Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth
by Erik Nelson
List Price:
Our Price: $13.36
You Save: $13.59 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Erik Nelson, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Robin WilliamsDirector: Erik Nelson
Brand: NEW VIDEO GROUP
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-05-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: NEW VIDEO GROUP
Product features:
- Crackling with infectious energy, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH pays homage to the dark prince of American letters, Harlan Ellison. Master of his craft, Ellison has heroically produced over 75 books and more than 1,700ics of fiction and non-fiction on one of his Olympia manual typewriters, including the single most popular Star Trek episode ("City on the Edge of Forever") and brilliant, award-wi
DVD Reviews of Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth
DVD Review: Entertaining, but
Summary: 3 Stars
Loved the stuff I saw and heard and recalled from other rants by Ellison...
BUT...the dead gopher story is not here...
the "readings" of various short stories are a few paragraphs from whatever is listed on the screed on the back of the DVD. The initial thrust of the DVD notes is to give me the idear he was reading whole stories, not five or six lines/ paragraphs.
Coulda been longer.
I have to cull the enthusiasm I felt because the notes and the information are slightly misleading. The Interview was Neil Gainman in fun and rambling.
Ellison attacking fans and fandom is funny. The stories which are too bizarre to place here were in a prolonged essay called "Xenogenises", though Harlan the Ellison forgets (right, perfect memory) to mention his involvement at a con where he dropped bags of water onto people from his hotel windows and removed doors from select rooms. The crap needs to call the pot dark.
But, folks interested in Ellison will find enough here to amuse, and maybehaps go off and locate some of his other recordings and tapes and CD's and his books to entertain themselves. Also recommended is THE OUTER LIMITS, season 2, with "Soldier" and "Demon With a Glass Hand", which Ellison wrote.
DVD Review: Not to be missed by any Scifi fan.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to say that this is the best DVD I have watched in years. Love him or hate him you have to admit that Harlan Ellison is always entertaining, a heck of a good storyteller and an angry driver. The only complaint I have is that the DVD is much to short. Its all very well to hear about the author's childhood but I was much more interested in his career as an author. That's not to say that what is here is not excellent far from it you get Ellison opinion on politics, copyright infringement, writers, television, the general dumbing down of entertainment and a host of other issues. It was also hilarious that the only one that seemed to care about Ellison being Jewish was Robin Williams.
The DVD extras are also not to missed especially the melodramatic way in which Ellison reads his stories. Others have had problems with the audio quality on the pizza discussion with Gaiman but I didn't notice any problems.
Overall-The best hour and ? I have spent in many months
DVD Review: Inside the mind of an Iconoclast
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful look inside the mind one of America's greatest fantasists. Harlan Ellison has written some of the finest short stories in literary history. This documentary shows him in all his brilliance and in all his crankiness. He doesn't suffer fools -- and maybe we all shouldn't. But most of all he's fearless in defending Writers' Rights. And for that he should win some award.
Interviews with friends on colleagues like Neil Gaiman and Robin Williams. This film has more laughs than most big studio comedies.
DVD Review: He has a mouth and boy does he scream...
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't discover Ellison's work until after high school. I was working a dead-end job on the night shift at a grocery store and one of the other stockers, a slightly odd and intriguing woman, shoved a copy of Shatterday into my hands and told me to read it. It was the start of two wonderful friendships, one which has lasted through the rest of my life to this point. Even after tracking down and reading the bulk of Ellison's work, he still manages to amaze me with his wit, charm, cantankerousness, and his wildly amazing perspective on short form storytelling. Ellison is a master at plucking those moments, those essential truths and shared yearnings that we all face, and putting them into a world of nightmares and dreamscapes that's both fantastic and brutally real. I've been lucky enough to meet the man once and managed to mostly escape his razor sharp tongue, and even for all of his autobio writings, I still feel like I have a lot to learn about the man.
Erik Nelson's portrait documentary, Dreams with Sharp Teeth, goes a long way to filling in some of the gaps. Nelson does a pretty darn good job of weaving together Ellison's story through anecdotal interviews with his contemporaries and friends, archival interviews and other video footage (including some rare home movies from Ellison's personal collection), as well as some deftly chosen passages from various short stories performed by the man himself.
My one complaint is that the documentary shies away from really covering Ellison's life as a whole, and instead focuses on his influence within his peer group and his overall "angry old Jew" personality. It ends up feeling like a special feature of a great Ellison documentary, which has yet to be made, which is kind of a shame. That isn't to say that it isn't worth the time, it very much is, it's just whetted my appetite for more. Think I'm going to go back and crack open my copy of Shatterday.
Also, a quick note on the Pizza with Harlan and Neil Gaiman featurette. the sound quality on this segment is pretty awful, with Gaiman's half of the conversation at a mouse's whisper and Ellison's chomping on his slice like crackling thunder.
DVD Review: Vicarious Pleasure
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a Harlan fanatic since discovering his work in the 1970's, and had my one chance meeting in the lobby of Camera One theater in 1980, at the now defunct Science Fiction Film Festival, Harlan was the Guest of Honor. He kindly shared his water with me after I gushingly told him he was my favorite author. Ah the joys of fandom.
I am just ordering this now, but already know I'll love it. This man is a National Treasure. For me I think of Bradbury, Vonnegut, and Ellison in the same revered catagory, with Harlan at the pinnacle. Short stories, novellas, TV Scripts, (unmade) Movie Scripts like IRobot... anyway, I cannot wait to get my copy. Congratulations on 75 phenomenal whirlwind years Harlan!
Description of Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth
Crackling with infectious energy, Dreams with Sharp Teeth pays homage to the dark prince of American letters, Harlan Ellison. Master of his craft, Ellison has heroically produced over 75 books and 1,700 articles on his Olympia manual typewriter, including Star Trek episodes and brilliant, award-winning short stories, some written in bookstore windows, on very public display.Wildly imaginative writer, foul-mouthed provocateur, unholy fusion of Lenny Bruce and Hunter S. Thompson, Ellison's remarkable personal journey is lovingly rendered by director Erik Nelson.
The film draws on over 25 years of exclusive video footage that captures Ellison at his most irritating and inspiring, curmudgeonly and lovable. See Ellison rant about the idiocies of fandom, confess to mailing a dead gopher to a publishing house, recall his tortuous childhood, and speak about the joy (and misery) of writing. The film features candid interviews with famous and surprising friends, including actor Robin Williams, author Neil Gaiman and Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica), who flesh out Ellison's prodigious contributions to the literary and entertainment worlds, as well as their very personal encounters with this unique Force Of Nature.
Whether a die-hard Ellison fan or someone tragically uninitiated, Dreams with Sharp Teeth will amuse, inspire and edify.
Over 80 minutes of bonus material including: Six Bonus Harlan Ellison Readings; Pizza with Harlan and Neil Gaiman; ''An Evening With Sharp Teeth'': The Film s Premiere; Trailer
Stills from Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth
 |  |
General DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Valentino: The Last EmperorPEACE ARCH HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2009-09-08; DVD
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
The Civil War - A Film by Ken BurnsBURNS,KEN; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $35.95
Price in other shops:
On the Road with Charles Kuralt, Set 1Acorn; Release date: 2009-10-27; DVD
Best price: $27.10
Price in other shops:
![The National Parks: America's Best Idea [Blu-ray] Image](/images/The-National-Parks-America-Best-Idea-Blu-ray-B002GWDK6Q-X.jpg){kind=small}
The National Parks: America's Best Idea [Blu-ray]Release date: 2009-10-06; DVD
Best price: $68.53
Price in other shops:
Monty Python: Almost The TruthUni; Release date: 2009-10-27; DVD
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops:
The Secret (Extended Edition)The Secret; Release date: 2006-10-01; Published: 2006; DVD
Best price: $7.78
Price in other shops:
The CarterHART SHARP VIDEO; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $13.85
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns: National Parks - America's Best IdeaRelease date: 2009-10-06; DVD
Best price: $60.95
Price in other shops:
Planet Earth - The Complete BBC SeriesWarner Brothers; Release date: 2007-04-24; DVD
Best price: $26.67
Price in other shops:
Food, Inc.MAGNOLIA PICT HM ENT; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Song of Kaliby Dan Simmons
Tor Books; Published: 1998-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.51
Price in other shops:
No Doors, No Windowsby Harlan Ellison
e-reads.com; Published: 2009-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Mind Fields: The Art of Jacek Yerka, the Fiction of Harlan Ellisonby Harlan Ellison
Morpheus International; Published: 2006-07-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
The Essential Ellison: A 50 Year Retrospective (Revised and Expanded)by Harlan Ellison
Morpheus International; Published: 2005-03-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $62.94
Angry Candyby Harlan Ellison
Mariner Books; Published: 1998-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.25
Price in other shops:
Harlan Ellison - On The Road With Ellison Volume ThreeRelease date: 2008-01-08; Music CD
Best price: $21.99
Shatterdayby Harlan Ellison
Tachyon Publications; Published: 2007-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.87
Price in other shops:
Dangerous Visionsby Harlan Ellison
e-reads.com; Published: 2009-05-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.83
Price in other shops:
Dark DreamersRelease date: 2009-01-27; DVD
Best price: $13.22
Price in other shops:
Harlan Ellison's Watchingby Harlan Ellison, Leonard Maltin
M Press; Published: 2008-04-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.12
Price in other shops: