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movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVDs

jefferiestubes8

jefferiestubes8

Commodore
Commodore
I have a some favorite feature documentaries on the making of movies.

1998 BBC documentary The Fear of God: 25 Years of 'The Exorcist' (74 mins)
from The Exorcist 25th Anniversary Special Edition - 1973 (1998)
and it's on the 2010 Blu-ray.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/exorcist25thanniv.html

the 50-minute BBC documentary, The Poughkeepsie Shuffle: Tracing 'The French Connection' from
The French Connection
Five Star Collection - 1971 (2001)
Done by the same filmmakers responsible for the wonderful documentary on The Exorcist: 25th Anniversary Special Edition, The Poughkeepsie Shuffle is an in-depth look at not only the filming of the movie, but also the history behind the film.
Click to expand...
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews2/frenchconnection5star.html

A Legacy of Filmmakers: The Early Years of American Zoetrope on the
THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut Special Edition - 1971 (2004) DVD
documentary on the early history of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope studios, of which both Lucas and Murch were a part. The piece is narrated by Richard Dreyfuss and runs a little over an a hour.
Click to expand...
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/thx1138se.html

'The Beginning: Making 'Episode I' by filmmaker Jon Shenk on the
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) 2-disc DVD.
While the film is not a favorite amongst fans the documentary made from 600 hours of behind-the-scenes footage is really a great 66 minute documentary without narration.

epic documentary called Recreating the Eighth Wonder: The Making of 'King Kong' (2006) 187 min
King Kong: Deluxe Extended Edition 3-disc (2006)
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/adamjahnke/jahnke012207.html#kin
I believe on the disc is also the "Post Production Diaries"

A documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002) 93 min.
happened to capture
Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project (which has never been resurrected).
Click to expand...
An update: oddly Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is in preproduction on imdb for 2011 with a script rewrite, new location and recast.

this is not as good as Ep.I's comprehensive docu. but still worth mentioning
The documentary Within a Minute: The Making of Episode III, which runs nearly 80 minutes. for Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005)


3 documentaries
Taking Flight: the Development of Superman (30 min.)
Making Superman: Filming the Legend (31 min.)
The Magic Behind the Cape (24 min.)
While these 3 are not as good as the above documentaries I think they are unique in that hours of behind-the-scenes 16mm film footage was shot and never used until these were put together in 2001.
on the
Superman: The Movie Special Edition - 1978 (2001) DVD
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews2/supermanse.html


What are your favorites (longer than 20 minutes) about the making of movies on DVD or Blu-ray included when purchasing a movie?
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

The Zoetrope one sounds awesome!

Besides of course the blue ribbon docos for LOTR - NOTHING surpasses them, I have to say my favourites are the four feature length documentaries on the Alien Quadrilogy set.

I will just put them on in the background and play them through while I go about my day. Exhaustive and candid(ESP. for 3!), I love them all but hold a special place for the first two, since they are my favourote Alien films.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

The Universal Frankenstein Legacy collection features two informative and comprehensive documentaries on the making of, respectively, FRANKENSTEIN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

If it's a good documentary, sometimes I'll end up watching that more often than the actual movie. I love this sort of behind the scenes drama.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

Some of the best ones here have already been mentioned, such as...

The Alien Quadrilogy, particularly all the "What if?"s surrounding Alien 3. It's a shame that David Fincher was unwilling to chime in with his own thoughts.

Superman: The Movie, even if it is an incredibly biased hatchet job against the Salkinds. And again, Richard Lester remains silent.

Lost in La Mancha.

The Special Extended Edition DVDs of all 3 Lord of the Rings movies.

Some others I would add...

Warner Bros. did a very good job on the 1989-1997 Batman Anthology, even being somewhat apologetic on the Batman & Robin DVD.

The Director's Edition of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. That movie was nothing but behind the scenes turmoil, and unlike a lot of other tumultuous films, this one really shows that onscreen. It makes for a fantastic moviemaking documentary (even if they did heavily edit the interviews where some people really ripped Michael Eisner a new one).

If you like Lost in La Mancha, I would also recommend watching the further trials & tribulations of Terry Gilliam on the 20th Anniversary Edition of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and the Criterion Edition of Brazil.

For an overview of Disney animation studio politics in the late 1980s-early 1990s (including Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Oliver & Company, The Rescuers Down Under, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), check out Waking Sleeping Beauty. (I saw it a few weeks ago at a local art theater. According to Amazon, it will come out on DVD on November 30.)

To watch a massive production spin wildly out of control in a foreign country, I recommend "Seduced by Argentina," the full length documentary on the 2004 Special Edition of Highlander II.

Even more unweildy was the film that nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox, went through at least 2 directors, 2 full sets of supporting cast, god knows how many script changes, commandeered entire studio backlots in 3 different countries, and had nearly 2 hours of material cut from its theatrical release-- Cleopatra (1963). But be sure you get the Five Star Collection release. Other releases don't include the 3rd disc, which is the one that has the documentary on it. http://www.amazon.com/Cleopatra-Fiv...ef=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1278191571&sr=1-5
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

The Wild Bunch: The Original Director's Cut includes a great documentary called The Wild Bunch: An Album in Montage (which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Short).
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

The Sleeping Beauty one sounds like one I might have to get!
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

Agreed on the Alien films, King Kong and French Connection docs.

I would also throw in the dangerous days Blade Runner doc, and the award winning Battle of Citizen Kane.
The Indy and Star Wars docs are really good too, and are packed with awesome behind the scenes footage.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

What we really need is a documentary about The Fountain, how it went from a big budget movie with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett to being shut down after cost overruns and Pitt's departure, to being resurrected with a much smaller budget, an accommodating rewrite and Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in the leads.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Hearts of Darkness, the feature-length doco about Apocalypse Now. Truly incredible to see all the insanity that went on with that film.

Another good one was Full Tilt Boogie, about the making of Tarantino & Rodriguez's From Dusk Til' Dawn. One of the few doco's I've seen that's easily more interesting than the movie.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

Just to add a couple I haven't seen mentioned, I enjoyed the feature-length documentary on the making of Superman Returns, even though it was longer than the movie itself!

The documentary on the making of Daredevil was also fun because it didn't take itself too seriously.

Although it was not produced for a DVD (it was a TV special initially), the Bond Girls Are Forever documentary that was included on the Casino Royale DVD was fascinating to watch. That one was written and hosted by Maryam D'abo, one of the lesser-remembered Bond girls from the Dalton era, and based upon a book she'd written about her experiences and that of the exclusive sisterhood to which she belongs. My favorite productions are those that go beyond just the "making of the film" aspect and take on a more personal tone.

Alex
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

23skidoo said:
The documentary on the making of Daredevil was also fun because it didn't take itself too seriously.
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Yeah. That one was pretty good and a lot more informative & thorough than most documentaries on contemporary movies. In particular, it's interesting a lot of the struggles that Mark Steven Johnson had to go through just to make sure that 20th Century Fox understood the project and realized how it was supposed to be different from Spider-Man. Plus, it included some behind the scenes clips from scenes that I hadn't seen yet because the Director's Cut was still a year away.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

cardinal biggles said:
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Hearts of Darkness, the feature-length doco about Apocalypse Now. Truly incredible to see all the insanity that went on with that film.
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Interesting. I've heard there was also a similar documentary about Coppola working on The Cotton Club that included tons of deleted footage from the film (including the "Stormy Weather" musical number, which supposedly cost $1 million by itself). However, I haven't been able to find a copy of this one.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

I thought the doc on the second disc of the "Jaws" DVD was really spectacular.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

Was that the one called The Shark is Still Working? I heard it was awesome.
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

McCoy said:
Was that the one called The Shark is Still Working? I heard it was awesome.
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I"m not sure; I haven't watched it in a couple years, but a glance at the back of the DVD case just says "The Making of Jaws".
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

Hey guys any new behind-the-scene docu's on movies worth seeing on dvd or blu-ray?
 
Re: movie behind the scenes - best feature-length documentaries on DVD

jefferiestubes8 said:
What are your favorites (longer than 20 minutes) about the making of movies on DVD or Blu-ray included when purchasing a movie?
Click to expand...


Peter Jackson's Production diaries on the "King Kong" DVD set. I sometimes put it in my computer and listen to it while I write.

If commentaries count, my absolute favorite is the track from "The Sum Of All Fears," where Tom Clancy introduces himself as "...the guy who wrote the book that they completely ignored" and then spends the whole movie nitpicking stuff. It's hilarious.
 
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