Directed
by Louis de Rochemont III & Bill Colleran. (1958/142 min).
AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY FROM
AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY FROM
Review
by Stinky the Destroyer😾
This
is one case where the backstory, production and restoration of a film is more
interesting than the film itself...
"Cinemiracle"
was a format similar to Cinerama, utilizing three projectors to
present a single image on a giant curved screen. Windjammer: The
Voyage of the Christian Radich ended up being the only film
produced in this format. Cinerama later bought Cinemiracle and pretty much
ended that rivalry before it started. Afterwards, Windjammer re-releases were formatted to Cinerama.
As
for the movie, Windjammer is a documentary that
chronicles the training voyage of a crew of young boys onboard the
Norwegian sailing ship, the Christian Radich. It's a very long trip -
as is the film - with numerous stops in various ports like Madeira,
the Caribbean and New York, where we follow the crew as they take in
the sights and frolic with the natives (including Arthur Fiedler).
 |
| Time to stash the bodies. |
This
was undoubtedly pretty amazing on the massive screens it was intended
for, and the Blu-Ray restoration - including the "Smilebox"
presentation - is as close to that experience as you can get. If
nothing else, the film looks and sounds wonderful. But at home, two-and-a-half hours of what's essentially a
travelogue can occasionally be an endurance test. The sailing sequences
definitely deliver the goods, but hanging out with this crew of bland, blond
Norwegian clones sometimes slows things to a crawl (though the goofy voice-over
narration offers some unintentional laughs).
While
Windjammer isn't Cinerama's best film, this is a
typically-loaded disc from Flicker Alley, with a batch of bonus
features that are arguably more engaging than the feature itself. Viewing these first might even increase the viewer's overall
enjoyment of the movie..or at least make them appreciate it more.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
"THE
WINDJAMMER VOYAGE: A CINEMIRACLE ADVENTURE" - Running
nearly an hour, this retrospective doc is the best of the bonuses.
"THE
RECONSTRUCTION OF WINDJAMMER"
BREAKDOWN
REEL - A film originally shown to keep audiences amused whenever one
of the projectors broke down.
"THE
CHRISTIAN RIDICH TODAY" - Yeah, the old ship is still around!
2
GALLERIES - One of production stills, the other of theaters that
showed the film.
TRAILER
SUPPLEMENTARY
BOOKLET - With an essay by Randy Gitsch
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD. LIKE CAT CHOW
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