THE MUSIC MACHINE (1979)
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 90 Minutes 32 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Ian Sharp
Cast: Gerry Sundquist, Patti Boulaye, Clarke Peters, Ferdy Mayne, Brenda Fricker
Having just enjoyed the frothy Disco Italiana box set from Severin I put off reviewing this one which arrived at the same time, enjoyable as that set was I was a bit overloaded with the consecutive viewing of three disco-tastic flicks, and wanted a bit of a breather before I dived into this Brit slice of discopsploitation. This Britain's first post Saturday Night fever flick, and borrowing heavily from SNF just as much as the Italians did. The film was directed by Ian Sharp (The Final Option), co-written by James Kenelm Clarke (House on Straw Hill) and produced by Brian Smedley-Aston (Vampyres) the film is set in London where the seemingly unemployable 20-something bloke Gerry (Gerry Sundquist, Don't Open Till Christmas) struggles to find his lot in life, living at home in Camden Town, North London with his working class parents, movie projectionist father (Johnnie Wade, The Body Stealers) and stay-at-home mother (Brenda Fricker, who you might recognize as the pigeon lady from Home Alone II).
He spends most of his free time dancing at the local disco clubs, where the beautiful bitch Candy (Mandy Perryment) has caught his eye, but he is gutted to discover she is already dating the best dancer in town, stud Howard (David Easter). However, when the local hot disco club the Music Machien announces a new disco dance contest, with the winners appearing in the next movie by big-time Hollywood producers Jay Reltano (Richard LeParmentier, Star Wars) and Basil Silverman (Ferdy Mayne, Frightmare). Gerry sees this as his opportunity to find his place in the world and perhaps catch the attention of the already taken candy. With the help of Music Machine DJ/secret dancerr Laurie (Clarke Peters, TV's The Wire), who convinces him to team-up with the talented dancer Claire (Patti Boulaye, Hussy) after his initial partner Susan (Chrissy Wickham) has to drop out, due to a jealous boyfriend.
In a lot of ways these disco dance-off flicks always remind me of the 'let's-save-the-arcade', they're sort of goofy comedies, there's always some sort of scheming and cheating happening behind the scenes, and in this one the producers is colluding with the Music Machine club owner Nick Dryden (Michael Feast, I Start Counting) to rig the outcome, but our man Gerry and his dance partner Claire does not give up so easy and put on a hell of a show on the disco-dance floor during the finale.
Like the films on the Disco Italiana box set I found Brit disco-flick Music Machine to be a frothy and easy to watch disco melodrama. The club scenes are very slick looking with neon and strobing lights and the booty shakin' disco music, and the main characters are just interesting enough and likable that I was happy to go along for the ride. Personally, I don't know how often I would find myself re-visiting this disco confection, I mean I still have not watched Saturday Night Fever, but if you're a fan of disco films and enjoy stuff like Saturday Night Fever, Thank God It's Friday or the Disco Italiana box set this notable brit entry is a no-brainer, you're gonna love it, no doubt.
Audio/Video: The Music Machine (1979) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen scanned in 4K from a combination of the CRI and original camera negative for the first time ever, with the following caveat:
"The master for The Music Machine was assembled from the 35mm Original Camera Negative and a 35mm CRI. Unfortunately, the elements had been stored in a barn in rainy, rural Norfolk for several decades, and suffered from severe decomposition. Despite these limitations, we have restored the film as best as possible.”
Well, that sounds worrisome, right? I went into this assuming the the worst, being stored in a wet barn for decades does not exactly build confidence, but fear not, watching this I was rather impressed with image quality. There's some occasional flicker or light photochemical blemish you can spot in the screenshots below, but largely the source has been restored to wonderful condition with gorgeous colors and strong blacks. It's not perfection, but this is definitely a case where Severin seemed to have under-promised and over-delivered.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. I detected no issues with his, distortion or other audio anomalies, dialogue is clean and crisp, and the bumpin' disco soundtrack featuring studio musicians and featuring vocals by by actress Patti Boulaye on the tracks “Disco Dancer,” “Get The Feel Right,” and “Ready For Love”.
The disc is well-stocked with newly produced extras, we get the 18-min The Dance Partner – Interview With Actress Patti Boulaye, the 15-min Howard & Candy: The Music Machine Dance Rivals – Interviews With Actors David Easter And Mandy Perryment, 18-min The Music Machine Mentor – Interview With Actor Clarke Peters, 12-min The Dance Machine – Interview With Choreographer Anthony Van Laast, and the 11-min The Music Of The Machine – Interview With Musician/Songwriter Les Hurdle. Also included is the 38-min Disco Maniacs – Interview With Mark Moore Of S'Express And Alan Jones, Author Of Discomania, plus a 4-min The Camden Locations Of The Music Machine – Locations Tour With Alan Jones, and the 39-sec Teaser Trailer.
The single disc Blu-ray arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided wrap featuring the key artwork from the original movie poster.
Special Features:
- The Dance Partner – Interview With Actress Patti Boulaye (18:01)
- Howard & Candy: The Music Machine Dance Rivals – Interviews With Actors David Easter And Mandy Perryment (15:12)
- The Music Machine Mentor – Interview With Actor Clarke Peters (18:28)
- The Dance Machine – Interview With Choreographer Anthony Van Laast (12:05)
- The Music Of The Machine – Interview With Musician/Songwriter Les Hurdle (11:17)
- Disco Maniacs – Interview With Mark Moore Of S'Express And Alan Jones, Author Of Discomania (37:38)
- The Camden Locations Of THE MUSIC MACHINE – Locations Tour With Alan Jones (4:50)
- Teaser Trailer (0:39)
Screenshots from the Severin films Blu-ray:
Extras:
