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Zelig [DVD] [1983]
 
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Zelig [DVD] [1983]

DVD ~ Woody Allen
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
RRP: £15.99
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Frequently Bought Together

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Zelig [DVD] [1983] 4.1 out of 5 stars (9)
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Product details

  • Actors: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan, John Buckwalter, Marvin Chatinover
  • Directors: Woody Allen
  • Writers: Woody Allen
  • Producers: Charles H. Joffe, Jack Rollins, Michael Peyser, Robert Greenhut
  • Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Colour, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
  • Language English, German
  • Subtitles: French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: MGM Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 19 Aug 2002
  • Run Time: 76 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00006BT6B
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 12,282 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 5
French\German\Italian\Spanish
English\German
English
Region 2
Mono English French German Italian Spanish
Mono
Original Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Menu Screens
Chapter Selections
Dutch\French\Italian\Spanish


Synopsis
Woody Allen's comic pseudo-documentary about a fictional 1920s media sensation named Leonard Zelig (Allen), a human chameleon who develops the ability to takes on the characteristics of anyone he happens to be with at the time. A gentle jab at America's obsession with fame and celebrity, as well as a parody of the documentary form, ZELIG uses an updated version of the fake newsreel technique from CITIZEN KANE to depict its hero magically at the side of almost every major personality of the early 20th century, from Eugene O'Neill to Adolf Hitler. Enriched by "commentary" from a variety of contemporary intellectuals including Irving Howe, Susan Sontag, and Saul Bellow, the film traces Zelig's bizarre career as a tabloid hero and side-show freak who finds true compassion only in the arms of his psychiatrist, the renowned Dr. Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow).

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Remember when Zelig was as popular as Lindbergh?, 30 Jul 2004
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Zelig [VHS] [1983] (VHS Tape)
Before there was Forrest Gump shaking hands with John F. Kennedy there was Leonard Zelig interrupting a speech by Adolf Hitler. This 1983 faux-documentary from Woody Allen tells the tale of a strange little man who wanted so badly to fit in that he was able to change like a chameleon to blend in with his surroundings, whether that meant being a musician in a black band, a psychiatrist in a mental institution, or a member of the Nazi party. Mia Farrow co-stars as Dr. Eudora Fletcher, who not only treats Zelig with her radical psychiatric theories but eventually falls in love with the lovable loser, saving him from those who want to put him on display so people can watch Leonard turn Chinese, French or obese.

Cinematographer Gordon Willis deserves a lot of the credit for "Zelig," creatively aging his film to blend with the archive footage that has Leonard rubbing elbows with Fanny Brice, Charles Chaplin and Rudolf Hess. This "documentary" includes "contemporary" interviews with Dr. Fletcher (Ellen Garrison) and other figures in the life and times of Zelig as well as comments from critics such as Susan Sontag and Saul Bellow ("He touched people in a way that they perhaps did not want to be touched..."). I also must commend the unique narrative style provided by Patrick Horgan, who delivers the sly narration with the driest sense of humor ever recorded.

My favorite section of this film is when Zelig becomes the national craze of the moment, to be celebrated and exploited by dolls, games and puzzles, songs like "Leonard the Lizard," and even a Hollywood movie. "Zelig" is a much more subtle documentary parody than either "Take the Money and Run" or "Spinal Tap." Truth, fiction and absurdity are blended seamlessly in this film, which is that most rare creature, a "charming" Woody Allen movie that is a much more enjoyable experience than reading "Moby Dick."

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Minor gem, 11 May 2004
By Andy Millward (Broxbourne, Herts, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
Zelig is a minor gem of a film, and in its own small way a trend-setter. Woody Allen used what were at the time ground-breaking special effects to insert Allen's fictional character into archive footage so convincingly that you can't detect the joins. But there is so much more here to relish...

Comparatively short, Zelig uses spoof documentary format to tell the tale of a human chameleon, a man who changes to blend into whichever environment he happens to be (eg. black for an encounter with Jesse Owens.) As such, this is a fresh, lightweight and funny film with much to say about human group behaviour and our need to be loved and liked. Allen doesn't preach in the slightest, but his thoughtfully allegorical message blends into the tale at just the right level to be effective.

In fact, if you had to criticise Zelig it might be that another director might have made it altogether a darker yarn. But in Wood's sure hands this is a gentle film that will not tax your imagination but will delight at all levels.

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12 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Woody Allen's many classic films., 24 Dec 2002
By Jason Parkes "We're all Frankies'" (Worcester, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)   
Zelig (1983) came on the back of the sub-Smiles of a Summer Night movie, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy. It is the film (along with Carl Reiner's Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid) that made key use of fusing the film's fictional characters with those from real documentary/film (though Citizen Kane had done this also). This is the key film that the risible Forrest Gump would borrow its style/techniques from.

Zelig ties in with Allen's previous themes from psychology, here the eponymous lead is a literal chameleon, blending in with those who surround him as he travels through recent history. Amusing that Allen borrowed the witness-interview form used in Warren Beatty's Reds (1981)- pity he was forced to repeat this in the recent Sweet & Lowdown (2000). Gordon Willis's photography is simply superb here- possibly his finest work.

Zelig is one of Allen's finest works- ranking up there with such greats as Sleeper, Love & Death, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Stardust Memories, Broadway Danny Rose, Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, Crimes & Misdeameanours, Husbands & Wives and Bullets Over Broadway. This film does need reissueing on VHS also!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever Woody
This is Woody at his most inventive. Beginning in the prohibition era and filmed documentary-style largely in black and white, it tells the fictional tale of Leonard Zelig... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Tyke

1.0 out of 5 stars Woody's worst film by a long shot
Edna is a big Woody fan and has seen just about all of the great man's films. This one is the stinker, however - a clunker of epic proportions with NO redeeming features... Read more
Published on 12 April 2007 by Edna Sweetlove

5.0 out of 5 stars Give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth...
...Or so at least goes the "Velvet Goldmine" version of one of Oscar Wilde's more brilliant remarks. "Zelig" is generally held to be a minor movie in the Woody canon. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2004 by lexo1941

4.0 out of 5 stars An Overlooked Classic
Just 1 hour and 6 minutes exist of this rather intriguing and witty "documentary" about a strange little man who can somehow transform himself into whomever he is with. Read more
Published on 2 Jul 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the Woody Allen I remember.
I was really looking forward to watching this movie. As a kid I loved the Woody Allen season of films on TV, and have tried to get round to watching them ever since. Read more
Published on 20 May 2004 by R. Britain

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
No Woody Allen movie can be better than this. It is really difficult to try and find the correct wording to describe this production, you have to get and see. Read more
Published on 28 Nov 2002 by Umut Erisen

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