DUNE DIES

   Fans were waiting for the movie version of Frank Herbert's novel, Dune, for years. Finally, in 1984, the film opened. It was written and directed by David Lynch. The general consensus of critics and fans - and certainly the studio - was that Dune bombed. Why did it fail? Most people blame the film's producer, Dino De Laurentis, better known for his 1976 remake of King Kong. De Laurentis insisted that the film be cut from about three hours to two hours and seventeen minutes, making its last half almost incoherent.But many science fiction fans had their doubts about Dune's metamorphosis anyway. Big budget films typically thrive on action and adventure. And Frank Herbert's popular novel may have just been too dark and too complex to translate well into film.