Original poster artwork for the steelbook front (certainly preferable to the Australian Blu-ray cover with the extra image in the lower half also taken from an original (Spanish) poster for the film ) and same art used for the reversible sleeve of the U.K. Amaray although I do actually prefer the front cover/ratings logos artwork side of the U.K. Amaray.
Best thing I can say about the steelbook is that there is consistency of colour throughout.
AU Amaray cover ...................................U.K. Amaray reversible ..............................best of the three original film poster designs
Little in the way of Extras on this edition (hardly any worse in that respect than the U.S. and Australian editions) and I always like to browse the Collector's Booklets when they are supplied
. . . and yes, very nice to have booklets included on more releases nowadays and with none of this "only available with the first pressing" crap.
Worth a look but not if you haven't watched the film:-
[SPOILER
="Disc review including film details"]http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_reviews_72/enemy_mine_blu-ray.htm[/SPOILER]
Haven't had a chance to pick up the Amaray yet so I'll pick up the steelbook first unless the Amaray hits my price point in the next month or so and then I'll pick up the steelbook second but I don't consider this in the same cult category as FRIGHT NIGHT, for example, and consequently hoping for a price drop as 2,000 copies should allow for at least GBP 12.99/14.99 in the not too distant future (IMO).
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The interesting title ENEMY MINE has been referenced to the following . . . and take your pick:
- A shortened form of a 4th Century BC Sanskrit proverb " The enemy of my enemy is my friend" or "two opposing parties can or should work together against a common enemy".
- More interesting title than just having "My Enemy" or "Enemy of Mine" - and nicely old fashioned - used in the famous U.S. patriotic hymn "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord" etc.
- The fact that there is an actual mine in the story and the mine is the common enemy (not a land mine, mind you, but an extracting minerals mine) where slave labour from both factions are put to work.
. . . but I suppose we should take as definitive what Barry Longyear, the writer of the short story himself, said about his title:-
"I had just gotten the general story situation clear in my mind, and was watching David Niven in
The Best of Enemies on television, when the title popped into my head: "Enemy Mine." Why not "My Enemy," or "The Enemies"? I not only liked the sound of "Enemy Mine," but the construction resembled the English/Drac pidgin language the two characters used while they were learning each other's tongue."
* First publication of the story was in this magazine in September 1979 a good five years before the film.
