When You're Strange: A Film About THE DOORS (June 29) -- Blu-ray Review by James Plath

—> See Link to our Blu-ray Review (below)

Break on Through to the Other Side...

Eagle Rock Entertainment to release DVD and Blu-ray of THE DOORS film: WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE

"I am as proud of this as anything I've ever done."
—Johnny Depp (narrator)

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.
Plate 14, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1790-1792 — William Blake (1757-1827), English poet, painter and engraver

New York, NY — Eagle Rock Entertainment, the UK based independent, has licensed the North American DVD and Blu-ray rights to When You're Stange: A Film About The Doors from Rhino Entertainment. The 2009 documentary uncovers historic and previously unseen footage of the illustrious rock band and provides new insight into the revolutionary impact of its music and legacy.

Directed by award-winning writer/director Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film is a riveting account of the band's history. Produced by Wolf Films/Strange Pictures, in association with Rhino Entertainment, the 90-minute film is the first feature documentary about The Doors.

Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek has stated that "This will be the true story of the Doors," and that the film will be "the anti-Oliver Stone," referring to the 1991 film about the group that Stone directed, and which drew quite a bit of criticism from many Doors fans and Morrison intimates for certain departures from the truth in Stone's screenplay.

The creative chemistry of four brilliant artists — drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Kreiger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and singer Jim Morrison — made THE DOORS one of America's most iconic and influential rock bands. When You're Strange is the first feature documentary to tell their story. Using footage shot between their formation in 1965 and Morrison's death in 1971, it follows the band from the corridors of UCLA's film school, where Manzarek and Morrison met, to the stages of sold—out arenas. Taking its title from the cabaret—tinged Doors hit "People Are Strange," the film chronicles the creation of The Doors' six landmark studio albums in just five years, as well as their electrifying live performances. Rare cinèma vèritè footage offers an intimate glimpse into their musical collaboration — and their offstage lives.

The documentary first screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 2009. It received somewhat favorable reviews from that showing, however the narration (by director DiCillo) was singled out by most viewers as very seriously flawed for its monotonic delivery. Due to the rash of complaints about the narration, Johnny Depp was hired to redub it. A few months later, DiCillo pronounced the film "just about locked", and announced that there would be a showing of the new "redux" version. It debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Sunday, June 21, 2009.

The completed film was also shown at the London Film Festival on October 16-18, 2009. The film was released in theaters on April 9, 2010, with a soundtrack release on April 6, 2010. The soundtrack features 13-songs chronicling The Doors' six landmark albums with studio versions of classic tracks mixed with legendary live cuts including performances from The Ed Sullivan Show and The Isle of Wight Festival.

Additional credits for the film include producers Peter Jankowski, Dick Wolf, John Beug and Jeff Jampol. When You're Strange had its theatrical debut on April 9 and will be released on June 29 through Eagle Vision on standard DVD and Blu-ray.

Terry Shand, Chairman of Eagle, said, "We are delighted to continue our visual programming connection with The Doors and to build further on our co-operation with Rhino."

Mike Carden, President of North America Operations, said, "We are very excited about marketing this film and will work hard with our sales and distribution partners to promote the DVD as well as work closely with Rhino to cross-promote the soundtrack album."

Starring:
* John Densmore as himself
* Robby Krieger as himself
* Ray Manzarek as himself
* Jim Morrison as himself (archive footage)
* Johnny Depp (narration)

WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE — Explore further:
—> Blu-ray Review by James Plath »
EXCERPT: Oliver Stone tried in his biopic "The Doors" (1991), but nothing captures the look and feel and out-of-it performances from the Sixties like real footage. That's what we get from Tom DiCillo in "When You're Strange: A Film about The Doors," which is narrated by Johnny Depp so unobtrusively that you don't even realize it's Depp. What mesmerizes you and moves you from frame to frame and sequence to sequence isn't the sedate voiceover, but rather the home movies, amateur footage, newsreel stock, and vintage photos of Jim Morrison and The Doors. And their music. Some rock documentaries opt for musical soundtracks that flow like melodic voiceovers while different images tell a different story on the screen, but DiCillo went for the real footage. That's what makes "When You're Strange" so successful. Most of the music is actually performed by The Doors on camera.

Though DiCillo's film focuses on Morrison, as you'd expect it would, he also traces The Doors' history, starting with the chance meeting of Morrison, who'd just graduated from UCLA film school (without distinction), and Ray Manzarek, a keyboardist who recognized the poetic power of Morrison's lyrics. Morrison wasn't a singer at first, and was so shy that he turned his back on audiences when he first began. But quickly the man who at age 16 was obsessed with Elvis Presley and was reading William Blake--the band's name comes from Blake's poem, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell": "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite"--began giving audiences the "spectacle" he thought they paid to see. He became dangerous and unpredictable onstage.

And the footage? It's phenomenal. There are shots of the old Whiskey a Go Go, shots of the musicians in recording sessions, performance and practice footage, and a narrative that uses albums and album covers as milestone markers. Morrison, we're told, had no musical training and couldn't read a note, and DiCillo paints a much more sympathetic picture of him than Stone did. He risks speculation as well, sharing, for example, in voiceover as Morrison signs autographs, "It's hard to tell if he's mingling with his fans or if he needs something crucial from them to survive."

The Doors still sell a million albums per year, and over the span of their 54-month lifespan as a band, they sold 89 million records. "To some, he was a poet," DiCillo says. "To others, he was just another rock star." And in a documentary that tries to steer a pretty straight line through the facts, he offers "proof" for both ways of thinking. There's no easy thesis here, and while what is really a history of a band evolves into the biography of its lead singer, "When You're Strange" is a hypnotic journey through the world of The Doors that chronicles their meteoric rise and fall in memorable fashion, using original footage.

"When You're Strange" is a solid biography of an important rock band that features original footage shot between 1966 and 1971. With an unobtrusive voiceover and an absence of talking heads, Tom DiCillo's film offers a portrait as raw and real as The Doors themselves. This is a great rock documentary.

(Click thru the Link above for the full review)

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(Learn more about the film)

—> View the Theatrical Trailer (w/HD) »
(From Apple.com's Trailers website)

Rated R for some sexual content including references, nudity, drug material and language

Film Synopsis:
WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE uncovers historic and previously unseen footage of the illustrious rock quartet and provides new insight into the revolutionary impact of its music and legacy. Directed by award-winning writer/director Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film is a riveting account of the band's history. The film reveals an intimate perspective on the creative chemistry between drummer John Densmore, guitarist Robby Krieger, keyboardist Ray Manzarek and singer Jim Morrison - four brilliant artists who made The Doors one of America's most iconic and influential rock bands. Using footage shot between the band's 1965 formation and Morrison's 1971 death, WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE follows the band from the corridors of UCLA's film school, where Manzarek and Morrison met, to the stages of sold-out arenas.

Eagle Rock Entertainment
Eagle Rock Entertainment is an independent international media production and distribution company operating across audiovisual entertainment programming. Eagle Rock Entertainment produces and acquires the highest quality programming output covering music performances and documentaries, as well as film and general entertainment. Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices based in London, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Hamburg and Paris. It is foremost in the business of putting high definition visual performances and documentaries through television, new media and DVD/Blu-Ray and has also achieved worldwide success with the soundtracks to its titles including a Grammy Award for "Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scotts" this year.

About Rhino Entertainment
Based in Burbank, California, Warner Music Group's Rhino Entertainment was founded in 1978 and is the world's leading pop culture label. Emphasizing flawless sound quality, bonus tracks, informative liner notes, award-winning creative packaging, an offbeat sense of humour, and a strong social conscience, Rhino continues to set the standard for excellence in the reissue business it pioneered in both the physical and digital worlds. Rhino is also expanding the definition of what a catalogue music company is, as evidenced by the label's recent name and likeness representation deal with Frank Sinatra and its multi-faceted relationship with Grateful Dead. The vast Rhino catalogue of more than 5,000 CDs, videos, and digital exclusive albums features material by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Doors, Chicago, Black Sabbath, John Coltrane, Yes, Alice Cooper, Linda Ronstadt, The Ramones, The Monkees, Carly Simon, Curtis Mayfield, among many others.

About Wolf Films
Wolf Films produces the most successful brand in the history of primetime television, "Law & Order." Now in its 20th season on NBC, "Law & Order" won the Emmy in 1997 for Outstanding Drama Series and is tied (with "Gunsmoke) as the longest running drama in the history of television. "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" is in its 11th season on NBC and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is in its 9th season (the series originated on NBC and is now on USA Network). Wolf Films also produced the 2003 Oscar-winning Short Documentary Film "Twin Towers" and produced the critically-acclaimed 2010 theatrical documentary about the Doors "When You're Strange" which is currently playing in packed houses throughout the U.S. Wolf Films' Chairman Dick Wolf and President Peter Jankowski are both producers.