The best documentaries on film-making?

[Narshty]

Having just rewatched Reconstructing Evil, and finding it generally very dull, it sparked me off onto some of the better documentaries on film-making that really inspire, entertain and educate on the subject.

Laurent Bouzereau, the lauded DVD producer, makes, in my opinon, the most boring, corporate documentaries with nothing but chronological step-throughs of anecdotes in regards to the films, with nothing approaching in-depth looks at the filmmaking and/or the film's reputation.

Here are some of my personal favourites:

Good Taste Made Bad Taste - chronicling the conception, making and success of Peter Jackson's first film Bad Taste, it's absolutely fantastic and packs more into 25 minutes than you would have thought possible. If this doesn't inspire you to get a bunch of friends and old equipment together, go out and shoot your own film, then nothing will. I'm going to be rash and say it is worth the extra money for the 2-disc set from Anchor Bay with this gem on it.

A Very British Psycho - an utterly brilliant hour-long piece on Michael Powell's legendary Peeping Tom, available on Criterion's DVD, it details the making of the film, the horrified reaction on its original release, the reborn-as-a-masterpiece status it regained in the late 80s and, most fascinatingly, how Leo Marks came to write such a disturbing work, having to deal with traumatic experiences during his work as a code-breaker during the war.

Painting with Light - the documentary on Jack Cardiff and Black Narcissus on the Criterion DVD. Again, only 25 minutes, but running times can be entirely deceptive. Sensational.

The World of Josef von Sternberg - on Criterion's The Scarlet Empress, not so much for style, but the rarity of Sternberg's lighting demonstrations and interview footage. A mere 20 minutes from start to finish.

[Rick Schmidlin]

Try to find Kevin Brownlows Hollywood series one of the best documentaries on film ever made. It's twelve or thirteen episodes. All are very worth while. In regard to "Reconstructing Evil" I to found it boring. It may be because Joe McBride and I had what I think was a better proposal and it was turned down.

[jaime marzol]

there are 2, 12 or 13 episode filmmaking documentaries, the one about the silent days, and the one about modern hollywood, both are highly recomendable.

BUT. if the one rick mentions, the kevin brownlow documentary, is the one about modern day hollywood, and you have already expended a few years trying to get a screenwriting carreer going, the brownlow documentary will make you physically ill. it did to me.

[Narshty]

I'll look out for those, Rick, thanks. I was absolutely blown away by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill's restoration of Nosferatu, available on R2 DVD from the BFI, and their version alone (I had seen the film prior) pushed it into my top ten of all time.

I found it ironic that someone like Laurent Bouzereau, seemingly without any artistic inventiveness, would chronicle the making and reconstruction of such a dazzling film.

Rick - is there any chance the Criterion Collection might do an all-out definitive special edition of the film that you could co-produce with Mr. McBride and one of the really talented producers there, such as Susan Arosteguy or Issa Clubb?

I suppose the real question should be would Universal be willing to licence out Touch of Evil to Criterion as they have done with plenty of other titles, as I can't see Criterion saying no to such a proposal, especially with no Welles at all in the collection.

They did say they'd try and release something of his next year, however.

[jaime marzol]

..........

it seemed to me when i saw the reconstructing evil documentary that he producers were not after an in-depth study, they wanted something for the welles-beginer, not the advanced user. and it's not really rare here, encore showed it for months, everybody who has encore and is a welles fan has a copy of it. i've heard alot of welles beginers blubbering about how great and informatve the documentary is, so i guess they acheived their goal.

[Narshty]

It did strike me as going about as in-depth into filmmaking and the restoration process as the average Sesame Street goes into crayon factories or clouds.

Just thought of a couple more:

Withnail and Us: short, sharp, superbly made, witty, informative and bursting with trivia and behind-the-scenes stories - again, a mere 25 minutes.

The Movie That Wouldn't Die - on Criterion's unsurpassed Carnival of Souls double disc; perhaps somewhat basic in its production values (to say the least), but a real eagerness and passion, not to mention love for the subject, that is so often lacking in these affairs.

[jaime marzol]

..........

well, i would not compare it to sesame street, i'm not as critical of it as you are, i did enjoy a few parts of it, but no, it wasn't indepth. i would like to have seen the actual process rick and murch went through. the research, the papers, the fossils that were interviewed, the construction, murch at the movieola, the assembly, etc.

[Narshty]

Admittedly there was some interesting backstory as to how the preview cut came back into circulation, extended home video versions and other things, but it always felt like each participant was cut off mid-sentence, about to elaborate on certain points that would have been fascinating.

Perhaps a much better documentary could be made from the raw interview footage, but I felt sort of empty after watching it, unlike some documentaries that leave me brimming over with both gained information and inspired curiosity.

[jaime marzol]

" I felt sort of empty after watching it, unlike some documentaries that leave me brimming over with both gained information and inspired curiosity."

i don't mean this as any reflection on rick, the business-suits are responsible for what we got:

agreed, same here. i wanted more technical info, less surface stuff. got lots of surface stuff, rehashed info that are in the most ppopular books.

i don't doubt for a second that a tremendous documentary can be made from it using almost no interview footage, just a film teacher with a pointer standing in front of a 4 x 8 foot projection, analyzing, asking for rewinds, and zoom-ins. the facts are interesting, but the work greatly surpasses anything any one could say.

...........

[Narshty]

I don't hold the documentary against Rick, either - what he said was fascinating and I wanted to hear a lot more from all participants!

I think some of the more interesting stuff may well have been left on the cutting-room floor in favour of a walk-through approach of the history of the film for newcomers.

[jaime marzol]

............

i want to post some of my fave filmmaking documentaries, but i have like a zillion posts on this board and have put them in a bunch of other times, so not to be redundant, Thames, BBC, and American Masters are the gods of filmmaking documentaries.

of the American made documentaries, the ones financed by the associations of 'the film school directors', copolla, scorsese, de palma, speilberg, that group, are excellent. and others come along that present great affinity for their topic. but the really bad, sensationalist ones seem to be the ones that are most popular. look at the 2 worst welles documentaries, WHAT WENT WRONG, and BATTLE OVER CITIZEN KANE, are also the most popular. the best one, the BBc one never shows. the welles segment of THE RKO STORY never shows, and the list goes on.

AMERICAN MASTERS CHAPLIN is the best chaplin documentary ever, and probably the best AMERICAN MASTER documentary as well. and i'm not a big chaplin fan.
AMERICAN MASTERS KEATON
AMERICAN MASTERS SCORSESE
AMERICAN MASTERS GRIFFITH 4 stars
would love to see an AMERICAN MASTER VON STROHEIM. i have THE MAN YOU LOVE TO HATE von docu, it's good.

the THAMES 800 part documentary of the silent days in hollywood is absolutely great. i say 800 parts because that is how i saw it the first time. when the afternoon movie ended 10 minutes early, they would show 10 minutes of it. 10 years later tcm showed it and i finally got a copy.

i saw one on george romero that was real good, surprisingly good, i was surprised how well it was put together. made me look at a romero film differently. the documentary made it easier to look past his financial limitations because there are little treasures on the other side.

the reifensthal, and tarkovsky documentaries are excellent.

DIAL H FOR HITCHCOCK is 4 stars
the making of NORTH BY NORTH WEST 4 stars.
THE LONGEST DAY made by amc, excellent, though i'm not a huge fan of the film.

ENTREVISTA i like better than any felini movie except 8 1/2. they are a tie for first place.

HEART OF DARKNESS, excellent, i thought it had more story and tension than the film.

SCORSESE, A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE AMERICAN MOVIES excellent

VISIONS OF LIGHT 4 stars

SO MUCH FOR NOT BEING REDUNDANT.

[Welles Fan]

If VISIONS OF LIGHT is the one about cinematography from silents to today, yes I liked that one, too.

I agree also on the Cardiff doc on BLACK NARCISSUS (also the Scorses and Powell commentary on the disc is great, too).

I liked all those American Masters docs, particularly the Chaplin one (and I am a huge Chaplin fan); also the Keaton and Griffith ones, and to a lesser degree, the Harold Lloyd one. I think the series suffered after James Mason died-his narration was superb, and I think it was the success of his narration for that Thames/Brownlow/Silent series that led to the general style of those American Masters ones.

I didn't hate RECONSTRUCTING EVIL, but as has been said, there was nothing in it a Welles fan doesn't already know, and I hate to mouth the same old stories along with the onscreen storytellers. Had it been included with the DVD, it would have made a DVD like a lot of the others I own-I watch the "extra stuff" once, and seldom look at it again. Still, I was excited to see it when it was shown on cable, because I had not seen T.O.E. for a while, and it definitely got me in the mood for the new version of the movie.

[jaime marzol]

so the brownlow documentary is the thames silent one? there is this totally depressing 12 hr documentary on modern hollywood that shows mainly how they shit on writers. very depressing stuff. will let the air out of a lot of spec screenwriter's sails.

james mason certainly gave the stuff a tone didn't he?

i might have seen the american masters lloyd, not sure.

yes, the commentary track on BLACK NARCISUS is excellent.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

now now jaime. speak for yourself and the others. i have encore, and i am a hardcore welles fan, but i don't have it yet. i haven't seen it available in the tv guide yet.

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

awe, the hell with it man. if you want film making documentaries, do what orson welles did

grab the best cinematographer in the world
get a great movie
and ask who, what, where, when, why and how everything was done

your damn self