The Carter Family - Will the Circle Be Unbroken
by Kathy Conkwright
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DVD Cover Information
Director: Kathy ConkwrightBrand: Paramount
Performer: Robert Duvall
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Pbs (Direct)
Movie Reviews of The Carter Family - Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Movie Review: A good introduction to the first family of American music
Summary: 4 Stars
My main complaint about this documentary is that it is simply too short and therefore incomplete. You get an introduction to the members of the original trio and the highlights of their successes as well as the principle strains in A.P. and Sara's marriage, and a bit about Maybelle's importance as a guitarist, but in the end it is barely an introduction. The show ends up feeling more like a rough outline of the Carter Family story than something that is anyway comprehensive. Watching it made me wish that Ken Burns would make his next major project a 15 hour documentary on American roots music. Wouldn't that be something to watch?
What there is in the documentary is good, but there just isn't enough of it. I wish they had made this at least a two-hour documentary. There was just no time to get to any of the good stuff, such as the larger place that their music played in American life. For instance, the Carters did virtually no performing across the country. Unlike Jimmie Rodgers, who embarked on long tours throughout the U.S., what little performing the Carters did was done in their local community. They were more likely to sing at a church social than across the state line. They did very little performing on radio or elsewhere. As artists, their careers were almost exclusively restricted to recordings.
Now, I'm not saying that what they actually dealt with on the show was wrong, but that there simply wasn't time to deal with everything that needed to be addressed. Sometimes less really is less. So while this is worth watching, it really just scratches the surface of the role that the Carter Family played in American popular culture. But it is an OK place to start.
There is a slight inaccuracy that one of the contributors to the documentary, Barry Mazor, could have corrected. As he points out in his recent (and highly recommended) book, MEETING JIMMIE RODGERS, the Original Carter Family did not perform for the last time in 1943, as is often repeated, but in 1953 at the unveiling of the Jimmie Rodgers memorial in Meridian, Mississippi. Among the many performers who assembled to honor the Singing Brakeman were the extended Carter Family, including A.P., Sara, and Maybelle. As Mazor recounts, A.P. "ruefully" remarked that many there might have forgotten the original Carter Family name, as they proceeded to perform several songs together.
Summary of The Carter Family - Will the Circle Be Unbroken
This documentary explores the lives of A.P., Sara and Maybelle Carter, starting with their childhood in Poor Valley, Virginia, and following their story through 1943, when they stopped playing and recording together. The film features rarely seen family photographs, memorabilia and archival footage that chronicles the life and music of this famous and influential trio. Academy Award? Winner Robert Duvall narrates.Documentary DVD Video
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