HOME   News   Reviews   Adv Search   Features   My DVD   About   Apps   Stats     Search:
  Directed by
  Starring
    None Listed
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
    French, German
  Extras
  • 3 Web access - Nvcarts, Montreux Jazz Festival and B. B. King
The Montreux Dream
Warner Vision/Warner Vision . R4 . COLOR . 125 mins . G . PAL

  Feature
Contract

For 35 years many great artists, legends even, have played at one of the original music festivals. It is held each year in the beautiful town of Montreux, Switzerland. Nestling the shore of Lake Geneva with the Alps towering above it, Montreux is one great place to hold a music festival. From its humble 3 night beginning in 1967 to its current 16 day and night format, this festival has always been directed by one man, its creator Claude Nobs.

This documentary, filmed in 1999, interviews Nobs and follows him to several key events during the festival. He talks passionately about his musical interests, his motivations for creating the festival, about some of its great performers, its future and so on. Other people, such as blues legend BB King, singer and actress Bette Midler, Jazz pianist George Duke as well as others are also interviewed and give us their views on the festival, music and Claude Nobs.

A second feature is also included which takes us into a blues workshop held by BB King during the festival. BB talks about his approach to the blues, his influences, how he developed his style and so on. He also plays a few songs accompanied by his regular band. Footage from his other performances at the festival, in 1989, 1991 and 1993 are also shown in this feature.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

The main documentary has a 1.78:1, 16x9 video transfer that is pretty darn nice. It is clean and clear with nicely saturated colours and high detail levels. Throughout this feature, archival footage of notable performances is shown and this, as you would expect, is of lower quality. Concert footage taken during the '99 festival is also included and it too suffers a little in quality. This can be put down to the trickier light conditions experienced at the time and perhaps to differences in the equipment used. Apart from these slight drops in quality there is little to complain about. The only artefact of note is a small amount of shimmer that can be seen from time to time.

The second program is less impressive due to its lack of 16x9 enhancement and the fact that it is letter boxed in a 4:3 frame. It comes from the same source but less care and time seems to have been been taken when making this transfer. This reduces the sharpness of the image as well as robbing it of detail but you quickly adjust to the difference and forget about it.

The audio transfer for this disc is a solid, if unspectacular effort. It is always clear and the sections of concert footage have a clean, full and live sound to them.

There is only one extra on this disc, a weblink section that will take you to the websites for Nvcarts, the Montreux Jazz Festival and BB King. Of course, you must have a DVD-ROM drive and an Internet connection for this to work. I know that you all have at least one of these perquisites otherwise you wouldn't be reading this!


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=914
  • Send to a friend.
  • Do YOU want to be a DVDnet reviewer? If so, click here

    Cast your vote here: You must enable cookies to vote.
  •   And I quote...
    "An interesting documentary about one of the original music festivals and its colourful creator."
    - Michael Chappell
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Loewe Xenix 5006DD
    • DVD Rom:
          Pioneer 105(s)
    • MPEG Card:
          RealMagic Hollywood Plus
    • TV:
          Grundig MW82-50/8 IDTV 16:9
    • Receiver:
          Denon AVR-2801
    • Speakers:
          Tannoy Mercury M4
    • Centre Speaker:
          Tannoy Mercury MC
    • Surrounds:
          Tannoy Mercury M1
    • Subwoofer:
          Aaron SUB-120
    • Audio Cables:
          Monster Lightspeed 100
    • Video Cables:
          ConCord SCART
      Recent Reviews:
    by Michael Chappell

    New York Stories
    "New York Stories is magnificant... ly adequate."

    Babylon 5 - Season 3
    "Ahhhh, champagne sci-fi! This box set is the DVD equivalent of something James Bond would be drinking!"

    Babylon 5 - Season 2
    "Woohoo! Babylon 5, Season 2 on DVD! Now this is quality sci-fi..."

    Ray Charles - In Concert
    "Ladies and gentlemen! Sit back and enjoy a concert performance by the legendary Mr. Ray Charles!"

    Grand Canyon
    "Three significant events cause ripples of change to wash through the lives of six Los Angeles residents in what is a brilliant film from master writer/director Lawrence Kasdan."

      Related Links

     

    Search for Title/Actor/Director:
    Google Web dvd.net.au
       Copyright © DVDnet. All rights reserved. Site Design by RED 5   
    rss