Ali: The Man, The Moves, The Mouth (2012/MVD DVD)/Fidel (1971/Cinema Libre DVD)/The
Clintons: An
American Odyssey (2012/Image DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C/C/C+ Extras: D/C+/D Films: B-/C+/B
Here are
three biography releases of four key historical figures, three of whom are
political and one who became so.
Ali: The Man, The Moves, The Mouth (2012) is hosted by the recently
deceased former boxer Bert Randolph Sugar who covers this nicely done hour of
vintage and classic footage of Muhammad Ali from his early Cassius Clay years
to his boxing ring victories, to his religious and name conversion, to his
battle against the U.S. Government over Vietnam, to his becoming a legend and
why. That is a short period of time and
you would think it would come up short, but there are more than enough great
clips here that need to be seen and re-seen, everyone should catch this disc if
they are interested in the man and the time.
There are no extras, but I liked this as it stands despite lack of
length.
Saul Landau’s
Fidel (1971) is a 95 minutes-long
program originally released on TV, but here it is on DVD in its full length,
passed off as an interview documentary, but the resulting film is not quite
that. Though Landau did go to Cuba and talk
to Castro, most of the film is Agit-Prop communist propaganda footage supplied
by the government, so calling it a documentary is a bit of a stretch. In addition, whether you like Castro or not,
this is slanted to make him look good, as if he never censored or oppressed anyone,
saying he does not in the name of “freeing” his “people” from “imperialist”
control on one of the greatest con jobs of the last two centuries.
It still
allows some things about him unintentionally to slip, but Castro knows how to
play for the camera. We also see
historical footage of the events that helped him take power, hear about Che
Guevara (did he, The CIA or both have him killed?) and talk about the future
that was and also turned out not to be.
The result is an interesting historical document, but one that is
definitely a propaganda piece as much as anything else.
Extras include
a feature length audio commentary track by Landau and Cuba & Fidel (1974) short film (about 24 minutes) that shows
the country to its advantage, but still plays like propaganda. Shot on 16mm film, this is an old analog
video copy.
Finally
we have Robert D. Kline’s The Clintons:
An American Odyssey (2012) narrated by David Purdham showing the
biographical life of Bill Clinton, his early filmed meeting with John F. Kennedy,
the meeting and union of he and Hillary Rodham Clinton, his further political
life, how he became President, what it is like to have high standards when a
President can speak extremely well and get things done, the sex scandal
overplayed by his enemies to undermine his legacy and work, his survival of
that, his endurance and hints of the future of the man Chris Matthews rightly
calls “President Of the World”.
There are
no extras here either, but I really enjoyed the rich mix of key archival footage
throughout and how well it was edited and put together. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a sequel to
this one down the line.
The 1.33
X 1 on Ali has some rough footage,
but also has some good footage, while the 1.33 X 1 frame on Fidel has been centered in an anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 but comes from A somewhat faded and color limited print
despite some definition throughout. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Clinton is
mostly form analog NTSC video with some film footage and stills. The result is that all three releases have
their rough spots, softness and are what you would expect from such works made
from and/or of older footage. The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on all three DVDs vary with Ali mostly Mono, Fidel
all Mono and Clinton a mix of simple
Stereo and Mono, making it the sonic champ by default.
- Nicholas Sheffo
