These Amazing Shadows Movies [Blu-ray]

Every year, 25 films are added to the National Film Registry to be preserved at the Library of Congress. This is a fascinating documentary that uses the Film Registry as a springboard to discuss American film culture. Some very talented filmmakers are included in the discussion - Christopher Nolan, John Lasseter, and Rob Reiner are some notable directors who appear in this film. The film also includes the thoughts and reflections of various actors, critics, and historians.

Many documentaries, particularly ones that consist mostly of interviews, tend to get tedious and boring. But the film (88 minutes long) has a brisk pace and moves along quickly (but without feeling too rushed).

One of my favorite aspects of the film is the original score by Peter Golu. The music really adds to the sense of nostalgia you feel while watching the documentary. It is available for purchase now, and I highly recommend it.

The blu-ray will include the following bonus material:
- Lost Forever, a look at film preservation, restoration, and more
- Live from Prague: Recording the Score
- These Amazing Shadows at Sundance
- Outtakes
- Alternate and Deleted Scenes

The films in this documentary are part of the National Film Registry.

The subject of coloring old films is discussed.
This leads to the National film Preservation Act to create the national film registry.
The American film crates a sense of nationhood.

The real problem with this documentary is that it is in less than 5 second sound and picture bytes. They never complete a thought before moving on to the next. There I s no coherence in the train of thought or presentation. The bites have great sounds but no follow-up as to what those bits are trying to say.

It would have been better presented with ether fewer speakers of let one speaker finish before the next begins.

They do slow down for the courtroom speech from "To Kill a Mockingbird"

How many of these narrators do you know?

Jeff Adachi (Filmmaker)
Dr. James H. Billington (Librarian of Congress)
Robin Blaetz (Chair of Film Studies, Mount Holyoke College)
Brooks Boliek (Journalist)
Charles Burnett (Director, Killer of Sheep)
Jay Carr (National Film Preservation Board)
Martin Cohen (President of Post Production, Paramount Pictures)
Peter Coyote (Actor, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial)
Arlene Damron (daughter of Director- Dave Tatsuno: Topaz (1945 documentary))
Julie Dash (Director, Daughters of the Dust)
Allen Daviau, ASC (Cinematographer)
Caleb Deschanel, ASC (Cinematographer)
Zooey Deschanel (Actress) describes wizard of OZ
Kristine Fong
Robert A. Harris (Film Restorer)
Amy Heckerling (director, Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
Jan-Christopher Horak (Director, UCLA Film & Television Archive)
Jennifer Horne (Assistant Professor, The Catholic University of America)
Gale Anne Hurd (Producer, The Terminator)
Steve James (Director, Hoop Dreams)
Barbara Kopple (Director, Harlan County, USA)
Farran Smith Nehme (Writer)
Christopher Nolan (Director)
Stephen Peck (son of Gregory - Director, US VETS Community Development)
Jennifer Phang (Filmmaker)
Rick Prelinger (Prelinger Archives)
John Ptak (National Film Reservation Board)
Rob Reiner (Director)
Del Reisman (Former President, Writers Guild of America)
Debbie Reynolds (Actress, Singing in the Rain)
Prof. Robert Rosen (Retired Dean, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television)
Tim Roth (Actor)
James Schamus (Producer)
Paul Schrader (Director and Writer)
Eric J. Schwartz
John Singleton (Director, Boyz n the Hood)
Anthony Slide (Film Historian and Author)
Michael Smith
Shelley Stamp (Professor, Film and Digital Media, University of California, Santa Cruz)
Liz Stanley (Preservation Specialist, Packard Campus)
George Takei (Actor)
Wayne Wang (Director, Chan is Missing)
John Waters (Director)
George R. Willeman (Nitrate Film Vault Manager, Packard Campus)
Jan Yarbrough (Colorist, Warner MPI)
Kevin Yost (Editor - Lucasfilm)
Betsy McLane (Author, A New History of Documentary Film)
Nina Paley (Animator)
Jennifer Hagar (Animator - Disney Feature Animation)
Antonia Lant (Professor, Cinema Studies, New York University)
Barry Jenkins (Filmmaker)
Michael Smith (director, American Indian Film Institute)
Heather Olson-Linville (Archivist, Academy Film Archive)

MUST see documentary on the Movies - and the Bonus Features are important too!

In 1988, Congress passed the National Film Preservation Act and with it the National Film Preservation Board, under the auspices of the Librarian of Congress (James Billington). In 1989 the NFPB chose the first group of 25 films for its Registry and, to date 550 films of all types and periods, have been chosen to be preserved in their original form. This includes well-known films like "The Godfather", and "The Wizard of Oz" to pieces of home movies.

The feature film on this DVD was produced in 2011 and presented at Sundance - as well as an airing on PBS. It is essential viewing by anyone who watches movies. While there is significant discussion of why films deteriorate or why a film is "culturally important", this documentary is crafted so it is entertaining as well. Film critics and authors on film are interviewed, but so are celebrities like directors John Waters (hilarious) and Rob Reiner. The real "star" is someone you've never heard of: Library of Congress archivist George Willeman. Looking, and sounding, like a cross between Michael Moore and Roger Ebert, Willeman is the guy in charge of the rare Nitrate film vaults at the modern Packard Campus that the Library of Congress opened in Culpepper, VA about six years ago. He will make you smile and really appreciate film history.

The film has an original score by composer Peter Golub, whose soundtrack could easily stand on its own on a CD.

One of the parts I enjoyed most is the one on censorship, where it shows how recently found footage was able to restore the 1930s film "Baby Face" which had been destroyed by heavy censorship editing. And you'll discover new films to seek out and watch. (Keep a pen and pad handy to just titles down as you watch it.)

If you saw this film on PBS, you still need to see this DVD with its bonus features. The 27 minute short "Lost Forever" (with more great comments from Willeman) is almost as good as the 88-minute Feature. Next comes a seven-minute featurette on the score with Golub, four alternate or deleted segments (approx nine minutes), and eight minutes of additional interviews with Waters (just great!), director Christopher Nolan and actor Tim Roth. The last "bonus" is five minutes of the panel at Sundance. Done with a jerky hand-held camera this is the only extra that disappointed.

This is also a DVD you can watch a second time as you'll discover things you missed the first time.

All the above features are on both the Standard DVD (which I viewed) as well as the BluRay

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"