wasted dvd commentary

[paul welsh]

bored with tv last night i put on an amicus dvd of 'dr terrors house of horrors' to listen to the commentary by director freddie francis who i had the pleasure to know.
i awaited to hear interesting anecdotes about the film and it's star cast and other insights into his marvellous oscar winning career. however, within minutes it was obvious freddie, who was elderly and frail, had virtually no memories of the film . the interviewer struggled to engage him in conversation about his other horror movies but time and time again he replied 'which one was that' or 'that was a long time ago' or 'i don't remember that'.
i wish these dvd companies would check first that potential interviewees are up to it in order to make the commentary worthwhile. freddie was a lovely and very talented chap and to hear him stumbling through the commentary for 90 minutes was very sad just so the dvd could boast a commentary by him

[Gerald Lovell]

The other type of commentary I dislike is where they simply describe the action we can see on the screen for ourselves.

[CaptainWaggett]

The other type of commentary I dislike is where they simply describe the action we can see on the screen for ourselves.

Worse are the ones where they stop talking so as not to spoil things for the viewers. Caroline John is a particular culprit here - she seems to think that nobody listening to the the commentary of Spearhead from Space has ever seen it before. Some of the Blake's 7 commentaries have such long periods of silence that I swear you can hear the biscuits being crunched.

Whereas Peter Davison has obviously bothered to watch the dvd in advance and knows when to say 'watch out for the extra holding the scenery up here', not all Doctor Who-types seem to even be aware of which story they are doing, Though I suppose if you're William Russell, one set in Studio B, Lime Grove looks much like any other.

[LeftHook]

Commentaries are extremely hit and miss.

I get the impression with many commentaries, that very little preparation has been undertaken beforehand.
I am not suggesting they script the commentary, but they should at least plan what they are going to say, and when.

Also, anecdotes about a certain scene or element can be too long winded. I will be sat patiently waiting for an explanation about my favourite scene, only to discover, they are still discussing an event which occurred ten minutes ago.

[didi-5]

Sometimes the commentary just doesn't match what you are seeing, and it is obvious that it wasn't really planned in any way. There are some really poor examples out there where it is just chums having a natter, or an old duffer who can't remember much!

[CaptainWaggett]

Sometimes the commentary just doesn't match what you are seeing, and it is obvious that it wasn't really planned in any way. There are some really poor examples out there where it is just chums having a natter, or an old duffer who can't remember much!

The Doctor Who ones now tend to have a moderator who actually knows the subject as wel as the actors who are usually very proud of not having seen the show for 30 years and of not remembering anything about it. Which is a poor show considering for most of them, it's probably their only gainful employment for some time

[smudge]

I agree with the preview idea - if at all practical, of course. Let the subject see the film first and talk about it in general terms, giving the moderator a chance to prepare some notes/give some nudges, then record on 'take two' with a structured interview when the Mod can guide and marshal the contributors thoughts.

Some of the Hammer commentaries (particularly with Sir Chris, I have always thought) are just a lot of, "Oh - there's old so-and-so; wonderful chap/lass! Of course he/she is dead now..."

Smudge

[paul welsh]

i think dvd producers also miss opportunities. a few years ago i attended a reunion of the 'village of the damned ' cast at letchmore heath - the director wolf rilla, female star barbara shelley and 5 of the alien children including martin stephens. a perfect opportunity to make a commentary and to video them wandering around the locations in the village but nobody bothered. plus when they released a new dvd release of 'night of the demon' a couple of years ago why not ask the surviving female star peggy cummins , who i have the pleasure to call a friend, to add a commentary? the same thing with my old friend the late richard todd and 'the dam busters' and so on. in every case i am sure they would have been happy to oblige . instead we often get an 'expert' on the film but whose knowledge is second hand.

[smudge]

Yes Paul, the VOTD Reunion was certainly a missed opportunity. It sometimes strikes me that the experts used as Moderators have a knowledge which is sometimes too broad, that or they are not particularly good interviewers and don't properly 'home in' on their subject. Half the skill of a good interview technique is listening then reacting appropriately; something which is definitely lacking in a lot of cases.

Smudge

[Harbottle]

Straying from the world of commentary (which I must confess I very rarely bother to listen too ), the other classic situation is the interview with an aged thesp who can recall nothing about the prog he is being interviewed about. I have a Doctor Who recon where dear old Peter Barkworth is interviewed about The Ice Warriors and he can't remember a thing about it, but they press on regardless

[didi-5]

The commentary for My Fair Lady has a very weird moment explaining why Henry Daniell's character disappears from the Embassy Ball scene. Because he died after one day of a two day shoot. So you get whoever it was speaking going on and on about the fact we're looking at Daniell 'on the last day of his life'. Odd.

[Gerald Lovell]

Picking up on the Captain's comment, some of the commentators seem to think that the viewers will be watching the thing for the first time with the commentary track on. Surely, we're not that daft!

I've not heard them myself, but apparently Mickey Rooney, Leonard Nimoy and Don Rickles have provided very aggressive/drunken/brief-as-they-walk-out-before-the-end commentaries.

Peter Rogers contributed some rather, er, challenging commentaries for some of the Carry On films, despite Robert Ross's best attempts to fawn.

[Sgt Sunshine]

I've never watched a film with the commentary on...............am I odd..

[Steve Crook]

I've never watched a film with the commentary on...............am I odd..

Yes. And you've never watched a film with the commentary on

Steve

[CaptainWaggett]

Picking up on the Captain's comment, some of the commentators seem to think that the viewers will be watching the thing for the first time with the commentary track on. Surely, we're not that daft!

I've not heard them myself, but apparently Mickey Rooney, Leonard Nimoy and Don Rickles have provided very aggressive/drunken/brief-as-they-walk-out-before-the-end commentaries.

Peter Rogers contributed some rather, er, challenging commentaries for some of the Carry On films, despite Robert Ross's best attempts to fawn.

The only Carry On commentary I've listened to is Abroad which, IIRC has David Kernan, Sally Geeson and Carol Hawkins who provide a quite interesting outsider's view (though with a lot of whinging about repeat fees ). Similarly some of the best Doctor Who commmentaries are ones like Mark of the Rani that have experienced performers like Kate O'Mara talking about how Who was different from other shows. Though also recommended is Timelash in which Paul Darrow boasts about camping it up and Colin Baker is unimpressed

If you want a more academic viewpoint, Bruce Eder's Criterion commentaries are a joy

[Steve Crook]

If you want a more academic viewpoint, Bruce Eder's Criterion commentaries are a joy

As are Ian Christie's. Criterion paid the people who did their commentaries enough so that they could work out a proper script which covered everything, detail and trivia, and was properly timed to fit in with what was on screen.

Has Ian done a commentary for any Criterion productions apart from the P&P films? Maybe some of the Russian films that he also likes and writes about?

Steve

[paul welsh]

they could also widen the choice of interviewees to include crew members if they have good memories . i was interviewing a props man from mgm the other day and he remembered in the 60s going out with a 'danger man' crew to a nearby village and they needed to shoot a scene in the only telephone box (they had not brought a dummy one) . at the same time a 'rival' crew shooting a 'saint' episode turned up from elstree studios with the same idea. the stand off was solved when the mgm production manager bribed the elstree crew by letting them have free use of the catering vehicle :) on another occasion on the mgm backlot they spread salt to simulate snow for a film sequence to be shot the next day. the trouble was it snowed for real overnight and the salt melted the snow and they ended up with slush :)
so far we have accumulated over 30 hours of filmed broadcastable standard material from 22 veterans such as june randall, john hough, alan tomkins, terry rawlings, johnny goodman, etc, etc. bectu have also a large library of taped veterans interviews, many now deceased. why don't dvd companies ever tap this material for dvd extras features ?

[smudge]

Regrettably, Paul, these names mean little (if anything) to the general DVD buying public. A lot of people just want the star stories when they purchase a movie. They really don't know what they're missing, do they..?

I take your point though - I mean, look at people like Terry, who has edited some of the biggest movies and loves to talk about them. Why keep talent like that hidden away? Thank goodness for things like The Elstree Project and BECTU. Some years ago I had the good fortune to spend an afternoon with Sidney Cole, Supervising Editor at Ealing; I could have sat and listened to him (and his like) for days on end...

Smudge

[markrgv]

Commentaries are a pet hate for me. I often look forward to hearing them and usually end up wishing i hadn't spent 90 minutes of my life doing so!!
And that situation where a director is doing the commentary - and there are long waits of upto 15 minutes at a time for them to say anything... aaaargh! It makes me mad!! That's where they need an interviewer with them to keep them talking.

And don't start me on the recent Kind Hearts and Coronets commentary!!!!

The best director for commentaries (for me) is John Carpenter. Always informative and interesting and quite happy to spend the whole film talking.
Also the Marcus Hearn and Jimmy Sangster ones are usually very good. But why no Curse of Frankenstein or Dracula?

[paul welsh]

alas smudge you are right that unknown names, no matter how fascinating, don't sell dvds. there seems to be few outlets for such memories. going back to say 'night of the demon' possibly the best supernatural thriller to come out of elstree. over the years i chatted with or interviewed charles bennett the writer, hal chester the producer, dana andrews and peggy cummins the stars, several of the supporting actors, the cinematographer ted scaife, the make up girl, the assistant director, the sound recordist, the special effects man, etc, etc nearly all of whom now gone but nobody ever asks me. except a few years ago when i wrote a several page article for an american horror fan mag called 'little shoppe of horrors'. plus as somebody said in an earlier reply the interviewer needs to know their stuff. i have always found you can jog interviewees minds that way . my big regret is every year at elstree studios there was a gathering of BIP veterans and to attend you had to have worked at elstree before 1939 and i went along as a guest. they had fascinating memories but we recorded nothing and they are all gone now. in 1989 i returned all the mgm production files that had been moved down from mgm in 1970 to elstree. fascinating stuff going back to edward my son, ivanhoe, 633 squadron, miss marple movies, etc. mgm came and collected them , took them back to london and then decided not worth storing so junked it all. the 35 mm film screen tests of audrey hepburn, richard harris, richard burton, brigette bardot, etc etc were junked a few years earlier by elstree to make storage space. want more horror stories ? :)