| | |  | Ballets & Classics | Home » » » Bad Boy Made Good: The Revival of the Ballet Mecanique | | | | | | | Description: | | This 2-DVD set about George Antheil includes the award-winning documentary film by Ron Frank and Paul D. Lehrman plus extended interviews with friends of Antheil featured in the film, the complete first concert performance of the original orchestration of Ballet Mecanique, and the 1925 Leger/Murphy film Ballet Mecanique with the newly-realized 16-player-piano version of Antheil's score. A 'must-have' for any avant garde music enthusiast! | | | Features: | |
• Deluxe 2-DVD set
• Complete concert performance of teh Ballet mécanique
• Interviews with friends and students of George Antheil
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Narrated by Tony Kahn; Featuring Charles | | Director:
| Ron Frank | | Format:
| NTSC | | Number of Discs:
| 2 | | Studio:
| Electronic Music Foundation/Ballet mécanique Proj. | | Run Time:
| 183 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| April 06, 2006 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 3 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 3 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Two Thumbs Up!Jul 06, 2006
By P V
"music enthusiast"
Last weekend I had the honor to view the final cut of a film at the Doc Kountze Film Festival called Bad Boy Made Good. This film brought to life a piece of music that, when it was created in the 1920's, was ahead of its time. What the composer, George Antheil, had in mind when he created Ballet Mecanique, was not possible to deliver to audiences until the 1990s. The work is a composition which includes the following instruments: two grand pianos, three xylophones, four bass drums, and a tam-tam, 16 synchronized player pianos, sirens, bells and 3 airplane propellers. I sh** you not. It is truly a spectacle, er, spectacular piece.
This documentary includes the evolution of the project as well as the evolution of the life of George Antheil. I don't think that I can describe this with any justice, but because this topic was so far outside of my circle of knowledge, I was completely riveted by this film. I was surprised at what an important part of contemporary musical history (something that we don't hear much about in mainstream channels save for Aaron Copeland) that I felt genuinely enlightened. George's life (I feel so connected that I can call him by his first name) held a lot of the same struggles musicians have today and maybe even on a grander scale because of his ingeniousness. Every musician should see this film for obvious reasons and everyone else should catch a glimpse just to be inspired.
Two thumbs up!
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Fantastic!!! Thanks to Those Who Made it Possible.Feb 19, 2009
By B. Beck
"Barb Beck"
This is fantastic. Great story. Great music. I agree with the previous reviewer on all points except the one where he states that all musicians should see it. Those of us who are non musicians but love or or trying to understand 20th century music should see it too. Many many thanks to those who I think put in an insane amount of work to pull this thing off.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 antheil returnsJun 11, 2009
By parisNewt
Tremendously entertaining, a forgotten corner of musical history, from a kid out of Trenton, New Jersey!
| | |
|
