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Well, Arrow has done it again; they have taken a classic that has long since been adulterated with various revised versions, and they have issued the theatrical cut on a high-quality special edition release. As this reviewer has stated before regarding other Arrow releases of long-neglected theatrical cuts, by this point in time, there will have been several generations of viewers who will not have experienced the original cut — and thus not be aware of what they’d been missing.
The entire film has an operatic quality in that Basil Poledouris’s excellent score contributes just as much to the narrative as does any of the onscreen action or the minimalist dialog. However, I believe that all DVD and Blu-ray editions that came after the original 1998 DVD release included changes that ruined the excellent balance of music and action. These changes included the addition of exposition scenes that screwed up the film’s pacing, alterations to the score to accommodate said scenes, a different textual epilogue to set up the film’s sequel, and a highly stylized ballet-like final sequence featuring overly dramatic gestures that accompanied the music nicely, but ultimately derailed the respectable balance between the music and the action that had occurred throughout the rest of the film. So, the fact that Arrow’s new release has finally brought back all of the original moments is highly gratifying. For anyone who wants to see the alternate cuts, the disc includes the theatrical cut, the director’s cut, and the international cut. The image quality of the presentations is outstanding, of course, with a brand new 4K restoration from the original negatives. The release also features a newly restored original mono audio and remixed Dolby Atmos surround audio on all three cuts. Arrow also gave the same quality treatment to the sequel, Conan the Destroyer, which is available individually or as part of an enhanced collection set.
As for the extra features, this edition includes a vast collection of archival extras from previous editions as well as a series of brand new interviews. The feature commentary track features director John Milius and Conan, himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Other archival extras include interviews with sword master Kiyoshi Yamasaki, writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway; outtakes; “A Tribute to Basil Poledouris,” which is a series of videos produced by the Úbeda Film Music Festival that includes video of Poledouris conducting a concert of music from Conan the Barbarian in 2006 (remixed in 5.1 surround); theatrical trailers and image galleries; and, the highlight of the bunch, the documentary Conan Unchained: The Making of Conan (2000)
The 53 minute documentary features some great stories about the formation of the project as well as how the literary character came to be — with fun anecdotes about the specter of Conan bullying author Robert E. Howard to bring him to life. This feature also gets into the casting of all the major characters, discussions about the shoot with emphasis on all the gore and sword work, and plenty of war stories resulting in the injury of the actors (especially those of Schwarzenegger and Sandahl Bergman). It also reveals the film’s initial great audience reception and poor critical reception. Finally, Schwarzenegger explains how blown away he was at his transformation from a famous bodybuilder to a film star, and Milius viewed the project more as a military campaign than a film project.
The new series of interviews adds great depth to a film package that is already steeped with informative and entertaining content. “Designing Conan” is a 15 minute interview with production artist William Stout, who discusses how he and production designer Ron Cobb designed the world of Conan the Barbarian. It includes fun stories about how he got the gig as well and some of the ups and downs of working on the franchise — like the time Steven Spielberg wanted to steal him from the project (to work on Raiders of the Lost Ark). One particularly amusing anecdote featured Milius telling Stout to draw a storyboard that included a severed arm being used to bash a baby’s head in — Stout was incredulous, but Milius told him that he didn’t intend to film it; the purpose of the request was so that Milius could show producer Dino De Laurentiis the drawing, which he would naturally veto and thus feel like he was contributing to the creative process of the film.
“Costuming Conan” is 15-ish minute interview with John Bloomfield, who discusses being hired for the project immediately after he was fired from another Dino De Laurentiis project, Flash Gordon. One charming story Bloomfield recalls is that he and his 11-year-old son worked together to produce the wizard costume for actor Mako. “Barbaric Effects” with Colin Arthur and Ron Hone is an 11 minute featurette with the film’s special effects technicians looking back at the mechanical and makeup effects in the film. The discussion reveals that some of the practical effects were so gruesome — especially the dismembered corpse-laden kitchen during the orgy sequence — that the whole set was lit with red lighting to minimize the visual impact of the viscera. To hear such stories told by sweet, charming, elderly British gentleman is quite endearing.
“Young Conan” is an interview with Jorge Sanz, who recalls his experiences of working as a child, playing young Conan, on an enormous production. “Conan and the Priest” is a brief but fun interview with character actor Jack Taylor. “Cutting the Barbarian” features editor Peck Prior talking about working on the project and the various interested visitors who came to the set, like Spielberg and George Lucas. In “Crafting Conan’s Magic,” visual effects artists Peter Kuran and Katherine Kean discuss the pre-CGI supernatural sequences, which they manually animated. “Barbarians and North Men” features director Robert Eggers talking about the film’s influence on his own work.
“Behind the Barbarian” is a discussion with John Walsh, author of Conan the Barbarian: The Official History of the Film. This 17 minute interview provides even more details about the literary history, film influences and production stories, and the impact the film has had on modern entertainment — tying it directly to the success of Game of Thrones. “A Line in the Sand” features an interview with author Alfio Leotta, who wrote The Cinema of John Milius. Leotta expands upon the film’s impact, going so far as to say that “It’s one of the most significant films in cinema history.” He points out that it launched Schwartzenegger’s career, boosted the sword and sorcery genre, and, via a socio-political lens, he argues that the narrative is a concise critique of conservatism and consumerism with Conan overthrowing the evil empire of the film’s antagonist, Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones). Finally, and on a lighter note, the extras conclude with “Conan the Barbarian: The Musical,” a 3 minute musical number written and performed by Jon and Al Kaplan.
It bears repeating that Arrow does not disappoint when it comes to its 4K and Blu-ray releases. They certainly did a terrific job with Conan the Barbarian — from giving the theatrical cut (and others) respectable high quality video and audio presentations to providing an exhaustive but not exhausting collection of extra features. Longtime fans of the film will certainly love this presentation as will fans of the genre and folks interested in a comprehensive look at a very unique and thoughtful piece of cinema history.
