Video

Rip It Up, Issue 91, 1 February 1985, Page 31

Video

Marvin Gaye Greatest Hits (Video Classics) The title is definitely misleading but don't let it worry you. This is actually a* 50 minute concert performance recorded in 1976 in Amsterdam. Gaye. sartorially resplendent in green and yellow, is in fine voice and the large orchestra's arrangements are rich and strorig?MMijmßHßl Apart from a couple of opening and closing numbers the material is divided into four extended medleys. First comes a selection from "my very latest endeavour" / Want Vbu. Then he dons the famous knitted cap for a romp through ten of his 60s hits, beginning with ‘Ain't That Peculiar’ and ending on How Sweet It Is: Purists may baulk atGaye's remoulding these songs into his mid-70s slinky soul delivery but. to this fan at least, the change is both interesting and successful. Next comes a medley from What's Going On. Then Gaye welcomes onstage Florence Lyles. Together they beautifully perform five of the duets whereon he was once partnered by the likes of Tammi Terrell and Diana Ross He closes the show alone with Distant Lover’ an apt title, considering our loss.’ PT

The Cars (Warner Home Video) If you like the Cars and you've got a VCR then 1 you've already taped both ' Drive and the pyrotechnical “You Might Think’ off TV. And considering that they're easily the best moments among the

eight clips here, is there any reason to hire this video? Well thereS a nifty intro sequence but. ostensibly,' the’ major lure is the fact that Andy Warhol co-directed Hello Again’. And because it features along with some tiresomely predictable Warhol-ish Types', a little model car zooming aroundj a \ naked woman's torso, were unlikely to see it on TV. And does that matter? Not at all. PT Echo & the Bunnymen Pictures On My Wall (Warner)

A sense of melancholy has always prevailed throughout the Bunnymen's recorded work and the same could be said for this collection of video outings An amalgamation of live and studio pieces Pictures On My Wall lacks cohesion or design. Early live footage taken from the rather dodgy filmette that graced our screens a couple of years back, was less than average then - in this context it appears flat and insipid. Scenes of various Bunnymen eating breakfast on the road are poorly filmed and exceptionally inane. But to be fair, there are some high spots notably the live excerpts from the famous Albert Hall extravaganza and some later live work skillfully shot by Tyne Tees Television. A must for Bunnymen enthusiasts, a maybe for for anybody else

The Draughtsman's Contract (Palace/Academy)

As the cinema advances technologically, it seems to get a better grasp of the past. Kubrick began it with Barry Lyndon, using lighting as it would have been in the period. The Draughtsman's Contract continues the search for historical perfection, thus bringing history to life, not just presenting it on a platter. People of the 17th century loved and lusted, plotted and schemed, sweated, farted and made love just as we do now. although the language was slightly different. The Draughtsman's Contract appreciates this and is all the better for it. Thus, an intriguing little tale of lust and murder is woven into an English country garden (outstanding photography throughout). A good, oldfashioned mystery, you could call it. I suppose. Some may say it's just a string of old masters slung together. If so. it’ll be enjoyed a great many years, like them. DC ! Gorky Park (Vldeocorp) Gorky Park is a rare exception.

a j film that l is actually i improved rather than impoverished by its reduction to the small screen. In the cinema, what was originally an exciting novel's page-turning intrigue had inexplicably become dull and sluggish. [ Now, in j your lounge, the unravelling of a Moscow murder, mystery seems no more patiently plodding than any TV mini-series.^William Hurt, usually an extremely accomplished actor, gave such a self-consciously underplayed performance as the determined detective that, in' 35 millimetre, it appeared simply wooden. Telesize it | just about works as brooding.' Consequently were more able to enjoy the plot's quietly developing tension,; the debut of stunning Joanna Pacula and the unctuous evil of Lee Marvin. (Keep an eye out for. the neat cameo by Alexei Sayle.) PT Shivers (Videocorp)

Shivers is directed by Canadian David Cronenberg, who is best known for Scanners, the movie where someone's head exploded. His first major movie. Shivers is actually streets ahead of the rather laboured Scanners. The story takes place in an exclusive residential development on an island off Toronto and concerns a misguided experiment in search of a parasitic creature which will take over human beings and improve the human race. The result is a nasty little organism like a jellified carrot with teeth that overtakes humans and creates a rampant sex drive with sexual violence as the means of spreading from one people to another. As you may have guessed there's a fairly strong element of moral satire in here, but it's

never camped-up this film is genuinely scary. A wonderful movie and the splatter's good too.RB Night Of the Zombies (Videocorp)

These Italian zombie movies can sometimes be quite fun but not this one. it's too bad for even that. Stupid “plot" which purportedly takes place in New Guinea (the African wildlife footage they've stolen from somewhere else is the best part of the film) and one good 20 second scene that you’ll have to sit through nearly the whole wretched movie for. I only watched the whole thing on the dictates of conscience. You wont have to. RB