1492 on Blu-Ray - Overseas

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AndyDursin · #1 Post by **AndyDursin** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 10:40 pm

Doubtful with Paramount handling that this will be coming out here anytime soon...they never did a director's cut on DVD of it either (even though it was released everywhere else).

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4793

Paul MacLean · #2 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 11:14 pm

Why hasn't this movie ever been released on DVD in America? Paramount released it on laserdisc, but never DVD.

Am I mistaken, or is this the only Ridley Scott film not available in Region 1? I have three foreign DVDs of 1492 (none of which are really satisfactory).

Oh well, I still consider it an underrated gem. Not without a few flaws, but certainly a better film than Kingdom of Heaven, and I frankly consider it superior to Gladiator (certainly it has a better score).

Eric W. · #3 Post by **Eric W.** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:12 am

I've never seen this. I want to. Why is there such difficulty getting a quality release of this here in the States?

AndyDursin · #4 Post by **AndyDursin** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:06 am

I like the score and the cinematography but I find the film on balance to be a mess, personally, with a Politically Correct storyline and group of incoherent accents from one of those "international" casts. Still I'd pick it up just for the visuals alone.

Paul -- you're right, there was no DVD of this -- period. Perhaps they'll issue it for the first time.

Eric -- I think it's probably a lack of interest. Both this movie and CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS THE DISCOVERY bombed, and neither were released on DVD, ever.

Paul MacLean · #5 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:09 pm

AndyDursin wrote:I like the score and the cinematography but I find the film on balance to be a mess, personally, with a Politically Correct storyline and group of incoherent accents from one of those "international" casts. Still I'd pick it up just for the visuals alone.

Paul -- you're right, there was no DVD of this -- period. Perhaps they'll issue it for the first time.

Eric -- I think it's probably a lack of interest. Both this movie and CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS THE DISCOVERY bombed, and neither were released on DVD, ever.

Having lived in a college town when this film was released, I still find it odd to hear 1492 labeled "PC", as it was lambasted by the local film critics and campus radicals as "racist". Evidently they felt that Columbus should have been depicted as more of a Hitler figure.

But it works for me. Michael Wincott's character is a little one-dimensional, but there are some powerful moments in the film, which contains some of Scott's most arresting imagery.

1492 was perhaps the final film of the "original" Ridley Scott -- back when he strove to create beautiful images and allowed his composers to score broadly and thematically.

I wonder if we'll ever get an expanded, three-CD set of this score?

AndyDursin · #6 Post by **AndyDursin** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:58 pm

Having lived in a college town when this film was released, I still find it odd to hear 1492 labeled "PC", as it was lambasted by the local film critics and campus radicals as "racist". Evidently they felt that Columbus should have been depicted as more of a Hitler figure.

See that's what living in Ithaca does to people! lol. I honestly can't believe anyone would think the movie was racist. For me it was like Scott was bending over backwards to the growing Political Correctness crowd. Dramatically the movie doesn't work at all for me, but visually I find it arresting and worthwhile -- albeit only on those grounds.

I'd love to watch the film again in HD...but I don't know about importing this. Weren't there subtitles in the film in certain points? If it's only in French it wouldn't be worth it.

Paul MacLean · #7 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:06 am

AndyDursin wrote:I'd love to watch the film again in HD...but I don't know about importing this. Weren't there subtitles in the film in certain points? If it's only in French it wouldn't be worth it.

There aren't any subtitles, but there are scroll titles that set-up and resolve the story, and on the German DVD (which I own) they are in German. I'd assume they are in French on the Blu-ray.

I remember, Andy, the day we first met and we had our first argument about a movie -- and it was 1492!

Monterey Jack · #8 Post by **Monterey Jack** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:56 am

Didn't Christopher Colombus: The Discovery have a young Catherine Zeta-Jones in it?

Eric W. · #9 Post by **Eric W.** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:47 am

Monterey Jack wrote:Didn't Christopher Colombus: The Discovery have a young Catherine Zeta-Jones in it?

Yup.

And arguably Cliff Eidelman's best score that he ever did IMO at least. Too bad his Star Trek VI score wasn't more along these lines.

Talk about a guy soaring with potential that just disappeared. All he ended up doing was scoring a bunch of romantic comedies and such and then he just faded out.

AndyDursin · #10 Post by **AndyDursin** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 5:16 pm

Monterey Jack wrote:Didn't Christopher Colombus: The Discovery have a young Catherine Zeta-Jones in it?

Also Benicio Del Toro as well...in fact it had half the cast and crew of LICENSE TO KILL (Jon Glen directing, loads of Bond veterans behind the camera) involved.

John Johnson · #11 Post by **John Johnson** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:14 pm

There was also a third Columbus film.

AndyDursin · #12 Post by **AndyDursin** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 10:41 pm

John Johnson wrote:There was also a third Columbus film.

That didn't actually get released outside the UK, did it?

Paul MacLean · #13 Post by **Paul MacLean** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:40 pm

AndyDursin wrote:
John Johnson wrote:There was also a third Columbus film.

That didn't actually get released outside the UK, did it?

I've never seen it, but I'd wager its nowhere near as hilarious as Chritopher Columbus: The Discovery!

AndyDursin · #14 Post by **AndyDursin** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 1:41 pm

I remember, Andy, the day we first met and we had our first argument about a movie -- and it was 1492!

Haha I remember that vividly!

It's funny how badly both movies did at the box-office.

1492 grossed a grand total of $7.1 million in the US.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS THE DISCOVERY barely edged it with $8.2 million.

AndyDursin · #15 Post by **AndyDursin** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 1:42 pm

Reading on the IMDB I totally forgot Timothy Dalton was going to play Columbus in CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS THE DISCOVERY and quit a few days before shooting.

That goes in line with how many Bond veterans they had lining up to make that movie.

Also...

"Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind's first choice for director was Ridley Scott. Four months after rejecting their offer, Scott started working on a rival Christopher Columbus project which ultimately became 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). As a consequence of this, the Salkinds unsuccessfully tried to sue Scott for stealing their idea. They were forced to drop their lawsuit when it was proved that "1492"s producer Alain Goldman and writer Roselyne Bosch's first proposal of a Christopher Columbus project predated theirs. "

1492 on Blu-Ray - Overseas

1492 on Blu-Ray - Overseas

Re: 1492 on Blu-Ray - Overseas