The Bootleg Files: Freddie and Max

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 650: “Freddie & Max” (1990 British sitcom starring Anne Bancroft and Charlotte Coleman).

LAST SEEN: Three of the series’ six episodes are on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A flop that never turned up in America.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In the spring of 1990, the British newspapers were aflutter over some extraordinary news: Thames Television had signed Hollywood legend Anne Bancroft to star in her first sitcom. Bancroft was to receive a $175,000 salary for appearing in six episodes of “Freddie and Max,” a production that carried a budget of $1.4 million, the largest (at the time) for a British television series. And with the writing team of Dick Clement and Ian Le Fresnais – the creative force behind the popular British TV comedy “Porridge” starring Ronnie Barker – the project seemed very promising.
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Testament (1983)

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Phil Hall

During the mid-1980s, there was a brief output of productions that focused on what life would be like in the aftermath of a nuclear war. These films were fueled by anxiety from the left that President Ronald Reagan was recklessly pointing the world into an apocalyptic arms race. Of course, that didn’t happen, but the legacy of that fear did create some provocative works of art.
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The Bootleg Files: Care of Hair and Nails

Posted on August 17, 2018 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 649: “Care of Hair and Nails” (1951 educational film about good grooming).

LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube and Archive.org.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: In anthologies of old instructional films.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The copyright may have expired.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

From the late 1940s into the 1970, American schoolchildren were bombarded with a series of 16mm educational films designed to encourage proper behavior. By contemporary standards, the films are rather hokey – and one would imagine that the smarter kids of a distant era were quietly snickering at these well-intentioned but daffy cinematic efforts.

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The Bootleg Files: Mack the Knife

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 648: “Mack the Knife” (1989 film version of “The Threepenny Opera” starring Raul Julia and Roger Daltry).

LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: VHS and LaserDisc releases only.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Out of circulation for many years

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely, but not impossible.

One of the minor mysteries of the movie musical genre has been the failure to create a satisfactory screen adaption of the Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill theatrical landmark “The Threepenny Opera.” Not that there haven’t been several attempts. In 1931, director G.W. Pabst simultaneously helmed a German- and French-language version. (An English-language version, to be distributed in the U.S. by Warner Bros., was planned but never shot.) Those films, unfortunately, jettisoned much of the glorious score and were burdened by the stodginess that permeated many of the early sound-era films.

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The Passover Plot (1976)

Posted on August 5, 2018 by Phil Hall

The most strident denunciation of Jesus’ divinity in cinema history came with the 1976 drama The Passover Plot. The film was based on a controversial 1965 book by British Biblical scholar Hugh J. Schonfield that argued Jesus was a man who schemed to take advantage of ancient prophecies by creating a following that would recognize Him as the long-awaited Messiah, at which point He would lead a rebellion by the Jewish people against the Roman occupation force in the Holy Land.
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The Bootleg Files: Odd Man Out

Posted on August 3, 2018 by Phil Hall

BOOTLEG FILES 647: “Odd Man Out” (1977 British television series starring John Inman and Josephine Tewson).

LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Never broadcast in the U.S.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Not likely.

In last week’s column, we considered a failed attempt to Americanize the long-running British comedy series “Are You Being Served?” This week, we stay on the subject by focusing on the unsuccessful effort by one of the stars of “Are You Being Served?” to start his own series.
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The Three Jesus Musicals of 1973

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Phil Hall

In 1973, movie audiences were assaulted by three very strange musicals based on the life of Jesus. All three films offered an unusual consideration of Jesus’ mission and ministry, albeit with varying degrees of success.
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