Cheap JFK Assassination Files: The Case for Conspiracy (DVD) (Robert J. Groden) Price

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Customer Reviews of JFK Assassination Files: The Case for Conspiracy

Each of these more than one dozen films has been "optically enhanced" for the best possible video quality. I've seen these films presented on other videos -- but, I must admit, many of these sequences look better than ever before thanks to the clean-up and enhancement effort done for this program.

Each film appears to be *complete* in each case, as well. With nothing trimmed off the beginning or the end, which is valuable from a "completist" (and historical) standpoint. Two good examples of this come in the chapters for the "Zapruder" film and the "Mark Bell" sequence -- with each of these films containing footage on this DVD that is not normally shown on JFK documentaries or assassination videos.

The very beginning of Abraham Zapruder's film is shown here, which includes a couple seconds of footage taken a few minutes before the Presidential motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza that November afternoon. These very first frames show two people sitting on one of the park benches located on the "Grassy Knoll", as well as Mr. Zapruder's assistant, Marilyn Sitzman, standing in front of this bench. Sitzman turns to face Zapruder's camera just before this segment ends. The film then goes directly to the famous footage of the motorcade motorcycles turning onto Elm Street.

The version of the Mark Bell film on this DVD is also of interest for its "complete" length. After the motorcade is seen leaving Dealey Plaza, Bell filmed some additional footage from an elevated position, across the street from the Elm Street activity. This footage is not usually shown when Mr. Bell's film is utilized for a video, etc.

The Zapruder Film, which is the most famous of any of the motion pictures taken on 11/22/1963 (and the only one to show the entire assassination from beginning to its gruesome end), is given the most detailed examination in this program (and rightly so). A variety of different copies of the "Z-Film" are shown here, and it's quite interesting to see how lousy some of the original copies are. But, along with a bad-looking copy or two, Groden also shows us some "enhanced" copies as well; plus an original "unspliced" copy of the famous home movie, which Groden had in his possession before the film was accidentally damaged by the Life Magazine people shortly after that company purchased the original film from Zapruder.

Other films shown on this DVD (in additional to Zapruder's and Bell's) include the footage taken by: Orville Nix, Marie Muchmore, Robert Hughes, Tina Towner, Elsie Dorman, Charles Bronson, Tom Alyea, Jack Daniel, Ernest Mentesana, John Martin, Mal Couch, and NBC cameraman Dave Wiegman.

Wiegman's original film is one of the most chilling taken in Dealey Plaza that day. Wiegman was riding in one of the "Press" cars (just a few car-lengths behind JFK's limousine). Just as the shots rang out, Wiegman jumped from his car, camera rolling, and ran toward the action taking place in front of him. His film is a total blur in many places, because he's running as he's filming. But it's a fascinating piece of film, nonetheless.

Elsie Dorman's film is quite interesting as well, mainly because of Dorman's location at the time she filmed the motorcade -- the location in question being the very same building from which the fatal shots were fired -- the Texas School Book Depository. Dorman was filming from the 4th Floor of the Depository, two floors below Lee Harvey Oswald's 6th-Floor sniper's perch. Dorman's film, therefore, gives us a similar view of the limousine to that of what Oswald would have been seeing at the exact same moments.

Thankfully (in my opinion anyway), Groden's narration focuses primarily on just the content of the various films themselves. He just briefly interjects his beliefs that some of the images we are seeing within these amateur films "proves a conspiracy existed to kill President Kennedy".

I, for one, do not subscribe to any of the many conspiracy scenarios that have been formulated since JFK's murder. In my view, Lee Oswald was the one and only killer located in Dealey Plaza on November 22nd. Of course, many people (most, actually) will vehemently disagree. But, so be it.

But, even for a person who advocates the "Lone Nut Assassin" scenario, this DVD is still a very worthwhile addition to the ol' Digital collection, for one very good reason -- this program collects ALL of the available assassination-related films and puts them all onto a single DVD. Plus, it's nice to be able to have this complete filmed record of November 22nd on the higher-quality DVD format. And being able to go directly to any of the various films via the disc's "Chapter" selection is also a handy and time-saving advantage over a VHS taped version.

There's a nice "Bonus" on this DVD, too -- the 19-minute professional film, "The Last Two Days", which was shot by White House cinematographer Tom Atkins during JFK's fateful trip to Texas.

More details for this DVD ..................

Video -- Full Frame (1.33:1 Aspect Ratio).

Run Times -- Main Program = 50:37; Bonus Program ("The Last Two Days") = 19:13.

Region Encoding -- This is a "Region Free" ("Region 0") disc.

Chapter List Paper Insert Included? -- Yes.

Case Type -- Keep Case.

A good piece of history, but proves oswald acted alone
This DVD is a nice collector item showing several home movies from that tragic day. What the zapruder film and others show me is oswald did act alone. The zapruder film clearly shows the first shot missing with kennedy & connally turning to their right. The second shot hits both men just as kennedy clears the sign, and the 3rd shot hits kennedy in the head driving it forward, then his head moves backwards due to the car speeding up, jackie pushing him, and a nerve reaction to the shot. The damage to the head is clear on the top and right side above the ear, and if you watch in slow motion you can see three large portions of the presidents head blown away. The first is visible at frame 313 flying to the front of the limo. This would later be known as the "harper fragment". Another large piece can be seen bouncing off Mrs. connallys seat, and a third was driven downwards and slid on the back of the car, the reason mrs. kennedy climbed onto the trunk to retrieve it. 3 shots with 2 hits and 1 miss.

Bah!
I was enormously dissatisfied with this DVD and if sending it back from Sydney, Australia wasn't such a nuisance I would have done it, post-haste. It has always amused me how people who understand such simple things as 'cat' and 'door' and 'mat' continue to believe that Kennedy was killed form behind. Duh! But alas, I digress. If you're itching for proof of a conspiracy and an insight into the heart of insidious American politics this compilation will do little to satisfy your curiosity.

The DVD begins with 5 or so releays of the Zapruder film , played at different speed, with all but NO commentary. We have all seen the Zapruder film enough, so I presume that we dont really need this 'silent' replay again and again and again. That's right! Even the sound from the policeman's microphone is missing. So you sit at home in silence going 'oooh' when his head blows apart. It's interesting once, or even twice, but not 5 times. Amazing 'new' technology allows us to repeat film pretty easily without having it take up space on a DVD; simply press 'rewind'. Just one playing of the Zapruder film with 'sound' would have been nice.This DVD doesn't even allow us to make up our own minds about the number of gunshots beacause we can't hear any.

The DVD then moves through 12 other amateur films taken on the day. None of these are as interesting as the Zapruder film and few, if any, show any view of the shooting. You have never seen them before beacuse they contribute absolutely nothing to the debate. Generally there is some distant blurred image in which we can see Mrs. Kennedy rolling about on the back of the car but little else. In some of these films the shooting is hidden behind trees or buildings, people heads, and once it is even turned off moments before the President is killed. Great! How useful! We get to see a lot of Elm St. but little else. Many of these films show crowds after the event running up the grassy hill to the 'wooden fence'. Seeing this 5 or 6 times is as close to overkill as you can get. The DVD continues to let the amateur film to speak for itself. In doing say it says nothing. Even something like, "The number of people running up there indicate a shot may have been fired from in front of the President", would have been better than the dreary silence we are lulled with. There is 'some' commentary here, but only to explain what we are looking at in these 12 repetitive dull videos."Here is Elm St." etc. If Groden didn't tell we would be wondering what the point was. In fact, I'm still wondering. The only thing that might suprise you is how many people had video cameras that day. Bet they were all thinking, "Damn! If only I had stood there where I could actually see something useful, then I would've made some big bucks!"

I found myself just skipping through these films, basically because it was all the same. The chapter list tells the story: Zapruder film, Bronson film, Little Miss Muffet's film. I can only assume Miss Muffet and co. didn't know the president was in town that day as he is all but invisible in the screen shot. Chapter 5 shows a film taken from the book depository but it swings irritatingly over the shooting scene and focuses on the city skyline missing everything. And so the DVD goes on, home video after home video, getting progressively unfocused and irrelevant. One film shows the presidential car shooting off down the highway after it has passed through the underpass. The 'conspiracy' analysis here apparently has something to do with 2 kids waving who 'didn't know the President had been shot.' Yup thanks Sherlock.

With all but no commentary the DVD in some degree allows us to 'look' and decide for ourselves. But look as we might there is nothing to see. I was expecting an intelligent and revealing dissection of the events and the people present etc. on the day. I was even hoping for some discussion of the events after the shooting, finding the magic bullet, the burnt autopsy notes, or anything which would leave me trembling with excitement about the idea of a conspiracy and the insidious heart of American politics. There was none whatsoever. This was soooooooo bland. If you are looking at this having seen Stone's JFK and are looking for a development, or a more historical analysis and presentation of the ideas presented in the trial scene then go somewhere else. Why this is called 'case for conspiracy' is beyond me. There is no case presented as such. The only connection made to a 'conspiracy' is a comment made by Groden that some blurred mess which can be seen in the book depository windows is that of 3 men, which by extension 'means' there was a conspiracy. This was perhaps the most intriguing moment on the DVD, perhaps because I had been starved on any interesting for about 60 mins already.

I love the classic commentary made on the day, the 'put me on phil...put me on' and all the rest. This you can hear in a final 'bonus' but is played over images which are forgettable and irrelevant.

The 'production' was equally poor. From the first moments I found myself muttering 'Oh no, this looks bad'. Sure enough, first impressions never lie. I can handle a messy Zapruber film but the whole DVD looks like it has been put together in the back yard on Dad's old video machine.

Kennedy assasination freaks might love it as a 'historical document'. It might also be useful for those people who were there on the day and and want some SILENT historical record of the day.

For a conspiracy wait for the 'Garrison Tapes' to come out on DVD.

Bah!