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Arena (An Absurd Notion)

Arena
Arena,Duran Duran,VHSbox.JPG
Video by Duran Duran
Released VHS - March 1985 (1985-03)
DVD - 5 April 2004 (2004-04-05)
Recorded 1984
Genre Dance, new wave
Length 124 min 42 sec (DVD)
Label PMI
Director Russell Mulcahy
Duran Duran chronology
Sing Blue Silver
(1984)
Arena (An Absurd Notion)
(1985)
The Making of Arena
(1985)

Arena (An Absurd Notion) is a concept concert video filmed during the course of Duran Duran's 1984 Sing Blue Silver North American Tour in support of the album Seven and the Ragged Tiger.

Instead of releasing a straight concert video, Duran Duran and director Russell Mulcahy chose to play with the origins of the band's name (the 1968 film Barbarella), and added a storyline and surreal elements that are interwoven with footage of the band performing on stage.

The film's villain, the evil Dr. Durand Durand (played by Milo O'Shea, reprising his role from Barbarella) has crash landed on Earth and is surprised and confused to find teenagers chanting his name. When he discovers that they are not chanting for him, but for an upstart pop group, he sets up shop beneath the concert arena and attempts to wreak havoc on the band that stole his name. Of course, he and his henchmen fail at every turn and Duran Duran continue to perform, seemingly unaware of the evil doctor's plans.

The video also included Russell Mulcahy's long-form video for "The Wild Boys". It was meant to be a teaser for a full-length feature film of the same name, based on the 1971 novel The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead by William S. Burroughs. However, that film was never made.

The expensive sets for the conceptual portions of Arena and "The Wild Boys" were built in the massive 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios. Some were also filmed at the nec, Birmingham where free tickets were given to fans. Young actress Jennifer Connelly appears, walking across an empty stage, in one segment of the video.

A picture book of the movie, Arena: The Book (), was released in 1985.

A live album, also called Arena, was released in late 1984. It featured the two singles "The Wild Boys" and "Save a Prayer (Live)". The video for "Save a Prayer (Live)" is included as a DVD extra on the 2004 Arena DVD release.


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