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Saturday, May 17, 2008
We are all, to varying degrees, addicted to convenience. Everything at our fingertips and when denied it, many react with anger and hostility. People are becoming spoiled brats. I should know, because I'm one of them.
Netflix is becoming the most popular means for people to rent or even watch movies at home. No more trips to a video store. Too much work involved. No more late fees, which were the downfall of many movie renters in days past. Every rental from Netflix is guaranteed. It's a great thing. Isn't it?
I joined Netflix a while back and I was very unhappy with the condition of most of the movies I got. So I quit. Very recently a friend gave me a free month's rentals. And this time, I've been very, very happy with the discs that I've been sent.
It's really kind of impossible to beat. Nearly every movie in print and plenty of out of print ones too. All at one's fingertips. Oh, there's a long wait for some, but for the most part, you can see anything you want. Quick, easy and at an unbeatable price.
But maybe there is a price to pay for that convenience.
I'm beginning to hear some dark things about the DVD market. The smaller companies seem to be hurting when they were thriving a few years ago. I hear that many are barely scraping by. What role does Netflix play in it all?
It has to help a bit, at least to some degree. They are buying multiple copies of just about everything that comes out. But...
Are YOU buying fewer DVDs?
Shit, who can afford to continue to buy them? At least at the rate of which most of us did so in the early years of DVD. We can't. At least I can't.
Back when home video was mostly a rental market, prices were set to be put out of the range of most collectors. People rented and maybe bought used tapes or sometimes they would come down in price. But DVD, by its very nature, is a collector's format. Who wants to take back a movie when there is tons of content on them? And DVD prices were low enough for most working people to buy the ones that they really want.
Now figure in the ease of burning DVDs. A lot of people have software that can burn movies that they rent. Now, with the aid of Netflix, they are building huge collections at a fraction of the cost that they were paying. Whoopee!
How healthy is this situation for the industry? It's easy to hate corporations, but a lot of the really cool small companies need direct sales to exist. Dark rumors of bankruptcy are spreading.
Folks, we NEED companies like Blue Underground. Synapse. Diemos. Dark Sky. Barrel. Anchor Bay. Hell, even Shriek Show. We don't need the market monopolized by Lion's Gate and Dimension, despite all the cool stuff they release.
Remember those days when you first got the DVD bug? Remember the excitement, the thrill, the absolute joy of owning great copies of cherished movies. The market was great then. Now, maybe it's not so good.
I'm not knocking Netflix. I'll probably keep my membership this time. How the hell can I not? But I'm not going to stop buying DVDs and I'm asking you to keep buying too. Not everything that comes out, like some of us attempted to do, but to keep buying favorites. Keep some of the money going to the source. We need them and they need us.
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Saturday, May 03, 2008
I'm guessing that many of you haven't seen The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. But I'm also quite sure that some have seen it. And I bet that those that have hold it in a very special place in their hearts.
The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao is one of those movies that when you mention it to knowing parties, a certain look comes over them. A brightness; a glint of youthful delight. Magic.
I'll never understand why Dr. Lao never got the recognition that it deserved. Why it's not another Wizard of Oz. A much lower budget might be part of it, but I feel that The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao has a deeper emotional resonance than The Wizard of Oz. Plus it's funnier and I think it has more insight into our species than most other films of its kind.
Based on the fantasy novel by Charles (no relation to Jack) Finney, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao is fairly faithful to the source, but I think that budgetary restraints prevented the spectacular end of the novel to be properly duplicated. But screenwriter Charles Beaumont does an admirable job in keeping the essence of the book, as well as adding his own particular imaginative stamp on the material.
The story deals with an old Chinese fakir named Dr. Lao that takes his circus to the dying Depression-era town called Abalone. A Capitalistic rancher is trying to buy the town away from its inhabitants, who are unaware that a railroad is being planned to come by it. Lao's magical circus acts give powerful lessons to the townfolk, who decide to keep their homes. It's that simple.
Tony Randall, perennial milquetoast character actor and half of The Odd Couple TV show, plays seven different roles in the film: the titular Doc, Medusa, Merlin the Magician, The Abominable Snowman, Pan, a Serpent and Apollonius of Tyana. He's absolutely marvelous and any sensible actor should be envious at his ease and command of the parts.
The entire film is full of wit and joy and pathos and it's one that marks the viewer for life. I've seen it more times than I can count and it's one that I proudly shared with my children, who loved it as well. And it was my brother's favorite movie.
The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao is available on DVD and I hope that you buy it. Then you, like me, can live by these sacred words:
The whole world is a circus if you look at it the right way. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust, but a mystery, a marvel, there in your hand - every time you stop and think, 'I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic!' - every time such a thing happens, you are part of the Circus of Dr. Lao.
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