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Still shrouded in a bit of mystical controversy as to perhaps the true natured reasons as to "why it's never been available on home-video in any sort in North America?!?", 1967's "OUR MOTHER'S HOUSE" is set to air one week from today in the U.S.A.; 6pm ET on Turner Classic Movies, uncut, Wednesday, November 12th, 2014. (Aim for TCM's HD version if you get it in your area, because I do believe they air it in its full widescreen glory ... as I have a recording of it in this format when they aired it quite a few years back, but settle for SD if that's all you get of course, given that the print they use, does seem to have a certain grindhouse look to it; which makes one feel all the more privileged in watching it!) This movie is essential not only to every SCORE and SOUNDTRACK lover ever born ... as well as Spielberg fans, but also because of its eerie pre-dating glimpse (without quite realizing it was doing this at the time of its release I'm sure!) at what would later give way for "gradual mainstream acceptance" of common "latchkey" life for children, once the 1970s rolled around, and by the beginning of the 1980s, BabyBoomers and their double-incomed yuppie "all about me" lifestyles ... pushed the divorce-rate past the 50-percent level for the first time in history; yielding an entire generation of 'home alone' children; a topic I seem to be all too familiar with, to say the very least.
“OUR MOTHER's HOUSE” truly is a classic that pre-dated so many things that would later trickle into other great latchkey psychological young-adult thrillers like "The Other" ... "The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane" ... and of course, "The Sixth Sense" and “The OtherS.” This movie is not to be missed by any means, for being "so bold" ... "so early" ... while accidentally pre-dating the future of those that came of age in the 1980s. At the time of the film's release however, 1967, it would seem that the film's goal was far from ever projecting itself as sadly "all too common" lifestyles for youngsters, but aimed for more of a unusual rollercoaster ride of child psychology. And if you haven't heard by now (as in the ‘literal’ sense!) it makes for a good double-feature with "The Color Purple." FSM, afterall, is who finally released this highly-acclaimed score on CD that for many decades was only available on Canadian vinyl!
Skipping an appearance on BetaMax, VHS, dvd, and blu-ray, perhaps next year's 4-K physical-media debut will finally cause the future to reveal this gem to new generations who deserve to see it, but given how rare it is that it airs, don't hold your breath, and instead of watching it compressed on YouTube, you might want to set your D.V.R.s for this one in HD. Or “V”.C.R.s, depending on which decade you were born in.
I'd love to lend my voice to this one if CRITERION ever got ahold of it, because it's just such an interesting picture, with incredible insight into the future of “parentlessness”; again, a statement I'm not quite sure it ever meant to be so bold at in making upon first being released. Those who've seen this picture, often never forget their first viewing of it, and those who haven't, and are perhaps too young to have ever heard about it until now and might be completely desensitized to having modern-cinema in the 21st century throw the entire kitchen sink at your face while discrediting your innate intelligence, you might want to throw all that modern stuff out the window while examining this gem, and listen up with your ears as well; as the film was "quite ahead of its time", not only in concept, acting, and directing, but also in ‘scoring.’ A properly restored facelift to this one, could indeed force many to justify why it's never been available in the home-market in any kind of promoted way, despite the fact that it was immediately a classic from the moment it was released, as was its score, and the man who composed it; Georges Delerue.
Keep in mind after you watch it, that if you come to the conclusion that you feel it didn’t live up to its hype, then realize this; that 2 unique things in this world, perhaps without meaning to (or perhaps it was just fate!), sprung from this; Michael Jackson (Mark Lester, just a kid in this film, was to become one of Jackson’s all time best and most stable friends), and Quincy Jones; who of course, helped fine-tune Jackson’s legacy; with both individuals, ironically, culminating into a rather lost-but-Grammy-award winning album (“E.T.”; not the Williams score, but the Jackson read-along version) … which, of course, as we all know, was brought to the world by Spielberg, which of course, directed “The Color Purple” 3 years after directing E.T. … which of course, was scored by Jones, and not Williams; a rare occurrence for Spielberg indeed, given that Williams scores mostly all Spielberg material, with the occasional Goldsmith/“Poltergeist” or Kick-The-Can “Twilight Zone” being another rare exception. (With Twilight Zone itself, sadly shrouded in a bit of controversy as well.)
If one thinks this FILM is interesting, imagine how interesting having many explain what has been its hold-up on home-video would be? Or a world without Michael Jackson and Steven Spielberg? I shutter to think!
All talents, great and small, are to be commended, for even airing this here and there, so that people like us, can rediscover it. By the time it’s over, and you don’t think you’ve seen anything big, just imagine the forces at be, and where the WORLD would be, without the kinds of talent, both cinematically and musically, that would dominate the next 2 decades; the 1970s and the 1980s, that was merely “in its infancy” while this film was being made.(?)
The movie “Duel” had yet to even be filmed, and the album “Thriller” was still 15 years away.
Here’s the link where you can enter your email into TCM’s schedule-database, so that they’ll remind you when it gets close to airing and you won’t miss it. It’s been quite some time since the network last aired it, and when it does, it seldom gives much forewarning that it will be doing so. Don’t ask me how I know these things, I just happened to stumble onto this by checking next-week’s schedule, and am always amazed when I see over at IMDB, that still; the film remains unreleased commercially on any buyable medium in the U.S. at least, and has yet to receive proper praise and restoration. Thanks to FSM, however, this hasn’t been the same with the film’s now famous … if not infamous … score.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/927/Our-Mother-s-House/ (you’ll want to click on the word REMINDER!)
And DON'T DARE watch the film's trailer! As it contains a few spoilers!
Sincerely,
BarryHappy4U
(PS: I always enjoy the fact that around HERE, no one ever lets November 3rd go unnoticed! Much obliged to all those who pay tribute to one of the greats! And all the great photos. Priceless.)
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