Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

[Pete]

A feature-length documentary about Roger Corman's life, career and remarkable influence on modern moviemaking. Blue jeans, sock-hops and drive-in movies: the Fifties were America's age of innocence. But stalking the depths of its post-nuclear bliss, mass paranoia became fuel for Joseph McCarthy's brand of Red Scare terror propaganda. Bomb shelters were a deluxe feature in every American home, government-sponsored educational reels promised an imminent nuclear threat from across the Atlantic, and Hollywood, Babylon of the western world, hung on the brink of collapse. It was here, in the last-ditch machinations of a dying juggernaut, that a mild-mannered, civil engineer's son would become the most influential force in modern moviemaking. Corman's World tracks the triumphant rise of Hollywood's most prolific writer-director-producer, the true godfather of independent filmmaking.

[wayfarer]

thanks for the info, Pete! That I've got to see!

[Shaw13]

This looks excellent, can't wait to see it.

[Wes]

It's a disgrace that the Academy have not given Corman a Lifetime Acheivment oscar - so many of the great American directors honed their skills on Corman productions...

[antmumford]

Originally Posted by Wes

It's a disgrace that the Academy have not given Corman a Lifetime Acheivment oscar - so many of the great American directors honed their skills on Corman productions...

He won the Honorary Award at the Academy Awards in 2009, not really a Life Achievement though which you're right, he does deserve. Considering he's in his 80's now and still going strong.

[Wes]

Originally Posted by antmumford

He won the Honorary Award at the Academy Awards in 2009, not really a Life Achievement though which you're right, he does deserve. Considering he's in his 80's now and still going strong.

Many thanks Antmumford, I didn't know that...

[wayfarer]

Agreed Wes! Look at the people that came from his stable; the obvious being James Cameron and Gale Ann Hurd. He is not only prolific, he has done a great service to the movie and entertainment industry over the years and rightly deserves more recognition.

[pedromonkey]

almost every director who are recognised as the greatest such as Coppola, Scorcese, Dante, Cameron got their start with Corman, he's not only a prolific director and producer he also kept hollywood in money for almost 30 years. The man should be given every honour available.

[Wes]

Corman proved himself as a fine director as well with his series of Edgar Allen Poe films (incl. The Masque of Red Death photographed by Nic Roeg), and there was The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, a brilliant documentry style Al Capone gangster film from 1967. There was 1962's The Intruder, a gritty drama about racial prejudice in the Deep South featuring an astonishing visceral performance from William Shatner. For me his great masterpiece again from 1967, is The Trip, one of the great American films of the 20th century. Even watching the film today some 40 years later, it still seems bold and inventive with its psychedelic LSD soaked visions, stroboscopic lighting, and enough rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness editing to rival Natural Born Killers...

[Pete]

Coming to DVD and BD in the US on 20th February. No idea if the BD is region free or not.