The Speed Merchants
by Michael Keyser
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DVD details
Director: Michael KeyserNarrator: Mario Andretti
Narrator: Vic Elford
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Color, Original recording remastered
Running Time: 95 unknown-units
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Toad Hall Productions, Ltd.
DVD Reviews of The Speed Merchants
DVD Review: Five Stars for the Footage
Summary: 5 Stars
WHAT YOU GET: great footage of a very picturesque period of motor racing; some actual unguarded commentary from the drivers; lots of period details, like the fashions, or the fly yellow Daytona Syder parked in the Sebring paddock with some kind of chintzy lettering on the doors advertising a car dealership (? I think); also, footage (and interviews!) with the gorgeous Mrs. Jacky Ickx and Mrs. Helmut Marko.
WHAT YOU MISS: race coverage that approaches what we expect these days, eg., footage that conveys a sense of a developing drama, (the notable exception is the great Targa Florio sequence, where you can really see the cars squirming under power, and the drama of the race builds to a climax). You will also miss the sound of the engines, (or, barring that, silence), when the ill-conceived music starts.
The main disappointment in this disc is the director's unerring ability to suck most of the drama out of all the races here. The bad music plays a big part in this.
But I shouldn't complain. I do treasure this movie, rating it right alongside Grand Prix, Le Mans and the impossible-to-find The Racing Scene. But in the end the balance between off-track and on-track footage tilts a little too heavily away from the action.
All the usual cinema verite indulgences are here, like trying to "reproduce the rhythm of a top racing driver's day-to-day life" (drivers laying around a pool, drivers suiting up to go motorbike riding, drivers walking through the woods...). We get ham-fisted crosscutting between an injured driver in the hospital and a race (though they did not occur simultaneously). These are the exasperating stylistic tics of the era, I suppose, (they're great when they work!) and they can try your patience a little; but for a racing fan it IS entertaining to see Jacky Ickx (and his wife!) surveying their house as it is being built, or Brian Redman clowning with his daughter.
The narration by "Quick" Vic Elford and Mario Andretti contributes a lot--it projects a lot of their personality and adds some depth without feeling forced or pretentious.
It's the music that's the real villain of the piece. It is terrible for this sort of thing. While the audio of the engines is excellent (you hear the great flat-12 Ferraris, the Alfa V-12, and the Matras), the music is painfully inert and seems to swoon into prominence at the first flicker of any potentially exciting footage, tramping down the interest faster than a French scrutineer can toss a car from tech inspection.
PRICELESS: seeing the Ferrari racing department assembling the 312PB's in what seems an unbelievably rustic environment, and then visiting Autodelta, Alfa Romeo's race shop down the road, which looks like somebody's storage-unit: man, was it gloriously primitive back then!
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Description of The Speed Merchants
The classic story of the 1972 Manufacturer's Championship as narrated by drivers Mario Andretti (Ferrari 312P) and Vic Elford (Alfa Romeo T33TT/3). Takes you behind the scenes at Daytona, Sebring, the Targa Florio, the Nurburgring and Watkins Glen. Also contains interviews with Brian Redman, Jacky Ickx and others. Complete with its own award winning original soundtrack, this offers outstanding racing footage for its time and is a tremendous Vintage Racing resource today.Bestsellers in DVD
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