Apocalypse Now has previously been released on DVD in two versions. The first release was of the original film as seen in cinemas, the second, in 2002, Apocalypse Now Redux, added 49 minutes of footage cut for cinematic release, taking the film’s total running time to three hours and 15 minutes.

The new DVD set contains both versions of the film, on two discs, and comes in a nice tin box. Unusually, the film is split into two acts across the discs, with act 1 of both versions on disc 1, act 2 on disc 2. If required, a special DVD feature will notify viewers of Redux when a scene is different from the original.

For the first time, either version of the film can be watched with a complete running commentary by the director. Thirty years of distance adds a refreshing honesty to Coppola’s comments, which include the revelation that the bravura opening scenes were rescued from a bin.

Notable DVD extras on the first disc include Marlon Brando’s 17-minute reading of T. S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Men, 26 minutes of lost footage, and technical featurettes on sound and visual design. Extras on the second disc concentrate on the film’s three years of postproduction, where editors whittled down enough footage for ten feature films to produce the film we see today.

Complaints? Only one. It would have been great to see Hearts of Darkness, Eleanor Coppola’s amazing documentary on the making of the film, included in the package. It remains available only on region 1 DVD.

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