In the London of the swinging 60's, a reclusive professor (Jack MacGowran) becomes infatuated with beautiful model Penny Lane (Jane Birkin), the girlfriend of a Svengali like photographer (Iain Quarrier), and embarks on a noble quest to become her champion. To rescue Penny he enters the magical realm of the Wonderwall, and returns to his laboratory a transformed man. The kaleidoscope of images and George Harrison's musical soundtrack catapult the audience into a lost world of innocence, whe...
In the London of the swinging 60's, a reclusive professor (Jack MacGowran) becomes infatuated with beautiful model Penny Lane (Jane Birkin), the girlfriend of a Svengali like photographer (Iain Quarrier), and embarks on a noble quest to become her champion. To rescue Penny he enters the magical realm of the Wonderwall, and returns to his laboratory a transformed man. The kaleidoscope of images and George Harrison's musical soundtrack catapult the audience into a lost world of innocence, whe...
Rock's premier metalmen Led Zeppelin whose blend of gutsy blue and scathing rock catapulted them into the music world's pantheon take you on a spellbinding journey of song and imagination. This high-impact movie captures the group's legendary 1973 Madison Square Garden concert and uncorks a freewheeling mix of scenes showing group members at home and in elaborate fantasy settings. Robert Plant's raw lead vocals Jimmy Page's explosive riffery and the sonic-boom rhythm wall of bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham all swirl clash and collide - on classic tunes like Stairway to Heaven Dazed and Confused Whole Lotta Love and many others. No one goes down heavier than Zep!
Bombastic, pretentious and narcissistic, Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same is also one of the best concert films of the 1970s, capturing the greatest rock band of the decade in full flight at Madison Square Gardens in 1973. The notorious "fantasy sequences" punctuate the musical action but don't, fortunately, interrupt it. Playing true to their self-indulgent rock & roll personas, each band member has his own segment, as does legendary larger-than-life manager Peter Grant. Only John Bonham's is reasonably down-to-earth: during his mammoth drum solo ("Moby Dick") he is seen driving his custom car, his Harley chopper, and a drag racer at Santa Pod, as well as inspecting bulls and doing a bit of building work. Well, what else would a working-class lad from Birmingham do with his millions? Elsewhere, John Paul Jones is a demented Phantom of the Opera with an unfeasibly large organ ("No Quarter"); Robert Plant is a quasi-Arthurian knight errant rescuing a suitable rock-chick damsel in distress ("The Song Remains the Same/Rain Song"); while Aleister Crowley acolyte Jimmy Page goes in for sorcery and mysticism as he encounters the wizard from the cover of Led Zep IV ("Dazed & Confused"). But the real magic is the onstage footage: Page wields his Gibson Les Paul as if he is indeed enchanted (the violin bow becomes his magician's wand in "Dazed & Confused"), while Plant preens and prowls his way around the stage, the very image of the rock idol; and quite how Jones and Bonham managed to be such a behemoth of a rhythm section is still a mystery. For all its many faults, this remains an essential document of an era when rock dinosaurs still walked the earth. On the DVD: No extra features to speak of at all, which is extremely disappointing given the wealth of archive material concerning the band and this movie that must be available. The picture and sound are respectable without being exceptional. --Mark Walker
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