Garrison Keillor – The Man On The Radio With One
Red Shoe (Docurama DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C Extras: C Main Program: C+
Seeming
like a companion piece to Robert Altman’s feature film version of A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Peter
Rosen’s Garrison Keillor – The Man On
The Radio With One Red Shoe includes footage from the promotion of that
film (some of the last of Altman before he passed away) and more about Keillor
as in everything you always wanted to know but did not know to ask. You can start with our review of the Altman
film if you have never heard of any of this before:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4450/A+Prairie+Home+Companion+(2006)
This can
be interesting, but is uneven overall and if you already know about the film or
the radio programs, it will then depend on how much a fan you are. At 86 minutes, it is a long as it needs to
be, but it did not add as much to things as I had hoped for and a little can go
a long way once you get the drift of the approach. However, you know you are also witnessing
what is likely the last in a long line of artists and comic talents whose craft
and form runs back to the earliest days of network radio drama. That deserves a big thank you.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has newer footage looking like it was
shot in HD, but other footage (including many archival analog NTSC sources) are
not and the overall transfer is constantly softer than expected. It can be very trying to sit through. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is on the stereo
side with some location audio being more monophonic than not and more uneven
than expected; it is also at a lower volume than I liked. Extras include text filmmaker bio,
Altman/Keillor interview footage already noted, Keillor talking to students and
outtakes.
- Nicholas Sheffo