Woody Allen's gentlest and most unassuming movie, Radio Days isn't so much a story as a series of anecdotes loosely linked together by a voice-over spoken by the director. The film is strongly autobiographical in tone, presenting the memories of a young lad Joe (clearly a stand-in for Allen himself) growing up in a working-class Jewish family in the seafront Brooklyn suburb of Rockaway during the late 1930s and early 40s. In this pre-TV era the radio is ubiquitous, a constant accompaniment churning out quiz shows, soap operas, dance music, news flashes and Joe's favourite,... the exploits of the Masked Avenger. Given Allen's well-publicised gallery of neuroses, you might expect childhood traumas. But no, everything here is rose-tinted and even the outbreak of war makes little impact on the easygoing, protective tenor of family life. Now and then Allen counterpoints his family album with the doings of the radio folk themselves (blink, and you'll miss a young William H Macy in the studio scene when the news of Pearl Harbour comes through). The rise to fame of Sally (Mia Farrow), a former night-club cigarette girl turned crooner, is the nearest the film comes to a coherent storyline. But most of the time Allen is content to coast on a flow of easy nostalgia, poking affectionate fun at the broadcasting conventions of the period and basking in the mildly rueful Jewish humour and small domestic crises of Joe's extended family. There aren't even any of his snappy one-liners, and the humour is kept low-key, raising at most an indulgent smile. A touch of Allen's usual acerbity wouldn't have come amiss. But for anyone who shares these memories, Radio Days will surely be a delight. On the DVD: Not much besides the theatrical trailer, scene menu and a choice of languages. The screen's the full original ratio, but nothing seems to have been done to enhance the soundtrack, and the dialogue's not always clear. A boost in volume may help.--Philip Kemp [show more]
Radio Days is Woody Allen's loving and deeply moving tribute to the dramatic importance of the radio in his childhood. The film is narrated by Woody, and structured as a series of vignettes about radio celebrities and anecdotes about growing up in the radio era, with Woody's childhood stand-in (a very young Seth Green) and his extended family at the center. This is an extremely warm film from Woody, balancing poignant reminiscence with a distance and humor that keeps it from becoming too sentimental. The opening scene, in which two burglars find themselves as contestants on a radio show in the midst of a robbery, sets the tone of gentle absurdity that winds through the film. Mia Farrow gives a great performance as the wannabe star Sally, with a thick and squealing "New Yawk" accent.
Radio Days looks at the past through the filters of nostalgia and imagination, looking at the world as it was from a child's eye view. It's a world where German submarines cruise just offshore, the sexy substitute teacher dances naked in her window, and mob hitmen turn witnesses into radio stars instead of whacking them. There's so much going on here that it all flies by in a dizzying whirl, a 90-minute trip into an imaginary past and a visit with its wild denizens. When the final scene, the delirious New Year's bash on the roof of a Manhattan club, finally closes on the empty roof and a few stray snowflakes falling, it produces a simultaneous feeling of satisfaction and sadness over the loss of this bygone era and all it represented.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. "Memorable! Triumphant!" -L.A. Herald-Examiner. A "richly nostalgic" (Leonard Maltin) and star-studded portrait of the 1940s, Woody Allen's Radio Days weaves together a young boy's comical memories with zany stories from the golden age of radio, to create a delightful tapestry of heartwarming and hilarious vignettes. Expertly rendered and "densely packed with vivid detail" (The New York Times), Radio Days is "one of the loveliest eulogies a filmmaker has ever given to any bygone era" (L.A. Weekly)! Gripped by wild radio stories about bloody wars and beautiful celebrities, 10-year old Joe Needleman longs for adventure and dreams of the day he'll see enemy spies, German subs - or even his sexy grade-school teacher wearing a smile (and little else). But while Joe's life is filled with fantasies about radio voices, the real people behind the voices have fantasies of their own. And as stars rise, careers fall and a nation hurtles toward the future, only one thing is absolutely certain: The days of radio may finally fade… but the magic of Joe's memories will always endure. Actors Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Tony Roberts, Danny Aiello, Jeff Daniels, Diane Keaton, Josh Mostel & Julie Kavner Director Woody Allen Certificate PG Year 1986 Screen Widescreen Languages English , German , French , Italian , Spanish - Dolby Digital (2.0) Mono Subtitles French ; Italian ; Spanish ; Dutch Duration 1 hour and 28 minutes (approx)
Woody Allen writes and directs this comedy consisting of a series of vignettes depicting life in 1940s New York, a time of recession in which the radio played an important role in people's lives. Focusing on one chaotic working class family in Queens, the film contrasts their struggles with the lives of the radio stars who live and work in the glitz and glamour of Manhattan.
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