DVD Review: Paper Moon

I was a bit disappointed in the quality of the DVD, but perhaps it was deliberate. Maybe the pic always has been slightly grainy to reproduce the look of the 1930s; I would have to find my videotaped copy to see. Peter Bogdanovich isn't an inspired speaker, but his commentary was very interesting. I had no idea how many of the tracking shots were actually done all in one long shot, with no cuts; for a then eight-year-old, Tatum O'Neal's work was thus more impressive. Also he talks about using a wide-angle lens to film all the scenes so the background is as clear as the foreground, the local actors he used in the production (including several who went on to acting careers, the biggest "name" being that of Randy Quaid)--the story of how P.J. Johnson got the role of Imogene is hilarious--and the Kansas and Missouri filming locations and how some of them needed little or no change to look like a 1930s town or street. There are three mini-documentaries about the movie as well, which has not only commentary, but outtakes and little behind-the-scenes "natural" stuff.

A month or two ago, I commented about re-reading the source book for Paper Moon, Joe David Brown's delightful Addie Pray and wishing they had done the other half of the book as a sequel. Well, after hearing Bogdanovich's commentary about what the studio wanted to do with the sequel, I'm glad he passed: they did want to film the Amelia Sass portion of the story as a sequel and entitle it Harvest Moon, but they were planning to cast--gag!--Mae West in the role. I've never been much of a Mae West fan anyway, but after seeing pics of her in Myra Breckenridge, my stomach kinda turns at the idea. For one thing, Amelia was supposed to be a woman wasted with heart disease; West at the time was grossly overweight. And with all the talented elderly women character actors in Hollywood at the time of the sequel--Jeanette Nolan, Irene Ryan, Ellen Corby--it would have been a shame to waste such a good role on West!

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:27:00 AM

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