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Comparison between the Theatrical Version and the Extended Cut, both represented by the American 4K UHD set from Arrow Video - 14 deviating spots Runtime (Arrow Blu-ray / 4K UHD): International release history of CONAN - THE BARBARIAN For a film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Conan - The Barbarian contains comparatively few action scenes. The adaptation of a series of short stories from the 1930s is more convincing thanks to the atmospheric depiction of the fictional barbarian land of Hyboria and thus the successful composition of landscape shots as well as the memorable film music by Basil Poledouris, who also scored Starship Troopers, Hunt for Red October and the Robocop trilogy. In 2000, Americans received a "Special Edition", which contained an almost four-minute longer version of the film. There was also new audio commentary on the US DVD with director John Millius and Arnie talking about the longer scenes. In the UK, meanwhile, fans were confronted with censorship problems, as several scenes with animal violence led to cuts in the extended cut thanks to the BBFC's strict regulations in this regard. Things also got complicated on Blu-ray, because although you got to see a longer version of the film here and there, one of the extensions from the previously known "Special Edition" was missing on the American and German Blu-ray, for example. We went into this in a separate report and this is allegedly the version of the film preferred by the producers. Since January/February 2024, the worldwide 4K premiere from Arrow Video has been available in America, both individually and as a set with the sequel Conan, the Destroyer. Once again a highly recommended edition, see the review at AVforums as an example. Alongside countless extras there are all three cut versions of the first movie. The long "Special Edition" is referred to here as the Extended Cut and the International Cut is the somewhat shorter version from the USA/Germany.
Differences in the Extended Cut ("Special Edition") In the extended version, old material was reprocessed and integrated into the film. The effort should be worth it, because the new scenes give the movie much more complexity, especially during the otherwise rather bland ending. The main difference is that the Princess, the daughter of King Osric, who has been freed by Conan and his followers, is now present at the final confrontation. Conan hesitates at the end, but then takes her with him out of the burning palace and carries her away. Alternate material was used several times and Conan's path along the guards to Thulsa Doom is very different. The additional scenes clearly reinforce the almost mythical atmosphere, but there are also exclusive moments from the theatrical version here and there that have their own charm. The bloodier murder of a guard certainly stands out a little from the gorehounds' point of view. Close-ups of Conan and Doom can also only be found here. Before the finale, there is also an additional conversation between Conan and Subotai, in which our hero can let out a few emotions. The fact that the warrior is somewhat more intelligent and thoughtful than the typical Arnie roles from the 80s is already hinted at earlier in the film and, above all, does better justice to the short stories by Robert E. Howard on which it is based. The rather extensive book supplement to the Arrow edition, which is well worth reading, also deals with such motifs in detail: Conan is, at its core, driven above all by external circumstances and is definitely designed to be somewhat more profound. Screenwriter Oliver Stone also had more of these elements in his first version, of course also in relation to the Reagan era, and this still shines through a little here. However, precisely this scene is missing in the somewhat shorter "International Cut". To sum up: before the last fifth you are watching exactly the same movie, but at the end the longer film version sets its own and meaningful accents. Due to the partly alternative course of the film, it is very welcome that all versions have been archived for eternity in first-class quality on the new 4K release from Arrow Video in the USA.
Runtime information is arranged according to the scheme Alternative
104:28-104:42 / 104:28-106:05 After the princess promises that "he" will kill Conan, in the theatrical version the princess is seen from the side. She closes her eyes and a short shot follows in which Conan turns away from her again. The subsequent shot of Conan digging a hole with his shield also begins a moment earlier. Instead, during the shot of the princess the extended cut fades smoothly to an additional scene. In contrast to the theatrical version, you can therefore no longer see her closing her eyes. Conan and Subotai then sharpen a couple of sticks together as a riding trap and blockade. While they are doing this, Conan becomes nostalgic and begins to talk about how he used to go for walks in the forest with his father on spring days like this, when the air smelled sweet and the leaves were dark and green. Annoyed, he sticks a spear in the sand and complains about 20 years of "pitiless combat", without a break and without resting like other men. Conan then asks Subotai whether he is familiar with these "spring winds". The latter replies that they also blow in his homeland and generally "in the north of every man's heart". The conversation continues briefly until Conan says that there is no spring for men like them. There is only the fresh wind before the storm. This is followed by the scene in which Conan, kneeling with a shield, digs a hole and makes other preparations for battle, which as described begins a little later than in theatrical version. Extended Cut 83 sec (= 1:23 min) longer
115:06 / 116:29-116:32 After the great battle between the stones, Thulsa Doom stands on the balcony of his temple with a torch and looks down on his followers. The extended cut includes another long shot of Thulsa Doom. 2.6 sec
115:09 / 116:35-116:36 The next shot on the stairs begins earlier. 1.5 sec
Now it gets a little more complicated. From this point onwards (after Conan has watched the guard, who has his back to him, and then climbed onto the marble landing), different footage was often used in the two versions of the film. In this respect, the extended cut naturally often runs a little longers. The biggest difference is that Conan makes his way through the temple (to get to Doom on the balcony) alone in the theatrical version. In the extended cut, he is helped by the princess he and his companions have freed, the daughter of King Osric. Alternate 115:41-115:54 / 117:08-117:42 In the theatrical version, a guard is seen in close-up, who Conan then overpowers from behind and slits his throat with the broken sword. Some blood can also be seen here. In the last few seconds, you can already hear the first sentence from Thulsa Doom ("The purging is at last at hand."). The extended cut instead offers a long shot of the scantily clad princess joining the scene. She folds her arms and walks past the guard. The guard does nothing, presumably still believing the princess to be a member of the sect. The guard watches her distractedly as Conan grabs her from behind and cuts her throat with the broken sword. However, there is no blood to be seen with this scene playing out in the background. Conan strikes the unconscious body again with the destroyed sword. The subsequent shot of Doom also begins a little earlier and here he says the aforementioned sentence on screen at the beginning. Extended Cut 20.9 sec longer
Alternative 115:56-116:12 / 117:44-118:00 To Doom's identical next words, the theatrical version sees him again from further down on his balcony. While Doom continues talking, Conan comes up a staircase that leads to Doom's balcony. In the Extended Cut, the princess continues to sneak through Doom's temple with her hand outstretched instead. Another guard stands some distance away with his back to her. The camera pans as she walks until Conan appears in the frame, leaning against a rock on the right. The two continue to sneak towards the guard. No time difference
Alternative 116:25-116:33 / 118:12-118:28 After Doom's followers have sung "Doooooom!" loudly in chorus, the shot is a little longer in the Extended Cut: Doom continues his speech with a part that we don't get to hear in the normal version. He says that his children are the water that will wash away everything that has gone before. We then switch to Conan on the stairs to the balcony, but at a later point in the shot, when Conan is already further up the stairs and the princess appears, following him. In the background, Doom continues to talk about his disciples holding his light in their hands. In the theatrical version, a close-up of Doom follows instead, in which he folds his hands together with the torch he previously held in his right hand. Here he also speaks onscreen the comment just mentioned (light in their hand). The subsequent shot of the priest on the stairs also begins a few insignificant frames earlier. Extended cut 6.6 sec longer
116:48 / 118:43-118:49 Between another shot from Doom's point of view and the close-up of Conan sneaking around, the extended cut has another shot of the princess. 6.3 sec
118:00 / 120:01-120:04 After Doom has said "My son" to Conan twice and Conan looks a little disturbed, the princess can be seen once again. 3 sec
118:43 / 120:47-120:48 As Conan holds Doom's severed head in his hand and presents it to the disciples, the shot over his shoulder begins much earlier. 0.8 sec
Alternate 120:36-120:43 / 122:41-122:55 In both versions, Conan sits pensively on the long staircase in front of the temple after the cultists have left. During this shot, the camera pans around him from right to left from a distance. In the theatrical version, there is a long, soft fade to a closer shot of Conan. In the Extended Cut, the camera pans further to the left instead, until the fountain appears in the frame, into which the liberated followers of Doom have thrown their torches. The princess stands in front of the fountain and looks up at Conan. We then switch to the close-up shot of Conan without a fade, which therefore starts a little later than in the theatrical version. Extended Cut 7.1 sec longer
Alternative 120:57-121:13 / 123:09-123:48 The scene in which Conan starts swinging the fire in the iron container and then throws it at Doom's temple is introduced in a completely different way. After Conan has risen from the stairs, in the theatrical version he descends them a few more steps in the same shot. With a smooth fade, Conan already has the oil lamp in his hand and we see him from a closer sideways perspective as he begins to swing it. In the extended cut, we switch instead to the princess sitting in a meditative posture in front of the fountain. Conan can then be seen at the foot of the grand staircase. A close-up of the princess follows, then Conan takes the oil fire from its holder. He begins to swing the cauldron at the end of the chain - but as he does so, he can be seen from the position of the fountain, in front of which the princess is also standing. It then switches to the later moment of the sideways shot from the theatrical version, when the fire already has some momentum. The beginning of the swinging from this perspective has therefore been removed in the extended cut, as Conan begins to swing the fire from a different perspective here. Extended Cut 23.2 sec longer
121:22 / 123:57-123:58 After Conan throws the fire container at the temple, another shot of the astonished princess is included. 1.5 sec
Alternate 121:39-122:02 / 124:15-125:56 The theatrical version ends quickly after Conan throws the fire on the palace. All you see is an (exclusive) close-up of Conan and then, with smooth fades, the palace starts to burn. Then follows the scene in which Conan sits on the throne outside the palace. This block should nevertheless be summarized here, as even the shots of the burning palace, which look identical at first glance, cannot all be matched frame for frame in the extended cut. In the Extended Cut, the princess can be seen again, still standing below Conan in front of the fountain. They both watch as the palace begins to burn, and when this happens, the princess gets up excitedly and runs around the fountain to the stairs where Conan is standing. She throws herself on her knees in front of him, but Conan carelessly walks past her. This is followed, without a soft fade, by a shot of flames inside similar to the theatrical version. Then Conan stops and turns to face her. She slowly stands up and he offers her his hand. This is followed (without a soft fade) by another similar, but not exactly identical shot of the burning palace from outside. Conan and the princess stand hand in hand in front of it at a distance. After the shot of the palace from a further distance, which is again not frame-accurate, we see Conan carrying the princess on his hands through a rocky landscape. Extended Cut 77.8 sec (= 1:18 min) longer
The following epilogue with Conan on the throne also differs in two respects. On the one hand, the text is only read out as well in the extended cut. On the other hand, the exact wording of the scroll text in the final sentences is also slightly different. Theatrical version: "Honor and fear were heaped upon his name. In time he became a king by his own hand.... but that is another story." Extended Cut: "Honor and fear were heaped upon his name and, in time he became a king by his own hand........ And this story shall also be told."
Box and disc cover of the 4K set by Arrow Video + packshot for the single release:
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