Cheap Marc Bolan and T.Rex: Born to Boogie (Video) (Ringo Starr) Price

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Customer Reviews of Marc Bolan and T.Rex: Born to Boogie

This needs a DVD release
One of the great forgotten rock'n'roll films, "Born To Boogie" is an *essential* document of the early 70s rock scene, as it captures Marc Bolan and T.Rex at their absolute zenith in 1972. The scenes of fan mania in the concert footage here do rival that of The Beatles during their 64-65 heyday, and Bolan plays the rock icon to the hilt, making sure every frame bursts at the seams with his particular brand of charisma and energy. Some of the performances here leap from the screen, such as on the climaxing "Get It On" (which also features some tight playing from the rhythm section of Finn, Currie and Legend).

The best scenes, however, are the non-concert footage shot with Ringo and Elton John, which include some intense studio jam sessions on "Tutti Frutti" and "Children Of The Revolution", and of course the exquisite Mad Hatter's tea-party scene in which Bolan plays an acoustic medley of songs to himself, his friends and some nuns with a supreme star presence. Starr's direction is--contrary to some of the opinions below--pretty good, kind of like what "Magical Mystery Tour" should have looked like. In all, "Born To Boogie" gives one a succinct glimpse into Bolan's mirrorball-magical world at the peak of his power and influence,
and if you can find a copy of this out of print gem, consider yourself very lucky. It certainly beats out Pennebaker's "Ziggy Stardust" as a document of the glam-rock era.

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Flashes of Brilliance, Not For The Casual Fan
It took me twenty-seven years to get to see this film; in that time, production values in Rock Music Cinema had undergone a major revolution. When you're used to modern Rock videos, with their very slick production techniques, this film will be a bitter disappointment - its pacing is slow, the sound distorted, the editing disjointed and confusing. Time has not treated this film well.

That said, there's a lot here for the Rock Music historian who understands the production values that existed at that time and place - other Rock films of the era ("Ziggy Stardust", the live Creme concert, etc.) also suffered from the same ad-hoc production techniques - mainly because producers were simply interested in getting a product into the theaters.

There's footage in here that is irreplaceably brilliant, such as the "Children of the Revolution" segment (with Elton John on the piano) and just about all of the live concert footage. There's quite a few glimmers of what a great film this could have been. One could be sad about the fact that this wasn't an early 70s version of "Truth Or Dare". But this film isn't what it isn't. It is what it is. And the good bits are definitely worth the trouble for the serious T.Rex fan.

It's good to see this available again. Get it while you can.

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T. Rextasy at its zenith; 1972 comes alive!
If you've seen "Magical Mystery Tour", then you know that as a filmmaker, Ringo Starr is an excellent drummer. However, if you love T. Rex like I do, this film is for you. Great live performance from the Wembley Pool shows of March '72, 100,000 screaming teenies worshipping at the altar of Marc Bolan, plus in-studio rocking with Ringo and Elton joining the Rex for "Tutti Frutti" and "children Of the Revolution".