£7.20 + £1.26 UK delivery
In stock. Sold by ScreamingCd

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
mdo-uk Add to Cart
£7.21
beaches_mus... Add to Cart
£8.85
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 

Frank Zappa -200 Motels [DVD] [1971]

Frank Zappa , Ringo Starr , Frank Zappa , Tony Palmer    Exempt   DVD
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Price: £7.20
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by ScreamingCd.
Learn about LOVEFiLM
Amazon’s film and TV subscription service with unlimited access to thousands of titles to watch instantly, many in HD at no extra cost. Go to LOVEFiLM for title availability. Enjoy a 30-day free trial and watch across many devices including the Kindle Fire. Learn more at LOVEFiLM.com

Frequently Bought Together

Frank Zappa -200 Motels [DVD] [1971] + The Dub Room Special [DVD] [2005] + Baby Snakes [DVD] [2009]
Price For All Three: £27.76

These items are dispatched from and sold by different sellers.

Buy the selected items together

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Product details

  • Actors: Frank Zappa, Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, Mothers Of Invention, Janet Ferguson
  • Directors: Frank Zappa, Tony Palmer
  • Format: Anamorphic, Colour, DVD-Video, PAL, Widescreen
  • Language: English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.78:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: Exempt
  • Studio: Tony Palmer
  • DVD Release Date: 8 Mar 2010
  • Run Time: 95 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00347ZXY4
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 30,193 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Product Description

Rock star Frank Zappa stars in this film about life on the road with a rock band. Filmed in London where Zappa was living, the film also features Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Flo and Eddie and an X-rated animation sequence.


Customer Reviews

3.3 out of 5 stars
3.3 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Let down by poor remastering 9 Mar 2010
The film is great if you like that kind of thing - a few rock'n'roll numbers, Ringo Starr and Keith Moon larking around with the Mothers Of Invention, surreal intertwining fragments of ideas and some crazy (and at the time groundbreaking) visuals.

But I'm disappointed with the quality of the pictures and sound. Co-director Tony Palmer claims repeatedly to be in posession of the original video tapes on which it was shot, and the sticker on the front says "restored from the original sources", yet film scratches and blotches are evident throughout and some of the colours are very dark and muddy; and the sound is appalling - very muffled and boomy. So this has obviously been transferred from a cine print (or maybe a duplication negative) with an optical sound track - hardly "restored from original sources". Palmer claims on the commentary to have spent several months remastering the movie but I'm not convinced by the results. If (as he also repeatedly claims) all the editing and effects were done live as they were recording, it should have been relatively easy to go back to the original tapes (or at least the first generation film transfer) and reconstruct the movie in a digital editor.
Was this review helpful to you?
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars A dismal cash-in 27 Mar 2010
Mastered from poor late sources - both video and film damage is visible, the picture has been 'stretched' - and with a very poor quality soundtrack, Frank Zappa's 200 Motels deserved far better. 39 years ago Tony Palmer was not claiming authorship of this film (quite the opposite in fact) so his motives for this dire issue are at the very least suspect. As is his claim that the film was edited 'live', well the film was really edited in LA from the first generation celluloid transfer (by which time Palmer had long since ceased any involvement in the project).

Get a secondhand VHS tape and rip it to DVD-R, you'll do far better than this. Or if you're fortunate enough to own a laserdisc player hunt it out in that format (good luck to you, it's not easily found) - that shows how it should have been done.

Perhaps Gail has a decent print.....
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible. 18 Feb 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase
Maybe I need to watch it again but it doesn't seem to do it for me & I have been a Zappa fan for many years.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?   Let us know

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback


ScreamingCd Privacy Statement ScreamingCd Delivery Information ScreamingCd Returns & Exchanges