Legend Films

[Cold Bishop]

Not enough noise for this release as there should be...

Some captures









Still not uncut however. During the fight between Mede and Topaz, there is an obvious and clumsy cut to cover up what should be a close-up of the gaping hole in Topaz's neck. Did anyone catch the recent theatrical screening? Was this shot in there at least?

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Bad news for fans of Baby It's You, DVD Savant's review of the new disc confirms that the Springsteen songs have been REMOVED:

Dear Glenn, Thanks for the review on Baby It's You. I've been wanting to see this one on DVD for a long time. Unfortunately, Legend Films has informed me that both Baby It's You and French Postcards contain the altered soundtracks, which have appeared on earlier video versions of these films. Both of these films are favorites of mine so I will likely end up buying them anyway, but I am very disappointed that several tunes remain m.i.a.. In the book Sayles on Sayles, Sayles mentions that Paramount dropped the ball on the music rights until the point that the fees became prohibitive. This caused the video to be held up for several years and by the time it appeared, many of the songs were replaced with K-Tel versions. Best Jonathan

Here's the e-mail I received from Maria Mason at Legend Films:

Jonathan, Thank you for your email. Yes, some music has been changed for our home entertainment versions on both of these movies. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Maria T. Mason
Vice President of Marketing
Legend Films, Inc.

(From Reader Ari Kahan, 5.22.08:) The specific music changes in this one are that five Springsteen songs (which in my view were absolutely integral to the film, as they served as the Sheik's "theme music") are all missing: It's Hard to be a Saint in the City, The E St. Shuffle, Jungleland, She's the One and Adam Raised a Cain.

In the years after Baby It's You Sayles has directed three of Springsteen's music videos, by the way. The two clearly admire one another's work, and it's a mystery to me why a deal couldn't have been struck to retain Springsteen's music for the video. I have a hard time imagining Springsteen, who controls the publishing rights for his music, holding Sayles over a barrel on this, and can only imagine that it's due to Paramount's total indifference towards this lovely film. -- A

Does anybody know if the VHS version has Springsteen's music in it?

[Cronenfly]

It must be DVD Times' mistake, given the Savant notes/reader letters, but their review of Baby It's You doesn't seem to indicate that the Springsteen songs have been removed (the review addresses the movie as though the songs are still there)...

[domino harvey]

Aren't the songs still there but they've been rerecorded for the movie by no-names so they only have to pay the publisher cover rights rather than licensing rights for the actual recording?

[Cronenfly]

Looking at the Savant reader letters again, it would seem that is the case.

[Person]

Phase IV is only available from Best Buy which only ships to U.S. addresses. It isn't even Legend's own website. Stoopid fuckin' cunts. I emailed them regarding this yesterday; I didn't refer to them in quite that manner, of course. What dumb-ass decision. Why did they do this? This is a title that people have wanted on DVD for years, a film rarely shown on TV and would be a relatively big seller, surely.

If someone was to buy a copy from Best Buy ($9.99 plus postage, currently out of stock) for me, I'd pay them $20 via Paypal.

[GaryC]

Looking at the Savant reader letters again, it would seem that is the case.

I've amended the review accordingly.

Coincidentally, this is the second DVD I've reviewed in the space of a week with music replaced by soundalike cover versions - see also the DVD of the BBC TV serial Takin' Over the Asylum.

[kneelzod]

Looking at the Savant reader letters again, it would seem that is the case.

I've amended the review accordingly.

Coincidentally, this is the second DVD I've reviewed in the space of a week with music replaced by soundalike cover versions - see also the DVD of the BBC TV serial Takin' Over the Asylum.

I wrote the original letter to Savant after receiving correspondence from Legend. The rumors that the Springsteen songs are cover versions are FALSE. The original versions are present on the DVD and have been for every home video release of the film. The songs that have been replaced are 60s-era pop songs. I wrote about this in several posts on my blog, here, here and here.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

I wrote the original letter to Savant after receiving correspondence from Legend. The rumors that the Springsteen songs are cover versions are FALSE. The original versions are present on the DVD and have been for every home video release of the film. The songs that have been replaced are 60s-era pop songs. I wrote about this in several posts on my blog, here, here and here.

Thanks for clearing this up. I just watched the new DVD last weekend and I thought that the Springsteen songs sounded like the originals. It's a shame about some of the '60s music but I don't think it hurt the film too much - it's still as great as I remember it.

[sevenarts]

Man, Phase IV is a wonderfully strange (and just plain wonderful) film. It's a shame Bass never made more films. He seems way more interested in the ants than the people here, which is oddly fitting, and the ants even manage to give better performances than the human actors -- Lynne Frederick in particular is just dire. But Bass' visual inventiveness, the way he builds the film on geometric patterns and extreme closeups of the ants at work, trumps even the somewhat prosaic human narrative that is ostensibly the film's plot. There are so many great shots and ideas here -- like the chilling shot of the ant graveyard, the queen laying eggs, the eerie closeups that seem to invest the ants with emotion and intellect. Great stuff.

[brendanjc]

Forgive me if there is a thread about this label somewhere already but the search function turned up nothing for me. Has anyone picked up any of their releases? I'm specifically interested in their video quality because they've re-released a few discs that Criterion has put out previously, and there are a number of movies on their schedule that have never been released on DVD. They have an interesting line-up to be sure, including...

The Most Dangerous Game:
-a new colorized version in addition to the B&W version
-interview with Ray Harryhausen and some other special features not on the Criterion release

Carnival of Souls:
-again, a colorized version + a "digitally restored" B&W version
-a remixed 5.1 track
-commentary by Mike Nelson (from MST3K)

They distribute Mike Nelson's Rifftrax so it's not too surprising to see his commentary on a lot of these releases. Others (most with colorized versions as well) include: Reefer Madness, Plan 9 From Outer Space, Little Shop of Horrors, Terror by Night, The Forbidden Zone and Night of the Living Dead. They also look to have released Phase IV, which I remember seeing mentioned on these forums somewhere recently.

More details, including descriptions of all their films, can be found at legendfilms.com. Any thoughts?

[Matt]

All of the titles you mentioned (save Phase IV) are public domain. There is quite a bit of discussion on their Paramount releases here.

[agnamaracs]

It's a shame Bass never made more films.

He never made more FEATURE films. He did have a handful of shorts to his name, including the wonderful Why Man Creates.

[Apu]

Phase IV is only available from Best Buy which only ships to U.S. addresses.

Is this definitive or will it be available elsewhere in the future?

[pemmican]

Thought I would pop in to let people know about a couple of DVD releases that have slipped by the standard channels. (Or maybe no one cares but me?). It's sacrilege for a Cassavetes fan to say it, but I'm even more excited about Saul Bass' Phase IV coming out on DVD than I am about Montaldo's Machine Gun McCain. It's the only feature film Bass directed; given his resume as title designer - working with Hitchcock, Preminger, Scorsese and many others - I'm actually surprised that there wasn't more of a fuss about this film coming out. It has a pretty compelling hard-SF story about ants fighting scientists (even tipping its hat to "Leinengen Vs. The Ants," which inspired The Naked Jungle). Really it seems to be a slightly overcooked, but intelligent, parable about cultural paradigm shifts - I take it to be commenting on the 1960s, or at least, um, a product of that decade, tho' it was made in the 1970s... Some great ant photography by Ken Middleham, who shot the insect scenes in The Hellstrom Chronicle and Wm. Castle's Bug. Haven't seen the DVD yet, gather it's widescreen and does NOT include the trippy 2001-esque closing sequences that Bass shot, which were removed by the distributors.

The link is to Amazon, but it's available on eBay cheaper... I'm under the impression that this is a DVD release that won't be around for long...

Oh: search out Ken Middleham on Youtube; there's a very interesting little documentary about his work posted in two parts. He died a few years ago. I only discovered recently that he was involved in my three all-time favourite insect fear movies - I'd love to know more about him, especially if anyone knows how to see the short films - Carnivorous Plants, say - that he shot with Thomas Stanton.

P.

[Adam]

It's sacrilege for a Cassavetes fan to say it, but I'm even more excited about Saul Bass' Phase IV coming out on DVD than I am about Montaldo's Machine Gun McCain. It's the only feature film Bass directed ...

Of course, Bass did direct other films, including an Oscar winning documentary.

[pemmican]

...was it a feature? The other films I've found mention of were all short subjects. Hence my saying Phase IV was his only feature...

P.

[Cash Flagg]

From Classicflix:

Legend Films has announced The Outlaw - Special Edition for release on June 16th. This restored two disc set will contain the original black and white as well as a colorized version.

No documentaries or featurettes, but it will have new and exclusive commentary by Jane Russell and Terry Moore (presumably on the same track).

As usual, the inclusion of a colorized version is ridiculous, but I'd be interested to hear the commentary from Russell.

[AfterTheRain]

If you don't already know this, then I'm about to tell you: Mandingo - one of the titles Legend licensed from Paramount - is out on Blu-ray. I know this because I just picked up a copy a Best Buy. Don't know what this means for the other Paramount titles Legend has.

[domino harvey]

These double-pack Blus are coming from Legend in May, but of Paramount pix:

Houdini (George Marshall, 1953) / Those Daring Young Men and their Jaunty Jalopies a.k.a Monte Carlo or Bust! (Ken Annakin, 1969)
The Skull (Freddie Francis, 1965) / The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Terence Fisher, 1959)
Student Bodies (Mickey Rose, 1981) / Jekyll & Hyde Together Again (Jerry Belson, 1982)

[knives]

Please don't let them screw up The Man Who Could Cheat Death.

[reaky]

I doubt it'll be any better than the less-than-impressive DVD. No sign of restoration went into that one.

[willoneill]

Jekyll & Hyde Together Again!

[mfunk9786]

These double-pack Blus are coming from Legend in May, but of Paramount pix:

The Skull (Freddie Francis, 1965) / The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Terence Fisher, 1959)

GRRR where's The Deadly Bees, which was in a 3-pack with these two on DVD and is one of my favorites of its era (sort of like a really terrible The Wicker Man)?

[AfterTheRain]

These double-pack Blus are coming from Legend in May, but of Paramount pix:

The Skull (Freddie Francis, 1965) / The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Terence Fisher, 1959)

GRRR where's The Deadly Bees, which was in a 3-pack with these two on DVD and is one of my favorites of its era (sort of like a really terrible The Wicker Man)?

Or a low-rent version of Irwin Allen's The Swarm.