The Videophnile PROGRAM REVIEWS Yow that the review and evaluation of video tapes available for the home market is becoming a major feature Nhinin these pages, we feel it necessary to preface these reviews with a few remarks and admonitions: 1. Lest there be any doubt, and in case your expectations are unrealistically high, the editor of this magarine would like to say that he has seen few, if any, prerecorded tapes of color feature films, that have waSiture quality as good as everyday network broadcast television. There are reasons for this that we hope to expound on in a future issue. 2° “Mest of the tapes reviewed herein were specifically requested from the mentioned dealers. It is unlikely that they would consciously send us a defective copy to be used for this purpose. 37 ‘Any reputable dealer will exchange or otherwise make adjustments for any tape that is defective oF fails in some wey to be what it is represented to be. Please advise us of any disreputable dealers with whom you may have experience. 1 ‘yntike audio cassettes, prerecorded video cassettes are currently being sold on standard length tapes. Often this means that there will be a substantial amount of blank tape left at the end, maybe even eeChn to use for a 1/2 hour recording, thereby perhaps offsetting the otherwise unjustifiable expense, of purchase. Ifa tape contains a film that runs, oh, say 90 minutes, you can be pretty sure of getting usable Blank space along with it (at least in VHS or Beta formats). 5. "The source from which we obtained each tape is ini lated at the end of each review. Their full addresses are set forth at the end of this entire column. Except for the segregation of Ted Reinhart's western reviews and the "adult" tape reviews, we are tow maing reviews by all our contributors under two general headings--TAPES and. DISC: BB-Bob Burns, JL-Jim Lowe, TR-Ted Reinhart, DS-David See, Their views are necessarily the views of themselves. issue, identified by their initials are: DEMT-Don and Maggie Thompson, MFW-Marc Wielage. S TAPES INSTANT REPLAY (First Anniversary Issue) Produced by: Chuck Azar and his gang Content: "Instant Replay" is the world's finest video cassette magazine. the "magazine" format consists of some 10 or so "columns," and the indica tion is that these will be regular features in the issues to come. 1. VIDEO NEWS, which includes a demonstration of the Magnavox disc player, the LVR i" format, the Quasar projection TV set and the Quasar KT- 502 TeleCine converter. 2, VIDEO ART, which video images set to music. 3. COMMERCIALS, featuring a dozen or more spots which range from the old black and white "original" Marlboro man, through European commer- cials (I liked the one with the two live models in bras, but you know me), to the classic Japanese Olive Soap spot with all’ the little bathing boys. 4, SATELLITE NEWS, which gave us a tour of a backyard earth station setup, together with a sampling @f available programming. (A chance to hear Howard Cosell off-camera while the network is broadcasting a commercial, but the satellite keeps carrying the location shot at the football game.) 5. SPORTS, which includes highlights of the Super Bowl with musical accompaniment by Willie Nelson singing (what else?) "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys," and even a nice clear shot of the famous punch by Woody Hayes that lost him his job. 6. DID YOU MISS THIS? Odds and ends from broadcast TV, HBO and elsewhere (e.g. Johnn} Carson and Dolly Parton talking about her breasts. features Ron Hayes! Reviewers this BE e's Do The Time Warp Ros 7, TECHNICAL CORNER, featuring a demonstra~ tion’ of the Betamax AG-120 Changer, and the Spiratone wide angle lens attachment for cameras. ETG., ETC.--There are also other segments featur~ ing clips sent in by "correspondents," a spot on athony Quinn's upcoming film, and a clip from an exclusive interview with Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, in which he discusses video piracy. All in all, two full hours of stuff which is directly aimed at home video enthusiasts. - Evaluation: In a word--"Bravo!" Mr. Azar and his crew can be justly proud of what they have accomplished. If you ever thought you'd like to see a 2-hour edition of "60 Minutes" in which every Segment had to do with video, this is for you. In truth, I could hardly have been more impressed. Quite frankly, when Mr. Azar called to say he was sending me up a copy, I was hoping that I would be able to give it a good review, but secretly afraid that I wouldn't be. My review of their first jscue (see TVN #15), while not negative, was really only lukewarm, yet this project has such potential that T didn't want to see it fail for lack of support. There were a couple of weak spots, sure, but this cassette was packed full of so much good stuff that ft was a rare pleasure to sit down with it, and there is little doubt that I will do so again. The Neassette magazine" format is capable of "showing" you what we, for instance, can only tell you about. The video disc and Betamax changer demonstrations were both well handled, and the visit to the back~ yard earth station is guaranteed to make your Zollective mouths water. The Video Art segment wasalso a high point. Those of you who have heard of the video art/Star Wars concert performance will be in for a real treat. I was very impressed with the thing, and that's saying something, because I watched this segment at a late hour when I was too tired to function otherwise and couldn't face watch- ing anything else in the stack of tapes that were demanding my attention. The Super Bowl footage was notable, too, for its very interesting mix of normal speed and slow motion shots. I don't want to mislead you, so I should add that not every seg- ment will work for every viewer. I thought some of the attempts at humor between segments fell a little flat. Also the liner notes indicate, with regard to one segment (a mixture of Jane Pauley interview and Saturday Night Live footage)--make a funnier tape than this one and we'll be glad to use it.” Well, I'm pretty sure that I can rise to that chal- lenge without too much difficulty, so INSTANT REPLAY can start watching their mailbox soon after I get outfitted with a camera and portable recorder. There was one "glitch" or two, and also a couple of hot spots, but Chuck tells me that the tape I reviewed was a preliminary production run, and besides I thought the uniformly good quality throughout was very professional considering the diverse sources from which much of this material must have been pieced together. The copy I re~ ceived was Beta-2, but it is available in VHS, and comes to you in a rather unique package consisting of a more-or-less standard cassette carton attached to a stiff "album cover" (same size as a record album) with liner notes and illustrations. Oh, I also think you'll be interested in the info about ‘the 75' screen that's going to be installed in a Hollywood disco, and the...well, I could go on, but I think you're going to buy this one, so T'll leave a few surprises for you. At the introductory price of $49.95, it's a VIDEOPHILE BEST BUY.--JL Source: Instant Replay AND THEN THERE WERE NONE Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Hayward, Roland Young, Rene Clair TEN WERE MARKED FOR MURDER... end one by. ‘hey bad t el ae Louis Director: Walter Huston, and others. ‘spoofed by Nei Content: Based on Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians," this is the definitive tale of folks being invited ‘to a lonely island mansion by a mysterious host. One by one, they're murdered, and everyone wonders who the killer is. When the group gets down to only 2 or 3, it's pretty hard to understand how each of them can continue to jact so convine~ ingly bewildered. This is one of the films that was Simon's "Murder By Death,” right down to the maid and butler. Evaluation: This one gets four stars in any book you care to check. The story is a typically fine Agatha Christie effort (the first one of you to tell me the original title will win a free T-shirt), and the fine cast maintains interest throughout. If you, like I, loved Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, this would be a good chance for you to sample another dose. The black and white print and the VHS cassette we viewed were of top picture and sound quality. The reference books say it's 98 minutes long and so does my VCR counter. You needn't hesitate on this one. It's recommended.--JL Source: Maljack Productions CHARIOTS OF THE GODS Gredits: Director and screenplai Reinl. ‘This originally appeared in 1969 from the West “German Terra’ Filmkunst as Erinnerungen an die Zukunft; it is based on. Erich von. Daniken's books. Erinnerungen an die Zukunft and Zuruck 2u den Sternen. Walt Lee's Reference Guide to Fanta: Films fists its original time as 92 minutes. Stephen Scheuer says it's 97 minutes: Leonard Maltin says 98 minutes. Our Zenith (Beta) counter saya it's about 66 minutes. Whether that means it's cut’ here” or overestimated elsewhere, we don't Know. It certainly seems more than long enough. Content: This is the sort of film that will have all but the very gullible yelling, "What!" and "Says who?” at their IV sets. The credits say it's based on von Daniken's *novels*--which, at least, admits to more fiction than his followers do. Ie purports to be a scholarly exploration of the possibility that extraterrestrial have visited the Earth in’ ages past and that records of such visite survive. in Feligious archives and drawings. ‘There. is. shot after shot of imposing tombs and statues and specu lation after speculation concerning religious ac~ counts of visitors from the sky. Some, if not all, footage ‘apparently is stock--of Easter’ Island, an assortment of pyramids, and artwork from around the world, ‘some of it repeated and reerepeated. Tape Quality: Our tape kept rolling and we had to readjust the set several times; presumably this is due to the anti-copying method used. It is a nuisance. The print was not outstandingly good, but not terribly bad either. ‘Content: We won't pretend we logical lapses or questionable film, buts ‘The narrator keeps talking of ‘life on other stare" and wondering what. will happen when our astronauts "set foot. on another populated star." Stars are suns; our astronauts will be incinerated. This is not a minor point: The difference between stars and planets is probably the mast basic fact about ‘astronomy. Ignorance of that fact throws doubts on one's scientific qualifications. Scientists are discredited as an amorphous group for thelr wrong guesses, but scientists (usuall Russian scientists, whose statements are damned caught all the statements in this