The Errol Morris Collection

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  When Errol Morris received his Oscar for The Fog of War at the 76th Academy Awards he said: "I'd like to thank the Academy for finally recognizing my films"! With the release of The Errol Morris Collection us in Region 4 at last get to sample on DVD some of his earliest works at turns quirky and funny, sad and uplifting. Although the picture and sound quality leave much to be desired the films stand as serious works of art and mountains on the documentary landscape.

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Gates of Heaven (1978)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	82:13
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Errol Morris
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Dual-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Errol Morris is something of an enigma. He has been making films for over 20 years and yet his output has been slow and invariably quirky and strange. He works exclusively (apart from one miss-step) in the field of documentaries.

    Recently he prepared the interview montage of nominees that opened the Oscars telecast.

    Australian DVD fans would probably know him best through the Academy Award winning Fog of War. In fact, until recently that was the only Morris DVD available in Region 4.

    In 1978 Morris was a failed science student with a serious interest in film. He was kicking around with German auteur Werner Herzog, who challenged him to make a film. In fact he said, rumour has it, that if Morris could get a film made, Herzog would eat his shoe. Check out the film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe for the results!

    After seeing a news headline describing the mass transfer of dead pets from a failed pet cemetery, Morris travelled to the Napa Valley in California to interview people for the film that would become Gates of Heaven. Released in 1981, Gates of Heaven established Morris as a film maker with a unique vision and remains one of critic Roger Ebert's favourite films.

    The films of Errol Morris are different from the majority of documentary filmmakers for several reasons. Morris has no voice overs and his presence is as a mere observer. He allows his subjects to tell their tales. He carefully lets these stories, inconsequential as they seem, bubble and rise to capture something quite deep and elusive. What may at first seem to be lazy plotting is in fact a clever progression of idea through osmosis.

    In Gates of Heaven Morris begins with interviews of several disparate characters. We meet various partners behind a pet cemetery business and also the boss of a local rendering factory. He tells us, with a nod and a wink, that he has an arrangement with the local zoo by which the recently departed wild animals are sent to him for "recycling" - elephants, bears and even a giraffe!

    After hearing their stories for a third of the movie Morris does an amazing shift, letting it seep out that the cemetery had to close though poor financial management and the partners are no longer on speaking terms. What is worse, the animals need relocating! We are then taken to a new cemetery to interview the management team and the bereaved animal owners.

    Morris lets these sometimes strange people talk about life in general and the film develops as an examination of the nature of loss and longing and the heart of the American Dream. The family managing the Bubbling Springs Pet Cemetery could have come straight out of Death of a Salesman as the sons relate their dreams and expectations. One son is a college slacker with few aspirations and the other, hilariously, is all business-speak as he explains why he left the high-flying world of insurance selling to work his way up through the pet cemetery business.

    Gates of Heaven introduces the Morris style which is to let the interviewees express themselves frankly and although the results are often funny Morris does not ridicule his subjects. They are what they are - all part of life's rich tapestry.

Video

    Gates of Heaven is presented in a 1.66:1 letterboxed transfer consistent with its original aspect ratio. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    This documentary was shot on film approximately 30 years ago. The image quality for the DVD transfer is just as you might expect. The picture tends to be grainy and washed out. The colours are muted and a little wayward at times. The greens are overbright.

    There are artefacts by the boxful in the original source prints, although the DVD transfer itself is as clean as could be expected.

    Though the film is on a single sided DVD there are no problems with compression.

    While I would have liked some real effort to have been made to improve the picture quality of this film the phrase "beggars can't be choosers" comes to mind. Once your eyes adjust to the quality it scarcely becomes an issue although it must be said that some of the 1970's fashions on show are infinitely more frightening!

    The reality is that this film is likely to have been lost if not given this barely adequate transfer.

    The film does not have any subtitles.

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Audio

    Gates of Heaven is presented with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound (224Kb/s). Since the films are really nothing more than interviews, the lack of surround support does not present any real problems. The sound was all live miked and occasionally passing vehicles or other noises interfere. The sound quality has been lost to a certain extent over time and the dialogue is occasionally thin and reedy. You have to listen hard at times to pick up all the nuance but the journey is worth it.

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    There are no extras.

    In Region 1 this film has also been released as a box set. The version of this film appears identical.

    Don't let the age and average picture quality of this film put you off. It is a curious and affecting documentary that introduced the weird world of Errol Morris to the public.

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Vernon, Florida (1982)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1982
Running Time	55:18
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Errol Morris
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Dual-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Fans of documentary filmmaker Errol Morris that had been entranced by his first 1978 release, Gates of Heaven, were eager to see his next project unveiled.

    The film Vernon, Florida is short (about 50 minutes) and represents a further step in Morris's style. In fact, the origin of the film was actually earlier than Gates of Heaven. Fellow oddball director Werner Herzog was so keen for Morris to make a film that he reportedly gave him an envelope full of cash which Morris threw out the window of his motel room. Herzog retrieved it, Morris eventually took it, and the result was a trip to Vernon, Florida that became the film.

    Morris had his quirk-o-meter perked when he heard rumours that Vernon was "the nub capital of America". This quaint phrase refers to the apparent practice of disabling oneself for insurance payouts. The level of payout depended upon the degree of amputation of the limb! Legend has it that Morris received death threats whilst doing the research which convinced him not to persevere with the original idea. Instead he made the film simply about the residents of the town. This may explain why the film does not have the same single minded undercurrent of idea present in his other films.

    The town of Vernon has its eccentrics and Morris is there to capture them in all their glory. From the policeman sitting in his patrol car who admits that shoplifting is about as serious as the town's crime problems get to the old-timer who proudly shows off his motley collection of pets, Vernon has characters more intriguing than if they were dramatic creations.

    The key focus of the film is on a good old boy, whom it seems has dedicated his life to turkey hunting. He knows how they think, the way they behave and his plaque of turkey feet and beards is something that is destined to be buried with him.

    Although on the face of it Vernon, Florida lacks a complete subject, in fact, like Gates of Heaven the subject is the people and the town itself; both familiar and scary at the same time.

Video

    Vernon, Florida has a 1.66:1, non-anamorphic, letterboxed transfer.

    It is in a pretty raw state which means that it looks just like you would expect a cheap documentary from 1981 to look. In reviewing Gates of Heaven I said that whilst I would have liked some real effort to have been made to improve the picture quality of these films the phrase "beggars can't be choosers" comes to mind. The reality is that Vernon, Florida is a film that is not well known and one that I didn't expect to ever see let alone see on DVD.

    There are a few scratches and blobs on the source print and the colours are wayward and washed out with age. It is grainy and has a soft look. The film has a slightly oppressive grey feeling to it but that may have been the directors intention. One point to note is that the film does not have any subtitles. This sometimes presents as a problem in Vernon, Florida as some of the accents are as thick as molasses and can be hard to follow.

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Audio

    Vernon, Florida comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound (224Kb/s). It is satisfactory as the films are largely interviews. The sound quality is thin and my comments about the accents and lack of subtitles mean that full attention needs to be paid to the movie.

    There is no actual soundtrack score, although the film starts with some disturbing humming-style music that serves to introduce this unusual town.

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    The only extras are trailers for other Umbrella product.

    The Region 1 version of this film is identical to the Region 4 version.

    As rare as turkey teeth, this early documentary by Errol Morris (Oscar winner for The Fog of War) comes to Region 4 for the first time in a collection which is hard to beat. The film is short and perhaps the weakest of the three in the collection, but it still merits a look. Just leave off your transfer quality glasses!

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Extras
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The Thin Blue Line (1988)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	97:08
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Errol Morris
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Dual-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	Phillip Glass

    The Thin Blue Line was the third documentary written and directed by Errol Morris and the final film in the Errol Morris Collection.

Although Morris as a film maker was already capable of crafting exceptional cinema The Thin Blue Line is his early masterpiece, a documentary so focussed and trailblazing that it not only remains one of the best films of the 1980's but led the way for the respect now given to the documentary form.

If you haven't heard of it don't be embarrassed - it has never been released on DVD before and created classification problems upon its cinematic release. When the powers that be at the Academy convened to consider the nominees for Best Documentary, The Thin Blue Line was a notorious omission due to the fact that, almost unheard of for the time, it contained recreations and was therefore not considered to be truly non-fiction.

In 1985 and whilst researching another story Morris met Randall Dale Adams who was on death row for the murder of a Dallas police officer. Although Morris didn't buy his story that he was framed, he used his skills (he was at that time working as a private investigator) to prepare a film raising questions about the correctness of his conviction. The interview notes were in fact used by the court in reviewing the conviction of Adams.

Once again Morris's power is in letting his subjects talk and allowing their characters to expand before our eyes. As they talk we see the truth beneath the lies and , just as often, the lies beneath the truth. As a viewer our belief in Adams constantly shifts.

This story is far more knife-edge than his previous films and the stakes are extremely high.

The film is not just notable for Morris' interview technique, it is also mesmerising in its use of inserted images as well as recreations. These moments serve to drive home the feeling that justice and lies are so often be buried under mountains of misconceptions, particularly witnesses adamant about what they saw and police officers eager for a conviction. All this is set to a score by minimalist composer Phillip Glass and the match could not be more perfect. Glass's score, like the film is both hypnotic and heartless, allowing us to glimpse not just into the life of a man facing execution but into the soul of the characters.

The Thin Blue Line is as perfect as the documentary form can get and this set is worth buying for that film alone.

Video

    The Thin Blue Line is presented in a 1.85:1 non-anamorphic letterboxed 4:3 transfer.

This is a disappointment on any terms. Having seen the film originally at the cinema it certainly benefited from the size and quality of the image. It is therefore sad to see it given such short shrift on DVD. Like the others in the Errol Morris Collection The Thin Blue Line deserves better treatment and just maybe someone will get around to a full digital restoration.

In the meantime we have to put up with a transfer that has a lot of problems from the myriad of blobs, scratches and hairs to the grainy soft image. These don't derail a fine film but they do sometimes divert attention from the interviews. I would suspect that the popularity of the film on the festival circuit has caused this film to exhibit more signs of wear than the others in this series.

Aside from the scratches etc viewers will also have to put up with a soft and grainy image and stolid colours.

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Audio

   The Thin Blue Line comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 sound (224Kb/s) . This is satisfactory as the films largely consists of interviews. The sound quality has been lost to a certain extent over time.

As I said above, The Thin Blue Line has a complete score. In fact, the minimalist music by Phillip Glass is almost a constant voice and serves to heighten the effect of the dreamlike, perhaps nightmare like, quality of the film. The score stands up as a significant work of art in its own right and anyone who is a fan of Glass or film soundtracks in general should hunt it down on CD.

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   According to some sources the transfer of this film for the Region 1 collection is an anamorphic 1.85:1 presentation. If so then this is a real improvement and one which makes the Region 1 version preferable.

    The film is a masterpiece. The New York Film Critics Circle gave it their Documentary of the year in 1988 and it has recently been added to the list of American films recognised as being worthy of preservation. Only the lack of a decent transfer lets this DVD down but it is still worth the effort to buy it here or get it from overseas.

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Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall