The video industry is banking on a revitalized interest in classic films in the wake of the American Film Institute’s recent ranking of the 100 greatest films of the last century. Coincidentally, three directors who figure prominently on the list (and one who was unjustly neglected) are the subjects of documentaries recently released on videocassette.
Film buffs and budding cinephiles will relish the opportunity to learn further about, to quote the title of Peter Bogdanovich’s recent book of conversations with filmmakers, “who the devil made it.”
“Elia Kazan: A Director’s Journey” ( (star) (star) (star)) (First Run Features, $29.95, 800-488-6652), written and directed by film critic Richard Schickel, boasts a rare interview with the Oscar-winning director represented on the AFI list with “On the Waterfront”(No. 8) and “A Streetcar Named Desire” (No. 45).
Kazan has been praised for his ability with actors (he launched the careers of Marlon Brando, James Dean and Warren Beatty) and his tackling of social issues and use of naturalistic settings. But he has been damned and shunned for his decision to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee when anti-Communist hysteria was at its peak. “He has never been forgiven,” states narrator Eli Wallach.
“Alfred Hitchcock: Master of Suspense” ( (star) (star) (star)) (WinStar Home Entertainment, $19.99, 800-4-MOVIES), also written and directed by Schickel, is Hitchcock 101. Produced in 1973 for Schickel’s documentary series, “The Men Who Made the Movies,” this program illuminates the unsettling themes and the explorations of good and evil that course through Hitchcock’s films, as illustrated in thrilling clips from “Saboteur,” “Shadow of a Doubt,” “Notorious,” “Psycho” and “The Birds.”
Equally entertaining is a professorial Hitchcock, who is represented on the AFI list with “Psycho,” (No. 18), “North By Northwest” (No. 40), “Rear Window” (No. 42) and “Vertigo” (No. 61) using “the old fashioned bomb theory” to explain why suspense has more impact than shock, and explaining the concept of the McGuffin, “the thing the spies want but the audience doesn’t care.”
Not one film by William Wellman, the subject of “Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick” ( (star) (star) (star) 1/2) (Kino, $29.99, 800-562-3330) is included on the AFI 100, which is typical of the short shrift this Oscar-winning director has suffered, despite such estimable credits as “Wings,” the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, the icon-making James Cagney gangster drama “Public Enemy,” the original “A Star is Born,” “The Ox-Bow Incident” and the screwball comedy “Nothing Sacred.”
More memorable than the clips are the colorful stories that comprise “Wild Bill’s” legend. To express distaste for a certain script, he dumped horse manure on one studio executive’s desk. Actress Loretta Young’s practice of collecting a fine from anyone using a swear word inspired Wellman to throw a $20 bill at her and declare, “This ought to cover the next five minutes.”
Frank Capra needs no introduction, but “Frank Capra’s American Dream” ( (star) (star) (star) 1/2) (Columbia TriStar Home Video, $19.99, 800-4-MOVIES) looks past the myth-making of the director’s accuracy-impaired autobiography to reveal the less-than-wonderful aspects of Capra’s brilliant career, his bouts of depression, his arrogance and the career-stalling failures.
Narrated by Ron Howard, “American Dream” features interviews with Angela Lansbury, Peter Falk, Michael Keaton, Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Robert Altman. The treasure trove of film clips includes the familiar (“It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” numbers 11 and 29, respectively, on the AFI list), buried treasures (“American Madness,” “The Bitter Tea of General Yen”) and long-lost curiosities (the 1928 silent “The Matinee Idol,” one of Capra’s first directorial efforts).
