Two disco films to look for

[Nano]

I was browsing two different books on rock movies (one from the eighties and one from the nineties) and found in each one of them one disco-related film that I didn't know of:

1) STEPPIN' OUT (1979)
Director-writer-producer: Lyndall Hobbs
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Runtime: 26 min.
With: The Merton Parkas, Secret Affair

Review: "Disco docu of night life in London in the late seventies-lots of (in the words of cartoonist William Hamilton) 'kicky knits and deep-vented shaped suits in an environment of chrome, smoky plastic and mirrors'. With on-screen appearances by The Merton Parkas, and a soundtrack infused with the musical likes of Millie Small, Brian Ferry, Sylvester and The Who".


2) DISCO FEVER (1979)
Directors: Hubert Frank, Klaus Überall
Writer: Hubert Frank
Runtime: 84 min.
Review: "German disco/sex comedy with performances by Boney M. ('Rivers of Babylon'), Eruption, the Teens, and La Bionda".

Did you see any of these?

[JussiK]

Blown to grainy 35mm from an early video source it was shot on, the latter German film is no sensuous exploration of the disco colour spectrum. Unappealing flesh tones, drab costumes, hideous attempts at dancing, bad comedy, slow moving narrative, a cast straight out of the Schuldmaedchen films of the early 70's, a few quick "live" performances by Boney M and co - I remember exiting in the cinema when the lights came on totally mortified, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, as if rushing out of a porno movie. Can't wait for the dvd !!!

[Nano]

Thanks Jussi! I knew this one was right up your alley :icon_smile:

BTW, last month we had a new edition of the film festival I work for in Buenos Aires. For the first time since I'm there, we screened two soul movies... One of them was WATTSTAX (Mel Stuart, 1973) in a brand-new remastered 35mm print, and with the restored original ending (Isaac Hayes singing "Theme from Shaft").

The other one was ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE (2002), in which incidentally Mr. Hayes sings the same song some 30 years later. This last film we presented in the frame of a retrospective of the work of documentarians D.A. Pennebaker and his wife Chris Hegedus. We had both of them there and I had the honor of introducing them in the screenings. Boy do I feel proud about that :icon_cool: