reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (01/09/85)
Here's a direct quote from an interview with Frank Herbert (in the LA
Weekly) concerning the long version of "Dune":
" The only way the movie could have been made was if they spent
megabucks on it. And to be pragmatic about it, that meant that they
had to do a production they could show in theaters everywhere, and that
meant that they had to cut it. Luckily, we have about five hours of film.
In fact, we have as much film on the cutting room floor as we have on the
screen. All the scenes that everybody misses from the book are all there.
So we are now discussing doing a special mini-series for T.V. about three
or four years down the pike - essentially the uncut version of the film."
As others have pointed out, many of the things wrong with "Dune" did not
have to do with things left out of the film. Perhaps a longer version
would fill in gaps and allow them to dump the stupid voiceovers, perhaps
some weak characterizations would become stronger, perhaps there would be
more coherence. I'd certainly like to find out, but I think that even at
five hours "Dune" would be heavily flawed.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher