Dune [DVD]

To have a great dvd

3D WEAK

It will be great to see version.

I seen this years ago. I wanted a copy to watch anytime I wanted.

This disk will not play in any of my machines I got a notice that it was the wrong area so I used a magnifying glass to see the fine print that said this disk can not be sold outside the UK or Euro areas. So why was there no warning or notice like this on my amazon prime site.

Great movie

Wonderful story adaptation

Love the first version.

This is still the same substandard, ultra-dark and poorly compressed UK transfer that they were peddling a few years ago. Save your money and either go for the the US blu ray, Dune [Blu-ray] [1984] [Region Free] [US Import] or, better still, the latest French blu ray, Dune [Blu-ray] [FR Import] [Blu-ray] [1985] with the gold Paul Atreides on the front, which is excellent quality. The American one is very clear and bright, but quite grainy as a result, and has a lot of dirt on the print. The French one is ever-so-slightly softer and darker (which works well for some of the ropier effects), but with great colours and no print damage that I could see. The only problem with the French one is that, at the time of writing, it is £77 !!! However, I bought it from Amazon for far less than that, so maybe just wait for the price to drop again.

The first half of this film is very good. Full of wonder and excellent set pieces. Then it just descends into a complete rush job to get it all over with and it shows. There is clearly a longer film than originally planned here. The effects through out this film are very hit and miss as well (as its well documented). Ranging from pretty good to well...awful and unfinished. Its crazy really.The UK Blu-ray transfer it self is not particularly great either. Often too dark at times and very grainy with with lots of shimmering from the print. Its a shame we constantly get the horrible transfers on films. There really needs to be a new one. Arrow should perhaps take a look at it. Either that of give us the French transfer as that seems to be the best one out there at the moment.I just wish Lynch would go back and revisit it with a fresh look and make the best version he can with the footage they shot. With a little extra money they could fix up the special effects. There's a really good film in here somewhere. Its never had a chance to come to fruition due to Lynch's reluctance to have anything to do with it. Shame really. There needs to be a final cut of this like they did with Blade Runner. It deserves it.

Is a 1984 American epic science fiction film written and directed by David Lynch and based on the 1965 Frank Herbert novel of the same name? The film stars Kyle MacLachlan (in his film debut) as young nobleman Paul Atreides and includes an ensemble of well-known American and European actors in supporting roles. It was filmed at the Churubusco Studios in Mexico City and included a soundtrack by the rock band Toto, as well as Brian Eno.Set in the distant future, the film chronicles the conflict between rival noble families as they battle for control of the extremely harsh desert planet Arrakis, also known as "Dune". The planet is the only source of the drug melange—also called "the spice"—which allows prescience and is vital to space travel, making it the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe. Paul Atreides is the scion and heir of a powerful noble family, whose inheritance of control over Arrakis brings them into conflict with its former overlords, House Harkonnen. Paul is also a candidate for the Kwisatz Haderach, a messianic figure in the Bene Gesserit religion. Besides MacLachlan, the film features a large ensemble cast of supporting actors, including Patrick Stewart, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, Virginia Madsen, José Ferrer, Sting, Linda Hunt, and Max von Sydow, among others.After the novel's initial success, attempts to adapt Dune as a film began in 1971. A lengthy process of development followed throughout the 1970s, during which Arthur P. Jacobs, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Ridley Scott unsuccessfully tried to bring their visions to the screen. In 1981, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Lynch as director.The film was a box-office bomb, grossing $30.9 million from a $40 million budget, and was negatively reviewed by critics, who heavily criticized the screenwriting, lack of faithfulness to the source material, pacing, direction, and editing, although the visual effects, musical score, acting, and action sequences were praised. Upon release, Lynch disowned the final film, stating that pressure from both producers and financiers restrained his artistic control and denied him the final cut privilege. At least three versions have been released worldwide. In some cuts, Lynch's name is replaced in the credits with the name Alan Smithee, a pseudonym used by directors who wish not to be associated with a film for which they would normally be credited. The extended and television versions additionally credit writer Lynch as Judas Booth. The film has developed a cult following over time, but opinion varies among fans of the novel and fans of Lynch's films.After the book’s initial success, producers began attempting to adapt the book. In summer 1971, film producer Arthur P. Jacobs optioned the film rights to Dune, but died in summer 1973, while plans for the film (including David Lean already attached to direct) were still in development.The film rights reverted in 1974, at which time the option was acquired by a French consortium led by Jean-Paul Gibon, with Alejandro Jodorowsky attached to direct. Jodorowsky proceeded to approach, among others, the progressive rock groups Pink Floyd and Magma for some of the music, Dan O'Bannon for the visual effects, and artists H. R. Giger, Jean Giraud and Chris Foss for set and character design. For the cast, Jodorowsky envisioned Salvador Dalí as the Emperor, Orson Welles as Baron Harkonnen, Mick Jagger as Feyd-Rautha, Udo Kier as Piter De Vries, David Carradine as Leto Atreides, his son, Brontis Jodorowsky, as Paul Atreides, and Gloria Swanson, among others. The project was ultimately scrapped for several reasons, largely because funding dried up when the project ballooned to a 10–14 hour epic.Although their version of the film never reached production, the work that Jodorowsky and his team put into Dune did have a significant impact on subsequent science-fiction films. In particular, the classic Alien (1979), written by O'Bannon, shared much of the same creative team for the visual design as had been assembled for Jodorowsky's film. A documentary, Jodorowsky's Dune (2013), was made about Jodorowsky's failed attempt at an adaptation.In late 1976, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis purchased the rights from Gibson's consortium. De Laurentiis commissioned Herbert to write a new screenplay in 1978; the script Herbert turned in was 175 pages long, the equivalent of nearly three hours of screen time. De Laurentiis then hired director Ridley Scott in 1979, with Rudy Wurlitzer writing the screenplay and H. R. Giger retained from the Jodorowsky production. Scott intended to split the book into two movies. He worked on three drafts of the script, using The Battle of Algiers as a point of reference, before moving on to direct another science-fiction film, Blade Runner (1982). As he recalls, the pre-production process was slow, and finishing the project would have been even more time-intensive:But after seven months I dropped out of Dune, by then Rudy Wurlitzer had come up with a first-draft script which I felt was a decent distillation of Frank Herbert's (book). But I also realized Dune was going to take a lot more work—at least two and a half years' worth. And I didn't have the heart to attack that because my [older] brother Frank unexpectedly died of cancer while I was prepping the De Laurentiis picture. Frankly, that freaked me out. So I went to Dino and told him the Dune script was his.—From Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies by Paul M. Sammon.In 1981, the nine-year film rights were set to expire. De Laurentiis renegotiated the rights from the author, adding to them the rights to the Dune sequels (written and unwritten). He then showed the book to Sid Sheinberg, president of MCA, the then parent company of Universal City Studios, who approved the book. After seeing The Elephant Man, producer Raffaella De Laurentiis decided that David Lynch should direct the movie. Around that time, Lynch received several other directing offers, including Return of the Jedi. He agreed to direct Dune and write the screenplay, though he had not read the book, known the story, or even been interested in science fiction. Lynch worked on the script for six months with Eric Bergren and Christopher De Vore. The team yielded two drafts of the script before they split over creative differences. Lynch subsequently worked on five more drafts.Virginia Madsen said in 2016 that she was signed for three films, as the producers "thought they were going to make Star Wars for grown-ups."On March 30, 1983, with the 135-page sixth draft of the script, Dune finally began shooting. It was shot entirely in Mexico. With a budget of over $40 million, Dune required 80 sets built on 16 sound stages and a total crew of 1,700. Many of the exterior shots were filmed in the Samalayuca Dune Fields in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.The rough cut of Dune without post-production effects ran over four hours long, but Lynch's intended cut of the film (as reflected in the seventh and final draft of the script) was almost three hours long. Universal and the film's financiers expected a standard, two-hour cut of the film. Dino De Laurentiis, his daughter Raffaella and Lynch excised numerous scenes, filmed new scenes that simplified or concentrated plot elements and added voice-over narrations, plus a new introduction by Virginia Madsen. Contrary to rumor, Lynch made no other version besides the theatrical cut. A television version was aired in 1988 in two parts totaling 186 minutes; it replaced Madsen's opening monologue with a much longer description of the setting that used concept art stills. Lynch disavowed this version and had his name removed from the credits, Alan Smithee being credited instead. This version (without recap and second credit roll) has occasionally been released on DVD as Dune: Extended Edition. Several longer versions have been spliced together. Although Universal has approached Lynch for a possible director's cut, Lynch has declined every offer and prefers not to discuss Dune in interviews.A good effort from Lynch, although slightly flawed it is still enjoyable and maybe without all the interference from the studio and producers it may have been up there with Star War, but Dune fans can only hope Denis Villeneuve can lay the foundation and bring the history of House Atreides and the conquest of Arrakis in the pursuit of spice.

Dune lacks the valuable spice needed to prevent this deserted adaptation from collapsing in its own inhospitable quicksand. Has everybody got their trusty notebooks? No? Well, it is advisable you acquire one now: ”A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then that it is the year 10,191. The Known Universe is ruled by Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to travel.”. *insert more introductory exposition regarding spice mutation and the “ability to fold space”*. “The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune.”. *insert even more exposition outlining the rivalry between two factions, House Atreides and House Harkonnen*. “The powerful Bebe Gesserit sisterhood for 90 generations has been manipulating bloodlines to produce Kwisatz Haderach, a super being. On Caladan, Jessica, a member of the sisterhood and the bound concubine of Duke Leto Atreides, had been ordered to...”. Actually, let’s stop there. It’s provided me with more than enough melange to criticise this absolute incomprehensible mess.Surrealist director Lynch was recruited to direct and write an adaptation of Herbert’s lauded novel of the same name. His first, and only, studio endeavour that would attempt to amalgamate the complexity of Herbert’s thematic exploration into dystopian sociopolitical religions with the imaginative visionary wonders Lynch could supply to a feature film. Many directors had attempted to adapt Dune. Including Jodorowsky and Scott. None were successful. These failed ventures substantiated one question: “why?”. Why was it so brutally challenging to adapt Herbert’s sci-fi extravaganza. The simple answer? The novel is too dense to compress into a feature film.Lynch’s screenplay, having resorted to a five minute introductory narrative heavily denoting the lore and background of the proceeding feature, is an accumulation of plot. Every single grain of contextual sand covering the Arrakian wasteland would proliferate into a narrative dune of plot. There’s no characterisation. No menial conversations. No long stare into the open desolation of Arrakis where colossal sandworms roam the arenaceous landscape. Every line, every pause and every word of dialogue substantiates its central or various sub-plots. It’s all plot! Yet despite a two and a half hour feature of sheer vigorous plotting, the final product still does not make any comprehensible sense. What was the entire purpose of the mutated Guild Navigator? Why did Paul Atreides instantly fall in love with Chani? What’s with Baron Vladimir Harkonnen sexually assaulting and slaughtering a young man? How about the entire final ten minutes?The point is, no matter how much plot is compressed into one feature film, it cannot cover the substantial expansivity of Herbert’s imagination. Gibbs’ complacent editing butchered the narrative flow regardless of Lynch’s usage of psychic narration and foreshadowing to masquerade clumsy plotting. Attempting to detail the story’s grand entirety comes at the expense of zero characterisation and minimal emotional investment to the ornately designed worlds. The protagonist, Paul Atreides, was borderline dull. MacLachlan’s performance was on cruise control. The rest of House Atreides failed to exhibit any emotion, other than soulless. Fortunately von Sydow and Stewart added some dramatic prowess to the pace, despite their underused presence. Members of House Harkonnen contrastingly shouted everything at piercingly booming decibels and overacted all facial movements in pantomime fashion. There was no inbetween. Just two rampantly fluctuating volumes of acting credibility. Frustratingly, Lynch’s adaptation had promise.Despite the extravagant mess that was manufactured by studio interference and creative misdirection, the technical excellence embedded within managed to shine various glimmers of hope. The costume design inhibited the grandeur of Herbert’s intergalactic story. The merging of visual and practical effects enhanced the action scenes involving “Weirding Modules”, essentially sonic weaponry. Toto’s 80s rock score suited the desolate rocky environment (it’s not “Africa” though...). And heck, riding sandworms across the desert to obtain freedom? Hell yeah!Alas, Lynch’s intended vision was not meant to be. As a general sci-fi enthusiast and admirer for ambition, condensing an approximately four hundred page heavy fictitious novel into a mere two and a half hour plot summary was not the route to pursue. It may evoke technical astuteness and imagination, yet crumbles into an incomprehensibly shambolic mess of galactic proportions. Much like sand, “it’s all coarse, and rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere!”.

The known universe is ruled by the Emperor of the Imperium, Shaddam IV, who serves with the support of the Great Houses of the Landsraad. The growing popularity of House Atreides and its charismatic duke, Leto, spurs Shaddam to ally with the sworn enemies of the Atreides, the Harkonnens, and lure them into a trap by offering them the planet Arrakis - Dune - as a new fiefdom. Arrakis is the source of the spice melange, the most valuable substance known to exist, essential for the Spacing Guild to undertake FTL travel and for the prescient powers of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood. But when the trap is sprung, the young scion of House Atreides, Paul, escapes into the desert with his mother and allies with the native Fremen, whom they start forming into an army.Dune is science fiction's biggest-selling novel, and one of its most acclaimed. Frank Herbert's book, published in 1965, has become a taproot text of modern SFF, influencing everything from the original Star Wars to A Game of Thrones to The Wheel of Time and more. Unsurprisingly, this has made it a ripe prospect for adaptation to the screen. The first attempt, by director Alejandro Jodorowsky, failed in the 1970s due to budget concerns. A mini-series, released in 2000, was never more than functional. Denis Villeneuve's promising new film version is, at this time of writing, unreleased and its quality remains to be seen.David Lynch's 1984 film version is the best-known adaptation to date and the most divisive. It's a curious film, made by a hugely talented and respected artist but one that was also made in thrall to commercial concerns that inhibited his creative freedom. It feels very much like the same problem that, a decade later, beset David Fincher's Alien 3. Both films emerge as interesting curiosity pieces, but beset by problems.On the positive side of things, Lynch's film has incredible atmosphere and tone. The industrial gothic set design is impressive and many of the visual effects stand up, including the model work and the imposing sandworms (plus the still-freaky-as-hell Guild Navigator in the opening scene). The costume design is also sumptuous. Lynch is a painter on film, and there are many fantastically-framed shots. This is a film that does not lack for epic imagery.The cast is also fantastic. For 1984 its cast was as stacked as the 2020 film's is today. Francesca Annis as Jessica, Jürgen Prochnow as Duke Leto, Max von Sydow as Liet-Kynes, Sean Young as Chani, Dean Stockwell as Dr. Yueh, a pre-Star Trek Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck, Freddie Jones as Thufir Hawat, Siân Phillips as Revered Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam, Brad Dourif as Piter De Vries, José Ferrer as the Emperor, Virginia Madsen as Princess Irulan, Kenneth McMillan as Baron Harkonnen, Linda Hunt as the Shadout Mapes and, of course, Sting as Feyd Rautha. It's a galaxy of stars, most of whom give their all. Particularly good is Kyle MacLachlan as Paul Atreides, who despite his relative inexperience at this point gives a solid performance and is able to nail both the lighter, more boyish qualities of Paul at the start of the film as well as his darker, more messianic tendencies which evolve as the story continues.The film does have several key weaknesses. The most notable is pacing. Because the Dune universe is strange and dense, Lynch makes the key decision to spend the first half-hour of the film engaged in laborious exposition. This is completely at odds with his later films and TV shows, where any kind of exposition or context is often missing altogether, and one wonders if his experience with this film made him leery of making the same mistake again. It takes the film 25 minutes just to reach the first scene from the actual novel, all spent in setting up concepts like the Emperor, the Bene Gesserit, the Spacing Guild and the mentats. On top of that we get an introductory speech by Princess Irulan (who otherwise has just one line of dialogue in the entire film) further expanding on the spice melange and the importance of Arrakis. I can't help but feel that maybe Frank Herbert had the right idea starting the action more in media res and explaining things as he went along.This slow start to the film is something it never really recovers from. Lynch expands a lot of time on the Atreides arrival on Arrakis, the first meeting with Dr. Kynes, the first encounter with a sandworm and so on, so that it takes ninety minutes to get Paul and Jessica to their first meeting with the Fremen. From that point to the end of the movie is just forty-five minutes, so Dune backs in a colossal amount of exposition, characters and action into the same amount of time as a network TV procedural. It's mind-bogglingly rushed, and likely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't read the book (and even book readers may find themselves bemused from time to time).Later three-hour cuts of the film - done without David Lynch's approval, and he withdrew his name from them - tried to solve some of these problems by increasing the run time and introducing more exposition, voiceovers and title cards, as well as reinserting some cut scenes, but these don't really help overcome the fundamental pacing problems and may exacerbate them (viewers' mileage will vary, though).This problem is annoying because there is much here to enjoy. Dune is visually powerful and weirdly interesting, with a stellar cast and excellent location filming in a real desert (a key weakness of the 2000 mini-series is that it had no location filming at all), as well as a great score. But the pacing makes the first half of the film too slow and the second half far too rushed, and too many key concepts from the book are explored only in a half-arsed kind of way. Lynch seems reluctant to remove extraneous book material that doesn't impact on the film, which is why we end up with a pointless Duncan Idaho (who, from a film-only perspective, feels redundant as a character) and the Shadout Mapes, who shows up to offer a warning that everyone already knows about and could have been cut with little loss.The biggest problem - certainly the one Frank Herbert objected to the most - is the ending, which undercuts the thematic point of the novel and renders the story as an unironic run-through of the Hero's Journey, with Paul as the white saviour/chosen one figure who is going to right wrongs and deliver peace and justice. The novel, and much moreso its sequels, is about the danger of the myth of the "superman" and giving absolute power into the hands of a "hero," with no concern about how it might corrupt him. In this sense, the film fails to deliver the story from the novel, which is more of a warning than a celebration.If you're already familiar with the Frank Herbert novel, David Lynch's Dune (***) is an interesting interpretation of the book and features much that's impressive. However, the film fails to honour the themes and ideas from the novel (and the ending undercuts them), it is paced poorly and is a little too scared to remove elements from the book that don't work on screen. The film in is an honourable, watchable and interesting failure, but a failure none the less.