The Impressionists: The Other French Revolution
by Bruce Alfred
from A&E Home Video
This epic documentary does a wonderful job of recapturing the revolutionary impact the impressionists made while providing a historical and artistic context for this extraordinary group of painters. The work of Monet, Degas, Morisot, and their fellow impressionists has now become so familiar that its power to shock has all but disappeared.
Young and resolutely modern, these artists threw off the shackles of academic art to capture everyday life in paintings that were iconoclastic in both style and subject. At first they struggled to survive because their work was rejected by the conservative Paris Salon, but those with independent means helped those without (Monet in particular was frequently rescued from poverty by his friends), and gradually they became impossible to ignore. Bruce Alfred's script thoroughly explains the development of the impressionists' approach to art and reveals fascinating aspects of their individual personalities, while a combination of dramatic reconstructions, period photographs, and the paintings themselves creates a rich and informative visual tapestry. Anyone with an interest in the history of art will find much to enjoy. --Simon Leake
Christianity-The First Two Thousand Years
from A&E Home Video
"This story is enormously unlikely." --Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion, Princeton University
Pagels is right on the mark: what began two millennia ago as a Jewish sect has grown into the most widespread religion in history, despite unbridled oppression in its early years and countless denominational splits ever since. The last few years have seen a resurgence of interest in church history, and A&E's documentary Christianity: The First Thousand Years is a splendid example of solid scholarly research meshed with entertaining production values that speaks to this interest. The result is a resource with equal appeal for the historian and the theologian alike.
The issues that confronted the early church seem now quite strange since there are 2,000 years of tradition behind them today:
- Should gentile converts to the Jesus movement have to adhere to the laws of kashrut?
- What authority did Paul have as an apostle though he never personally knew Jesus?
- What is Jesus' relationship to God?
- How can a tripartite Christian theology be resolved with Judaism's strong tradition of monotheism?
- Which texts should form the Christian scripture?
- What relationship do the apostolic bishops at Jerusalem, Damascus, Rome, Constantinople, and elsewhere have to each other--and how should the church be structured?
- What should be the central statement of faith of Christians?
The rapid spread of the church from the controversial conversion of Constantine to the conquests of Otto is tied closely to the history of the Roman Empire itself. Without the empire as its catapult, it is unlikely that Christianity would have spread even to remote Iceland and Finland by the year 1000. The early church modeled itself structurally on imperial institutions, and it integrated itself into the fabric of imperial life. Indeed, the central role of Christianity in Byzantine life is one of numerous often-overlooked but fascinating historical perspectives that A&E manages to cover here.
The four-part set features Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, whose unusual but pleasant voices will be well known to viewers of A&E's TV series Mysteries of the Bible. Like the TV series, Christianity: The First Thousand Years is marked by thorough scholarship, including interviews with many highly regarded scholars such as Pagels. Snippets of these interviews are interspersed with photography from the Holy Land and some reenactments, leading to an informative and revealing exploration of the early church. --Erik J. Macki
Heroes of Iwo Jima
by Lauren Lexton
from A&E Home Video
The flag-raising atop Mt. Suribachi during the epic World War II battle of Iwo Jima is the focus of this stirring documentary narrated by actor and ex-Marine Gene Hackman. James Bradley, son of one of the flag-raisers and author of the best selling Flags of Our Fathers, relates many of the stories surrounding the men who fought at Iwo Jima, and retired Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, who snapped the classic photograph, also offers his battlefield recollections. Family members of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima speaking movingly of the men and what prompted them to enlist in the Marine Corps. The rumors that Rosenthal faked the photograph are debunked, and the enormous symbolism of the Marines raising the flag and what it meant to America after four years of horrific combat is intelligently discussed in this look at how a single moment in American history has assumed legendary significance. --Robert J. McNamara
The Songmakers Collection
by John Griffin (XIII)
from A&E Home Video
Several of rock and pop music's best and most important early songwriters, along with some stellar performers, are profiled on The Songmakers Collection, a two-DVD set culled from five separate episodes of the A&E Network's Biography series. The centerpiece is "Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music," a 90-minute documentary about the many writers who worked side-by-side in New York's legendary Brill Building in the '50s and '60s. It's a fascinating story, featuring duos like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, nearly all of them Jewish kids from Brooklyn who were at ease writing classic tunes for black and white artists alike. The tale is told in standard documentary style, via interviews past and present, photos, extensive film footage, and, of course, lots of music.
The remaining programs, all about 40 minutes in length, concentrate on individual artists or partners (inevitably, some of the same footage appears several times). Singer Dionne Warwick, best known for her interpretations of Burt Bacharach-Hal David material (and maybe for the Psychic Friends Network), is profiled in Volume One. The three features in Volume Two focus on the life and loves of Bacharach, the classically trained composer of so many pop standards; on Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, dubbed "the fathers of rock & roll songwriting" for their work with everyone from Big Mama Thornton and the Coasters to Elvis Presley and Peggy Lee; and on Bobby Darin, the ultra-versatile, swingin' talent who lived with the prescience of an early death due to heart problems (he died at 37). Great stuff, all in all--although a few more complete performances would have been nice. - -Sam Graham
In an office building a few blocks from Times Square, a group of talented teens rewrote the soundtrack to the American experience. Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, and Bobby Darin are among the legends who passed through its doors. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," "Up on the Roof," and "Hound Dog" are just a few of the hits that came pouring out. This unprecedented look at "The Hit Factory" includes in-depth portraits of some of the biggest names in music, along with a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at the heady days when the Brill Building was the center of the pop universe. A treasure trove of unforgettable songs, rare photos, and interviews with everyone from Carole King to Phil Ramone makes The Songmakers Collection the definitive story of a musical revolution.
The story of a musical revolution, told by the writers, producers, and performers who made it happen. Includes: performance footage of stars like Dionne Warwick, The Righteous Brothers, Dusty Springfield, The Coasters, and many more; almost 100 interviews, including Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Dick Clark, Neil Sedaka, Stevie Wonder, Nancy Sinatra, and Dionne Warwick. >From the producers of A&E's award-winning Biography series. 300 minutes.
In the Footsteps of the Holy Family
by Joseph Correll
from A&E Home Video
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