“Les Blank: Always for Pleasure” is a wonderful collection of several of Les Blank’s films spanning four decades. Bundled with plenty of special features, this is a wonderful set from the Criterion Collection that celebrates the career of one of America’s well-known independent filmmakers. Recommended!
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TITLE: Les Blank: Always For Pleasure – The Criterion Collection #737
YEAR OF RELEASE: The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (1968), God Respects Us When Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (1968), Spend It All (1971), A Well Spent Life (1971), Dry Wood (1973), Hot Pepper (1973), Always For Pleasure (1978), Garlic is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980), Sprout Wings and Fly (1983), In Heaven There is No Beer (1984), Gap-Toothed Women (1987), Yum! Yum! Yum! A Taste of Creole Cooking (1990), Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists (1994), Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Fransisco Aguabella (1995)
DURATION: 563 Minutes – The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (31 minutes), God Respects Us When Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (20 minutes), Spend It All (43 minutes), A Well Spent Life (44 minutes), Dry Wood (37 minutes), Hot Pepper (54 minutes), Always For Pleasure (57 minutes), Garlic is As Good As Ten Mothers (50 minutes), Sprout Wings and Fly (30 minutes), In Heaven There is No Beer (49 minutes), Gap-Toothed Women (31 minutes), Yum! Yum! Yum! A Taste of Creole Cooking (31 minutes), Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists (53 minutes), Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Fransisco Aguabella (34 minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: Color, Monoraul, 1:33:1 Aspect Ratio
COMPANY: The Criterion Collection
RELEASED: November 25, 2014
An uncompromisingly independent filmmaker, Les Blank made documentaries for nearly fifty years, elegantly disappearing with his camera into cultural spots rarely seen on-screen—mostly on the peripheries of the United States, but also occasionally abroad. Seemingly off-the-cuff yet poetically constructed, these films are humane, sometimes wry, always engaging tributes to music, food, and all sorts of regionally specific delights. This collector’s set provides a diverse survey of Les Blank’s vast output, including fourteen of his best-known works and eight related short films.
When it comes to documentaries featuring American traditional musicians, filmmaker Les Blank is known.
A man who filmed things that he was passionate about, may it be young hippies, those who have gaps in their teeth, garlic as a food component to covering musicians from jazz and blues, there was no doubt that Les Blank was a filmmaker that shot the things he loves.
With a low budget and respected for his independent filmmaking, an oeuvre that would earn him an Edward MacDowell Medal, an American Film Institue Maya Deren Award for outstanding life achievement as an independent filmmaker and even has an event known as “Les Fest” dedicated to him.
His style was simple but unique for its time, as it took place before independent film. Film a subject as long as possible, muttering no words and letting his subjects be themselves.
And to help celebrate the career of Les Blank, the Criterion Collection has released a box set collection of many of his films on Blu-ray and DVD titled “Les Blank: Always for Pressure”.
The set would feature the following films:
- The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkis (1968) – After founding Flower Films in 1967, Les Blank shot his first film about the legendary Texas blues musician Lightnin’ Hopkins (Sam John Hopkins).
- God Respects Us When Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (1968) – On Easter Sunday of 1967, Les Blank went to shoot the flower children at Elysian Park in Los Angeles.
- Spend It All (1971) – Les Blank goes to Southwest Louisiana to film the region’s Cajun community, including the descendants of the Acadians (the first French settlers in North America).
- A Well Spent Life (1971) – Les Blank films Mance Lipscomb, the greatest blues guitarist who ever lived.
- Dry Wood (1973) – Les Blank documents the Mardi Gras celebrations and religious rituals of the black Creole community in Southwest Louisiana.
- Hot Pepper (1973) – A companion piece to “Dry Wood”, Les Blank filmed Grammy-winning Creole musician Clifton Chenier a.k.a. the King of Zydeco.
- Always For Pleasure (1978) – Les Blank’s tribute to the sights, sounds and flavors of New Orleans.
- Garlic is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980) – Les Blank’s ode to the “stinking rose” and features ardent garlic fans.
- Sprout Wings and Fly (1983) – Les Blank films the life of a musician in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
- In Heaven There is No Beer (1984) – Les Blank films the Polish American polka subculture.
- Gap-Toothed Women (1987) – Les Blank’s ode to gap-toothed women.
- Yum! Yum! Yum! A Taste of Creole Cooking (1990) – Les Blank visits Southwest Louisiana to film the cuisine of the area.
- Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists (1994) – Les Blank films Gerald Gaxiola, the King of the Cowboy Artists.
- Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Fransisco Aguabella (1995) – Les Blank films Francisco Aguabella, the great Afro-Cub percussionist.
VIDEO:
“Les Blank: Always For Pleasure” is presented in 1:33:1 aspect ratio. According to the Criterion Collection, “These new digital transfers were created in 2K resolution on a Scanity film scanner from internegatives at Technicolor Los Angeles. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter and flicker were manually removed using MTI’s DRS and Pixel Farm’s PFClean, while DigitalVision’s Phoenix was used for small dirt, grain and noise management.
If you do want the best in picture quality, I highly recommend checking out the Blu-ray version of this Criterion release. For the most part, these are probably the best these films will ever look. On DVD, the films continues to feature its original grain and the picture quality show Les Blanks films with much better clarity and no discoloration.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Les Blank: Always For Pleasure – The Criterion Collection #737” is presented in English monaural and stereo (depending on the film).
For the majority of the films, they were remastered at 24-bit from 35 mm full-coat magnetic tracks. The original monaural soundtrack for “Hot Pepper” was remastered at 24-bit from the original 16 mm full-coat magnetic tracks. The original monaural soundtrack for “God Respects Us When We Work, but Loves Us When We Dance” was remastered at 24-bit from a restored DA-98 tape and the restored 35 mm full-coat magnetic track. The original monaural soundtrack for “Spend It All” were remastered at 24-bit from a restored WAV file. And the original stereo soundtrack for “Sworn to the Drum: A Tribute to Francisco Aguabella” was remastered at 24-bit from the original 16 mm full-coat magnetic track.
According to Criterion, “Clicks thumps, hiss, hum and crackle were manually removed using Pro Tools HD, AudioCube’s integrated workstation and iZotope RX3.
Overall, while there is dialogue, some films may be hard to understand (not because of the audio but because of how a few people generally speak) but for the most part, dialogue is understandable for the majority of the films. But for anyone interested in Les Blank, it’s always pleasing to see how he would combine music and imagery and find that wonderful balance.
Subtitles are in English SDH.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Les Blank: Always For Pleasure – The Criterion Collection #737” comes with the following special features:
DISC 1
- The Sun’s Gonna Shine – (9:54) A director Filmed with Les was filming “The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins”‘s lyric recreation of a memory of Hopkin’s youth.
- Mr. Charlie Your Rollin’ Mill is Burnin’ Down – (7:29) An outtake from “The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins””.
- Lightnin’ Les – (3:32) Footage showing Hopkins performing a song he wrote in honor of the filmmakers futile efforts at the table.
- Making “Lightnin” – (8:38) A short piece produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014 featuring an interview with Skip Gerson, director Less Blanks’ collaborator on the film.
- An Appreciation by Talor Hackford – (10:04) A short piece produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014 featuring an interview with filmmaker Taylor Hackford discussing the film that galvanized Blank’s career.
- Lighing LesAn Appreciation by Taylor Hackford – (10:04) Featuring filmmaker Taylor Hackford discussing Les Blank and discussing the Texas Blues musician, Lightnin’ Hopkins and what he loved about “The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins”.
- Flower Power – (6:19) Featuring Skip Gerson, Director and Les Blank’s collaboratonr on the film, Blank’s son Harrod discussing the origins of Blank’s production company and the love-in of 1967.
- An Appreciation by Werner Herzog – (10:00) Featuring filmmaker Werner Herzog discussing his admiration for the film “Spend it All”.
- Les Blank: A Quiet Revelation – (10:17) A short excerpt from Harrod Blank and Gina Leibrecht’s upcoming documentary.
DISC 2:
- No Man Like Mance – (13:14) A short documentary featuring interviews with Skip Gerson, director Les Blanks collaborator on the film and his sons, Harrod and Beau, and Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records.
- Meeting Mance – (7:14) Chris Strachwitz, a friend and collaborator of Les Blank’s discusses the story of meeting the famous blues musician who became of of Blank’s subjects.
- A Cultural Celebration – (18:28) A short documentary about “Dry Wood” and “Hot Pepper”, featuring interviews with Maureen Gosling (Les Blank’s collaborator), Blank’s son Beau and filmmaker Taylor Hackford.
DISC 3:
- Lagniappe – (25:24) 25-minutes of additional footage shot during the filming of “Always for Pleasure” and compiled by Les Blank and Maureen Gosling.
- Celebrating a City – (10:12) A short documentary produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014, featuring interviews with Maureen Gosling who colaborated with director Les Blank and David Silberbrg, who worked with Blank on numerous other film projects.
- For the Love of Garlic – (10:29) A Short piece produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014 with Maureen Gosling (Les Blank’s collaborator, the film’s editor), Blank’s son Harrod and Alice Waters, chef and founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley.
- Remembering Les – (10:26) Tom Luddy and Alice Waters reminisce about Blank and his contributions to their community and the world of film.
DISC 4:
- My Old Fiddle – (17:29) Footage shot during the making of “Sprout Wings and Fly” and continues the story of Tommy Jarrell and the origins of his famous fiddle.
- Julie – (12:18) Footage shot during the making of “Sprout Wings and Fly” and focuses on Julie Lyons, sister of the film’s subject, Tommy Jarrell.
- An Elemental Approach – (5:22) Maureen Gosling discusses her approach to editing “Sprout Wings and Fly”.
- Polka Happiness – (8:20) Produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014, featuring an interview with Chris Simon who collaborated with director Les Blank on numerous films.
- Mind the Gap – (10:50) A piece produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014, featuring interviews with Susan Kell and Chris Simon, both who collaborated with director Les Blank and also Blanks’ son Harrod.
DISC 5:
- Marc and Les – (6:40) A short piece produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014 and features Chris Simon and Chris Strachwitz who both collaborated with Les Blank on numerous films.
- The Maestro Rides Again! – (28:58) After completing “The Maestro: King of the Cowboy Artists”, Les Blank continued filming. The following follow-up was released in 2005.
- The Maestro – (12:30) Featuring an interview with Gerald Gaxiola a.k.a. The Maestro and his unique perspective on the film.
- Art for Art’s Sake – (6:57) Produced by the Criterion Collection in 2014, features an interview with Chris Simon, who collaborated with Director Les Blank.
EXTRAS:
“Les Blank: Always For Pleasure – The Criterion Collection #737” comes with a 58-page booklet with the essay “Les Blank’s Cinema Vitalite” by Andrew Horton.
When Les Blank passed away back in 2013, many people mourned the death of the unique independent filmmaker but also celebrated his life by remembering his films in his oeuvre
Unlike other well-known documentary workers who try to build a story about an event, may it be good and bad, there is always view points to help create a story line through its dialogue.
With Les Blank, he did things his way without a huge film crew. He shot his subjects poetically, as if he was invisible to the subject and captured the person naturally in their environment and he was not a man who liked being called a documentarian.
His films were not very long but its his ability to capture life of an individual or individuals in their natural state through image and sound without following the typical documentary process of Q&A’s or having to piece things together to meet any requirement of a typical documentary. And that is what made his work so unique and different.
With the the Criterion Collection’s release of “Les Blank: Always For Pleasure”, this is a wonderful collection of independent films he shot within four decades.
Not all of his films as he has made so many films during his life time but you do get a great collection of his work in this one set.
From his passion of covering blues artists such as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, to fiddler Tommy Jarrell, polka musical figures such as Jimmy Sturr, Eddie Blazonczyk and Walt Solek to name a few.
He would also delve in to other non-musical documentaries such as “Gap-Toothed Women”, to his passion of creole cooking in documentaries such as “Yum! Yum! Yum!” or the flower children in “God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance”.
He was a man that wanted to capture the intimacy of human beings and shot films without a big budget and took on the role of director, producer, editor, promoter and shown people his films ala cinema verite, observing his subjects with no voice-over narration. But also his unique way of combining music with images.
And along with the films presented on this set are a plethora of special features that celebrate the life of Les Blank but also includes extra footage from his films. Especially his collaboration with filmmaker Maureen Gosling who worked with Blank for more than a dozen films in over 20 years. Looking at Blank as her mentor, she learned about his style and in his words “to make the audience see, feel, and experience a moment on film ‘freshly and with intensity'”.
But also learning about Les Blank through various collaborators but also as a filmmaker and as a father from his children, Harrod and Beau who also participate in the special features.
Overall, “Les Blank: Always for Pleasure” is a wonderful collection of several of Les Blank’s films spanning four decades. Bundled with plenty of special features, this is a wonderful set from the Criterion Collection that celebrates the career of one of America’s well-known independent filmmakers. Recommended!
