source: Festival

Moviecut—Festival

Festival

I saw this movie three times in one night at an all night movie house on Baker street in London in the late 60's. I always wanted to see it again to confirm what I thought I saw! It played with Don't look back and La Grand Maison(or something) a Renoir movie. All great movies. I traced down the other two movies, but not this one. Jane

Nearly 60 years later, it showed all the wonderful American music that came out of that period. There was a wonderful earnestness, openness and optimism of that time that you could see among those who were in attendance.

I have not seen this film for many years. It's not on video as far as I know, but it should be, because it should be seen by anybody who's interested in the evolution of music, folk & popular, in the US in the 1960's. See this, then see Monterey Pop, then Woodstock. It not only has a number of great blues artists who are now deceased (Howlin' Wolf, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, to name some popular ones), but the magic (or catastrophic, depending on your outlook) moment when Dylan "went electric" in a big venue (Maggie's Farm, etc.).

Having seen selections from "Festival" peppered throughout the Dylan documentary, "No Direction Home", I was delighted to go to Amazon and find that "Festival" is now available as a DVD. It is a memorable 'snapshot' of the folk movement/culture of the sixties, giving those listening to the music almost as much attention as those performing it. And the breadth of that music - from urban folk to country & urban blues to traditional dance to roots to international - is a reminder of all we were to learn from participating in the then burgeoning folk revival. It seems totally appropriate that the film, which is beautifully shot, is in black and white. Throughout we are treated to images from the era that would become iconic. While watching "Festival" one can't help but wonder how much more footage Mr. Lerner has... And if you like "Festival" you should seek out the treasure of black and white photos from the same era that is the book, "The Face of Folk Music."

I spoke with Mr. Lerner in 74 and he said that as a Black & White movie, people wouldn't want to see it. At that time vcr's were not very popular and kcet was the only venue. He offered to let me see it at a showing but we hung up with out my giving him my number. I saw segments of festival on the peter, paul and mary documentary the other night. It reminded me how much I would love to see Festival at Newport 1967. I wonder if it is for sale, these days. This was a very valuble documentary with extrodinary montage effects. It was truly neat to see and I hope it makes a return one way or another. Paul H. Borisoff

Festival (1967) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Documentary covering the 1963-66 Newport Music Festival with such acts as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Johnny Cash and of course Peter, Paul and Mary. I had seen several of these artists performances earlier but the real treat here was all the non unknown acts. There was a lot of great music from all (except PP&M and their countless Dylan covers). Another interesting aspect is the crowd stuff and what they all felt folk music was. Certainly the best of the documentaries looking at this historic event.

I like to watch old footage and hear different people's point of views and I'll give pretty much anything a watch. I liked some of the artist interviews between performances as well as interviews with various people of the audience. Overall the music is not for me. It's mostly sloppy and repetitive with even more repetitive lyrics. There are a couple of exceptions, like Donovan performing his song "Colours" for example. I like both the melody and the lyrics of that song.