Wonderwall

Starring:Jack MacGowran, Jane Birkin, Irene Handl, Richard Wattis, Iain Quarrier, Beatrix Lehmann, Brian Walsh (VI), Sean Lynch, Bee Duffell, Noel Trevarthen, Anita Pallenberg
Director: Joe Massot
Studio: Rhino / Wea
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Nice Little Film
period piece worth the trip
A Mod,Mod,Mod Movie!!
ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL !!! - wait for the CD music album
Wonderwall? It's a Trip!

Wonderwall
Starring: Jack MacGowran , Jane Birkin , Irene Handl , Richard Wattis , and Iain Quarrier
Director: Joe Massot
Manufacturer: Rhino Theatrical
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000055XMM
Release Date: 2002-01-29

Customer Reviews:

Nice Little Film.......2004-12-18

Based on a story by frequent Polanski collaborator, Gerard Brach and produced a year after Fearless Vampire Killers, which also featured performances by Jack MacGowran and Iain Quarrier, this is marvelous little piece, light and yet moving, filled with wonderful visuals, a nifty performance by MacGowran and a wonderful score by everyone's favorite Beatle, George. A plain synopsis doesn't do it any justice. Yes, it's about a daffy old guy who peers in on a lovely young woman living next door, but there's nothing creepy or pathetic about it. In fact, he's actually quite a bit of a dashing and romantic figure in his own detached, weird way. One of the most notable things about the film is the art direction by the Dutch band/art collective The Fool. A sort of lesser Incredible String Band that served for a while as the Beatles in-house designers, they made the most of what was most likely a thin budget by pouring every ounce of energy into dressing two amazing, Assheton Gorton designed, sets for the adjacent apartments of the old man and the young model. They are, without a doubt, two of the coolest looking places to live I have ever seen in a movie (I would give my eye-teeth to live in either one of those flats) and they form as much of a part of the main characters as the portrayal by the actors themselves. The old scientist lives in Celtic-Medieval warren, inspired by Pre-Raphaelite design, and the young model lives in a mod Sixties psychedelic/glam environment suffused with overtones of 20's/30's nostalgia. Both apartments then are filled with a yearning for the past and so, the old man becomes no more of a romanticist than the girl, despite his age. He is actually quite dashing in his cape and tuxedo when engaging in some of his later escapades, like some bandit out of a Fantomas picture. No, this movie isn't about a pathetic old guy lusting after a lithe young thing. It's about a few other things more interesting and perhaps more touching, but you'll have to find out for yourself. Oh, and if you really want to know, go ahead and read Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shallot', the opening lines of which are insribed in a lintel the scientist's apartment, and transpose the gender of the characters.

period piece worth the trip.......2003-11-12

An earlier reviewer called this a period piece, and I think that's exactly the right spirit needed to enjoy the film.

For those of us too young to remember 1969, this is a rather remarkable time capsule of values and social relationships. Most striking is the sense that the film seems to have been made by young people with really no idea of how older people live their lives. That wouldn't be a great problem, except that the film itself takes the generation gap as its central feature: how an older man living a boring, empty, unfulfilling life glimpses (but cannot participate in) the colorful, uninhibited, sensual lives of younger people.

On the other hand, while the film is clearly enamored with the hip glamor of youth and beauty, it also suggests that young people bridge the gender gap principally to have sex with each other. Otherwise, they don't have much to say. Strange! I remember getting that same sense from The Graduate (not to compare the two).

Anyway, I think the dvd is recommendable. Good picture, good music (of course), very good extras, and an interesting snapshot of a time and place.

A Mod,Mod,Mod Movie!!.......2003-09-18

This mod,mod,mod 1968 movie has superb musical scores by the Beatles George Harrison.Also,Jef Films Inc. should aggressively pursue the never been video release of Pat Boone's many great movie musicals made during the 50's and 60's that might prove to be very profitable.I mean Elvis as great as he was should'nt get all the glory!!

ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL !!! - wait for the CD music album.......2002-08-25

I'm not really a George Harrison fan but I've always loved the amazing Wonderwall LP music, VERY Indan with disconcerting Western touches. I wondered what the movie must have been like. Well, the movie is VERY bad. It is boring!!. The lead character, an Einstein type peeks through a peephole at a 60's babe and gets unhinged as the sitars whine and the tablas thump. But not, alas for me. It is neither sexy or interesting or anything, though I must admit that Jack MacGowran (the scientist) followed the stupid script perfectly as did IaIn Quarrier, the loutish lover. Skip all this nonsense and get the exquisite Wonderwall album on CD when market conditions permit its eventual release for maximum profit, or tape someone's vinyl LP until then. Wonderful music!

Wonderwall? It's a Trip!.......2002-03-10

The recent demise of George Harrison has prompted renewed interest in his work.

This movie, originally released in England in 1968, was more notable in it's release for George Harrison's sondtrack than for the movie itself.

The soundtrack demonstrated that despite his interest in Indian music and Hindu religion, George had not lost his touch in the writing of songs. His expanding musical tastes are well illustrated here with most of the tracks using indian instruments. There are also aspects of the bizarre with the honky tonk piano of one track being speeded up and the track with the heavy metal riff played by Eric Clapton.

Readers might think it strange that a review of the DVD should focus so much on the music but my rationale in doing so lies more in my perception of George Harrison. Allow me to explain. A lot of the movies of the period were smitten with the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll of the sixties. A number of cinematographers were themselves users of mind altering chemicals and it shows. It is easy to characterise Wonderwall as another Magical Mystery Tour, especially given that one particular person was involved in both ventures but I believe that perception to be wrong.

George Harrison, the Quiet One (sorry George) was known to have a quick wit, which endeared him so much to Lennon, and a sharp sense of humour. This, for me at least, is the key. Wonderwall is a quirky, semi-psychedelic comedy which explains Harrison's involvement. The music reflects his perceptions as it changes scenes. It is easy to be reminded of MMT but it also reminds me of Barabarella. Set in the context of British comedy at the time one can see the influences of the Goons, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, the alternative comedy which was to evolve into Monty Python and Not the Nine O'Clock News and Do Not Adjust Your Set.