Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii (Director's Cut)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful original film
Review: I just received my copy of this DVD from Amazon, and it's a wonderful DVD. Any film footage from the Floyd during the 60's/70's is virtually non-existent, so this original film, shot in 1971 at this ancient Roman Amphitheatre, finds the band at their pinnacle, enjoying a momentum that would last, at least, until their 1977 "In The Flesh" tour. The tracks are wonderful, and the sound, despite only stereo, has been beautifully remastered.
Then, why did I give it only 4 out of 5 stars? Because the new "Director's cut" is kitschy at best. Full of computer generated "space footage" (awful), plus DSoTM era interviews (some of them truly revelatory, and wonderful to watch), director Adrian Maben put in everything he could, despite the fact that most of that material was totally unrelated to the Pompeii concert. Thankfully, on the "bonus features" section, Maben had the good taste to leave the original theatrical film -unedited and uncut-, where the band performs their music, warts and all, as nature intended, and as millions of fans all over the world watched it originally. In my humble opinion, I think that the DSoTM interviews should have been included as bonus features, having the original film under the spotlight.
But, rest assured that if you like the early Gilmour era Pink Floyd, you'll absolutely love this DVD. The music is incredible, and the band are in top form. This is, probably, the definitive Pink Floyd live film we'll have from the classic years (at least, until something is unearthed from the 1970/1977 period).

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for original film, 2 stars for "Director's Cut"
Review: Well, it seems PINK FLOYD: LIVE AT POMPEII director Adrian Maben has got himself a case of George Lucas disease. The new DVD release of the so-called "Director's Cut" of that film is completely re-edited, with a slew of new material, and it completely ruins the mood of the film. Thankfully, they included the original version of this haunting movie on the disc, as well. There's a drastic difference between the two.

Here's the deal:
The original version of the film, released in 1972, was 61 minutes long, and consisted only of performance footage from the Pompeii amphitheatre and a Paris studio, plus some extra footage of Pompeii. This was shot in full-screen 4:3 and is presented as such on the DVD.

Maben went back into the Abbey Road studios while the band was putting together DARK SIDE OF THE MOON in 1973 and shot some documentary footage of the band recording and talking. The new footage was spliced in between some of the original performances for the film and the result was released in 1974 in America; it was maybe 70-something minutes long. Unfortunately, this edit has not made it to the DVD.

Now, this new version uses more footage from Abbey Road, some B&W
footage of the band in a studio in Paris, new shots the director took of Pompeii, a whole bunch of archival footage of space exploration, and new titles that look made for a straight-to-video release instead of the Godard-esque ones we had with the original (Willy Kurant was one of the cinematographers.) This is about 91 minutes long, and has been inexplicably matted to a 16:9 format.

I must say the new footage seems extremely out of place. It doesn't match visually with the old footage, looking very straight-to-video. Much of the editing of the original is broken up with splices to new stuff the director just couldn't keep out ("Hey, Pink Floyd is "spacey"--- I'll put in computer-generated shots of planets!"); the result is more a series of thematically related music videos than a unified movie. What really gets me is that there's an interview on the DVD with the director where on multiple occasions he touches on why the original and almost-original versions of the film were so special, and then he proceeds to destroy that with his new version.

In the original, the ruined Pompeiian setting gave the movie a
palpable sense of silence and isolation; in the new version they're not much more than a pretty background. The original version held its shots long enough to give the viewer an opportunity to absorb the spacial setting for himself; now we're treated to the short attention span version of things. And why was this this thing masked to 16:9 for the new version? Having a dad who's worked on satellites and space probes my whole life has given me an appreciation for space footage on its own merits; but using simulated flyovers of Mars's surface to accompany Pink Floyd is worthy of a fan's website, not a feature film... please, let the spirit of "Laserium" rest in peace.

Rating:
Summary: If you're just a concert style fan, blow it!!
Review: This is the first rock video I had seen when I was 9. "Echoes" is amazing, still banging in my head until now. The expression of Rick Wright when sang it still visualized. When I visit Pompeii two years ago, this location was the first I look for.

Definitelly not for CONCERT STYLE / VIDEOCLIP fan. If you are, you'd better blow it and find Westlife video. Don't buy it.
It's a story, it needs emotion. It bring you 70 atmosphere perception of clips. If you open mind with this, BUY IT!!

Rating:
Summary: Live concert without audience
Review: Although the director's effort is fairly allright the DVD does not have certain features of a live show.
1.No crowd at all (most important)
2.Few tracks (dissapointing)
Much appreciate if Amazon.com could add "Pink Floyd - Live in Venice" DVD into the store.

Rating:
Summary: why ruin a good thing? NO MORE DIRECTOR'S CUTS!!!
Review: i got this as a gift and i was extremely excited, as Floyd has always been one of my favorite bands and i hadn't seen this movie in a few years (and not ever on DVD). The original film is amazing - clips of the band performing some of their best songs from the pre-"Dark Side" era (Echoes, Saucerful of Secrets, Careful With That Axe Eugene, etc) at the ruins on Pompeii, interspersed with clips of the ruins and lava; there are also some good interviews and studio footage.
So I popped it in, thinking that "director's cut" meant maybe a little added footage in the studio, an extra interview. But NO!! The Director's Cut has all this ridiculous computer-animated outer space footage and slow motion clips of the band members in the studio spliced in over parts of the original movie - giving it a decidely modern feel (read: MTV/VH1 editing style) that, in my opinion, completely ruins the film. This could be forgiven if the original film was also on the DVD in its intact form, but the "Original Concert" in the special features is the performances only, with none of the interviews or studio footage from the original film. To get to those, you have to go back to the "director's cut" and scan backwards from the beginning of whatever chapter is after the interview - you can't directly access the interview at all.

Basically, this seems like director Adrien Maben's attempt to make some $$$ - he knows that hardcore Floyd fans will buy this absurd regurgitation of what was once a great concert film. My recommendation, buy the VHS on E-bay. This DVD strips the charm right out of Pompeii.

Rating:
Summary: Pink Floyd at their Best
Review: This DVD is everything I expected and more. I never had a chance to watch the VHS but my friend told me that the picture is much crisper and the sound is a lot better on the DVD. The original concert film in the special features section lets you watch them perform all the songs continuously (the best part of the DVD, in my opinion). I've watch this almost everyday after a hard day at work and it just helps me wind down and zone out. I love the fact that the band is performing to an empty amphitheater that is old and weathered. It set the perfect atmosphere for PF's experimental music from that time. I think they wrote their greatest music during this time and the DVD definitely succeeds in capturing that. There is not one performance that I did not like or that I felt needed a little more oomph to it. "Careful With That Axe Eugene" is one of my favorite songs and the performance was absolutely amazing. For a moment, I forgot I was watching a DVD. The editing throughout the concert was simple but still effective and impressive to me considering it was filmed in the early 70s. The director's cut adds some interesting and comical clips of the band eating and talking and footage of them recording Dark Side of the Moon in the studio. I think anyone who has good taste and an appreciation for good music will enjoy this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Original film rating overrides the director's cut of Pompeii
Review: Pink Floyd released their concert film Live at Pompeii in late 1972 in the UK. The original film was filmed at the Pompeii Ampitheatre in Pompeii, Italy in October of 1971 with some footage filmed in early 1972 at a Paris film studio. That original version was 61 minutes long, and consisted only of performance footage from the Pompeii amphitheatre and a Paris studio, plus some extra footage of Pompeii. This was shot in full-screen 4:3 and is presented as such on the DVD. The band gave superb readings of Echoes(pt.1), Careful With That Axe Eugene, A Saucerful of Secrets, One of These Days, Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun, Mademoiselle Nobs and Echoes(pt.2). This right here makes the purchase of the DVD justifiable. In early 1973, director Adrian Maben went to Abbey Road Studios while the band was finishing their classic contribution to rock history, the 34 million selling and counting worldwide The Dark Side of the Moon shot some documentary footage of the band recording(or pretending to record according to guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour because the band were mixing by the time these sequences were filmed) and talking. The new footage was spliced in between some of the original performances for the film and the result was released in August, 1974 here in the US and was now 80 minutes long. Unfortunately, this edit is not on DVD. Now, this new version uses the Abbey Road footage, plus some unearthed black and white footage of the band in a studio in Paris in March of 1972. Also, Maben filmed new shots of Pompeii, a whole bunch of archival footage of space exploration and new titles that look made for a straight-to-video release instead of the Godard-esque ones we had with the original. This is about 91 minutes long, and has been inexplicably matted to a 16:9 format. Gilmour was not responsible for this DVD and he is not happy with the Director's Cut. Ironically, Roger Waters is and his manager Mark Fenwick was one of the DVD's executive producers and approved of this director's cut. I say buy the DVD for the original film.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Important and Utterly Beautiful
Review: This DVD is simply the best, WHY?

1/ Besides Dark Side and Wish You Were Here, I always thought that the Floyd flew a little too close to Spinal Tap territory but this DVD whilst nostalgically confirming that in parts they WERE Spinal Tap, it just doesn't matter, the rest is simply perfect.

2/ Corny visuals (revolving planets etc) and corny songs (Set the controls for the heart of the sun, purleez - Lotuses lean on each other in yearning, Under the eaves the swallow is resting??)
don't matter here, the overall effect is startling.

3/ Couple of genuinly beautiful and moving sequences (lump in the throat stuff) as follows:
(i) opening Echoes part one intercut with the two lads in their Paris studio fluffing the lyrics is really effective
(ii) laying the piano into Us and Them
(iii)Gilmour putting guitar solos into Brain Damage, fantastic
(iv) when the keyboards kick in on Saucerful of secrets, magic
(v) final Echoes P2 with corny visuals really work nicely at the end.

4/ Interviews are funny and seriously nostalgic, look at Waters and Gilmour as they were back then or the drummer bloke who IS the guitarist in Spinal Tap, a classic English foppish twit complete with THAT moustache!

5/ How brilliant was the timing, concert coincided with their recording of material for one of the greatest albums ever - The Dark Side of the Moon.

Rating:
Summary: Pink Floyd.
Review: Pink Floyd isn't known as a "Live Band" they have reached flawlessness in the studio but aren't the same live. You listen to the same songs, but they aren't the same. The DVD is incredible. The original concert is better than the director's cut in my opinion because it gives more of a chance to give a glimpse of the band live. The Dvd captures the band in the end of their "wandering" phase and shows them recording two songs of Dark Side Of The Moon which is considered by some to be the height of their golden period, but i believe it to be just the beginning. Animals was the height. The DVD is great.

Rating:
Summary: Advice from a Pink Floyd fan
Review: Want to know if this DVD is for you?

LONG ANSWER:

Well, it depends on what kind of person you are, even if you're a Pink Floyd fan. There are many kinds according to the type of music and/or mood they prefer.

1)There are the solitary, silent people who prefer to stare at something and find beauty even in the patterns of the floor tiles. These people prefer to look beyond what can be seen or heard and find "the spirit" of something, no matter how caothic it may seem. These are the fans of 1968-1972 Pink Floyd's looong, strange pieces. I know somebody like this, a painter, friend of mine, and he was immediately hypnotized by "Echoes", in spite that he wasn't a huge fan of Pink Floyd. These people will really enjoy the original concert film. I did. If you dream about being alone in the desert and watch the sunrise listening to "Echoes", this is just for you.

2)Others prefer the glamour and the coloured lights of traditional concerts; they like interviews with artists, special 3D-effects, and Star Wars. They enjoy jazz and prefer more "structured" music. These profile correspond to Pink Floyd fans from "Dark side" through "Wish You were here". These could love the Director's Cut; however, some of them might be dissapointed.

3)And there are those who don't really appreciate jazz, classical music, or staring at anything. Those of you who listen to pop music all day or who think "The Wall" is the best Pink Floyd music ever, this DVD is not for you.

There are many kinds of art... There is simple-structured art, like pop music or naif-style paintings, whose beauty can inmmediately seen, but when trying to find the soul of it... well, there isn't any. And there is the other kind of art, that present in desolate De Chirico paintings, in El Bosco's obscure visions, and in the desert. This can't be appreciated in a first sight; instead, it needs to be studied and re-visited many times, in order to love it. This is the type of art present in "Live at Pompeii". I saw Shrek and liked it a lot the first time, second time it wasn't that fun and the third time it didn't capture my attention anymore. But Live at Pompeii is a DVD I will wear out.

SHORT ANSWER:

If you really love the songlist, buy it. If you like Pink Floyd but don't like these particular songs, keep searching.