Review of Conan The Barbarian: Collector`s Edition

Introduction

Well as most of you have probably already seen this film i`ll try to keep this brief. Conan the film originates from various sources. Originally based on the Robert Howard books and a script by Oliver Stone, Director John Milius formed his own version of Conan by taking bits and pieces he liked from these sources adding his own stuff and borrowing other things from myth and history.
With this mish mash of comic book ideas and an inexperienced main actor (Arnie) this film was destined to fall flat on its face as so many weak copies have. But it doesn’t. In fact it turned out great, making a star of Arnold and a great film to boot. This is one of those mythical films like Starwars or Indy where it makes you, as a kid dream of being the character, one of those timeless heroes of old. Great stuff.

One thing that shows up really well on this DVD is the cinematography. The opening sequence is very impressive and sets the standard throughout the whole film. If there is one thing you’ll take away with you from this film it will be the numerous memorable sequences including an incident with a camel, the unforgettable tree of woe and the epic musical score.
The set fight pieces are always convincing and impressive, (lets face it the film wouldn’t be up to much if they weren’t) and the reason for this apart from the fact that all actors were trained for months in swordplay, has to be that the consequences of fighting – blood and death is always shown. This is no sanitised Hollywood sword and sandals movie. Much like the recent film Gladiator, weapons are used for what they were meant to be used for and so blood is splashed across the screen in glorious streams of digital crimson.
Ok, maybe glorious gives the wrong impression, but I never came away with the feeling that violence was used gratuitous or over glamorised. It just is what it is.

With this collectors edition we have additional footage cut from the theatrical release which for once really does add something to the film. So many times we’ve had directors cuts or additional footage added but to be honest most of the times you can see why it was originally cut. Not so with this release. A sequence near the climax of the film has Conan talking about what he would have done if his family had not been murdered and along with the extended ending this material gives a much needed depth to the Conan character that before was not apparent.

You now see Conan grow from an ignorant, barbarian child acting on instinct to survive, transform to a man who is aware of his actions and the consequences. Originally cut because the producer didn’t think that Arnold could pull the scene off and that no one could understand him through his Austrian accent, it seems that Arnie triumphs again as it turned out to be one of his best roles. Oh well I said I would keep this brief so much for that.

Sure there are faults with Conan, various plot holes and some weak acting here and there along with some dodgy special effects, but it really doesn’t matter. This is after all Conan.

Video

Well what can I say? An excellent anamorphic picture here and about a million times better than the travesty released on the previous Conan DVD. Lots of detail is apparent throughout the film and considering that quite a few of the scenes are darkly lit all is clear and free from artefacts. Colours are bright and natural looking with good deep blacks (checkout the forging of steel sequence at the start) and considering this is a twenty year old film free from dirt and scratches. The print has a few grainy scenes and the occasional bit of dust but nothing really distracting and nothing that would ruin your viewing. Altogether an excellent job by universal.

Audio

Considering that much of the film has little dialog, a grandiose epic score was a must.
And boy do you get it. Basil poledouris superb score has to be one of the best scores ever recorded. And I dare you not to be humming one of the themes when you come away from this film.
Because of the lack of dialog especially early on in the film the score is essential in providing the emotion for the characters and it succeeds. Just watch the destruction of Conans village sequence and you will see how powerful and beautiful a great score can be.

With all the effort of providing a quality picture you would think that universal would of invested in remixing the sound to a 5.1 mix.. But no. In their wisdom we have the standard mono audio track, an almost criminal act considering the quality and importance of the soundtrack and, i have to say, a real disappointment. However the mono track is clean and free from distortion and although a little lacking in dynamic range is fine.

Features

This DVD is loaded with extras. First we have a good all round documentary which goes in depth through the production of the film. It covers practically everything you would ever want to know about the film including the original Conan stories from Howard and script from Oliver stone to the rigorous training regimes of the cast (injuries included) and the fact that no animals were hurt during filming (queue the camel ). A very good documentary for a very worthy film.

An entertaining if not overly informative commentary adds to the package featuring Milius and Arnold. Arnold has clearly not seen this film for a long time and his memory of events seems rather jaded so Milius does most of the talking. And although not the best commentary especially for fact hungry fans its all done in good fun (Arnie is hilarious at times) and well worth a listen.

Included is a substantial photo archive shown as a slide show backed by the movie soundtrack. This lasts around 12 mins with a slide changing every 5 secs. Here we have lots of production photos, costumes, original sketches and paintings made during the making of the film. This is very good although more detail into the arms and armour used throughout the film would have been nice especially as they are central to the film.

A number of deleted scenes are included, the death of king Osric being of particular interest and a comic moment of Arnie being attacked by wild dogs which produced a chuckle or two.
We also have a split screen special effect reel of the wizards spell, (shame it doesn’t go into detail) and the usual trailers, production notes and biography of cast and filmakers.

Conclusion

Overall a superb package for a great film. Sure there are a few disappointments (lack of 5.1 audio) but don’t let that put you off. This disk is a must for fans, so don your dog skin pants, run to the nearest store and grab this DVD as fast as you can. Altogether…..CROM!