These Amazing Shadows: The Movies That Make America
(2011)
These Amazing Shadows: The Movies That Make America Blu-ray offers solid video and audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
What do the films Casablanca, Blazing Saddles, and West Side Story have in common? Besides being popular, they have also been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," by the Library of Congress and listed on the National Film Registry. These Amazing Shadows tells the history and importance of The Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself. The current list of 525 films includes selections from every genre - documentaries, home movies, Hollywood classics, avant-garde, newsreels and silent films. These Amazing Shadows reveals how American movies tell us so much about ourselves...not just what we did, but what we thought, what we felt, what we aspired to, and the lies we told ourselves.
Every year since 1989, the National Film Registry selects 25 movies branded "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and offers them a safe haven inside the Library of Congress. It's an effort of preservation that spans all tastes and times, collecting an expanding group of creativity that reflects the cultural experience in America, from the very first acts of filmmaking to the blockbusters of recent memory. It's a yearly effort that brings out the best in cinephiles and academics, hunting for the ideal picture that sums up an era, perhaps useful to future generations curious about the country's history and legacy of artistic achievements. "These Amazing Shadows" is a skeletal examination of the National Film Registry's selection process, studying various titles welcomed into the protective hands of the organization's technicians and film lovers, revealing the diverse line-up of choices. It's light on the details of such an endeavor, but the flood of filmgoing memories and passion for the medium creates a riveting sit, basking in the glow of all these big screen oddities and masterpieces.
Directed by Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton, "These Amazing Shadows" isn't a gritty expose of National Film Registry procedures, attempting to dissect the elongated process of movie selection. Instead, the documentary is a celebration of the organization, keeping controversy off the screen, barely exploring how the group actually assembles its choices. The viewer is left with a vague understanding of the selection process, with titles collected from writers, filmmakers, fans, and the great unwashed online hordes, eventually argued and voted on behind closed doors. "These Amazing Shadows" doesn't provide footage of the debates, only cozy reassurances of peaceful disputes utilized to form the eclectic picks, warmly recounted by members of the association. To be refused a front row seat to the formation of historical significance is disappointing, but it soon becomes clear this production isn't concerned with confrontation, only celebration, of all things cinematic.
The basics are provided in "These Amazing Shadows," greeting those in charge of gathering the candidates, who reinforce the importance of such a mission. Created in the mid-1980s in response to Ted Turner's diabolical effort to colorize B&W classics he purchased, the National Film Registry started life in protection mode, seeking a way to pry critical efforts of creative might out of the hands of those who were quite capable of harm. However, a stance of defense soon gave way to the art of preservation, with attention quickly pulled to the millions of film reels stored away in attics, backrooms, and garbage bins -- cans of classic productions rotting away due to lack of care. With the silent era of filmmaking alone nearly wiped out by such indifference, the organization set out to restore what they could, with employees such as George Willeman dealing directly with volatile nitrate film prints (his workspace is affectionately nicknamed "nitrate land") and crusty reels of neglect, hoping to piece lost treasures back together. Erosion isn't limited to the early days of filmmaking, devouring even a masterpiece such as 1972's "The Godfather," which required intense frame-by-frame work to restore in full. The techs and talking heads in charge of the salvation efforts teeter on arrogance (discovering a scotch-taped splice on an ancient reel elicits utter disgust from the crew), but their passions do shine through, hoping to make their mark on the historical value of filmmaking by securing footage for future generations.
"These Amazing Shadows" spends much of the running time exploring the titles chosen for preservation, surveying the spectrum of creative efforts that have been voted into history. Interviewees such as John Waters, Christopher Nolan, Barbara Koppel, Zooey Deschanel, Peter Coyote, Wayne Wang, and Rob Reiner chat up the pictures, communicating their love for silver screen magic and all of its escapist effects. While the Nation Film Registry was quick to include all the requisite classics (the biggie being "Citizen Kane") during its initial years of operation, it's recently spent more time hunting for experimental efforts and documentary films to expand the preservation horizon, accepting such titles as 1945's Japanese internment home movie "Topaz" and the basketball saga "Hoop Dreams" to help explore the American experience. Oddly, even Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video made the 2009 list, while the class of 2000 welcomed the "Let's All Go to the Lobby" concession bumper. Even if you don't have a clue what that is I guarantee you know what that is.
Expectedly, the likes of "Star Wars" (although which cut of the blockbuster being stored remains unknown), "The Searchers," "Gone with the Wind," and "West Side Story" are discussed, though far most interesting is talk of the weirder picks, with a passionate few digging into the cult realm for selections. "This is Spinal Tap" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" joined the collection rather unexpectedly, requiring careful presentation to Librarian of Congress James Billington. "Back to the Future" ended up on the 2007 list due to fan outreach funneled through a leading website. Animation achievements are also explored, focusing on "Toy Story" and "Fantasia" as powerful, groundbreaking works of art in need of inclusion. Also investigated is the role of women in film, highlighting the works of Dorothy Arzner and Lois Weber as two leading female voices in a grueling industry, dissected by the likes of Julie Dash and Gale Anne Hurd. A section of the documentary is also set aside for "The Birth of a Nation," the controversial 1915 D.W. Griffith epic treated carefully by the National Film Registry, who hoped to reinforce the mission of the organization by accepting such a disturbing picture of extreme moviemaking merit, to preserve the dark side of cinema.
Here's a curious Blu-ray experience, which covers an enormous amount of different aspect ratios, film stocks, and print quality. The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation is wonderfully crisp for the interview and film vault sequences, delivering a rich sense of detail on faces and building particulars, hampered by some minor haloing. The emotions of the personalities gathered are vital to the success of the program, and the BD captures that inner light when favorite films are discussed, with natural skintones and pleasing colors emerging from clothing and interior design. Movie footage offers a great mood of HD lift, with most of the clips looking quite healthy (a few moments from "The Searchers" practically jumps in your lap). Even damaged prints provide life, with a crisp appearance that assists in the overwhelming appreciation of restoration artistry. Shadow detail is also in satisfactory shape, holding steady through a few dimly lit conversations, offering a full sense of fabrics and decoration.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix is far more immersive than expected for a documentary listening experience, with a meaty sense of scoring carrying a full sound, supporting the visuals in a more circular manner, without ever trampling on the verbal information. Interviews are reasonably clean, registering accents and attitudes superbly, with a comfortable center placement for a direct punch of conversation. Again, the film clips range in quality, but everything carries smooth transitions and accurate levels, never leaving the listener fighting shrillness. Low-end is barely noticeable, only capturing a few rumbling moments from the clips. The documentary carries a loving, delicate tone, successfully conveyed on the disc.
"The Art of Preservation" (27:13, HD) is more or less a sequel to "These Amazing Shadows," plunging deeper into the art of movie restoration with hosts Liz Stanley and George Willeman. The focus here is on film history and how prints were treated in the early days, lost to unstable elements, fires, and horrific care. While it carries a heroic tone as the technicians work their surgical magic, the future isn't bright for cinema, finding studios putting their faith in a digital future that's even more unstable than celluloid.
"Recording the Score" (6:57, HD) sits down with composer Peter Golub, who discusses how he shaped his own music to fit with the specific moods of the films explored, finding original themes for the documentary with help from the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.
"'These Amazing Shadows' at Sundance" (5:46, HD) captures the filmmakers and a few of the documentary's "stars" as they run around the iconic film festival, facing Q&As, photo shoots, and panel discussions.
Outtakes (8:20, HD) provide additional moments with Christopher Nolan, John Waters, and Tim Roth.
Alternate and Deleted Scenes (8:23, HD) discusses the merits of "The Gold Diggers of 1933," the favorite movies of the interviewees (producer James Schamus picks "E.T." -- right on), the legacy of the "Godfather" films, and the potency of "Boyz N the Hood."
Establishing a safety net for movies, the National Film Registry seeks to build an empire of artistic endeavors, each providing a glimpse of life that creates a window to the past, through both fiction and non-fiction efforts. "These Amazing Shadows" plays to that awe, looking out over a colorful field of diverse pictures, forming a powerful statement of history and humanity. The documentary doesn't quite delve into the organization's hidden details, but it grasps the miracle of cinema, treating these selections with the wonder and reverence they deserve.
An early announcement to retailers indicates that PBS will release on Blu-ray Paul Mariano and Kurt Norton's documentary These Amazing Shadows: The Movies That Make America (2011). Earlier this year, the film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Street date ...
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