Legend Films

[starmanof51]

DVDDrive-In.com mentions a few extra titles, including "The Man Who Could Cheat Death,"

Wow, a Hammer film. More Terrence Fisher, more Christopher Lee, nothing wrong with that. What a strange grab bag this licensed group is turning out to be. I haven't seen this one but I'd like to. I suppose they're being given the American cut of this, rather than the European, in which allegedly Hazel Court gets 'em out. Ah well.

[Cinephrenic]

Phase IV

[Jeff]

some cover art

[domino harvey]

some cover art

Cross-posted in the Worst Cover Art thread I assume

[luridedith]

some cover art

Yikes! They're all fucking awful with maybe the exception of The Possession Of and The Sender (which are just kinda blah). Not looking forward to what they are going to do with Mandingo, here's hoping there are no hideous shades of green and yellow on the cover.

[miless]

the Phase IV cover isn't that bad, either.

[Ashirg]

Movies Unlimited have a couple of covers as well:




Can't wait for more of what this forum does best - bitching about cover artwork.

[luridedith]

Oh no! Looks like a tacky porno or a cheesy inspirational sports movie. Could be worse I guess.

[tryavna]

I wonder why Legend are releasing these particular movies.... Did they run out of black-and-white movies to colorize or what? I just don't understand exactly what they're trying to brand themselves as.

[Cinephrenic]

Is that O.J Simpson?

[King Prendergast]

Is that O.J Simpson?

no, it's ken norton who gives a extremely effective performance as the titular Mandingo.

[tavernier]

Original Mandingo poster.

[Ashirg]

I wonder if they colorize Girl on the Bridge. That would be really funny..

[Cronenfly]

I wonder why Legend are releasing these particular movies.... Did they run out of black-and-white movies to colorize or what? I just don't understand exactly what they're trying to brand themselves as.

My hypothesis is that there's a new mentality about catalogue titles at Paramount. I think that they've (finally) figured out that they're their own worst enemy when it comes to getting titles out, so they've started doling out titles to third parties; firstly, Criterion has gotten (and will presumably continue to get) the cream of the titles Paramount isn't interested in. Now that this licensing deal has worked out well (as it seems it has), Paramount has sought out another/been sought out by another third party (Legend) to handle the chaff.

I can see this deal working out very well for Legend, as the colorized market is not that large. I'm a bit worried about the quality of the upcoming releases; I would think they'd be in the proper AR with a little remastering, but I'm holding my breath 'til the specs are released.

[Jeff]

Criterion has gotten (and will presumably continue to get) the cream of the titles Paramount isn't interested in. Now that this licensing deal has worked out well (as it seems it has), Paramount has sought out another/been sought out by another third party (Legend) to handle the chaff.

Don't forget that Paramount has also licensed around 3,000 Republic titles to Lionsgate. Their strategy here reminds me of the early days of DVD, when Universal was licensing blocks of titles to Criterion, Image, Anchor Bay, and Goodtimes all at the same time.

[Cronenfly]

Criterion has gotten (and will presumably continue to get) the cream of the titles Paramount isn't interested in. Now that this licensing deal has worked out well (as it seems it has), Paramount has sought out another/been sought out by another third party (Legend) to handle the chaff.

Don't forget that Paramount has also licensed around 3,000 Republic titles to Lionsgate. Their strategy here reminds me of the early days of DVD, when Universal was licensing blocks of titles to Criterion, Image, Anchor Bay, and Goodtimes all at the same time.

How could I forget the Republics?

The DVD-licensing circle is being completed, it would seem; it's just too bad that it took Paramount so long to come around.

[Anhedionisiac]

Considering how high-profile Mandingo has gotten recently, I'm real ticked off about the cover being such ass.

Incidentally, does Student Bodies have a bunch of teenagers pretending to be dead in at least a couple scenes and features one (maybe fake) killer-rabbits attack? 'Cause a movie that fits that description scarred me when I was about 5 years old, even moreso than American Werewolf of London and The Exorcist, which my sisters made me see in the same week.
I know it's horribly vague but if anybody knows what I'm talking about, I'll have their baby, be their organ donor for life or whatever he/she so desires.

[domino harvey]

Could be Night of the Lepus?

[tryavna]

Criterion has gotten (and will presumably continue to get) the cream of the titles Paramount isn't interested in. Now that this licensing deal has worked out well (as it seems it has), Paramount has sought out another/been sought out by another third party (Legend) to handle the chaff.

I can see this deal working out very well for Legend, as the colorized market is not that large.

I see what you mean, Cronenfly, but you're looking at the situation very much from Paramount's point of view. I'm more curious as to what might have made Legend agree to such a deal. After all, for the past few years, they've been marketing themselves almost exclusively as the leading practioner of colorization, yet the overwhelming majority of these Paramount titles are already in color. Have Legend reached a plateau in terms of how much profit they can earn from scribbling over B&W movies? Otherwise, why have they suddenly decided to rebrand themselves by going the same route that Anchor Bay did eight or nine years ago, as Jeff points out? I just find the change in the company's direction very curious.

[Cronenfly]

Criterion has gotten (and will presumably continue to get) the cream of the titles Paramount isn't interested in. Now that this licensing deal has worked out well (as it seems it has), Paramount has sought out another/been sought out by another third party (Legend) to handle the chaff.

I can see this deal working out very well for Legend, as the colorized market is not that large.

I see what you mean, Cronenfly, but you're looking at the situation very much from Paramount's point of view. I'm more curious as to what might have made Legend agree to such a deal. After all, for the past few years, they've been marketing themselves almost exclusively as the leading practioner of colorization, yet the overwhelming majority of these Paramount titles are already in color. Have Legend reached a plateau in terms of how much profit they can earn from scribbling over B&W movies? Otherwise, why have they suddenly decided to rebrand themselves by going the same route that Anchor Bay did eight or nine years ago, as Jeff points out? I just find the change in the company's direction very curious.

Without knowing Legend's POV, it is hard to say why they've decided to become a pseudo-Anchor Bay, but I think that, even being the leader in the colorization market, Legend has probably had trouble surviving. And even if they are doing fine, this is a profile-booster and an ability to put out a large chunk of product, as they haven't put out a ton of titles as yet (as their site shows, their output is under 70 releases in 7 years of operation).

[Ashirg]

DVD Drive-in posted the first review - The Skull

[Anhedionisiac]

Could be Night of the Lepus?

I wish. The rabbits in question were of the normal size variety (and, yeah, I know the giant rabbits in Lepus are common rabbits ridiculously shot so as to appear to be giant but I meant they are of a decent size ratio when they share the screen with humans) and the movie itself, being contemporary, was set sometime in the 80's.
I think the teenagers were faking at least some of their deaths -hence, rabbits escaping from their cages with a taste for flesh being one of their schemes- so they could, I dunno, skip school or something? Or just 'cuz they were sick fucks? Except somehow things go awry, as they are wont to.
Should I resign myself to never finding out?

[Barry Sandrew]

Legend is having it's best colorization year to date partially due to the excellent reviews and hugely successful Holiday consumer response to It's A Wonderful Life, Collector's Edition which we produced for Paramount last year.

We have 7 features recently completed for Legend's own library with 5 additional titles in the schedule for this year. We also have 12 features (both domestic and foreign) slated as restoration and colorization fee for service or revenue sharing productions in the schedule for this year with more orders expected to come in.

We've recently entered the 2D to 3D conversion arena with new proprietary and patented technology.

The Paramount releases are an extension of the Legend Films business and a new division for the company. The division is headed up by our new President, Bob Pollack, a well known and very successful industry veteran in the music and DVD distribution business.

Girl On A Bridge is being released in it's original black and white and is not being colorized.

[Andrian Film Revival]

I used to think there was a special place in the hereafter for those responsible for colorizing It's a Wonderful Life, but since the "consumer response" was so positive, I've decided to tone down my over-zealous attitude to the butchery of beloved film works and now look forward to the new releases Mr Sandrew refers to.

Apart from more coloring in and creating pop ups, I wonder if Mr Pollack will use his vast industry knowledge to find new ways of 'optimizing' the classics? I for one would greatly appreciate the removal of all cigarette and alcohol consumption from old movies, so that I can enjoy them with my young family? I would also be keen for someone to develop a way of superimposing my friends' faces onto those of extras in crowd scenes to make old movies feel more contemporary and interactive.

Please please please make it happen Legend PLEASE!

[Antoine Doinel]

I think your anger is a little misplaced. It's not as if Legend is making the original black and white presentations of the films unavailable. While I too bristle at colorization of classic films, as long as they are also providing the option to watch it in its original format, I don't mind. And as noted above, some films they aren't colorizing at all and releasing them as originally intended.