...a sweet, lighthearted, nostalgic look back at an era before the tube, when voices were king, when comedy was innocent, and when music was still listenable.
The movie ends on a string of poignant, somewhat sentimental notes: the broadcast of an attempted rescue of a little girl trapped in a well; the news of the War ("What a world. It could be so wonderful if it weren´t for certain people," an observation as apt today as it was so long ago); and a rooftop gathering of radio celebrities on New Year´s Eve. Their last lines sum up Allen´s conviction that while the various media--radio, television, movies--may shape our ordinary lives, the fame of those involved in the media may be more fleeting than we think. I´ve continued to cherish those final words of Biff Baxter and the Masked Avenger as they look back on the year gone by and look ahead to their own destinies: "Another year is past." "It passed so quickly. Where do they all go?" "So quickly and then we get old." "I wonder if future generations will ever even hear about us? It´s not likely. After enough time, everything passes." Allen is determined, through his art, his movies, that some things shall not simply pass in time, and when they´re films as lovely as "Radio Days," they´ll not be entirely forgotten.
Finally, I mentioned earlier the tunes of the time. For some of us, just their titles bring back fond memories. Again, those of a certain age may safely pass along to the next paragraph. Allen uses, to name a few, "September Song," "Carioca," "Begin the Beguine," "All or Nothing at All," "Mairzy Doats," "Take the ´A´ Train," "In the Mood," "Dancing in the Dark," "Paper Doll," "Donkey Serenade," "If I Didn´t Care," "White Cliffs of Dover," "You´ll Never Know," "Night and Day," and a host of others. They alone evoke a mood, a feeling, for an era that words can´t express, so they´re playing constantly in the background.
Video:
Allen is kind of an old-fashioned filmmaker who has never gone in much for up-the-minute, state-of-the-art technical wizardry in picture making or sound. The image quality, as a result, is pretty ordinary, a 1.74:1 ratio screen size, with colors rich and natural but delineation that´s a bit rough and grainy. Nighttime scenes are especially troublesome, seemingly filmed through a fish aquarium looking out.
Audio:
As usual for a Woody Allen picture, the audio is Dolby monaural, good for dialogue and little else.
Extras:
As for bonus items on the disc, well, these are few and ordinary, too. English, French, and Spanish are offered as both spoken language and subtitle options; there´s a four-page informational booklet insert; a mere sixteen scene selections; and a pan-and-scan theatrical trailer. Obviously, the film´s the thing here, and fortunately it´s all one needs.
Parting Thoughts:
When the cosmopolitan talk-show host, Roger Daily, tells Sally the cigarette girl he loves her, even though he´s wed to his co-host, she says, "If you meant that, you´d marry me." He replies, "I can´t do that. Our ratings are too high." Everything passes, yet everything stays the same.
Finally, I mentioned earlier the tunes of the time. For some of us, just their titles bring back fond memories. Again, those of a certain age may safely pass along to the next paragraph. Allen uses, to name a few, "September Song," "Carioca," "Begin the Beguine," "All or Nothing at All," "Mairzy Doats," "Take the ´A´ Train," "In the Mood," "Dancing in the Dark," "Paper Doll," "Donkey Serenade," "If I Didn´t Care," "White Cliffs of Dover," "You´ll Never Know," "Night and Day," and a host of others. They alone evoke a mood, a feeling, for an era that words can´t express, so they´re playing constantly in the background.
Video:
Allen is kind of an old-fashioned filmmaker who has never gone in much for up-the-minute, state-of-the-art technical wizardry in picture making or sound. The image quality, as a result, is pretty ordinary, a 1.74:1 ratio screen size, with colors rich and natural but delineation that´s a bit rough and grainy. Nighttime scenes are especially troublesome, seemingly filmed through a fish aquarium looking out.
Audio:
As usual for a Woody Allen picture, the audio is Dolby monaural, good for dialogue and little else.
Extras:
As for bonus items on the disc, well, these are few and ordinary, too. English, French, and Spanish are offered as both spoken language and subtitle options; there´s a four-page informational booklet insert; a mere sixteen scene selections; and a pan-and-scan theatrical trailer. Obviously, the film´s the thing here, and fortunately it´s all one needs.
Parting Thoughts:
When the cosmopolitan talk-show host, Roger Daily, tells Sally the cigarette girl he loves her, even though he´s wed to his co-host, she says, "If you meant that, you´d marry me." He replies, "I can´t do that. Our ratings are too high." Everything passes, yet everything stays the same.
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[release]8287[/release]