DVD commentary tracks worth sitting through

The funny thing about Roger Ebert's commentary on the Citizen Kane DVD is that it is kinda billed as second to Peter Bogdanovich's, which is absolutely worthless. He just repeats lines in the film that were just spoken and talk about how he was buddies with Orson Welles (something he's almost made a career of these days). Ebert's commentary is SOOOOO good. I must have seen the film hundreds of times and never noticed about a dozen things that Ebert points out. I won't say what they are to avoid spoiling it.

All the Mr. Show DVD commentary is essential. It's almost as entertaining as the shows themselves.

Same goes for the first season of Dr. Katz, which features Jon Benjamin, Jonathan Katz and Tom Snyder. Unfortunately, when the 2nd season was released, they opted to replace Benjamin with Laura Silverman. And while at first I thought this would be interesting, it isn't nearly as good.

"The Last Waltz" is pretty fun (the non-Scorcese/Robertson commenatry).

Information-wise, the Criterion DVD of "Children Of Paradise" is also excellent, if a tad dry.

Oh, and "The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse" is another extremely funny one. A great collection anyway you slice it.

 

Well, the point for me is there were moments when my eyes welled up from hearing her tell stories about her experiences in the film. She was a thin, great looking lady at the time of the film and hearing her recollections from those days was priceless.

I doubt there are too many films from that period that have commentaries from the original stars. Sure, a historian could have provided more details and probably could have filled the entire 90 minutes with speculative stories that he heard subsequently from those surrounding the film. But I believe that would beg the question, "What's the point?"

 

Beat me to it. Ebert's commentary is like sitting in on a film class. Very informative, and his enthusiasm for the movie is infectious. On the other hand, you can skip Bogdanovich's commentary on the same disc. Not very informative, and his voice is a sleep-inducing drone.

Adam West and Burt Ward give an amusing commentary on the Batman the Movie DVD. Hardly in the same league as Ebert's, which is surprising because the films are so similar.

 

Also, most of the commentaries included with the Universal Monsters Legacy Collection are entertaining and full of behind-the-scenes trivia. Unfortunately, the commentaries are saved for the headliner feature in each series with none provided for its many sequels.

 

Oh well. I guess you have to be a fan.

 

Ridley Scott's director commentary is usually worth a listen, if you like technical discussion. THE DUELLISTS was interesting, as he explained his workarounds to this period piece's low budget as well as the moments of serendipity that blessed the film, especially the unplanned closing shot.

SPOILER ALERT! He completely lucked into a shot whereby the imprisoned villain, tramping through a cold misty rain, had to watch the sun break through the clouds across the river, over which a flock of birds flew away from his self-imposed exile. An amazing shot that could not have been faked or planned in those pre-CGI days!

The Director's Cut of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN had a lot of interesting tidbits, too, although at three hours-plus this strains even a fan's patience. I believe he mentioned that the set for Jerusalem in KINGDOM OF HEAVEN was the most expensive movie set in history.

 

I was just about to fire off a "how dare you dis Clooney" response when I read your post, so I'll relax.

 

Sorry that I'd like to hear commentaries that tell me something about the film and/or the participants. I know better now - I'll only enjoy commentaries in which an actor watches the movie, barely says anything, and giggles along with it. Yeah, that's a productive use of my time and much better than hearing a historian tell me actual details!

 

How did I "dis Clooney"? I criticized her commentary track - it's an extraordinarily dull, uninformative piece. That's not the same as "dissing" the woman herself. Heck, I said I looked forward to the commentary - it was a spectacular disappointment...

 

Hey Colin. Not everybody feels the exact same way as you do. This is an opinion thread. Let other people share their thoughts without telling each of us that our opinion is wrong.

 

One would think from some of the comments posted that there is only one correct way to view some of the commentaries being discussed. Last time I checked we were all entitled to be enlightened and/or entertained based on our personal perceptions, not any particular person's viewpoint regarding what's worthy.

 

I never got this vibe from any of Colin's posts in this thread.. Sorry.

 

No, not a trace of sarcasm in this comment.

Not to mention:
"I'd have to disagree. From my review" (http://www.dvdmg.com/whitechristmas.shtml):

"It's not a particularly good track:"

"Wow, this'll have to be another "agree to disagree" - I hated that commentary:"

"What's the point?"

"...it was a spectacular disappointment..."

 

Im a huge David Cronenberg fan, and especially after hearing his great commentaries on all his films, i love his work even more.

My favorite commenatry of his has got to be "videodrome", even James Woods gives a great one on that as well!

Every film of his has got a great commentary, get one and you'll be schooled on his style.

 

Well someone beat me to saying The In-Laws...very funny
The worst I've heard was on one of the Fawlty Towers discs, sounds like the mike was in the guy's nose...and that's the only good part of it.

 

Like someone said, "This is an opinion thread."

You're right about that sarcastic part though; A bit harsh. Seems to have rubbed off a bit.

 

I agree, I did ask the Hansons about the line with Melinda Dillon & Paul Newman. They said I know shes cold, look at her nose its red.

 

I agree that the Kevin Smith ones are good, but his DVDs are generally good value anyway.

The "Spinal Tap" commentary is a killer - and again all the bonus stuff on that DVD is just cream. I haven't checked the commentaries on "Best in Show" etc, but I would imagine they'd be worthwhile.

The Monty Python commentaries on "Grail", Brian" and "Meaning" are decent. Multiple commentaries too. Like the "Lord Of the Rings" DVDs.

I must get a hold of the "Citizen Kane" DVD - I'm not quite sure why I don't have it. I dig Ebert anyway.

 

Most commentaries are narcoleptic but Cronenberg is always worth listening to.

But the master is Martin Scorsese.

His commentaries on both his own and other's films (his Powell/Pressburger commentaries are superb) are insightful and compelling.

The guy just knows so much about film.

 

I agree with the mentions of Roger Ebert's commentary track to CITIZEN KANE. It's truly a valuable lesson in film techniques in general and a good essay on Orson Welles in particular.

I find commentary tracks most valuable when they are well done like that, and about "important" films. Another I enjoy is the Howard Suber commentary on the Criterion HIGH NOON LaserDisc. It's up on the level of Ebert's and way better than the commentary on the DVD release of HIGH NOON.

I also recently finally got around to seeing MY DARLING CLEMENTINE and found the commentary track helpful in putting the film in its historical context.

Harry

 

Sorry if I've seemed harsh. I went with sarcasm when I thought jligon was responding in a snotty way by saying "what's the point?" to a commentary from a film historian. If he - and others - dig the Clooney track, that's great, but I felt a little criticized because I DIDN'T like it - as though we're supposed to just be happy to have a commentary from Clooney no matter what kind of content it offers. C'mon - I was accused of "dissing" Clooney because I thought she recorded a boring commentary!

 

If memory serves me well..i enjoyed the commentary tracks on "the Rutles"..it took awhile before I found out it existed...and the track on 'Life of Brian'

 

Amusing it may be, but I expected more. That is exactly the commentary track I was thinking of when I said that in some cases the actors just watch the movie again with a clip-on microphone, laughing and making occasional comments, but not providing enough information.

 

The Disney DVD's where commentary is actually Walt himself are pretty interesting. In the "Fantasia" commentary, Walt tells us he intended to make the film in widescreen as well as stereo, but the bankers wouldn't let him!

Derek

 

I bought the 1966 Batman movie primarily because I figured the commentary track by Adam West and Burt Ward would be fun, and it is.
Francis Ford Coppola's commentary on all three Godfathers is great!