Between
Land And Sea (2017/Film
Movement DVD)/Big
Wednesday (1978/Warner
Archive Blu-ray)/Men Of
Wood And Foam (2016
w/History Of Australian
Surfing (1985) and Fall
Line
(1976/1979)/Umbrella/Region Free PAL Import DVD Set)
Picture:
C+/B/C+ Sound: C+/B-/C+ Extras: D/B-/B Films: C+/B-/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Men
Of Wood And Foam
Import DVD set is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on Blu-ray, DVD and 4K
Blu-ray players that can handle the PAL DVD and can be ordered from
the link below, while the Big
Wednesday
Blu-ray is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series. All can be ordered from the links below.
One
of the best subjects for filming and filming a documentary of is on
surfing, because it is not a sport and recreation filmed enough, not
enough people do it (or can afford or get to do it) and unless you go
out of your way to mess it up (meaning you do not love or appreciate
it), you cannot make a totally bad film on the subject. We've
covered a few over the years on the site and luckily, here's three
new releases, the last of which include two classics a bonus films...
The
stereotype of surfing (outside of the big business angle) is a bunch
of young, single young adults hanging at the beach and having a sunny
good time. Usually it is guys (usually white males), but that has
changed more than you might think. Ross Whitaker's Between
Land And Sea (2017)
offers some serious surfers going for some of the toughest waves you
will ever see... in Ireland!
Turns
out it they have usually cold weather (the surfers all wear wetsuits)
and really oddly shaped and sometimes more dangerous waves than you
can find anywhere else, so the documentary examines the lives of
these men on the country's west coast and this includes name surfer
Shane Dorian. The men interviewed are older, have wives and even
children, also loving the sport and challenge and even hoping this
locale could be the next surfing hot spot.
We
also get some great shots of these waves (mostly long shots despite
the great efforts of several cameramen with underwater-proof housed
HD cameras we spot often during those segments) and this plays well
enough until it gets heavy-handed in the end with one of the
interviewees talking religion and keeps saying the same thing and
making the same connection (Jesus and surfing) to the point of it
unintentionally being a bad joke.
Otherwise,
this is worth a look and will hopefully not be the last time we see
this land or surf.
There
are no extras.
John
Milius' Big Wednesday
(1978) is in many ways the best film he ever made, though it has some
minor issues, because it is biographical enough that it does not have
time for his political views, which in his case are never given
exposition when they show up. The film beings in 1962 with three
friends (Jan Michael Vincent, William Katt and Gary Busey) living the
life of surfing and fun with other friends, chasing women and waves.
The selection of classic hit records holds up well, if not as
effective as what you might get in a Scorsese film, but great just
the same.
Vincent
is a one-time great surfer who has left the business over family and
alcoholism, the latter of which is quickly included in the opening
sequence. It then follows their lives into the next decade (Katt's
character lands up serving in Vietnam, though the film says nothing
about the war, save a long sequence where the draft center is mocked
and draft dodging with fake excuses kicks in) and there is more
character development here than you might expect.
The
title refers to the day they all get their dream surf waves, huge and
repetitively in that size, so the is this build up, but it can be a
subplot or parallel plot to the actual story here. Katt should have
been a bigger screen star, while Busey and Vincent landed up having
awful alcoholism issues in real life that eventually ruined two
careers that produced solid acting and filmmaking like this when all
three could have potentially been the next breakout star. Their work
here alone is clear evidence of that.
Nevertheless,
the film was not the hit it should have been thanks to the like of
early Star Wars
mania and a sudden shift to fantasy product, but I believe it would
have been a bigger hit had it made it to screens a few years before
and it remains a key film on surfing. Warner Archive has issued it
in a new Blu-ray edition that will make fans very happy for the most
part. More on the technical performance below, but the surfing
footage will look great on any HD or Ultra HDTV.
Bruce
Broughton adds additional music and the supporting cast includes
Barbara Hale (Katt's real life mom), Red Brown (who was about to
become the second-ever live action Captain America in a series of TV
movies with mixed results), Patti D'Arbanville, Sam Melville, Lee
Purcell, Fran Ryan, Joe Spinell, Steve Kanaly and a then-unknown
Charlene Tilton.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Milius, an
Original Theatrical Trailer and Capturing The Swell
retrospective documentary.
Shaun
Cairns' Men Of Wood And
Foam (2016) is a recent
TV production from Australian TV that starts in 1956 and shows how
the industry had its rough start down under with a ton of great
archive footage and new interviews with the men and women who made it
happen. It runs about an hour and you can see it was formatted for
TV commercials, but the story of The Brookvale Six building the sport
out of love for it and as superior recreation tells much about the
heart and soul of surfing there. Actor Dan Wylie narrates and Nat
Young is among the legends interviewed.
Extras
include two featurettes: Midget: The Early Years - A Tribute
To Midget Farrelly and one on the soundtrack, plus a music video,
plus the Nat Young films History Of Australian Surfing (1985)
and Fall Line (1976/1979). The newer History piece is
90 minutes and is a massive compilation work that Young explains took
years to get together (he does intro for both films if you select
them) and it is very thorough. Maybe a sequel or additional short
should be made to update things. Fall Line compares surfing
and skiing to make some great points about sports, athletics and
satisfaction. Other sports also show up, but Young (who also
narrates) has something big and positive to say and he succeeds in a
small amount of time where too many have failed in full length
releases.
I
can also add that this film has some of the greatest surfing footage
ever shot and why it is not more well known outside of its country
and by diehards of surfing is very wrong. It is a film worthy of
Endless Summer and even IMAX surfing films, some of which you
can read more about at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10879/The+Endless+Summer+(1966/Monterey+Media+Bl
All
in all, this is a great set of surging releases all fans will want to
get and everyone should see at least once.
The
1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Big
Wednesday
can show the age of the materials used and a few unexpected flaws,
but this is far superior a transfer to all previous releases of the
film even over the decent DVD from years ago and has fine color
reproduction throughout. The scope frame is used well without
looking odd or awkward, processed in MetroColor, the great Director
of Photography Bruce Surtees, A.S.C. (Conquest
Of The Planet of The Apes,
Dirty
Harry,
White
Dog,
Night
Moves
(also on Warner Archive Blu-ray), Lenny,
Play
Misty For Me,
The
Outfit,
the
original Beguiled)
captures the people and drama, as well as the nature and period of
time over several decades. Cheers to to Greg MacGillivray for the
stunning Panavision surf footage. This is the best looking release
on the list as expected, and even has a scene where Jan Michael
Vincent is watching The
Endless Summer!
The
main programs on the other two DVDs are in anamorphically enhanced
1.78 X 1 image and they look just fine for recent HD production with
a few flaws and some mixed editing choices. Neither denatures the
color, which is a plus and they are both watchable.
Foam
has some older analog video footage and film transfers that vary, as
does the 1.33 x 1 History Of Australian Surfing, presented in
a 1.33 X 1 frame and mostly in color. Both have some analog
videotape flaws including video noise, video banding, telecine
flicker, tape scratching, PAL and NTSC cross color, faded color and
tape damage. Fortunately, it never becomes too distracting. Fall
Line is a totally 16mm full color production and this print has
some flaws and specs of dirt in places, but it looks good, though it
deserves its own HD restoration.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix on Big
Wednesday
was actually an early film issued in basic analog Dolby A/Dolby
System noise reduction, so you can use Pro Logic (or the like) on
your home theater system and you will get some surrounds. However,
some of the sound is nearly mono and the overall recording can show
its age, yet this is the best I have ever heard it and unless Warner
and Milius go back and replace the hit records with upgraded stereo
versions (though some are in stereo), this will likely never sound
better.
Land,
Foam and even History Of Australian Surfing are
presented in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, though the audio on
older clips can be monophonic, yet they sound just fine and probably
would improve minimally in a lossless codec. That leaves Fall
Line in lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, but it does not sound bad
for its age and some cleaning up and a new transfer could definitely
improve it.
To
order the
Men Of
Wood And Foam
Umbrella import DVD set, go to this link for it and other hard to
find releases at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
...and
to order the Big
Wednesday
Warner Archive Blu-ray, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive releases at:
http://www.wbshop.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
