Can anyone recommend a good DOCUMENTARY DVD?

Beyond the Mat is great...

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS

Outstanding in every way.

Content... Check
Video(Anamorphic WS)... Check
Audio(Dolby 2.0)... Check

RAISING THE MAMMOTH is also pretty darn good.

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures

Amazing doc, great picture and sound.
(only available in the 'New Stanley Kubrick Collection' boxset though)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

also... Walking with Dinosaurs (it is also 16x9 anamorphic on the DVD from what I hear)

You are looking for Gimme Shelter. Great film with the kind of transfer and audio you wish most DVDs had. Seriously.

Definately For All Mankind from The Criterion Collection.

I'll second Gimme Shelter and For All Mankind, and throw in Haxan. While Haxan's philosophies may be a little outdated, it's still a wonderful film.

And while not yet on dvd, but I can't wait for it, The Endurance was a great film.

MADONNA:TRUTH OR DARE has a great sound dvd. Really comes to life during the concert scenes.

walking with dinosaurs is also very interesting

A few more suggestions:

Visions of Light. Essential viewing for anyone interested in the art of film.

Startup.com. A film that was supposed to be about the rise of a dot.com, and turned out to be about the fall of a friendship and an era.

Trekkies. For anyone who's ever watched any of the Trek shows.

When We Were Kings. The film that everyone compared to Ali and most preferred.

M.

I'll second Startup.Com .

We have a review area specializing in documentaries at dOc . It really depends what kind of subject matter you are looking for. Due to their budgets, many documentaries are shot on smaller format film or videotape these days, which means the image isn't what you'd get from a big budget feature. Are you looking for history, human interest, geographical, music?

Ken Burn's "JAZZ"

It's Black Entertainment

American Roots Music

Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus

Celebrating Bird: The Triumph Of Charlie Parker

Charles Mingus: Triumph Of The Underdog

Can't You Hear The Wind Howl? The Life And Music Of Robert Johnson

Allosaurus: A Walking With Dinosaurs Special

Satchmo: Louis Armstrong

American Movie

Absolutely hilarious. Although sometimes you won't know whether to laugh or not.

I second "American Movie". It's a riot. It one the audience award at Sundance Film Festival. Great look at real American characters.

Can't believe no one mentioned "Hoop Dreams" yet.

Also, dvdbeaver.com has a list of recommended documentaries you can try. "Roger & Me" got rave reviews

Some fantastic suggestions here. Let me third Gimme Shelter and second Visions of Light...great stuff!

I'd like to add Mr. Death, a very quirky and haunting documentary about an individual who is off-beat, to say the least. Sadly, this is so far the only Errol Morris film to be out on DVD.

Some other documentaries:

Don't Look Back - Bob Dylan in all his snotty mid-60's glory.

The Celluoid Closet - Very entertaining look at the ever-changing Hollywood viewpoint of gay/lesbian movies and actors.

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies - Simply put, if you love movies, you should check out this massive 5-hour documentary. It's like having Scorsese in your living room dissecting films for your pleasure. It's also a pretty good cinematic history lesson as well.

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey - Facisnating look at the very distinctive, high-pitched instrument. Worth it for the odd interview with ex-Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

And though they aren't out on DVD yet, you might want to look into the following:

Gates of Heaven
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
The Thin Blue Line
Paradise Lost
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
Shoah
Burden of Dreams

In terms of presentation, three favorites of mine are the following IMAX discs...

Africa: The Serengeti
Blue Planet
The Living Sea - very nice DTS track on this title.


One of my favorite nature films has not been released to Region 1 on DVD ( I believe it is available overseas if you have a region free / selectable player. ) Microcosmos is a great looking and consistently entertaining nature film that I regard as a must see for anyone who has an interest in that type of documentary. Well worth the time if you can find a copy, even on ( gasp ) VHS. I'm lucky enough to own it on Laserdisc and it is one of my most cherished discs.


In terms of content a number of fine choices have already been mentioned. I'm a fan of the films of Ken Burns; and would have no qualms recommending them for their content. Particularly...

Jazz
Baseball
Frank Lloyd Wright

As Dennis mentioned many of these titles feature elements that have suffered the ravages of time so if your main goal is presentation quality you may be disappoointed, despite their wonderful content.

- Walter.

Crumb (the life of the creator of Fritz the Cat) and One Day in September (1972 Olympics hostage situation) are both excellent.

Yeah, Crumb rocks. Just wanted to once again stress Gimme Shelter. First time I watched it, I was gonna go to bed after, but thought I'd just check out some of the extras for a bit... about 5 hours later I finally hit the sack. Great disc. Kinda depressing, but still, Criterion nailed it with that one.

Gimme Shelter is my favorite documentary on DVD. I also suggest Microcosmos, as this is fascinating too.
Koyaanisqatsi is also a great documentary, but unfortunately it hasn't been released on DVD yet (if you don't count the bare bones $180 edition).

BTW: Häxan is a great movie and a great DVD, but I don't think of it as a real documentary.

Gimme Shelter is a great film, but it may help to like The Stones...

American Movie's fantastic, but it doesn't have good A/V. Don't let that stop you though, it's hilarious.

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures is certainly great, but since you have to pony up the $100+ for the whole set, so you'd better be a Kubrick fan.

I liked East Side Story . It's a history of musicals made behind the Iron Curtain.

Trinity and Beyond; The Atomic Bomb Movie

Trinity and Beyond is one of my favorite DVDs and probably the one I use most often to demo my system.

Narrated by William Shatner (no, he doesn't sing) and original score by the Moscow Symphony. A very interesting documentary to begin with, plus audio that will give your sub a REAL workout. Highly recommended.

KC
Mits WS-55807
Sony STR-DA30ES
Paradigm All Around

My review of Baraka is here . A very memorable work by the photographer of Koyaanisqatsi, which does have great visuals and sound.

While not what I would call visually stunning, I'd also recommend Criterion's Grey Gardens or Docurama's Regret To Inform. Both are great documentaries that will make you think.