When I was a little girl, I had an intense obsession with unicorns. Something about their glowing-white purity and ethereal gracefulness captivated me like no other mythical beast. The first time I saw Ridley Scott’s gorgeous film Legend (1985), I was utterly entranced—I immediately fell headfirst into its shimmering pool of light and darkness. Legend has that tantalizing mix of beauty and ugliness that is intoxicating to a young person, especially one who is coming to terms with their budding sexuality and feelings about romantic love.
Dark fantasy is a genre that is sorely missing in modern films. The eighties had a plethora of movies with this atmosphere: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Neverending Story (1984), and Labyrinth (1986) just to name a few. These were all considered children’s films, but they didn’t pander to the audience. Sometimes life is scary and the future murky, but when you contrast it with beauty it gives a more satisfying and complete experience. That dichotomy between light and darkness is noticeably absent in recent movies/cartoons geared for kids.
Legend is a fairy tale starring an attractive (and quite sparkly) Tom Cruise as an impish young man named Jack. He falls in love with Princess Lili (Mia Sara), a lovely young woman who likes to visit him in his forest home. They are in the romanticized version of love that many people hold in their hearts, but just as in real life, circumstances taint it and threaten to tear them apart. Jack makes a foolhardy mistake that involves desecrating the sanctity of two unicorns and the rest of the movie is spent watching him desperately trying to make amends. It is the story that has been told a thousand times before: boy meets girl and then boy loses girl.
The villain of this tale is a demon known only as Darkness, played by Tim Curry in heavy prosthetics and devil make-up. His body is extremely muscular with blood red skin—Darkness is the epitome of alpha male raw sexuality and power. He represents the fear of being dominated but also the temptation of giving in to one’s carnal desires. To be a good person, it is said, one should be careful with dabbling in hedonism and debauchery. This is on a deeper symbolic level--however, at the surface he provides the conflict for our main hero, Jack. I did not pick up on most of these themes when I saw the film as a child, but they became more apparent to me upon rewatching it as an adult.
This film has an absolutely dazzling atmosphere both visually and aurally. The cinematography is breathtaking and each scene is filled with an otherworldly presence. There is a stark contrast between the glittering dust-mote filled sunlit forest scenes in the beginning and the dark grimy dungeon scenes in the latter half of the film. It perfectly fits with the concepts of balance and duality that Legend returns to again and again. In essence, this movie is about losing one’s innocence and the shock that comes with that revelation.
There are several versions of Legend, a much shortened US theatrical cut, an international cut, and a much longer director's cut. I prefer Tangerine Dream’s moody synthesizer music in the US cut to Goldsmith’s much more traditional orchestral score in the other cuts. As a film critic, I know on a technical level the director's cut is superior, but the US cut is the one I grew up watching and it is the one I always return to because of nostalgia. It is worth checking out all the different versions to see the differences.
Legend is one of the best fantasy films from the eighties era and everyone should experience at least once in their lives. I consider myself lucky to have watched it as a child because it allowed me to become fully immersed into the magical world that Ridley Scott created. As Darkness muses in the film, “The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity.”
Extras: There is a plethora of extras available on Arrow Video's release. Some of my favorites: Incarnations of a Legend, an informative visual essay by Travis Crawford comparing all the different cuts of Legend, and Legends of Darkness and the Enduring Appeal of Dangerous Fairy Tales by Kat Ellinger, a written essay about the sexual undertones of the film.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
– High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of the U.S. Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut
– DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 stereo audio on both cuts
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both cuts
– Illustrated perfect-bound book with new writing by Nicholas Clement and Kat Ellinger and archive materials including production notes and a 2002 interview with Charles de Lauzirika about the restoration of the Director’s Cut
– Large double-sided poster with newly commissioned artwork by Neil Davies and original theatrical artwork by John Alvin
– Glossy full-color portraits of the cast photographed by Annie Leibovitz
– Six double-sided postcard-sized lobby card reproductions
– Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Neil Davies and original theatrical artwork by John Alvin
DISC 1: US THEATRICAL CUT
– New 2K restoration of the US Theatrical Cut from original materials including a 4K scan of the original negative
– New commentary by Paul M. Sammon author of Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies
– 2002 Reconstructed isolated score by Tangerine Dream
– Isolated music and effects track
– A Fairytale in Pinewood, new featurette interviewing grip David Cadwalladr, costume designer Charles Knode, co-star Annabelle Lanyon, camera operator Peter MacDonald, set decorator Ann Mollo and draftsman John Ralph
– Incarnations of a Legend, comparison featurette written and narrated by critic Travis Crawford
– The Directors: Ridley Scott, 2003 documentary where the director discusses his career, including Legend
– “Is Your Love Strong Enough?” music video by Bryan Ferry
DISC 2: DIRECTOR’S CUT
– Commentary by Ridley Scott
– Creating A Myth: Memories of Legend, a 2002 documentary with interviews with Ridley Scott, William Hjortsberg, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, Rob Bottin and others
– Original promotional featurette
– Alternate ‘Four Goblins’ opening and ‘The Fairie Dance’ deleted scene
– Storyboard galleries for three deleted scenes
– Two drafts of William Hjortsberg’s screenplay
– Alternate footage from the overseas release plus textless footage
– Trailers and TV spots
– Still galleries
--Michelle Kisner