Seconded on wanting the Lynch cut. And I agree you needed to have read the book to make any sense of it at all. I saw it the first time round too, and yes, it's an incredible film, well worth watching, and aesthetically top-notch. Steam-punk before the concept existed. That extended to the casting, which was extraordinarily apposite. Francesca Annis as Jessica, Jurgen Prochnow as Duke Leto, Linda Hunt as the Shadout Mapes, Silvana Mangano as a Reverend Mother. There was also an extraordinarily creepy young Alia.

I'd forgotten how beautiful Sting was when he was young. "Brimstone and Treacle" was a sure success whenever any college needed to raise money.

The later TV miniseries was basically worthy, faithful and dull, and also, fatally for its aesthetic credibility, cast William Hurt as Duke Leto.