Search - Flame on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Brief Nudity, Questionable for Children, Adult Language Movie Release: 1975 DVD Release: 03/23/2004 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 26 mins Studio: Shout! Factory Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Drama, Rock Musical

British glam rock superstars Slade made their collective acting debut in this downbeat drama about a pop group's struggles with success. In the late '60s, Barry (Dave Hill), Paul (Jim Lea), and Charlie (Don Powell) are musicians who are barely making a living playing pub dates, weddings, and socials backing up egocentric vocalist Jack Daniels (Alan Lake). One night, the boys find themselves opening for a ghoulish show band called The Undertakers, and a prank played on their lead vocalist, Stoker (Noddy Holder), backfires and leads to a car chase which lands both groups in jail for the night. After a long night of thinking, Barry, Paul, and Charlie decide that they have no future with Daniels, and bring new pal Stoker aboard as their singer. Calling themselves Iron Rod, the new quartet clicks musically, but manager Ron Harding (Johnny Shannon) doesn't care for their new style and stops booking the group. Robert Seymour (Tom Conti), a marketing man from a wealthy family who thinks there's quick money in pop music, enters the picture and informs the band that he can make them major stars. Wary of Seymour but eager for success, the group signs a new management deal, and after Seymour changes their name to Flame and gives them an image makeover, the band scores a hit record and is soon playing a series of sold-out shows. But as fame beckons, tensions rise between the musicians and is not at all helped when Harding reenters the picture. Slade members Jim Lea and Noddy Holder wrote a set of original songs for the film, two of which ("Far Far Away" and "How Does It Feel") became hit singles in the U.K. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Noddy Holder - Stoker
Dave Hill - Barry
Don Powell - Charlie
Tom Conti - Seymour

After developing a cult reputation among Anglophile rock fans and glam rock enthusiasts, the sole feature film starring Slade (one of the very biggest British acts of the 1970s, though their success never quite crossed the pond) finally gets a belated video release in the United States with this DVD. Flame has been transferred to disc in letterboxed format at the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and the audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono. Unfortunately, both the sound and the image are a bit muddy in this transfer, probably due to the source materials, which look somewhat less than pristine. The dialogue is in English, with no subtitles or multiple language options included. This release features one notable bonus -- an extended interview with Slade frontman Noddy Holder, who offers an in-depth look at how the film came to be, how it was made, and how it was received. In short, not quite the package for which some fans may have hoped, but still a major improvement over the bootlegs of the film that have been circulating in recent years. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide