‘1492’ Writer’s Dramatic Feast Starved by Final Editing

Times film critic Kenneth Turan is right to extol the visual splendor of director Ridley Scott’s “1492: Conquest of Paradise” (“New World Disorder,” Calendar, Oct. 9). His opinion that the film is dramatically inert is also valid. He’s wrong, however, in laying the blame at the door of the credited screenwriter, Roselyne Bosch.

On the evidence of the first three drafts of the script, which I read, Roselyne Bosch is not only a respected journalist and thorough historian, but she is also a talented screenwriter. “1492” is not the first time a writer’s work has been let down by the final cut.

Bosch’s writing had the richness of language and an economy of style that are essential in enlivening sweeping historical subjects. The first draft had a depth and breadth of imagery capable of creating the epic drama. The screenplay was both dramatic and visual. Screenwriters write “visuals” too.

The second draft obviously benefited from her collaboration with the filmmaker. At this point, the script had the hallmarks of a classic. None of its epic quality had been lost. The skillful dovetailing of sequences within the story had made it stronger.

The drama encompassed the conflicting views of Columbus, the man, seen through the sibling rivalry of his two illegitimate sons. The courageous and imaginative explorer’s decline into a failed and inept administrator was translated in strong dramatic scenes. His life and legacy were encapsulated by his final voyage.

Rejected in the New World, Columbus is swept away in a hurricane; deliberately smashing his boats, he waits for death or rescue. After a year on his island/prison, he is returned to Spain and oblivion.

This was the script Ridley Scott took into production. It was a massive undertaking. Miraculously, the entire story was shot on time and on budget. It was then that Scott had some painful decisions to make.

Hollywood is still wary of the epic, despite some recent notable successes. I do not think that justice could be done to Roselyne Bosch’s script in 2 1/2 hours of screen time. But Ridley Scott has an extremely gifted eye and the film is a visual feast. Given the constraint of time, he chose the visual over the dramatic. This meant that Columbus’ final voyage never left the editing room.

When the drama is cut to the bone, dialogue and characterization suffer. Lines appear to lose their context. Characters deprived of their dialogue appear to have no motivation and seem brittle.

Incidentally, one early criticism of the script was that it felt “too European”--whatever that means. Another writer was brought in to “polish” the script. The lines of dialogue to which Kenneth Turan takes most exception may not have been penned by Roselyne Bosch.

This is not another case of Hollywood being cavalier with a writer’s work. The script was not torn apart to provide a rickety vehicle for a director’s grandiose scheme. It was a slow and painful degenerative process.

Like Columbus himself, “1492--The Screenplay” set sail for the New World well-provisioned and with high hopes. It simply could not survive the hurricane of post-production. A good 20% of the story was washed up on the cutting room floor.

Despite the trickle-down economies of vision, Ridley Scott still managed to produce a lavish spectacle. We will probably have to wait for the laser disc version to see his true vision of Christopher Columbus, the work of an acknowledged master condemned to the small screen. Let us pray for a “director’s cut” some time in the future. “1492” has to be seen on the big screen.