
Aalto
(2020/Film Movement DVD)/Harry
and Snowman
(2018)/Tab
Hunter Confidential
(2015/both MVD/FilmRise Blu-ray)/Tiger
(2021/Tiger Woods/HBO/Warner Archive DVD)/The
Titans That Built America
(2021/Lionsgate DVD Set)
Picture:
C+/B-/B-/C+/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+/C+/C/C-/D Main
Programs: B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Tiger
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Up
next are a solid batch of documentary releases for you to know
about...
Virpi
Suutari's Aalto
(2020) tells the story of the life and amazing design and
architectural work of Alvar Aalto, whose innovative ideas (with his
wife, who never got enough credit) built and rebuilt the world, from
the Great Depression to two World Wars and much, much more.
Including the usual rare stills and film clips, the program (running
a rich 99 minutes) shows us just how far his work reached the world,
changed the world, defined the world and even made it better.
His
life had plenty of ups and downs, plus he was not always the nicest
person, but he is a great thinker and all-time giant in his field and
a program like this was long overdue. I liked the footage they
found, its editing, pace and the visually graphic detail on all his
work over the decades. There is even archive audio. I wish it had
even more time ot go into his work, but I still definitely recommend
it.
Bonus
footage is the only extra,
Ron
Davis' Harry
and Snowman
(2018) is a little-told story of horseman and Dutch immigrant Harry
deLeyer, who arrived in the U.S. after WWII and among the many things
he did well and correctly, saved a horse from being slaughtered.
That in itself is admirable, but he saw something in the horse he
named Snowman and this led to him saving, training, healing and
feeding the horse back to heath to the point that he became one of
the most award-winning horses of all time.
The
critical and commercial success that followed, the celebrity of the
man and especially his horse is amazing and Harry himself is
interviewed at age 86 for this program. Running a tight 82 minutes,
it is a great untold tale of show business and animals that is not as
well known as it should be, so I was glad to see it you and may be
surprised too.
Bonus
footage is the only extra.
Jeffrey
Schwarz's Tab
Hunter Confidential
(2015) is the hit documentary about one of the biggest movie stars of
the 1950s and 1960s, who Hollywood loved, the studios loved, women
loved and had a series of major hit films. However, he had male
fans, including those who were gay, but hardly no one knew at the
time that he too was gay and he hid that for decades to stay
employed. This was especially since it was known some who had become
known as gay, even name stars, suddenly were fired and out of work
and even the industry for good.
Hunter
did extended interviews for this, as well as John Waters, George
Takei, Robert Wagner, Debbie Reynolds, Darryl Hickman and others who
knew him best. It is also a portrait of Hollywood, homophobia and
our society, which is why it resonates, but the bottom line is Hunter
was a big hit and maybe by default, a new kind of male sex symbol
regardless of what the story is here. Would a guy with these looks
and not one to go around being a tough guy been as successful
pre-WWII? Either way, though this program has dated (several of
Hunters key feature films have been remarkably restored (including a
few reviewed elsewhere on this site) and it looks like his popularity
and legacy continues and continues to grow. If you have not seen
this one, you should definitely catch it.
Extras
interview footage and a preview are the only extras.
HBO
new Tiger
(2021) documentary wants us to not judge its subject, Tiger Woods,
leaning towards almost brainwashing us into thinking he is a 'great
guy' or 'innocent' or a 'victim of circumstance' or the like, but I
never bought that and that in itself starts this all off on a bad
note. I am not being judgmental of the man and his talent in golf is
undeniable, but he is a grown man who is responsible for his scandal
and this idea that we have to not consider that is insulting.
The
mini-series is loaded with great vintage footage, interviews (old and
new) and other moments that give a us a look at the man who sadly did
not have this program made before his scandals broke. In that, we
still get a private view of his life at times we have not seen
before, yet some of this was not consistent, as honest as it could
have been at times and disappoints overall a bit. Too bad we did not
have a host who asked hard questions, but it is worth a look for the
things that don't come across as lame of condescending. This runs a
long 192 minutes!
Promo
clips are the only extras.
Finally,
the Leonardo DiCaprio-produced The
Titans That Built America
(2021) mini-series has the usual reenactments that I can never take
seriously and are never that good, but it still manages to do a
competent-enough job of telling how Henry Ford, Pierre DuPont,
William Boeing, Walter Chrysler and J.P. Morgan, Jr. helped make the
country and Industrial Age possible. Even during The Great
Depression, they thrived, then came WWII and they had to change
course.
Again,
this is not definitive and as thorough as it could be, even with the
time it has, but it can be entertaining and at least delivers the
basics. Those who can put up with the episode's limits will want to
take a look.
There
are no extras.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on the Harry and
Tab Blu-rays can look good, but are a little rough in the
editing and remastering department, plus some off location audio.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
image on Tiger
and 2.35 X 1-ish on Aalto
and Titans
look as good as they can in the format, but at least Aalto
would have benefitted from a Blu-ray edition.
On
all five releases, analog videotape flaws including video noise,
video banding, telecine flicker, tape scratching, cross color, faded
color and tape damage, while more than a little bit of the vintage
film footage has damage and more than a few color clips have some or
much color fading.
As
for sound, none of the releases have lossless sound, so Tiger
and the Blu-rays only offer lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, while
Aalto and Titan only have lossy Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo sound, though they offer Pro Logic-like surrounds and are no
better or worse than the audio on the other releases. Tab
needs a sound remaster and some of its clips upgraded, but these all
play fine otherwise for what is offered.
To
order the Tiger
Warner Archive DVD, go to this link for them and many more great
web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
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Nicholas Sheffo