Educational Media Reviews Online

This collection of films from Swiss photographer and filmmaker Rudy Burckhardt spans six decades. Shot on 16mm film, the films are representative of the various kinds of films that Burckhardt produced throughout his career, including documentaries, silent comedies, and experimental films. However, the collection’s content is uneven, and particularly so on Disc 1. For instance, the music and sound editing is often sloppy, and voiceover narration is not always in sync. (While that effect may be intentional, it nevertheless is distracting.) Of the four films on Disc 1, Montgomery, Alabama and Cerveza Bud (the two documentaries) are the most successful because Burckhardt gets out of the way of his subjects, disregards the need for plot, and lets the cities shine through. Disc 2 includes the mock-structional film Inside Dope, a fictitious documentary that has echoes of the classic campiness in Reefer Madness. The short films Julie and Caterpillar, also on Disc 2, present interesting examples of single-subject filmmaking. Disc 3 includes a number of New York slice-of-life films, and it is the strongest of the three discs in the collection because of them. Under the Brooklyn Bridge is lovingly shot and contains footage that focuses on the small details in ordinary activities, a recurring theme in Burckhardt’s documentary work. Scattered Showers, the last film in the collection, reads like a visual tone poem. Although this collection could be useful for academic libraries that support film studies courses, public libraries will likely find the price tag beyond their budget.