DVDs for 1/27/09 – ‘The Secret Policeman’s Balls’
When Amnesty International needed to raise money and their profile, John Cleese called up his buddies (which included the members of Monty Python, Beyond the Fringe and The Goodies) to help put on fundraiser. The rest is history. Shout! Factory’s three-disc set The Secret Policeman’s Balls collects the five concert films shot of these benefits. The first of these, Pleasure At Her Majesty’s, is a straight behind-the-scenes documentary for the first half and a rather clumsily-shot performance film (with behind-the-scenes pieces interspersed between the stage skits) for the second. No matter, it’s a treat to see these comedy teams swap stories and comic philosophies and, at times, even members: Peter Cook joins in a Python sketch, Terry Jones takes a spot with the Beyond the Fringe crew and then everyone joins in on the finale: “The Lumberjack Song.” (Watch Michael Palin miss his cue!) Three years later, the benefit adopted the name The Secret Policeman’s Ball, brought in Pete Townsend and classical guitarist John Williams for musical interludes and added Rowan Atkinson and Billy Connolly to the cast.
Alan Bennett, Peter Cook. John Cleese and Graham Chapman
Musical guests became more prominent in “The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball” (1981), including Sting, Bob Geldof, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, and downright dominate “The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball” (1987), but the skit comedy focus returns in the final benefit film. “The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball” (1989) opens with Michael Palin and John Cleese doing “Pet Shop” (with a twist punch line), and features Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (in their first live appearance together in years), Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, and Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. The first four shows were filmed in 16 mm in a manner more like a news event than a performance film – they look pretty primitive and the sound is less than stellar – and they are presented in anamorphic wide screen.
Read the review on MSN here.
Also new this week is the second and final season of the original alien invasion conspiracy series: The Invaders. David Vincent (Roy Thinnes) is still doggedly on the trail of the alien invasion of Earth but this season he’s starting to convince others. Just a few souls at first and then, with the mid-season episode “The Believers,” millionaire Edgar Scoville (Kent Smith) and a small group that slowly grows through end of the series. Created by Larry Cohen for Quinn Martin production, it borrows the structure from the company’s own “The Fugitive” – the man searching for the truth while on the run – and throws in a UFO conspiracy and a paranoid sensibility out of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. You see, they really are out to get him and a lot of his fellow believers are sacrificed to the cause. For all the sixties conventions and slow storytelling, it has held up nicely and, at its best, still strikes an eerie tone of alienation.
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King Hu’s 1965 Hong Kong wuxia pian (“martial chivalry” genre) classic stars Cheng Pei-Pei as the avenging Golden Swallow, on a mission to save her kidnapped brother, and Yueh Hua as an amiable beggar with a chorus of scruffy orphans, who plays guardian angel to the warrior woman, his drunken front hiding his true identity. Together they take on the pale and powdered Jade-faced Tiger and his bandit army, in wild battles with magnificent action choreography and comic flourishes. Yueh Hua make a charming rogue with a genuine modesty and easy-going quality in contrast to the cool intensity of Cheng Pei-Pei, whose control becomes a sexy fierceness in the heat of battle. The film soars on a lyrical mix of scruffy singing heroes, cross-dressing heroines, narcissistic villains, and fantastical action choreographed like dance. The film launched a new wave of Hong Kong filmmaking and you can feel its influence in everything from Bruce Lee’s martial arts thrillers of the 1970s to Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master films to the Tsui Hark-led new wave of high energy, special effects laden adventures in 1980s Hong Kong, and of course, the Oscar winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee’s tribute the magical, colorful genre that King Hu reinvented with this film.