The Legacy — The Legacy(Blu Ray)
The Legacy was a 1978 English/ American production- it was directed by welsh born director/producer/writer Richard Marquand- who between the mid 1960’s and late 1980’s switched between British & American TV shows, documentaries, and feature films taking in the likes of 1981’s romantic war thriller Eye Of The Needle, 1984’s romance/ drama Until September, and taut mystery thriller 1985’s Knifes Edge. The Legacy was also written by respected genre director/writer Jimmy Sangster- who of course was responsible for many of Hammers classic moments.
The film's plot focuses in on American couple- Interior decorator Margaret Walsh (Katharine Ross), and her boyfriend Pete Danner( Sam Elliott) who get offered a large sum of money to work on a property in rural Britain. On their way to the job, via motorbike, they are run off the road by shady & mysterious millionaire Jason Mountolive- who takes the pair back to his mansion, while the bike is been fixed in the local village. Fairly soon a selection of wealthy & powerful people start turning up at the mansion, and the pair seemingly become trapped there- as it seems Margaret one of six who will get the powers/fortune of Mountolive, who has seemingly been alive for several 100 years.
What unfolds is a fairly predictable if entertaining film that balances the fairly eerier setting & it’s creepy staff. The clichéd- at-times campy guests which take in a cocky rock star( Roger Daltry), German industrialist, French hotelier, arms dealer, and the films heroes- who are trying to escape from their predicament. Along the way you get a selection of largely tame-yet-at times un-intentionally amusing deaths, a fair bit of silly occult plotting, and some nice shots of the English countryside. As mentioned early it is a little sluggish & considered in its pace- but if you hang in there you get effective enough moments of suspense, and tame horror/ occult elements. The Legacy is far from top drawer 1970’s British horror, but as a largely fun & creepy last stab of the genre- it’s ok.
Moving onto discuss this new Blu Ray release- and we get two versions of the film: the 100 minutes US Print, this is presented in widescreen high definition scan- and it does look great. Then there’s the longer 102 Uk print of the film- this is open matte from the Standard Definition master- and as you’d expect it looks less great but is still good enough. Moving onto the extras we first off get a new commentary track from genre fan/expert Kevin Lyons, who's the editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film and Television- this is a very informative & enjoyable track which starts with Lyons discussing when he first saw the film when it was released in 1978 on the Isle Of Wight. Moving onto give interesting bios about each of the cast, which features great quotes they made in interviews. Along the way, he talks about the film's locations, folklore themes relating the films themes, the original book the film was based on, effective shot set-ups, and the soundtrack- which he’s less than impressed by. I think this is the second or third track I’ve heard from Mr. Lyons- and I must say he does a great job, and I’ll certainly be looking forward to hearing his future tracks. On the featurette side, we get a few new things- these come in the form of an eleven-minute comparison between the two prints of the film, and a four-minute interview with the films second unit director Joe Marks. We get a twenty-seven-minute film from 1973 called Between the Anvil and the Hammer- this is a Richard Marquand doc about the Liverpool police. Then we get two interviews from the 2015 shot Factory releases of the film- these run between ten & fifteen minutes and they are with Anne V Coates- who was the editor on the film, and Robin Grantham- who did the effects for the film.
It’s great to see the The Legacy getting the Powerhouse treatment-so now more people can enjoy this lesser-known brit horror film. Sure it’s not a long lost masterpiece- but an enjoyable enough entry from the dying embers of the British horror genre in the 1970s.