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For All Mankind | Year: 1989 Classification: Documentary Directed: - Al Reinert Actors/Actresses: - Jim Lovell - Kenneth Mattingly A great film about the Apollo missions! This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film. This film is a documentary and is well compiled. Consisting almost entirely of stock footage of the missions, it has audio interviews with the astronauts and mission control technicians. The film has a superb score by Brian Eno. One particular piece of music in the film, also heard on the main menu of the DVD has been resued for two other films: Traffic (2000) and 28 Days Later(2002). Much of the footage taken in space is high resolution and very well preserved as it was stored at the NASA film archives in liquid nitrogen. The special features on the DVD are audio commentary by the Director Al Reinart and Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan. There is subtitle identification of the astronauts and NASA employees when they appear on screen. There are Audio and Video highlights from several NASA missions. My favorite is the soundbyte of the apollo 8 astronauts when they gave a radio address by reading parts of the Bible on Christmas day. There are also paintings by Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean and interviews with him describing some of his paintings. For anybody interested in the space program, this DVD is a musy buy! Great footage disappointingly presented Other reviews have touched upon what I found fatally distracting about this disc: the "artistic liberties" taken constitute inaccuracy. Much is shockingly out of order or just plain wrong. We see Ed White's Gemini spacewalk presented as though it occured during an Apollo mission, we see the wrong astronauts' names in captions (subtitled), we hear Apollo 12's liftoff distress call seamlessly integrated with Apollo 13's post-TLI distress call...all apparently for no reason. I was able to enjoy this film for other merits. Al Bean's paintings and commentary were beautifully done, and I had not seen much of the footage. I was particularly struck by long sequences in which we third stage ignite and the Earth rush away, the disappearing descent stage as the ascent stage takes off, and the LM approaching the orbiting CM. Beautiful. But if you're looking for an informative documentary, this slipshod random splicing of clips is not for you. Get Moon Shot or From the Earth to the Moon, instead. Criterion mutilation of a classic space journey experience! ...read the reviews with interest - but frankly I was gutted to discover that Criterion have 'mutilated' this superb doc by messing with the original score/arrangements. 'Deep blue Day' by Brian Eno and intermittant musical inserts lasting only a view seconds (which previously transported the viewer away from the immediate scene with the Astronauts) have all been removed - the magic has been squeezed out of this classic piece of video/doc architecture by a company who have done the equivalent of a painting a moustache on a classic oil with a black felt tip pin! Please cure my depression with some info on how I can get my hands on the original classic version on DVD or VHS? (unmutilated)! Bill Andrews Buy For All Mankind at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on For All Mankind Search with the Priority Search Engine on For All Mankind This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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