Vegas – The City The Mob Made (Mill Creek DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Episodes: C+

 

 

As if we did not have enough out there on gangsters and Las Vegas, Mill Creek Entertainment has issued a 10-episode series called Vegas – The City That The Mob Made.  The series shows us much of what we have seen and generally knew before, including telling its usual gangster tales, though it is bold enough to deal with Jewish Gangsters that many of the “documentary” retellings do not always go into.

 

However, in all of its time, it never covers the moral center of the town that really kept it together and is the final power there, the Mormons!  Scorsese’s Casino (reviewed elsewhere on this site) hints at that, but I give it credit for not being sensational in its version of events.  However, you have to sit through much obvious and general information before any of the shows come up with something different that is not said enough.

 

If you can deal with repetition (the openings are all the same) and also don’t mind a narrator who sounds too upbeat and out of the element of the material somewhat throughout, you might enjoy this set.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is softer than I would have liked, but the plethora of stock film footage is a big plus and the editing is better than expected.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is stereo for the most part and rarely if ever do we hear archive audio.  Extras are few, including a timeline, slideshow and previews for two other programs.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo