CriterionCast

The Eclipse Viewer – Episode 6 – The Actuality Dramas of Allan King [Part 1]

This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Robert Nishimura give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Robert are joined by Josh Brunsting as they begin a two-part discussion of  The Actuality Dramas of Allan King.  This episode will focus on the three earliest films in this five-disc set, released between 1967 and 1973.

About the films:

Canadian director Allan King is one of cinema’s best-kept secrets. Over the course of fifty years, he shuttled between features and shorts, big-screen cinema and episodic television, comedy and drama, fiction and nonfiction. It was with his cinema-verité-style documentaries, though’”his ‘actuality dramas,’ as he called them’”that King left his greatest mark on film history. These startlingly intimate studies of people whose lives are in flux’”damaged children, warring spouses, the terminally ill’” always done without narration or interviews, are riveting and at times emotionally overwhelming. Humane, cathartic, and important, Allan King’s spontaneous portraits of the everyday demand to be seen.

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Timeline for the podcast:

Introduction (00:00:01 – 00:06:54)

Warrendale  (00:06:55 – 00:34:49)

A Married Couple  (00:34:50 – 00:58:41)

Come On Children  (00:58:42 – 01:19:50)

Conclusion (01:19:51 – 01:27:01)


Buy The Box Set On Amazon:


Episode Links:

King Overview:

Warrendale:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcORA1Uq5LM?rel=0&w=640&h=480]

A Married Couple:

Come On Children:


Next time on the podcast: Eclipse Series 24: The Actuality Dramas of Allan King  (Part 2 of 2)

Contact us:

David Blakeslee

David hosts the Criterion Reflections podcast, a series that reviews the films of the Criterion Collection in their chronological order of release. The series began in 2009 and those essays (covering the years 1921-1967) can be found via the website link provided below. In March 2016, the blog transferred to this site, and in August 2017, the blog changed over to a podcast format. David also contributes to other reviews and podcasts on this site. He lives near Grand Rapids, Michigan and works in social services. Twitter / Criterion Reflections