Search - Andy Warhol (Artists of the 20th Century) on DVD

Looking for a BIO? Look elsewhere.

Jonathan Sabin | Ellenton, FL USA | 10/31/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD is reminiscent of those awful grade-school filmstrips millions of us endured in the 60s. (And I'm assuming the 50s and 70s, too!)

Here's a sample of the narration (I might not get it exact, as I watched the DVD a week ago):

"Marilyn, Number 3. 1963. Marilyn, Number 5. 1963. Liz, Number 7. 1959. Marilyn, Number 2. 1961. Elvis, Number 4. 1966."

And so on, and so on, and so on.

The only thing missing was the interminable "beep" that alerted a bored kid on the AV squad to advance the filmstrip to the next frame.

Several points:

Warhol died in 1987. Not in 1798. There IS some actual film footage of the man, that given the DVD format, COULD have been used.

He led a rather interesting life. More than a few minutes could have been spent discussing it, and rather than showing still images of artwork he had created, I would rather have seen more photographs of him and his family.

While he was known for producing multiple versions of the same artwork, perhaps a little more effort could have been made in showing the evolution from one image to the next. (Like a smooth cross-fade from one image to the next.) I didn't understand the point of showing 3 Marilyns, then 2 of Liz, then an Elvis, then back to Marilyn, and so on, ad nauseum.

All in all, the only reason I'm going 2 stars on this, is the fact that I thought he was a uniquely interesting character and I can't bring myself to hang a 1-star review on anything associated with him!"

Excellent representation of an artist

Megan Katerina | Ogden, Utah | 02/05/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While some reviewers have called this "creepy" --you have to remember who we are dealing with here. I thought this was very representative of Andy and his ups and downs that are reflected in his bodies of work. Some of it isn't pretty, but it's real. This touches on a side that isn't that pop-ready persona--but a more intimate, raw, exposed look."