The Lenny Bruce Performance Film (1965)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C+     Film: B-

 

 

Lenny Bruce materials continue to come out on CD and especially DVD.  We first looked at the 1972 documentary Without Tears, but the 1965 Lenny Bruce Performance Film is a more raw, non-stop hour of Bruce in action.  What was so shocking then is either tame by today’s standards or has renewed edge in the face of political correctness.  With that said, a little can go a long way either way, but is still landmark and even priceless when you consider how groundbreaking he was with the shortness of his life.

 

If you are not a big fan, you have to at least consider him a major transitional figure in comedy and far exceeding that into freedom of speech, expression and artists’ rights.  Though I liked the documentary better, the value of this record is inarguable.  Maybe if it were longer, it could have been more well rounded.  If not, than it is at the right length.  See it for yourself to judge.

 

The full screen 1.33 X 1 image was shot in black and white like the footage in the previously reviewed documentary, which will remind many of the Bob Fosse Lenny film from 1974.  This print too has minor scratches and artifacts, but is in good enough shape, luckily captured on this print as who knows where this footage is now.  Though some footage has a faded look, the Gray Scale is more often consistent than not.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono shows the limits of the original soundtrack, which sounds like Optical Theatrical Mono sound again.  The combination is fine for DVD, but will need some more work later for HD presentation.  The one extra that is here is an animated film from 1968 called Thank You Masked Man that sounds a little better than the feature, but it is three years newer and that can make a difference.  It runs over 7 minutes and has pretty good color for its age.  Jeff Hale did the animation.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo