wasted dvd commentary

[Robin Davies]

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!

Very good point. It genuinely astonishes me that so many people just don't understand the purpose of a commentary. Many times a commentator will say something about the plot only for a co-commentator to gasp and say something like "don't spoil the plot for them"!

One of the worst I've heard is Jack Nicholson's commentary on Antonioni's The Passenger. He commits all the sins - leaving gaps of silence, describing what we can see on screen, making mistakes, telling us things that anyone with even a passing knowledge of the film will already know... and then at the end he has the cheek to say "I hope I haven't been too distracting" which suggests either that he has no understanding of what a commentary is, or that he's just taking the piss!

[CaptainWaggett]

The saddest commentary has to be that for Doctor Who : Planet of the Spiders which features Barry Letts, Elisabeth Sladen and Nick COurtney, all of who died before it was released

[agutterfan]

One of the worst I've heard is Jack Nicholson's commentary on Antonioni's The Passenger. He commits all the sins - leaving gaps of silence, describing what we can see on screen, making mistakes, telling us things that anyone with even a passing knowledge of the film will already know... and then at the end he has the cheek to say "I hope I haven't been too distracting" which suggests either that he has no understanding of what a commentary is, or that he's just taking the piss!

Far from the truth. Jack Nicholson was so impressed by this film that he got MGM to give him the video rights in compensation, IIRC, for an abandoned project they owed him. He has promoted this film far more ardently than any of his others. His commentary, as he makes clear, is aimed at the young post-Star Wars audience, who will not be used to either the pace, or the lack of CGI/SFX/obvious plot outline by a character.

[agutterfan]

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

Not really, many of my DVDs have unlistened to commentaries. I always watch the accompanying documentaries, if they're are any, as they're often very illuminating (recently watched the excellent To Kill a Mockingbird feature, Fearful Symmetry, after the film obviously). Sadly, US TV commentaries are often shot on a spare morning while they're still making the series (often a couple of years/seasons later), without the people having seen the episode before. Anyone who wants to know how to do a commentary, listen to Joss Whedon's for Buffy ("The Body" is a delight) or Firefly, a mixture of technical details and behind the scenes anecdotes, very good at showing the artistic choices made in a scene (e.g. use of steadicam, or doing it in one long take), even when, in hindsight, he was wrong. He is honest and humble too. A delight.

[jimw1]

Ridley Scott's Commentary on the Duellists is well worth Listening to..........

[Sgt Sunshine]

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

Steve

I'll come to Canterbury next year and tickle ye in the ribs for that saucy jibe...

[Gerald Lovell]

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 ? :)

Paul, did you author a little book called The Spine Chillers back in 1975?

[Sgt Sunshine]

Not really, many of my DVDs have unlistened to commentaries. I always watch the accompanying documentaries, if they're are any, as they're often very illuminating (recently watched the excellent To Kill a Mockingbird feature, Fearful Symmetry, after the film obviously). Sadly, US TV commentaries are often shot on a spare morning while they're still making the series (often a couple of years/seasons later), without the people having seen the episode before. Anyone who wants to know how to do a commentary, listen to Joss Whedon's for Buffy ("The Body" is a delight) or Firefly, a mixture of technical details and behind the scenes anecdotes, very good at showing the artistic choices made in a scene (e.g. use of steadicam, or doing it in one long take), even when, in hindsight, he was wrong. He is honest and humble too. A delight.

Yes I always make a point of watching the documentaries if there are any.....I particularly enjoyed the ones that accompanied the Elephant Man DVD....

[paul welsh]

hi gerald for my sins i did write that book in 1975 about horror film stars as a test run for a bigger book that i never got around to writing - it was not very good so i was hoping nobody had seen it :)
a year later i started writing a weekly newspaper column on current happenings at elstree studios and history of other studios in borehamwood and am still writing it 35 year later so the public seem interested in film and tv history.
as a result of that i went on to organise two royal visits to elstree studios, helped with open days at bbc elstree, did 20 plus plaque unveilings with various stars such as john mills, olivia dehavilland, roger moore, dickie attenborough, richard todd, honor blackman, etc, etc, held an annual 'elstree film eve' where we invited back old stars and directors then spent 8 years chairing the campaign to save the studio. the behind the scenes stories of all of that i have put into a book illustrated with 200 never seen photos and reproduced letters from rita hayworth, liz taylor, george lucas, steven spielberg, etc, etc with all the proceeds going to the borehamwood museum. it should be published next year. how's that for a long winded answer :)

[Robin Davies]

Far from the truth. Jack Nicholson was so impressed by this film that he got MGM to give him the video rights in compensation, IIRC, for an abandoned project they owed him. He has promoted this film far more ardently than any of his others. His commentary, as he makes clear, is aimed at the young post-Star Wars audience, who will not be used to either the pace, or the lack of CGI/SFX/obvious plot outline by a character.

I appreciate his role in getting the film released on DVD eventually (though there was a long delay, so the film was one of the few not included in an Antonioni season at the NFT that I attended). However, if the movie itself doesn't appeal to a "young post-Star Wars" audience then his commentary certainly won't help them. It's simply dull and sorely lacking in information. He only gives one decent anecdote about Antonioni and he's already told that one on the Criterion release of L'Avventura. At one point he says he could tell lots of stories about Antonioni but then proceeds to tell us none of them! Fortunately it has a second commentary by Mark Peploe and Aurora Irvine which is much more interesting.

[Gerald Lovell]

hi gerald for my sins i did write that book in 1975 about horror film stars as a test run for a bigger book that i never got around to writing - it was not very good so i was hoping nobody had seen it :)
a year later i started writing a weekly newspaper column on current happenings at elstree studios and history of other studios in borehamwood and am still writing it 35 year later so the public seem interested in film and tv history.
as a result of that i went on to organise two royal visits to elstree studios, helped with open days at bbc elstree, did 20 plus plaque unveilings with various stars such as john mills, olivia dehavilland, roger moore, dickie attenborough, richard todd, honor blackman, etc, etc, held an annual 'elstree film eve' where we invited back old stars and directors then spent 8 years chairing the campaign to save the studio. the behind the scenes stories of all of that i have put into a book illustrated with 200 never seen photos and reproduced letters from rita hayworth, liz taylor, george lucas, steven spielberg, etc, etc with all the proceeds going to the borehamwood museum. it should be published next year. how's that for a long winded answer :)

Excellent stuff, Paul. Your book resides on one of my shelves to this day!

[Amethyst_Isle]

David Cronenberg,John Carpenter (with Kurt Russell) made some great commentaries.

[Amethyst_Isle]

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 ? :)

I know it happens but Oh dear that is awful.

[Gerald Lovell]

The saddest commentary has to be that for Doctor Who : Planet of the Spiders which features Barry Letts, Elisabeth Sladen and Nick COurtney, all of who died before it was released

A similar one is coming up: "The Ambassadors of Death" from DOCTOR WHO with commentary from Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney and Barry Letts.

[CaptainWaggett]

A similar one is coming up: "The Ambassadors of Death" from DOCTOR WHO with commentary from Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney and Barry Letts.

. I wonder if they've stocked up on William Russell

[Gerald Lovell]

. I wonder if they've stocked up on William Russell

He's not on the talk team for "Planet of Giants" and I reckon they will have done the commentary for "The Reign of Terror" by now, so I don't think there are any more left for him now anyway.

[CaptainWaggett]

He's not on the talk team for "Planet of Giants" and I reckon they will have done the commentary for "The Reign of Terror" by now, so I don't think there are any more left for him now anyway.

The best interview with him is on the cd of The Crusade where he says he was really excited about doing a story set in Palestine because he was staioned there in 1945 and you wonder exactly how convincing Studio B Lime Grove was

[Gerald Lovell]

The best interview with him is on the cd of The Crusade where he says he was really excited about doing a story set in Palestine because he was staioned there in 1945 and you wonder exactly how convincing Studio B Lime Grove was

. . . or even Studio 1 at Riverside!

[CaptainWaggett]

. . . or even Studio 1 at Riverside!

Can anyone ever explained to you the fine line between geek and crazy fanboy?

[Gerald Lovell]

Can anyone ever explained to you the fine line between geek and crazy fanboy?

. . . you wanna know when it was recorded . . . ?