ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609170004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: It Came from the Video Store
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO
If home video has one golden rule it is that a tape must not be boring. Producers know that the fast-forward button is never far away, and so they've got to be entertaining - even when the subject is nonfiction. Note this week's five new releases:
"Rodgers & Hammerstein The Sound of Movies" is a fine, flawed introduction to two of the most influential men in American popular entertainment. While this documentary, produced by the A&E cable channel, is short on personal details, it hits all the high spots of their film work: "Carousel," "Oklahoma!," "The King and I," "South Pacific," "Flower Drum Song" and "The Sound of Music."
The clips are well chosen and so is the lesser-known background information. (Frank Sinatra almost played the lead in ``Carousel.'') Shirley Jones is an attractive and informed host. In a recent interview, she agreed that her work with R&H was the defining point of her long and varied career.
"I was the musical heroine for quite a while there until they stopped making musicals," she said. "I think the people remember me for those films. I won an Academy Award for `Elmer Gantry,' but still the musical films are really what they think about.
"Wherever I go I have a three-generation audience. People my age know me from the movies. The grown-ups mostly know me from `The Partridge Family,' and the little ones are seeing the videos now. It's nice to have 8- and 9-year olds in the audience who know me as Laurie in `Oklahoma' or Julie in 'Carousel.'''
The only real flaws are ungrammatical writing in the narration, and two mercifully brief verses from "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "My Favorite Things."
"National Geographic Inside the White House" uses the preparation for a state dinner with Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton as the frame for a brief and fascinating history of the White House. The building serves a unique set of functions as private residence, national symbol and, as the film notes, "public housing." About half the film tells the "official" story of construction, renovation and the like. The other half is a more personal look at the people who work there - "stagehands to history" - from the "head usher" who really runs things, to the pastry chef. That's the best part.
When the cameras move into the back hallways and stairs, you begin to get a sense of what the building feels like. The historical footage is well-chosen and so are the comments of the more famous residents, particularly Nancy Reagan and Lady Bird Johnson. Great stuff for political junkies.
In 1917, "the fourth year of the Great War," Ellis Evans (Huw Garmon) wins the Welsh national poetry competition. At the time, he's a solider in the trenches. "Hedd Wyn" is his pseudonym. The film, based on fact, is the story of his young manhood.
On one level, it looks like a top drawer "Masterpiece Theatre" production with a focus on the rural landscape and strongly defined, fundamentally good characters.
Director Paul Turner and writer (and poet) Alan Llwyd make their antiwar sentiments unequivocally clear. Though their use of Welsh dialogue (subtitled) is key to the film, the guttural speech sounds rough and unpleasant at first. The final third is much more compelling. (The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award.)
"Basic Football" is a fair introduction to the game, but it spends so much time trying to be cute that it leaves out some basic information. The line of scrimmage, for example, isn't defined until nearly the end, and for someone who doesn't know what's going on, that's not exactly a self-evident concept. The information presented is accurate enough, but the corny humor really doesn't add much, and overall, there's no real passion for the game. Burt Reynolds narrates part of the tape.
Like bear baiting, "extreme" fighting is an essentially unregulated form of public entertainment that has moved such luminaries as George Will to, once again, predict the imminent collapse of Western civilization as we know it. On tape, "Battleground: Extreme Fighting" seems to be an accurate, unvarnished recording of bouts that took place in Wilmington, N.C. For all the controversy, it's relatively tame fare. The fighters don't gouge or bite; there are no ripped ears. It's more like Olympic wrestling - not the fake professional stuff - with submission holds.
Though it's probably wrong to read too much into this kind of thing, I've got to wonder how popular this video and others like it are in the gay community. There's nothing overtly sexual about the action, but the sweaty images do lend themselves to several interpretations.
Next week: Sci-Fi!
Got a question about home video or film? Contact your favorite video columnist at P.O. Box 2491; Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491, or by e-mail at 75331.2603@compuserve.com.
New releases this week:
The Quest **1/2
Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roger Moore. Directed by Van Damme. MCA/Universal. 95 min. Rated PG-13 for violence, a little rough language.
Jean-Claude Van Damme makes a credible directorial debut with this nicely staged, if conventional martial arts movie. The atmosphere is exotic with Oriental locales and a 1920s setting. The fight scenes are handled well and the violence is kept within the limits of a PG-13 rating, earning this one a solid recommendation for younger fans.
- Mike Mayo
The Birdcage ***1/2
Starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Dianne Wiest and Gene Hackman. Directed by Mike Nichols. Warner-MGM/UA. Rated R for farcical, sexual situations, near nudity and very naughty language.
Here's a remake that actually improves on the original, the 1978 French classic "La Cage aux Folles." This is the story of a gay couple (Williams and Lane) who agree to hide their true selves for the sake of Williams' son for just one night. The son is about to marry the daughter of a conservative senator, played with typical virtuosity by Hackman. Wiest is great as Hackman's wife, and Hank Azaria is a riot as the "houseboy," Agador.
- Katherine Reed
The Essentials:
Rodgers & Hammerstein The Sound of Movies **1/2 A&E. 100 min. Unrated, contains no objectionable material.
National Geographic Inside the White House *** 90 min. Columbia TriStar. Unrated, contains no objectionable material.
Hedd Wyn *** Orion. 123 min. Unrated, contains some male nudity, sexual material, violence.
Basic Football ** Arrow. 45 min. Unrated, contains some mild cussing.
Battleground: Extreme Fighting ** Triboro. 120 min. Unrated, contains realistic violence, strong language.
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Actress Shirley Jones hosts "Rodgers & Hammerstein Theby CNBSound of Movies."