Ned Kelly (1970)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+
Extras: D Film: C+
What is it that has always
attracted musicians onto the big screen and vise versa? Well, Ned Kelly would be the second acting
attempt by Mick Jagger following up 1970’s Performance
directed by Nicolas Roeg. This would not
be that last time we would see Jagger on the big screen either as he would turn
up in 1992’s Freejack, Bent (1997) and the more recent 2001
film Man from Elysian Fields. Heath Ledger would be put into the title role
in the more recent 2003 version of the film, also starring Orlando Bloom,
Geoffrey Rush, and Naomi Watts. That
alone will make this original version sought after.
The film is loosely based
on the famous Australian bandit from the 19th century, which is
directed here by Tony Richardson, known for his work on Tom Jones (1963), Charge of
the Light Brigade (1968), and a few Shakespearian works along the way. Ned Kelly attempts to earn money with
moonshine as his mother is being persecuted by the police. He does this by his moonshine operation, but
that quickly becomes a hot pursuit with deadly robberies and before too long he
is an infamous bandit on the run, but also a revered hero. Interesting enough the film is accompanied by
lyrics from Shel Silverstein and songs by Waylon Jennings.
For M-G-M’s debut issue of
Ned Kelly they have transferred the
film at its original 1.66 X 1 letterbox aspect ratio, with the film looking
pretty solid, even with its gritty looking nature and no anamorphic enhancement. Most of the film was shot with a desaturated
look to an almost monochromatic effect.
The film was shot by Gerry Fisher, a semi-unknown cameraman who would go
on to work on one of my personal favorites Wolfen
(1981). The audio is still in its
original mono setting, with the DVD being virtually clear with some minor inconsistency
in the overall fidelity. This is not a
film with boosting sound design so the dialogue comes through
well enough.
Special features? None!
Zip! Zero! However, in this phase of the DVD market,
it’s nice to see that some companies are dedicated to relying on the film to
sell itself rather than rely on its supplements. In the beginning of the format the movie
being on a format like DVD was good enough, then the movie had to have extras
to make it worthwhile, but now customers are becoming 1) more selective 2)
smarter consumers because of the internet and 3) putting titles in their
collection that they want to watch more than once. These are three attributes that customers did
not have just a few short years ago. So
does that mean Ned Kelly is a film
that will make it into most collections?
No. Will it make it into
some? Perhaps. The defining question is whether the remake
will spark any interest towards this film yet again, but it is already hitting
home video outside of the United States.
- Nate Goss
