Legendary Sin Cities –
Berlin, Paris, Shanghai
(Documentary)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B
A recent Canadian TV documentary mini-series called Legendary
Sin Cities runs about three hours, and though the time is spent well and loaded
with great footage and facts, this could have gone on at least twice as
long. That is how interesting the
subject is. The three episodes are:
1)
Berlin – Metropolis Of Vice
2)
Paris – The Crazy Years
3)
Shanghai – Paradise For Adventurers
The Berlin installment is interesting because it gives us
much more blunt exposition of the kinds of freedom the city had before Hitler
arrived. You get more explicit
portrayals of the sex and freedom in all cases, plus drinking, drugs,
pedophilia and a virtually endless list and variety of combinations that allow
all three cities to truly qualify for the title. I was reminded of my response to an amusing criticism of Robert
Rodriguez’s film Sin City (see two reviews elsewhere on this site) from
those who could not believe how graphically violent and somewhat overtly sexual
it was. They also could not believe how
creepy and even mean and hateful some of the characters were. Well, it is called SIN city for a
reason. After watching this
mini-series, I can say the same for the locales featured here. It is also a solid history lesson outside of
the ”sin” of the kind of facts and figures that seem to be censored, as if that
would stop another such explosion of freedom from occurring. That shows the naïve side of conservatism
and political correctness.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is a big
disappointment. Though this is a recent
documentary and has a mix of video and many film clips usually in fine shape,
the picture is blurry and definition is foiled by digititis throughout. That the color is consistent makes this even
more frustrating. Too bad this was not
done better and anamorphic at that, but the material is still too vital to turn
away from. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is
simple stereo at best and the narration is clear enough, as are the
interviews. Extras include three
scholars discussing each of the cities in their respective expertise. They are short and some information overlaps
with the episodes, but it is better than nothing.
- Nicholas Sheffo
