DVD Review: Forbidden Hwd. Vol. 3 - Bonus Items
TCM's Box Set Includes William Wellman Documentaries, Many Extras
For all the great films William Wellman directed and co-wrote, you'd think he'd have a higher profile in movie history. But the Wellman name is relatively obscure these days, which explains why Turner Classic Movies devoted the entire third edition of its fine Forbidden Hollywood DVD series to him.
Besides the six Wellman features, the four-disc set includes a pair of documentaries about Wellman the man and filmmaker.
Todd Robinson Documentary Captures Wellman's Spirit
The superior documentary is Todd Robinson's Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick, from 1995. Alec Baldwin narrates this excellent film, which features an astonishing lineup of notables who worked with or knew the director, including Clint Eastwood, Nancy Reagan, Robert Redford (who grew up in Los Angeles and was a close friend of Wellman's son, Bill Jr.), Sidney Poitier, James Whitmore, Darryl Hickman, Robert Stack, James Garner, Robert Wise, Martin Scorsese, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Wellman's widow Dottie and others.
This is a conventional biographical study, but thankfully is unflinching in describing the unsentimental, arrogant, salty, anti-authoritarian, tempestuous filmmaker who came honestly by the nickname Wild Bill.
It includes a generous number of key clips from Wellman films, and covers in detail the director's life from childhood in Brookline, MA through his war years spent with France's elite Lafayette Escadrille air squadron; his early days in the movies (thanks to a friendship with Douglas Fairbanks); a long, remarkably diverse filmmaking career; and three failed marriages before a happy family life with fourth wife Dottie Coonan.
Wellman Stories Fun -- But Are They Factual?
Along the way, we're treated to the kind of colorful stories that seem like the stuff of a publicist's overheated imagination. Like when the decorated war hero landed a plane on the polo field at Pickfair -- the estate of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks -- solely to impress Fairbanks, whom he'd met years earlier. (According to the film, the trick worked -- Fairbanks then provided Wellman his entree to the movies.)
There's also the tale about a furious Wellman sneaking into the office of Paramount's B.P. Schulberg and dumping horse crap on the production chief's desk.
After a brief stint as an actor -- Wellman insisted that seeing himself on the screen literally made him throw up -- the war vet finagled his way into directing, for which he showed an instant affinity.
His career is tracked all the way from his silent films to his swan song -- 1958's autobiographical Lafayette Escadrille, so ruined by studio interference that the discouraged Wellman retired.
Richard Schickel Documentary Redundant, Unnecessary
The second documentary seems like a throw-in. Richard Schickel's The Men Who Made the Movies: William A. Wellman covers much of the same ground and duplicates many of the clips from Robinson's film. Schickel's only advantage is that he has soundbites from Wellman himself.
Forbidden Hollywood, Vol. 3 is teeming with extra goodies, including a multitude of short subjects, including a trio of two-reel mysteries by popular novelist S.S. Van Dine; period cartoons; plus commentary tracks by film historians and others, including William Wellman Jr.
This is an excellent, thoughtful collection. The prints range from good to excellent, with restored picture and sound. As of April, 2009, TCM was marketing the set on its website, www.tcm.com, for $41.99, marked down eight dollars from a previously posted price.
Part 1 of this review looks at three films in the set: Other Men's Women, The Purchase Price and Frisco Jenny. Part 2 offers analysis of the Wellman films Midnight Mary, Heroes For Sale and Wild Boys of the Road.
DVD cover, Forbidden Hollywood Collection, Vol. 3
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