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Dune ’84 – Dual Version Edition

by Glenn Erickson May 18, 2024

Shot for shot, David Lynch’s galactic epic is as brilliant as any of his films, with vivid characterizations, strong performances and a parade of weird, strikingly Lynchian visuals. The bizarre Lynch sensibility is a good match for Frank Herbert’s complicated saga; Viavision’s Limited Edition is the first Region A Blu-ray to offer both the Theatrical Cut and the Extended Version, with its numerous new scenes. It’s a lot of story to cover in too little time, but no show as entertaining as this needs to make apologies.


Dune ’84 – Dual Version Edition
Blu-ray
Viavision
1984 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 137 + 177 min. / Street Date April 24, 2024 / Available from Viavision / au 79.95 / Available from Amazon U.S. / au 60.99
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Francesca Annis, Jürgen Prochnow, José Ferrer, Kenneth McMillan, Sean Young, Dean Stockwell, Max von Sydow, Patrick Stewart, Sting, Paul L. Smith, Everett McGill, Linda Hunt, Freddie Jones, Virginia Madsen, Silvana Mangano, Brad Dourif, Richard Jordan, Jack Nance, Siân Phillips, Leonardo Cimino, Alicia Witt.
Cinematography: Freddie Francis
Production Designer: Anthony Masters
Supervising Art Director: Pier Luigi Basile
Art Director: Benjamín Fernández
Costume Design: Bob Ringwood
Film Editor: Antony Gibbs
Visual Effects: Barry Nolan (photographic effects), Albert Whitlock, Syd Dutton (matte work), Brian Smithies (model work), Kit West (mechanical effects), Emilio Ruíz Del Rio (miniature effects), Carlo Rambaldi (creature effects)
Original Music composed and performed by Toto (David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Mike Porcaro)
‘Prophecy’ theme composed by Brian Eno, Roger Eno, Daniel Lanois
Score conducted by (and additional music composed by) Marty Paich
Screenplay by David Lynch from the novel by Frank Herbert
Executive Producer Dino De Laurentiis
Produced by Raffaella De Laurentiis
Directed by
David Lynch

Why review the 1984 Dune again?  The second part of the Denis Villeneuve version has received a warm welcome, and some moviegoers are quick to dismiss David Lynch’s expensive, commercially disappointing epic. It is now 40 years old, and pundits still occasionally report that Mr. Lynch will take it out of mothballs for a major re-edit. If he ever gets the notion to do such a thing, I say let him revise or enlarge or reinvent or deconstruct to his heart’s content — even a completely abstract Dune with Lynch’s touch would be a worthwhile project.

Dune ’84 still thrills this viewer. It has more vibrant and memorable characterizations, better music (even if it’s sometimes synthy-thin) and more imaginative designs. Lynch’s epic has an insane expanse of exposition to cover, an impossible task; Villeneuve’s two-part show is more than twice as long yet leaves out entire aspects covered by Lynch, like The Spacing Guild and its Navigators. It is STILL 80% complicated back-story. But hey, the newer version has plenty of good aspects as well, especially on a big screen.

Not that I want to see it again, but it’s worth reminding readers of the existence of a SyFy Channel Miniseries. And a core of Alejandro Jodorosky fans would rather ignore all the versions and obsess about the Chilean-French filmmaker’s never-filmed, yet influential version.

 

We were blown away by Arrow Video’s 2021 4K Ultra HD of Dune ’84’s 137- minute theatrical cut. We especially asked to cover Viavision’s new Dune — Limited Edition 3D Lenticular Hardcase because it is the first Region A Blu-ray release of the movie’s notorious Extended TV Version, which made a quiet TV syndication debut in June of 1988, in a flat pan-scan version. Universal released a widescreen 2:35 DVD of this longer cut in 2006.

Was this re-edited by a studio committee, or by a focus group?

The Extended TV Version gave Universal something longer to tout in TV promos, approximately 35 minutes of ‘new’ scenes. It offers a lot of much-desired elaboration, character detail and ‘elbow room’ for the too-dense epic. As we’ll explain, it also has some really awkward aspects, through cut & paste editing that interrupts David Lynch’s mysterious moods. The director signalled his opinion of Universal’s recut by opting for the dreaded ‘Alan Smithee’ directing credit. When it came time to decide what pseudonym to use for his screenwriting credit, somebody chose a combo of famous betrayers: ‘Judas Booth.’  Mmmm … think there were some hard feelings with this one?

We’ve always loved Dune ’84, and not just because we’re partial to complicated movies with storytelling problems. Lynch’s feudal struggle for galactic domination still ‘sets our minds in motion.’ So much of George Lucas’s Star Wars was lifted from the Frank Herbert books, it isn’t even funny. The director may have disowned his giant epic, but his vision is as exciting here as it is in his more celebrated films. Our coverage of this deluxe Viavision box concentrates on the Extended TV Version and the extras. A closer breakdown of the Theatrical Cut and the Dune phenomenon can be found at our CineSavant 4K review.

 

Uhhh … so mansplain us some more about this here ‘Extended’ version, CineSavant.

From the very start Dune had the reputation of a talk-a-thon, where 30 characters spend so much time explaining galactic politics, that there’s not enough room for meaningful action and drama. When we saw that the Extended TV Version was 50 minutes longer, we hoped it would make the show easier to follow. Nope, viewers unfamiliar with the book will still need a tour guide to understand what’s going on. Univeral’s recut probably began by reinstating last-minute trims, restoring dialogue to scenes that had been slashed cut to a minimum — like the two opening scenes with José Ferrer’s Emperor. But a lot of exciting & meaningful material was recovered as well. “Alan Smithee’s” editors reinstated several scenes deleted in full, including one with Patrick Stewart’s warrior-balladeer playing a stringed musical instrument. There’s more needed detail and some more ‘quiet’ moments that benefit several performances greatly. Richard Jordan’s promising Duncan Idaho is now at least a little more than just a passing blip. Linda Hunt’s interesting Shadout Mapes now does more than deliver a couple of expositional telegrams.

After we go underground with the Fremen, even more important scenes are reinstated, such as a knife fight and a burial. Best of all is the milking of “The Water of Life” from a baby Sandworm, which may be Carlo Rambaldi’s most impressive mechanical effect creation. It’s as weird as the mutated 3rd Stage Guild Navigator, the gnomish ‘thing’ that floats in an aquarium. Both feel related to David Lynch’s nightmarish Eraserhead.

 

The Extended Cut also adds more redundant voiceover exposition. The Theatrical Version began with an expository monologue-prologue from Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen). She sounds great, but the speech communicates little. Universal couldn’t/didn’t rehire Ms. Madsen’s services, so we now do without Irulan entirely. A generic male voice (Sci-fi actor William Phipps) takes us on a mind-numbing rehash of Dune politics that adds eight minutes to the running time. It is visualized with concept art not in keeping with the film’s look; shots of the main planets are inserted here, copied from later in the movie. That repetitive blackboard lecture is soon followed by Paul’s original review of the key planets in the federation, viewed on his tablet-like laptop device. The new narrator pops in throughout the Extended TV Version, adding and restating information. His voice flattens out the introduction of major characters.

The Extended cut also expands every time some character travels from one world to another, as if some executive said ‘I don’t know where we are. Show ’em going to Kaitan each time.’  Since there aren’t enough shots of spaceships landing or traversing starfields to go around, It’s all repeated effects footage. Some arrivals show incorrect spaceships landing on the wrong planets. Is this the Emperor’s home orb, or is it planet Caladan?  Worse, the editors sometimes just plain cheat. When the Reverend Mother Mohiam (Siân Phillips) arrives on Caladan, a cockpit view is stolen from a later scene of Paul and Jessica being taken out to the desert to die … we can plainly see mother and son tied and gagged at the bottom of the frame!  Toward the end, various effects shots unfinished in the film proper are replaced with flat artwork place holders. We appreciate the effort to expand the canvas — but it’s quite a mish-mosh.

The extended cut was also heavily censored, dropping several moments of semi-perverse Lynchian details, bits of gore and unpleasantness. Completely eliminated are shots in which Baron Vladimir (Kenneth McMillan) molests a flower-boy and pulls out his heart-plug. Lynch knew that villainous mustache-twirling would no longer suffice; the squeamish details of spit and pus were really essential to his theatrical version. Vladimir doesn’t spit on Lady Jessica, although Piter de Vries still wipes the spittle away. Rabban doesn’t crush a little creature in a hand-juicer and then suck its fluid through a straw.

 

Restorations, broken epics, bad news and good news.

When a favorite is involved we always want to see ‘more.’ But Hollywood history is littered with broken epics, movies that were mangled because studios lost faith in them. Way back in 1925, MGM destroyed Erich von Stroheim’s 9.5-hour version of  Greed, with the idea that such a long movie is an insane idea. Well, today’s preferred format for ‘big’ stories is the streaming limited series, which tend to stretch from 6 to 10 episodes. If  Greed had survived, it might have found a home on Netflix. We were intrigued when Samuel Fuller’s  The Big Red One was reconstructed; the same goes when Orson Welles’  Touch of Evil was re-worked.

We’re grateful that some key scenes were returned to  Major Dundee. The restoration of a cut of  The Wild Bunch closer to Sam Peckinpah’s personal cut was a major achievement; we’re always hoping that Warners might restore various minor cuts to the film, including its foreign Road Show intermission. Thanks to Criterion’s beautiful disc set, we can now also enjoy Sergei Bondarchuk’s amazing 1967  War and Peace, a four-part epic that clocks in at a fully satisfying 7 hours. And Universal allowed Bob Gale to reconstitute a full, correct long version of 1941.

 

Perhaps the biggest success story along these lines is Wim Wenders’  Until the End of the World. When he wanted to release a 5-hour, three-film version, Warners refused and forced him to deliver a 158- minute cut. On his own dime, Wenders finished his long version separately. He then had to wait many years for the rights to revert back to his company, permitting him to release it as he intended. That’s called believing in one’s own work.

It’s been over twenty years since Peter Jackson’s three-part  Lord of the Rings films became big hits. New Line’s big gamble demonstrated the same kind of showman’s confidence that Erich Pommer and UfA had back in Weimar Germany, with Fritz Lang’s  Dr. Mabuse der Spieler and  Die Nibelungen, each of which was a massive two-parter. It looks as if Lang’s  Metropolis was meant to follow the same deluxe format, before UfA collapsed, and MGM and Paramount came in to chop the Sci-fi epic down to nothing.

 

We are soon to see another example of a film originally released in a compromised version: Peckinpah’s  Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is about to be released in three distinct versions. Let’s hope that one of them is all-inclusive.

The De Laurentiis organization was always big on ‘comic book’ movies, having had (European) success with  Diabolik and  Barbarella, and doing okay with the much later Flash Gordon. Some advocates for the Villeneuve films like his darker approach, with hardly a smile in the entire saga. The new version’s sober tone may be more in keeping with Herbert, and all those gigantic Arrakeen sandscapes were impressive in IMAX. We found Part One to be ponderous and muted, and enjoyed Part Two much more with its well-organized spectacle. The battles and fights are excellent too.

 

After seeing both versions, we’d rather save our criticism for the Star Wars franchise, which lifts so much from Frank Herbert, we’re tempted to wonder if George Lucas ‘adopted’ the Joseph Campbell storytelling mythos as his inspiration to put copyright bloodhounds off the trail. Thanks to a son who has read the Herbert books and likes the Villeneuve version, I’ve learned what everybody else knows, that Paul Atreides has a ‘surprise’ heritage, very much like Luke Skywalker’s.

One can’t deny the power & vision of David Lynch’s imagery: as we’ve tried to illustrate, Lynch comes through with some terrific screen art. It’s too bad that he couldn’t have been given more time and the resources to enlarge his Dune out into two movies, like the Salkind/Lester  The Three Musketeers. Frankly, what Lynch was trying to accomplished needed a longer format as described above — three, maybe four movies. He concluded that taking on such a giant epic was a misstep, but we respectfully disagree. His Dune looks so good and does so many things so well, it has nothing to apologize for.

 


 

Viavision’s Blu-ray of Dune — Limited Edition 3D Lenticular Hardcase is a fancy set with three discs — the Theatrical Version, the Extended TV Version, and a disc of documentaries and extras. Viavision’s license comes through Lionsgate, the logo for which replaces any mention of Universal except on the feature itself. Not that it means anything, but Lionsgate does not appear among the IMDB’s list of at least 50 companies involved in the film’s distribution.

The presumed Universal-sourced transfers are quite nice, although of course not quite as glittering as Arrow’s 4K release, of the Theatrical Version only. The TV Extended Cut is in its full Panavision width, and for the first time in HD Blu-ray. It has a different texture than the Theatrical version, what with the inclusion of flat artwork and so many shots duplicated, reframed, and re-purposed. It’s no surprise that Lynch’s theatrical cut flows better visually and has a much better sound mix, starting with the fact that music cues are heard only once, where they were meant to be heard.

Having this nifty Blu-ray in hand will surely cue the ‘fan cut’ editors out there to make their own custom versions. Perhaps a ‘new compromise version’ would be indicated: just take the theatrical version and add as much meaningful new material, disturbing Lynch’s rhythms as little as possible. I’ll watch the 4K to show off my large screen, and the Extended Version when I want to envision my own conspiratorial fan cut ideas. Why not a version that deletes ‘unnatural’ expository dialogue, jammed in only to school the audience?

The key new extra is a very good commentary on the Extended Version by Max Evry, the author of an exhaustively researched book on everything to do with Lynch’s bold Dune epic, A Masterpiece in Disarray: David Lynch’s Dune, an Oral History. Evry covers the whole story from multiple points of view, filling most of the running time with relevant, fascinating detail. He identifies actors unnamed in the credits and clears up many points of confusion. The Atreides’ Weirding Modules are a complete David Lynch invention, which explains their absence in the Villeneuve version. As confirmed by Evry, Frank Herbert didn’t introduce a Guild Navigator until the second book, but Lynch chose to open his epic with one.

Evry covers every kind of ‘missing scene’: unfilmed things from the script, existing deleted material and pieces that have survived in work print form. His opinions are reasonable, and supported by inside information. He’s also not a gossip monger — he doesn’t name the well-known actor who showed up in Mexico City too drunk to work, and he opts not to direct viewers to a scene where somebody was badly injured.

Max Evry is rather hard on the pre-CGI special effects, even as we’re watching the beautifully conceived and executed final battle. When reciting quotes from David Lynch, he imitates the director’s voice just enough to be both amusing and respectful. I nominate him for a special David Del Valle celebrity impersonation award.

 

A full list of extras is below. They’re still packed with fascinating behind-the-scenes material, showing what must have been a gigantic production based in and around Mexico City. A corps of international designers and modelmakers display the wonderful constructions and effects. Impressive location and production footage appear to have been repurposed from older featurettes. Some of the sets and miniature constructions for the film are truly magnificent.

    One piece offers an excellent demonstration of the foreground miniature illusions created by the Spanish effects specialist Emilio Ruíz del Rio — some of the most lavish shots of massed troops below docked space ships were done live in the camera — without opticals. Here’s a sampler showing the amazing del Rio at work. “Muñequitos!”

Rafaella de Laurentiis’s Deleted Scenes extra shows us some interesting tableaux of Bene Gesserit sisters, etc., but would seem to avoid material that might induce the reaction, “why not stick that back in?”  The personable producer stresses the fact that a super-duper long Lynch cut did not exist. We are instead told that the longest (4.5 hour) rough assembly was interrupted by many ‘scene missing’ place holders for visual effects that Universal more than likely nixed before they were begun. The deleted scenes do contain an interesting bit or two, like Paul’s final wedding plans and the fate of Thufur Hawat (Freddie Jones). I didn’t realize until now that Thufur disappears right in the middle of the final throne room confrontation.

My reaction is of course “Hey, why not stick that back in?”

A new Deleted Scene is a very welcome surprise. Actress Molly Wryn played Harah, the widow of the Fremen killed by Paul in a knife fight … a subplot entirely removed for the Theatrical version. Several scenes were re-integrated into the Extended Edition, but not this nice bit where Molly’s character is at the receiving end of a ‘mind attack’ by the rapidly-maturing Alia Atreides.

And of course, there’s always Viavision’s fancy lenticular cover, plus an envelope with several glossy art cards. They apparently do indeed help sell discs, as gift boxes. I’m very happy to have the TV Extended Version on Blu-ray … as will be other obsessed fans capable of importing Viavision’s disc set.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson


Dune ’84 – Dual Version Edition
Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Fascinating
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements:
Disc 1 Theatrical Version (Audio DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)
Theatrical trailer & teaser trailer
Disc 2 TV Extended Version (Audio 2.0 Stereo)
New Audio commentary with Max Evry (2024)
Disc 3 Special Features
Longform docu The Sleeper Must Awaken: Making Dune New extended version (2024, 93 minutes)
Documentary Impressions of Dune (1983)
Featurettes
Beyond Imagination: Merchandising Dune (2021)
Prophecy Fulfilled: Scoring Dune with members of Toto and Tim Greiving (2021)
Destination Dune (1983)
Designing Dune about production designer Anthony Masters (2005)
Dune Models & Miniatures (2005)
Dune FX (2005)
Dune Costumes (2005)
Deleted Scenes
Selection with introduction by Raffaella de Laurentiis (2005)
New Additional deleted scene with introduction by actor Molly Wryn (2024)
Interviews
Actor Paul Smith (2007)
Production coordinator Golda Offenham (2003)
Effects makeup artist Christopher Tucker
Theatrical Trailers and TV Spots
Image Galleries
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: Three Blu-rays in Keep case in box with envelope with image cards
Reviewed:
May 13, 2024
(7125dune)
CINESAVANT

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Text © Copyright 2024 Glenn Erickson

About Glenn Erickson

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Glenn Erickson left a small town for UCLA film school, where his spooky student movie about a haunted window landed him a job on the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS effects crew. He’s a writer and a film editor experienced in features, TV commercials, Cannon movie trailers, special montages and disc docus. But he’s most proud of finding the lost ending for a famous film noir, that few people knew was missing. Glenn is grateful for Trailers From Hell’s generous offer of a guest reviewing haven for CineSavant.

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Dooley

Chris Gore from FILM THREAT raved about this fan edit, that includes near everything with additional efforts to polish, mix, fix and tidy up whatever. https://youtu.be/faHQA_0d9Mo?si=MGAhxGZkA6FzHgNO

Ray

This is the version I always watch when I want to see the 1984 version. There’s a special quality to the acting in the Lynch version like watching a play rather than a movie.

Last edited 8 months ago by Ray
Daniel

“Shot for shot, David Lynch’s galactic epic is as brilliant as any of his films, with vivid characterizations, strong performances and a parade of weird, strikingly Lynchian visuals.”

When I first read this, I thought you were joking. Dune (1984) is one of the five worst films I’ve ever seen (along with Superman IV (1987), Batman & Robin (1997), Freejack (1992), and Suicide Squad (2015)). I thought it was incompetently made, and the visuals were embarrassingly cheesy. It was bewilderingly confusing, and I laughed out loud multiple throughout the film at the unintentional hilarity of what was happening on screen.

Caveats: I’ve never read any of the Dune books, so I have no affection or bias toward the source material. I saw this film a few months before the new film was released in 2021. I unabashedly love the new Dune films, but I had not seen them before I saw the ’84 version, so again, no bias for another version over this. And I had been disappointed in Denis Villeneuve’s previous film, Blade Runner 2049 (beautiful to look at, but the story was dull as dishwater), so I had no expectations for the new film prior to seeing it.

As I read you review of the 1984 version, I can’t believe that we were watching the same film. I saw literally none of the craft or artistry or even creative ambition that you described.

Different strokes for different folks obviously.

Chuck Anziulewicz

The “Alan Smithee” version that the Sci-Fi Channel cobbled together is all but unwatchable.

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