.
- Principal photography began on March 23 and continued for 21 weeks.
- There was a fire which totally destroyed the 007 stage of Pinewood studios,
where the major set was built. This occurred in the 14th week of the 21 week
shoot on June 27 1984. It was started by a gas leak (according to Production
Designer Assheton Gorton). Scott claimed that he only lost 3 days by moving
the schedule around so that the smaller stages were made ready early. Gorton
mentions that master set-ups for "an amazing tracking shot that everyone was
excited about" were destroyed. No mention about what this shot was, whether
they were able to redo the set-ups on one of the smaller stages, or whether
it
ever got into the picture. Because of this fire, some shots were moved
outdoor locations.(everything was originally to be shot on the soundstage).
This included the sequence at the stream where Jack takes Lili to see the
unicorns.
- The entire film was storyboarded--3 volumes according to Production
Designer Assheton Gorton.
- On February 1 Mr. Showbiz hosted a World Wide Web chat with Ridley Scott.
Sean participated and here is what he reported:
Ridley Scott was on the Mr. Showbiz Web site
[http://showbiz.starwave.com/showbiz/] on Feburary 1st, 1996 and he answered
questions asked by people live on the Web. He was asked about a Director's
cut of LEGEND.
The following is what I saw the day it happened :
>Doug Cummings from arizona.edu at 7:38pm ET
>
>Do you think there's a possibility there would ever be a Director's >Cut of
"Legend" released?
Ridley Scott at 7:44pm ET
A recut on Legend? Yes, there was always a regret that because we didn't
preview well we cut out a half hour. I'm always passionate about my work and
the idea of doing a live action Beauty and The Beast. I felt it might work
and now there are a lot of films being made into live action. The revival of
animation into movies are very successful. I think we were on target at the
time to do a film which in a way was for everybody and was really quite
different. A step away from a period film, a step away from the science
fiction genre. But they didn't get it. There probably won't be a directors
cut.
This is what is posted on the Mr. Showbiz Web Site :
>Doug Cummings from arizona.edu at 7:38pm ET
>
>Do you think there's a possibility there would ever be a Director's >Cut of
"Legend" released?
Ridley Scott at 7:44pm ET
Yes, there was always a regret that because we didn't preview well, we cut
out almost a half hour. I'm always passionate about my work and the idea of
doing a live-action fairy story, which in a way is like Beauty and the Beast;
I loved the Cocteau film. I felt it might work. Now of course there are a lot
of films being made live action, such as 101 Dalmatians. And there's been a
revival of animation movies, which have become very successful, like The Lion
King. I think we were on target at the time to do a film which, in a way, was
A) for everybody, and B) really quite different. It was a step away from a
period film, a step away from the science-fiction genre. So in that sense, I
thought it was quite fresh. But they didn't get it. I doubt there will be a
director's cut, but I am curious how it would do if it were released today.
Luckily, Mr. Scott does not say that he doesn't WANT to do a Director's Cut
of LEGEND, just that he thinks there probably won't be one because of all
that would have to go into convincing the studio that a recut should be done.
There is still hope! Go to Question 16 to find out how to get a Director's
cut of LEGEND.
The rest of this interview can be found on the Mr. Showbiz web site at :
http://showbiz.starwave.com:80/showbiz/mouthoff/celeblounge/ridley.html
*******************************************************************
15. Cast and Crew FILMOGRAPHY
[note: This section is not up to date. It is currently being updated.]
____________________________________
RIDLEY SCOTT (Director)
Filmography:
Duellists, The (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)
Legend (1985)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Black Rain (1989/I)
Thelma & Louise (1991) (AAN)
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
White Squall (1996)
WILLIAM HJORTSBERG (Screenwriter)
Filmography:
Thunder and Lightning (1977)
Georgia Peaches, The (1980) (TV)
(aka Follow That Car (1980) (TV))
Legend (1985)
Angel Heart (1987) (novel Falling Angel)
JERRY GOLDSMITH (Composer)
Filmography:
"Studio One" (1948)
"Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1951)
Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
"General Electric Theater" (1953)
"Climax" (1954)
"Line-Up, The" (1954)
(aka "San Francisco Beat" (1954))
"Playhouse 90" (1956)
Black Patch (1957)
"Have Gun Will Travel" (1957)
"Wagon Train" (1957)
(aka "Major Adams, Trail Master" (1957))
"Wanted: Dead or Alive" (1958)
"Twilight Zone, The" (1959)
City of Fear (1959)
"Peck's Bad Girl" (1959)
"Black Saddle" (1959)
Face of a Fugitive (1959)
"Thriller" (1960)
Studs Lonigan (1960)
Expendables, The (1960) (TV)
"Kraft Mystery Theater" (1961)
"Dr. Kildare" (1961)
"Cain's Hundred" (1961)
"Ben Casey" (1961)
General with the Cockeyed Id, The (1961)
Spiral Road, The (1962)
Freud (1962) (O:AAN)
(aka Freud: The Secret Passion (1962))
Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
List of Adrian Messenger, The (1963)
Gathering of Eagles, A (1963)
Prize, The (1963)
Lilies of the Field (1963)
Stripper, The (1963)
(aka Woman of Summer (1963))
Take Her, She's Mine (1963)
"Chrysler Theater, The" (1963)
(aka "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theater" (1963))
Shock Treatment (1964)
"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1964)
Rio Conchos (1964)
Fate Is the Hunter (1964)
Seven Days in May (1964)
"Man from U.N.C.L.E., The" (1964)
Agony and the Ecstasy, The (1965)
In Harm's Way (1965)
Von Ryan's Express (1965)
Satan Bug, The (1965)
Saboteur, Code Name Morituri, The (1965)
(aka Morituri (1965))
Patch of Blue, A (1965) (O:AAN)
Our Man Flint (1965)
"Loner, The" (1965)
"Legend of Jesse James, The" (1965)
Sand Pebbles, The (1966) (O:AAN)
"Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The" (1966)
Trouble With Angels, The (1966)
Seconds (1966)
To Trap a Spy (1966)
Blue Max, The (1966)
Stagecoach (1966)
"Jericho" (1966)
Hour of the Gun (1967)
Warning Shot (1967)
Flim Flam Man, The (1967)
(aka One Born Every Minute (1967))
In Like Flint (1967)
Detective, The (1968)
Planet of the Apes (1968) (O:AAN)
Bandolero! (1968)
Sebastian (1968)
"Room 222" (1969)
Chairman, The (1969)
(aka Most Dangerous Man in the World, The (1969))
Illustrated Man, The (1969)
Justine (1969)
100 Rifles (1969)
Rio Lobo (1970)
Ballad of Cable Hogue, The (1970)
Step Out of Line, A (1970) (TV)
Patton (1970) (O:AAN)
(aka Patton: Lust for Glory (1970))
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Traveling Executioner, The (1970)
Crosscurrent (1971) (TV)
(aka Cable Car Murder, The (1971) (TV))
Homecoming - A Christmas Story, The (1971) (TV)
Last Run, The (1971)
Mephisto Waltz, The (1971)
Brotherhood of the Bell, The (1971) (TV)
Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate (1971) (TV)
Wild Rovers (1971)
Crawlspace (1971) (TV)
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)
Going Up of David Lev, The (1971) (TV)
Lights Out (1972) (TV)
Pursuit (1972) (TV)
(aka Binary (1972) (TV))
Culpepper Cattle Company, The (1972)
"Anna and the King" (1972)
"Waltons, The" (1972)
Other, The (1972)
(aka Autre, L' (1972))
Man, The (1972)
Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies (1973)
Indict and Convict (1973) (TV)
"Barnaby Jones" (1973)
"Police Story" (1973)
Score, The (1973)
Don Is Dead, The (1973)
Police Story, The (1973) (TV)
Red Pony, The (1973) (TV)
Hawkins on Murder (1973) (TV)
One Little Indian (1973)
Papillon (1973) (O:AAN)
Shamus (1973)
"Hawkins" (1973)
"QB VII" (1974) (mini)
Chinatown (1974) (GGN) (O:AAN)
S*P*Y*S (1974)
Tree Grows in Brooklyn, A (1974) (TV)
Winter Kill (1974) (TV)
Wind and the Lion, The (1975) (O:AAN)
Breakout (1975)
"Medical Story" (1975)
"Archer" (1975)
Terrorists, The (1975)
(aka Ransom (1975))
Take a Hard Ride (1975)
Breakheart Pass (1975)
"Adams of Eagle Lake" (1975)
Reincarnation of Peter Proud, The (1975)
Girl Named Sooner, A (1975) (TV)
Babe (1975) (TV)
Medical Story (1975) (TV)
Last Hard Men, The (1976)
Logan's Run (1976)
Omen, The (1976) (BS:AAN) (O:AA)
Cassandra Crossing, The (1976)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
(aka Nuclear Countdown (1977))
MacArthur (1977)
(aka MacArthur, the Rebel General (1977))
Islands in the Stream (1977)
Damnation Alley (1977)
(aka Survival Run (1977/II))
High Velocity (1977)
Contract on Cherry Street (1977) (TV)
(aka Stakeout on Cherry Street (1977) (TV))
Coma (1978)
Capricorn One (1978)
Boys from Brazil, The (1978) (O:AAN)
Swarm, The (1978)
Damien: Omen II (1978)
Magic (1978)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (O:AAN) (GGN)
(aka Star Trek - The Motion Picture (1979))
Players (1979)
Alien (1979) (GGN)
Great Train Robbery, The (1979)
(aka First Great Train Robbery, The (1979))
Caboblanco (1980)
"Masada" (1981) (mini)
Salamander, The (1981)
Final Conflict, The (1981)
(aka Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981))
Night Crossing (1981)
Outland (1981)
Raggedy Man (1981)
First Blood (1982)
Poltergeist (1982) (O:AAN)
Secret of NIMH, The (1982)
Challenge, The (1982)
(aka Sword of the Ninja (1982))
Inchon (1982)
Twilight Zone - The Movie (1983)
Dusty (1983) (TV)
Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E., The (1983) (TV)
Psycho II (1983)
Under Fire (1983) (O:AAN)
Lonely Guy, The (1984)
Supergirl (1984)
Gremlins (1984)
Runaway (1984)
Explorers (1985)
"Amazing Stories" (1985)
Legend (1985) (European version)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Baby...Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)
King Solomon's Mines (1985)
Hoosiers (1986) (O:AAN)
(aka Best Shot (1986))
Poltergeist II (1986)
Link (1986)
Extreme Prejudice (1987)
Encounter at Farpoint (1987) (TV) Main Title Theme
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) (Main Title Theme)
Innerspace (1987)
Lionheart (1987)
Rambo III (1988)
Rent-a-Cop (1988)
Alien Nation (1989) (score rejected)
(aka Future Tense (1989))
(aka Outer Heat (1989))
Criminal Law (1989)
'burbs, The (1989)
Leviathan (1989)
Warlock (1989)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Russia House, The (1990)
"H.E.L.P." (1990)
Gremlins II: The New Batch (1990)
Total Recall (1990)
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
Not Without My Daughter (1991)
Mr. Baseball (1992)
Forever Young (1992)
Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)
Love Field (1992)
Public Eye, The (1992) (score rejected)
Medicine Man (1992)
Basic Instinct (1992) (GGN) (O:AAN)
Gladiator (1992) (score rejected)
Malice (1993)
Dennis the Menace (1993)
(aka Dennis (1993))
Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
Rudy (1993)
Matinee (1993)
Vanishing, The (1993)
River Wild, The (1994)
Shadow, The (1994)
I.Q. (1994)
Angie (1994)
Bad Girls (1994)
TANGERINE DREAM (Composer)
Filmography:
Sorcerer (1977)
Kneuss (1978)
Strange Behavior (1981)
Thief (1981)
Soldier, The (1982)
Keep, The (1983)
Risky Business (1983)
Wavelength (1983)
Firestarter (1984)
Heartbreakers (1984)
Flashpoint (1984)
Vision Quest (1985)
Red Heat (1985)
Legend (1985) (US version
"Streethawk" (1985)
Park Is Mine, The (1985) (TV)
Shy People (1987)
Near Dark (1987)
Miracle Mile (1989)
Man Inside, The (1990)
Switch, The (1993) (TV)
ALEX THOMSON (Cinematographer)
Filmography:
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968)
Best House in London, The (1969)
I Start Counting (1969)
Alfred the Great (1969)
Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer, The (1970)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Fear Is the Key (1972)
Class of Miss MacMichael, The (1978)
Cat and the Canary, The (1978)
Game for Vultures (1979)
Excalibur (1981) (AAN)
Eureka (1981)
Bullshot (1983)
Keep, The (1983)
Electric Dreams (1984)
Year of the Dragon (1985)
Legend (1985)
Raw Deal (1986)
Labyrinth (1986)
Date with an Angel (1987)
Duet for One (1987)
Sicilian, The (1987)
High Spirits (1988)
Track 29 (1988)
Leviathan (1989)
Rachel Papers, The (1989)
Krays, The (1990)
Alien 3 (1992)
Demolition Man (1993)
Cliffhanger (1993)
Black Beauty (1994)
Scarlet Letter, The (1995)
TERRY RAWLINGS (Editor)
Filmography:
Alien (1979)
Awakening, The (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981) (AAN)
Blade Runner (1982)
Yentl (1983)
F/X (1985)
(aka F/X - Murder by Illusion (1985))
Legend (1985)
Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, The (1987)
Slipstream (1989)
Alien 3 (1992)
Trapped in Paradise (1994)
No Escape (1994)
(aka Escape from Absolom (1994))
ASSHETON GORTON (Production Designer)
Filmography:
Knack, and How to Get It, The (1965)
(aka Knack, The (1965))
Blowup (1966)
(aka Blow-Up (1966))
Bliss of Mrs. Blossom, The (1968)
Bed Sitting Room, The (1969)
Magic Christian, The (1969)
Get Carter (1971)
Zachariah (1971)
Pied Piper, The (1972)
"Martian Chronicles, The" (1980) (mini)
French Lieutenant's Woman, The (1981) (AAN)
Revolution (1985)
Legend (1985)
Cobra (1986)
Lost Angels (1989)
For the Boys (1991)
Rob Roy (1995)
LESLIE DILLEY (Production Designer)
Filmography:
Star Wars (1977) (AA)
Last Remake of Beau Geste, The (1977)
Superman (1978)
Alien (1979) (AAN)
Empire Strikes Back, The (1980) (AAN)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) (AA)
American Werewolf in London, An (1981)
(aka American Werewolf (1981))
Eureka (1981)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Legend (1985)
Bad Medicine (1985)
Invaders from Mars (1986)
Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)
Stars and Bars (1988)
Abyss, The (1989) (AAN)
Exorcist III, The (1990)
(aka Exorcist III: Legion, The (1990))
Guilty by Suspicion (1991)
What About Bob? (1991)
Monkey Trouble (1994)
(aka Pet (1994))
Casper (1995)
How to Make an American Quilt (1995)
EDDIE POWELL (Mummified Guard)
Filmography:
Legend (1985)
CORK HUBBERT (Brown Tom)
Filmography:
Caveman (1981) [Ta]
Legend (1985) [Brown Tom]
"Charmings, The" (1987)
Criminal Act (1989)
Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989) [Midget]
Ballad of the Sad Cafe, The (1991) [Cousin Lymon]
Lifepod (1993) (TV)
TIM CURRY (Darkness)
Filmography:
Three Men in a Boat (1975) [Jerome]
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (1975) [Doctor Frank-N-Furter]
Shout, The (1978) [Robert]
Times Square (1980) [Johnny LaGuardia]
Annie (1982) [Rooster]
Blue Money (1982) (TV) [Larry Gormley]
Oliver Twist (1982) (TV) [Bill Sikes]
Ploughman's Lunch, The (1983) [Jeremy Hancock]
Clue (1985) [Wadsworth]
Legend (1985) [Darkness]
Ligmalion (1985) (TV) [Eden Rothwell Esq.]
Worst Witch, The (1986)
"Wiseguy" (1987) [Winston Newquay (1989)]
Pass the Ammo (1988) [Ray]
Hunt for Red October, The (1990) [Doctor Petrov]
"Peter Pan and the Lost Boys" (1990) (voice)
Stephen King's It (1990) (TV) [Pennywise]
"Prince Valiant" (1991) (voice)
Oscar (1991) [Doctor Poole]
"Batman: The Animated Series" (1992) (voice)
(aka "The Adventures of Batman & Robin" (1992))
"Eek the Cat" (1992) (voice)
Passed Away (1992) [Boyd Pinter]
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) [Concierge]
Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992) (voice) [Voice of Hexxus]
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) [Jigsaw]
Three Musketeers, The (1993) [Cardinal Richelieu]
Pebble and the Penguin, The (1994) (voice)
"Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad" (1994) [Voice of Kilokahn (voice)]
"Duckman" (1994) [King Chicken]
Shadow, The (1994) [Farley Claymore]
Congo (1995)
IAN LONGMUR (Demon Cook)
Filmography:
Legend (1985)
DAVID BENNETT (Gump)
Filmography:
Tin Drun, The (1979) [Oskar]
(aka Blechtrommel, Die (1979))
Dog Day (1983)
(aka Canicule (1983))
Legend (1985)
KIRAN SHAH (Blunder)
Filmography:
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) [Abu]
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) [Primate
Sequences]
Legend (1985) [Blunder]
Aliens (1986) [Double for Newt]
Gothic (1987) [Fuseli Monster]
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The (1989) [Executioners Assistant]
Bullseye! (1991) [Little Boss at Auction]
Crucifer of Blood, The (1991) (TV) [Tonga]
BILLY BARTY (Screwball)
Filmography:
Footlight Parade (1933) [Mouse/Little Boy]
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) [Baby]
Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1935) [Mustardseed]
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) [Baby]
"Ford Festival" (1951)
"Circus Boy" (1956) [Little Tom the Midget]
Undead, The (1957) [The Imp]
Harum Scarum (1965)
Pufnstuf (1970)
"Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" (1973) [Sigmund Ooz]
Punch and Jody (1974) (TV)
Day of the Locust, The (1975) [Abe]
Amazing Dobermans, The (1976) [Samson]
Twin Detectives (1976) (TV)
"Krofft Supershow, The" (1976) [Hugo (in "Dr. Shrinker")]
Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, The (1977)
Foul Play (1978) [J.J. MacKuen]
Firepower (1979) [Dominic Carbone]
Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979) [Jimmy]
Hardly Working (1981) [Sammy]
Under the Rainbow (1981)
"Ace Crawford, Private Eye" (1983) [Inch]
Night Patrol (1984) [Captain Lewis]
Legend (1985) [Screwball]
Tough Guys (1986) [Philly]
Body Slam (1987)
Rumpelstiltskin (1987)
Masters of the Universe (1987) [Gwildor]
Willow (1988) [High Aldwin]
UHF (1989) [Noodles]
Rescuers Down Under, The (1990) (voice) [(voice)]
Lobster Man from Mars (1990)
Diggin' Up Business (1990)
Life Stinks (1991) [Willy]
Radioland Murders (1994) [Himself]
MIKE CRANE (Demon Cook)
Filmography:
Legend (1985) [Demon Cook]
ROBERT PICARDO (Meg Mucklebones)
Filmography:
Dream Merchants, The (1980) (TV) [Mark Kessler]
Howling, The (1981) [Eddie]
Get Crazy (1983) [O'Connell]
Other Woman, The (1983) (TV) [Chuchi]
Dixie: Changing Habits (1983) (TV) [Harry Meadows]
Star 80 (1983) [Interviewer]
Oh, God! You Devil (1984) [Joe Ortiz]
Legend (1985) [Meg Mucklebones]
Explorers (1985) [Starkiller/Wak/Wak and Neek's Father]
Back to School (1986) [Giorgio]
Man Who Fell to Earth, The (1987) (TV) [Morse]
Munchies (1987) [Bob Marvalle]
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) ["Roast Your Loved One" - Rick Reddnitz]
Innerspace (1987) [The Cowboy]
Jack's Back (1988) [Doctor Carlos Battera]
Dead Heat (1988) [Lieutenant Herzog]
976-EVIL (1988) [Mark Dark]
"Wonder Years, The" (1988) [Coach Ed Cutlip]
"China Beach" (1988) [Doctor Dick Richard]
Cover Girl and the Cop, The (1989) (TV)
Loverboy (1989) [Reed Palmer]
'burbs, The (1989) [Garbageman]
Total Recall (1990) (voice) [Voice of Johnnycab]
Gremlins II: The New Batch (1990) [Forster]
Frame Up (1991)
She Says She's Innocent (1991) (TV) [Dr. Gilmore]
Samantha (1991) [Neil Otto/Mr. Samantha]
Murderous Affair: The Carolyn Warmus Story, A (1992) (TV) [David Lewis]
Motorama (1992) [Jerry the Policeman]
Deadly Matrimony (1992) (TV) [Prosecutor]
Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald (1993) (TV) [David Lifton]
Matinee (1993) [Howard]
Runaway Daughters (1994) (TV) [Mr. Cahn]
Pagemaster, The (1994) (voice) [Pirate]
Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love (1994) (TV)
Wagons East (1994) [Ben Wheeler]
White Mile (1994) (TV)
"Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) [The Doctor]
PETER O'FARRELL (Pox)
Filmography:
Crossed Swords (1978) [Linklight]
(aka Prince and the Pauper, The (1978))
Hawk the Slayer (1980) [Baldin]
Santa Claus (1985)
(aka Santa Claus: The Movie (1985))
Legend (1985) [Pox]
Awfully Big Adventure, An (1995) [Long John Silver]
TOM CRUISE (Jack O'Green)
Filmography:
Taps (1981) [David Shawn]
Endless Love (1981) [Billy]
Risky Business (1983) (C:GGN) [Joel Goodman]
All the Right Moves (1983) [Stef]
Outsiders, The (1983) [Steve Randle]
Losin' It (1983)
Legend (1985) [Jack]
Top Gun (1986) [Maverick]
Color of Money, The (1986) [Vincent]
Cocktail (1988) [Brian Hanagan]
Rain Man (1988) [Charlie Babbitt]
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) (AAN) (GG) [Ron Kovic]
Days of Thunder (1990) [Cole Trickle]
Few Good Men, A (1992) (GGN) [Lt. J.G. Kaffee]
Far and Away (1992) [Joseph]
Firm, The (1993) [Mitch McDeere]
Interview with the Vampire (1994) [Lestat]
Mission: Impossible (1996)
LIZ GILBERT (Dancing Black Dress)
Filmography:
Legend (1985) [Dancing Black Dress]
ALICE PLAYTEN (Blix)
Filmography:
Ladybug, Ladybug (1963) [Harriet]
Who Killed Mary What's 'Er Name? (1971) [Della]
"Lost Saucer, The" (1975) [Alice]
"Krofft Supershow, The" (1976) [Alice (in "The Lost Saucer")]
California Dreaming (1979) [Corrine]
Heavy Metal (1981) (voice) [Gloria]
Legend (1985) [Blix]
My Little Pony (1986) [Bushwoolie One]
For Love or Money (1993) [Mrs. Bailey]
(aka Concierge, The (1993))
I.Q. (1994) [Gretchen]
Cosby Mysteries, The (1994) (TV) [Oona Dowd]
(aka Guy Hanks I (1994) (TV))
MIA SARA (Princess Lili)
Filmography:
Legend (1985) [Princess Lili]
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) [Sloane Peterson]
Queenie (1987) (TV) [Queenie Kelly]
Any Man's Death (1988)
Shadows in the Storm (1988)
Apprentice to Murder (1988) [Alice Spangler]
Big Time (1988)
Till We Meet Again (1989) (TV) [Delphine]
(aka Judith Krantz's 'Till We Meet Again' (1989) (TV))
Daughter of Darkness (1990) (TV)
By the Sword (1991) [Clavelli]
Climate for Killing, A (1991) [Elise Shipp]
(aka Row of Crows, A (1991))
Stranger Among Us, A (1992) [Leah]
(aka Close to Eden (1992))
Call of the Wild (1993) (TV) [Jessie Gosselin]
"Time Trax" (1993) [Annie]
Blindsided (1993) (TV)
Caroline at Midnight (1994) [Victoriav]
Daughter of Darkness (1994)
Timecop (1994) [Melissa]
TINA MARTIN (Neil)
Filmography:
Legend (1985) [Neil]
My Sweet Satan (1994) [Susan Miller ("Satan")]
ANNABELLE LANYON (Oona)
Filmography:
Legend (1985) [Oona]
Dream Demon (1988) [Little Jenny]
16. Who do we write to get a Director's Cut of LEGEND?
If you would like to see a Director's Cut Laserdisc Version of LEGEND, write
or fax Colleen Benn at MCA/Universal and let her know. Make sure to be
polite because she is a real person and everyone responds MUCH better to a
polite question for something rather than a rude demand.
MCA Home Video
Colleen Benn/Laserdisc Dept.
70 Universal City Plaza
Suite 435
Universal City, CA 91608
(818) 733-0226 - Fax
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17. Other Legend related articles by the authors of this FAQ.
_________________
Video Watchdog Magazine #29
The 10th Anniversary Issue of Wideo Watchdog (#29) with Robocop on the cover
(and Princess Lili and a Unicorn on the back cover) contains an article about
LEGEND called, "Fairy Dust : Reconstructing LEGEND" by Sean Murphy. The
article is 13 pages long with 6 pictures and contains an indepth analysis of
the American, European, Television, and French Widescreen versions of LEGEND.
If you'd like to order a copy of the issue, call or write Video Watchdog at :
Video Watchdog
P.O. Box 5283
Cincinnati, OH 45205-0283
(800) 275-8395 or (513) 471-8989
Tell them you found out about the article on the LEGEND FAQ page!
_________________
Geoff Wright wrote an article called Unnecessary Destruction which concerns
itself with a period in Ridley Scott's career when he was severely censored
by overly conservative, timid distributors to the detriment of such films as
"Blade Runner" and "Legend". The article is available on the web at
http://www.halcyon.com/geoff/unnecessary_destruction.
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Special Thanks :
Paul Andrew MacLean
Conchi Romero
Elyse Egan