When it Was a Game

Rating:
Summary: Wow. Color film footage of Lou Gehrig and much, much more
Review: "When It Was a Game" is composed entirely of 8mm and 16mm home movie footage that was taken by players and fans between 1934 and 1957. What this means for every baseball fan who has seen nothing but black & white newsreel footage of the good old days is the opportunity to see great players and the old ballparks where they played in living color. As soon as your see Lou Gehrig in color your heart just about skips a beat. Every spring right before Opening Day I watch the Ken Burns 9-inning documentary on "Baseball," and once it gets up to the Sixties and we start seeing things in color, the whole thing loses some of its charm for me because I am so used to seeing old footage and photographs in black & white. That makes the nostalgic images in "What It Was a Game" so astounding.

The only thing I can come up with to compare this documentary to wuld be the 1953 Bowman baseball cards. That was the year Bowman went to photographs, with 64 black & white 2 1/2" x 3 3/4" cards and 160 in color. These remain some of the most beautiful baseball cards ever made, particularly card #32 of the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan "The Man" Musial. When we see footage of Musial in this documentary, his uniform a beautiful combination of black and red, this is just something transcendent about that image. Even when these are just home movies taken before a game, seeing Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Bill Dickey, Carl Hubbell, Robin Roberts, and Jackie Robinson in color is just so captivating. Even shadowy footage of Satchel Paige in the major leagues at last is memorable. Then there are the shots of some of the living Hall of Famers such as Honus Wagner and Cy Young, including film of the greatest outfielders of the first half century: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Tris Speaker. I have seen black & white photographs of their joint appearance, Ruth ill and not wearing a uniform, but this is in color and the pictures are in motion.

The producers have to come up with something for somebody to say while we watch these fascinating images, and there is a mixture of recollections from former players, poetic observations from sportswriters, and some actual commentary on what we are seeing (I have reason to suspect that some of this is leftover audio from Burns's "Baseball" since they are the same voices). But you will probably have to watch this 57-minute documentary a couple of times to catch everything that is being said because a real baseball fan is just going to lose themselves in these pictures. Players are often identified, which is good because since they are not in black & white some of them are actually hard to recognize. But in terms of the most shocking images that would have to be reserved for the section on the old ballparks where we see Chicago's Wrigley Field when the outfield wall was not covered with ivy and there were no bleachers for the fans. If that does not give you a sense they we have gone back into the distant past when baseball was a game, nothing will.

Rating:
Summary: Wow. Color film footage of Lou Gehrig and much, much more
Review: "When It Was a Game" is composed entirely of 8mm and 16mm home movie footage that was taken by players and fans between 1934 and 1957. What this means for every baseball fan who has seen nothing but black & white newsreel footage of the good old days is the opportunity to see great players and the old ballparks where they played in living color. As soon as your see Lou Gehrig in color your heart just about skips a beat. Every spring right before Opening Day I watch the Ken Burns 9-inning documentary on "Baseball," and once it gets up to the Sixties and we start seeing things in color, the whole thing loses some of its charm for me because I am so used to seeing old footage and photographs in black & white. That makes the nostalgic images in "What It Was a Game" so astounding.

The only thing I can come up with to compare this documentary to wuld be the 1953 Bowman baseball cards. That was the year Bowman went to photographs, with 64 black & white 2 1/2" x 3 3/4" cards and 160 in color. These remain some of the most beautiful baseball cards ever made, particularly card #32 of the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan "The Man" Musial. When we see footage of Musial in this documentary, his uniform a beautiful combination of black and red, this is just something transcendent about that image. Even when these are just home movies taken before a game, seeing Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Bill Dickey, Carl Hubbell, Robin Roberts, and Jackie Robinson in color is just so captivating. Even shadowy footage of Satchel Paige in the major leagues at last is memorable. Then there are the shots of some of the living Hall of Famers such as Honus Wagner and Cy Young, including film of the greatest outfielders of the first half century: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Tris Speaker. I have seen black & white photographs of their joint appearance, Ruth ill and not wearing a uniform, but this is in color and the pictures are in motion.

The producers have to come up with something for somebody to say while we watch these fascinating images, and there is a mixture of recollections from former players, poetic observations from sportswriters, and some actual commentary on what we are seeing (I have reason to suspect that some of this is leftover audio from Burns's "Baseball" since they are the same voices). But you will probably have to watch this 57-minute documentary a couple of times to catch everything that is being said because a real baseball fan is just going to lose themselves in these pictures. Players are often identified, which is good because since they are not in black & white some of them are actually hard to recognize. But in terms of the most shocking images that would have to be reserved for the section on the old ballparks where we see Chicago's Wrigley Field when the outfield wall was not covered with ivy and there were no bleachers for the fans. If that does not give you a sense they we have gone back into the distant past when baseball was a game, nothing will.

Rating:
Summary: Wow. Color film footage of Lou Gehrig and much, much more
Review: "When It Was a Game" is composed entirely of 8mm and 16mm home movie footage that was taken by players and fans between 1934 and 1957. What this means for every baseball fan who has seen nothing but black & white newsreel footage of the good old days is the opportunity to see great players and the old ballparks where they played in living color. As soon as your see Lou Gehrig in color your heart just about skips a beat. Every spring right before Opening Day I watch the Ken Burns 9-inning documentary on "Baseball," and once it gets up to the Sixties and we start seeing things in color, the whole thing loses some of its charm for me because I am so used to seeing old footage and photographs in black & white. That makes the nostalgic images in "What It Was a Game" so astounding.

The only thing I can come up with to compare this documentary to wuld be the 1953 Bowman baseball cards. That was the year Bowman went to photographs, with 64 black & white 2 1/2" x 3 3/4" cards and 160 in color. These remain some of the most beautiful baseball cards ever made, particularly card #32 of the St. Louis Cardinals' Stan "The Man" Musial. When we see footage of Musial in this documentary, his uniform a beautiful combination of black and red, this is just something transcendent about that image. Even when these are just home movies taken before a game, seeing Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, Bill Dickey, Carl Hubbell, Robin Roberts, and Jackie Robinson in color is just so captivating. Even shadowy footage of Satchel Paige in the major leagues at last is memorable. Then there are the shots of some of the living Hall of Famers such as Honus Wagner and Cy Young, including film of the greatest outfielders of the first half century: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Tris Speaker. I have seen black & white photographs of their joint appearance, Ruth ill and not wearing a uniform, but this is in color and the pictures are in motion.

The producers have to come up with something for somebody to say while we watch these fascinating images, and there is a mixture of recollections from former players, poetic observations from sportswriters, and some actual commentary on what we are seeing (I have reason to suspect that some of this is leftover audio from Burns's "Baseball" since they are the same voices). But you will probably have to watch this 57-minute documentary a couple of times to catch everything that is being said because a real baseball fan is just going to lose themselves in these pictures. Players are often identified, which is good because since they are not in black & white some of them are actually hard to recognize. But in terms of the most shocking images that would have to be reserved for the section on the old ballparks where we see Chicago's Wrigley Field when the outfield wall was not covered with ivy and there were no bleachers for the fans. If that does not give you a sense they we have gone back into the distant past when baseball was a game, nothing will.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent film, but buyer beware.....
Review: "When it was a Game" ranks up there as one of my favorite baseball films, and I have owned a copy on VHS since it came out in 1992. I have enjoyed watching the outstanding footage and listening to the insightful comentary dozens upon dozens of times. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to purchase the DVD when it was released earlier this year. HOWEVER, it should be noted that this edition differs significantly from the original VHS tape: Certain segments were either omitted, shortened, or entirely different. This is not to say that the changes are for the worse, but rather to warn anyone who thinks they are purchasing an exact duplicate of the VHS, which the title seems to imply.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent film, but buyer beware.....
Review: "When it was a Game" ranks up there as one of my favorite baseball films, and I have owned a copy on VHS since it came out in 1992. I have enjoyed watching the outstanding footage and listening to the insightful comentary dozens upon dozens of times. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to purchase the DVD when it was released earlier this year. HOWEVER, it should be noted that this edition differs significantly from the original VHS tape: Certain segments were either omitted, shortened, or entirely different. This is not to say that the changes are for the worse, but rather to warn anyone who thinks they are purchasing an exact duplicate of the VHS, which the title seems to imply.

Rating:
Summary: Scored Big With Me
Review: Any baseball fan will love this video, especially if you care about the history of the game.

Rating:
Summary: A must for any baseball fan
Review: I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed this video. I watch it every spring!!!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful video
Review: I found this video for 5 dollars at a college bookstore several years ago and is played at least once a year during the season. It's great to see Ted Williams and Willie Mays on color film instead of black and white highlight reels. The voice overs are well done (Narration and the "interviews") This is a must have video for all fans.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing, magical!
Review: I never saw this on HBO so I can't compare the DVD to that as some other reviewers have done. All I can say is that even my husband who is not a baseball fan was touched! Technically amazing, I'm sure lots of this old footage had to be cleaned up for acceptable production quality . How did they dig up all this great footage? The prose/poetry voiceovers are pivotal to create that misty sweet nostalgia for the old game. A little too heavy on the Yanks, even though, yes, they did dominate during this time period. Bonus is additional voiceover interviews from stars such as Enos Slaughter discussing opponents, teammates, the hometown crowd, travel. Wonderful footage of the Gashouse Gang and early immortals such as Ty Cobb and Cy Young!

Rating:
Summary: Baseball time travel
Review: I sometimes dream in black and white, and when I do, I'm usually watching an old baseball game, one played before there was TV, even. Doubtless my dreams are influenced by all the old books I read as a kid, and from watching "When It Was a Game" when it originally aired on HBO a decade ago. I decided to buy the DVD for myself after seeing some of the memorabilia from the Baseball Hall of Fame currently on display in the "Baseball As America" exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.

And while many of the players and ballparks captured on film here were gone long before I was born, I recognized most of them anyway. I especially thrilled in seeing the black & white footage from the 1934 World Series -- the hard slides, the beanballs, the old-school herky-jerky pitching deliveries -- and the color footage from the '38 Series at Wrigley Field. Here you also get to see the fabled Green Monster at Fenway Park, before it was either Green, or called "Monster" -- covered in billboards for razor blades or Lifebuoy soap.

If I had to complain, I'd say that for a beginning or casual fan, the footage presented is confusing at first, since graphics and explanatory voiceovers are kept to a minimum in the first twenty minutes. Eventually, however, all the ballparks shown are identified by name, as are many of the players. The narration is misty-eyed and minimal, and not all of the poems or literary passages recited may be to your liking. However, it should be understood that HBO is quite adept at this form of documentary, and "When It Was A Game" was at the forefront of the HBO revolution. And it's also hard to argue with hearing Burgess Whitehead and Eldon Auker and Tommy Henrich speak for themselves.

Go out and watch "When It Was A Game" for yourself -- with the sound on, painting a word-picture of a time you can no longer see for yourself, or even with the sound off, just to look at the footage (Pepper Martin's juggling trick has to have been done with mirrors!). Then when someone asks you what you watched on TV yesterday, you can say, "Oh, the 1934 World Series..."