Bacall on Bogart (1988)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Nice documentary about the life and career of Humphrey Bogart is narrated by his wife and co-star Lauren Bacall. Including interviews with Katharine Hepburn, John Huston, Van Johnson, Richard Brooks, Peter Bogdanovich and Ingrid Bergman, the documentary covers Bogart's early films all the way up to the classics like THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA and concludes with his final movie THE HARDER THEY FALL. Considering the era this was made, the documentary does a pretty good job at mixing the stories about Bogart's personal life as well as stuff dealing with his films. For the majority of the time we look at his films and this includes many of those that are now forgotten by most. Most people seem to forget that Bogart was working in movies for nearly eleven years before he finally became a star. Clips from these rare pictures are here and of course there's plenty of footage from the classics. Hepburn gets to talk about their work on THE African QUEEN as well as the final time that she and Spencer Tracy saw Bogart. Bergman talks about the production issues on CASABLANCA and Brooks talks about directing Bogart on DEADLINE U.S.A.. Bacall has the most personal stories as she not only talks about the four films they made together but also their children, wedding and their life outside of Hollywood. Fans of Bogart are certainly going to enjoy hearing all of these stories as well as seeing the film clips but thankfully with the birth of Turner Classic Movies, most of these films are now readily available.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Nice documentary about the life and career of Humphrey Bogart is narrated by his wife and co-star Lauren Bacall. Including interviews with Katharine Hepburn, John Huston, Van Johnson, Richard Brooks, Peter Bogdanovich and Ingrid Bergman, the documentary covers Bogart's early films all the way up to the classics like THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA and concludes with his final movie THE HARDER THEY FALL. Considering the era this was made, the documentary does a pretty good job at mixing the stories about Bogart's personal life as well as stuff dealing with his films. For the majority of the time we look at his films and this includes many of those that are now forgotten by most. Most people seem to forget that Bogart was working in movies for nearly eleven years before he finally became a star. Clips from these rare pictures are here and of course there's plenty of footage from the classics. Hepburn gets to talk about their work on THE African QUEEN as well as the final time that she and Spencer Tracy saw Bogart. Bergman talks about the production issues on CASABLANCA and Brooks talks about directing Bogart on DEADLINE U.S.A.. Bacall has the most personal stories as she not only talks about the four films they made together but also their children, wedding and their life outside of Hollywood. Fans of Bogart are certainly going to enjoy hearing all of these stories as well as seeing the film clips but thankfully with the birth of Turner Classic Movies, most of these films are now readily available.