Now this is unexpected: HEARTS OF DARKNESS DVD out in November!

This year has had its number of surprises, DVD-releasewise, and here is yet another one of them.

Paramount will release the (in)famous documentary "HEARTS OF DARKNESS" by Eleanor Coppola (yes, the wife of Francis Ford), about the making of her husband's Vietnam war epic "APOCALYPSE NOW".

Everyone and his mother was complaining that this documentary was missing on last year's DVD dossier edition of "Apocalypse Now", and for good reason: it should have been included as it's an amost unmissable document for fans of that movie.

"Hearts of Darkness" is a surprisingly honest view about the madness surrounding the production of "Apocalypse Now". I realise a "Making of..." sounds pretty dull, but this one couldn't be farther removed from dullness if it tried. Nearly everyone involved with "Apocalypse now" had brushes with issues like bankruptcy, illness, drug abuse and even death, and the production slowly degenerated into something more cursed than King Tut's Tomb.

You can see amazing footage of the lead actor being treated for a near-lethal heart attack (and look at his eyes when that happens... OUCH!). Or how about the Phillipine army interrupting the famous helicopter sequence being filmed, because they need the crafts and their pilots to bomb an actual mountain nearby (those pesky rebels bothering Marcos...).
And yes, there is also footage of the whole set being blown up, from the alternate ending.

How fitting it seems, that "Hearts of darkness" itself suffered legal issues to such extent that it couldn't be bundled with the object it documents, although it was available on VHS strangely enough.

But I'm delighted that it surfaces at last. Included are commentary tracks with both Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, and as an added extra you get the follow-up documentary "CODA: THIRTY YEARS LATER".

All I needed to know. Can't wait! (but have to...)

Thanks go to DVD-Active, who were (I believe) the first to report this.