Documentaries On Film-Makers On DVD's (1 Viewer)

The one's I have are:

Battle Over Citizen Kane
On the R1 Citizen Kane DVD
Preston Sturges: The Life And Death Of An American Dreamer
On the Sullivans Travels Criterion DVD

And that's it. Only two. I really wish Warner Brothers put the whole Sergio Leone one on Once Upon A Time In America. I would die to see a Seijun Suzuki one on a future DVD too! I love these type of extras and if I'm interested in a film, they usually push me into a purchase, as the one on Criterions Tokyo Story will do. Anybody got any others please? Thanks!

Another good one that I hope they'll include one day on the Star Wars Trilogy DVDs is the A&E Biography on George Lucas from 2002. That was a pretty good 2-hour documentary on Lucas' life and career, with some rare behind-the-scenes footage from the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series.

But if there's one documentary that deserves a DVD release, it's "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse", the chronicle of the making of Apocalypse Now. It's been on VHS before (don't know about laserdisc), but it definitely needs a DVD release as an excellent companion piece.

And as for JFK, the companion documentary "Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy" will be included in the 2-disc SE reissue of JFK later this year, according to today's news on The Digital Bits. Interesting footage on the making of the film and interviews with some of the real-life people involved in the case, including Jim Garrison's final interview in his deathbed just prior to his passing.

I dream of getting Hearts Of Darkness!! I've never seen it but Apocalypse Now is one of my favourite films! I saw the VHS on sale about a year or so ago and was gonna get it but I figured it would be on the Apocalypse Now Redux DVD :frowning:

I have the following : the excellent Preston Sturges profile Earl mentioned on the Criterion Sullivan's Travels DVD and a grainy but very informative one of Erich Von Stroheim on the new Kino Foolish Wives. Also more up to date material with Clint Eastwood : Out of the Shadows which was originally a BBC Omnibus special on a few Christmases ago.

I can think of a few other film-maker documentaries available to fans of classic
films ; maybe someday I'll add some of these to my collection, any comments on the DVDs would be useful :

Just profiles :

Fritz Lang : Circle of Destiny : concentrates on his German films ; some content might be duplicated in the Metropolis and upcoming M special edition in R2 which means I'll probably give this a miss.

A Talk with Hitchcock : probably my favourite director ; has anyone got this, does it add anything to those excellent docs on the Universal DVDs ?

John Ford's American West : available in R2 but if it uses the same masters as the VHS likely to be disappointing even though it includes interviews with John Wayne, Henry Fonda and James Stewart. If only they would release the doc the late Lindsay Anderson did on Ford a few years ago ?

On Cukor : intriguing doc on the greatest director of women in Hollywood history.

Profiles and films :

The Love Trap / Directed by William Wyler

The Matinee Idol / Frank Capra's American Dream : I remember seeing the profile of Capra (another of my favourite directors) a few years ago probably just after his death back in 1991 and its excellent ; the feature is an early Columbia silent which has had glowing reviews about the transfer quality.

Coming soon will be a profile of John Huston on the new Treasure of the Sierra Madre DVD and the new Charlie Chaplin documentary from Richard Schickel will feature in the boxsets soon to be available in R2.

Director profiles I'd love to see on DVD :

D.W. Griffith : Father of Film : a three part study of the great pioneering director by Kevin Brownlow / David Gill

Unknown Chaplin : precious out-takes and cut scenes from Chaplin films : once again Brownlow/Gill

Buster Keaton - A Hard Act to Follow : yes you guessed it : Brownlow/Gill

Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures (part of the Kubrick box set)

Sam Peckinpah: Man Of Iron (on Criterion's Straw Dogs)

There's a whole series of a dozen or so DVDs called The Directors that was put out by Fox Lorber that has (generally pretty good) profiles on a wide array of directors of modern times, with generous clips (though not always in the best condition).

My personal favorite is "Constellation Jodorowsky" on Fantoma's Fando and Lis DVD. After a retrospective of his career in films and comics, Alejandro Jodorowsky turns the tables on the documentarian, and uses his "psycho-magic" on him to create an emotional breakthrough... You don't see that very often!

Is The "Unknown Chaplin" rumored for release? After watching Warners Box set, I got a real itching to see this. I've only seen clips from when it played on PBs, and would love to own it.

the Kubrick one is very good. I plan on checking out "Lost in Lamancha" on Terry Gilliams folly this weekend.

The proof :

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=PIBF-7569

Cool! Now there just needs to be a Region 1 release, and I'll be a happy camper!

HBO shows the Kubrick documentary every now and then. I just saw it three weeks ago.

-Reagan

great find the one on Lucas.

What are shipping charges from CDJ to UK ?

Cheers

For France, it is something like $10. SO I think it is the same for England.

I received the DVD in 5 days. The Program has two tracks (japanese and english). No subtitles.

It lenghts 90'.

A very interesting documentary and George Lucas even talks about The failure of Howard the Duck !!!!

The Kubrick documentary is brilliant - love that one.

Isn't there a documentary on Chaplin being released with the Chaplin box set over in r2? Like to see that.

Not sure if it's exactly the type of documentary you mean, but "A personal journey with Martin Scorcese" is a terrific dvd. Over 3 hours of Martin talking about movies that have inspired him, and why.