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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Commentary - English: Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
  • None
  Extras
  • Teaser trailer
  • 7 Theatrical trailer
  • Audio commentary
  • Cast/crew biographies
  • 5 Music video
  • Interviews
  • Filmographies
  • Music-only track
Godfathers And Sons (Blues Film Collection)
/AV Channel . R4 . COLOR . 96 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Godfathers and Sons is a contribution by scriptwriter film-director Mark Levin in Martin Scorsese's seven-movie project, The Blues: A Musical Journey.

It's perhaps the most peripheral in the series, as it attempts to posit some sort of coherent link between hip-hop and the Blues, tracing that connection in part through meetings with Marshall Chess, son of the founder of the legendary Chess record company, and with Chuck D. Chess, the founder's nephew and member of hip-hop band 'Public Enemy'.

It's a very tenuous and very personal link, not really persuasive. But the doco is spiced up with some great contemporary and past performances, and as long as you're not expecting to hear anything revelatory about its subject, it comes over as a worthwhile, while not outstanding, part of the Scorsese project. There are other entrants in this series to consider first, but completists will want this as well.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

This is an excellent transfer, with the contemporary material sharp and well-focused, with great clarity of both sound and vision. Archival material is of course another matter; I guess the historic material is about as good as we're ever likely to see.

Sound is presented with a choice of either 5.1 Surround or stereo. Apart from initial volume difference, I couldn't detect much difference, except for a slight degree of extra warmth in the Surround version.

The main extras are five full-length performances not seen (or not seen in full) in the film. These are from The ElectriK Mud Kats, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush and Howlin' Wolf.

We have also a short filmed interview with director Mark Levin, who also gives an audio commentary which is more entertaining than most of these offerings. Toss in Levin's Filmography and Biography, a trailer for the overallScorsese Blues project, and seven Madman propaganda teasers, and that's it.


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  •   And I quote...
    "Is there an umbilical connection between hip-hop and the Blues? Well, they're both music, I guess ........"
    - Anthony Clarke
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DVD 655A
    • TV:
          Loewe Profil Plus 3272 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Denon AVR-3801
    • Speakers:
          Neat Acoustics PETITE
    • Centre Speaker:
          Neat Acoustics PETITE
    • Surrounds:
          Celestian (50W)
    • Subwoofer:
          B&W ASW-500
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