Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey

Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey
by Steven M. Martin

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DVD details

Actor: Clara Rockmore, Leon Theremin, Nicolas Slonimsky, Paul Shure, Robert Moog
Director: Steven M. Martin
Writer: Steven M. Martin
Producer: Amy Smith
Producer: Brian Kelly
Producer: Frank G. DeMarco
Producer: Kate Carty
Producer: Loretta Farb
Producer: Robert Stone
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 83 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-07-24
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

DVD Reviews of Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey

DVD Review: The Soundtrack to the Cold War
Summary: 3 Stars

A gifted scientist and musician, Leon Theramin was the darling the music scene when he introduced his paradigm shifting instrument in the 1920's. He pioneered electronic music, lived the good life and rubbed elbows with New York's upper crust. He challenged social paradigms as well, marrying a black woman decades before the civil rights movement brought the United States to its senses. Then he disappeared, supposedly spirited away by the KGB in broad daylight. Rumors of his death circulated, but in fact, Theramin spent the next sixty years or so of his life in prison and developing espionage technology for the KGB.

This is his story told through interviews and archival footage. Although the documentary doesn't flow as well as it could, Theramin's life story is riveting.

DVD Review: A bitter triumph
Summary: 3 Stars

I've not viewed this for awhile but what comes to mind is the account of Russian musical inventor Leonard Theremin's abduction from his NYC studio and brought to the USSR by Stalinist agents, in the 1920's, to be impressed into service to various projects against him his will and restricted freedom for a very large portion of his life and Friends could not get the US government to take any action whatsoever in securing his release or even to protest outrage.
He did get to return in time to receive some accolades and honors for his work and know it influenced people who were the age his grandchildren would have been.

It all came off as quite heartbreaking sad and tragic.

DVD Review: theremin-an electronic odyssey
Summary: 5 Stars

i had seen this at the movies (3 times) had found vcr's and had given them to my son (a musician in "trout fishing in america") and other friends. i decided it had to be in my permanent collection of dvd's and i have already loaned it, but am keeping track. it is marvelous. nidlet

DVD Review: Music and politics
Summary: 4 Stars

A fascinating documentary about the developer of the forerunner of the Moog synthesiser Dr Theremin, a Russian physicist who moved to the U.S. in the 1920s.

Not only do you get to hear and see the Theremin being played (it is actually not touched), which is fascinating in itself, but you get the story of Dr Theremin's vanishing from the U.S. and his return to Russia in 1938.

He is subsequently discovered in Russia and he returns briefly to the U.S. in the 90s, prior to his subsequent death back in Russia in 1994.

There are interviews with Brian Wilson and others about their use of the Theremin.

This won an award at Sundance in 1994

DVD Review: An insight into a Wonderful Mind
Summary: 4 Stars

Well done documentary on the mind of a wonderful inventor. Theremin's role in what was arguably the biggest eavesdropping story of the cold war was glossed over, as was left unexplained his being spirited the USSR and later being allowed to return to the USA.

A great introduction to an amazing man & his music machines!

Description of Theremin - An Electronic Odyssey

The stranger-than-fiction true story of the father of electronic music is captivatingly told in this highly acclaimed and endlessly surprising documentary (Leonard Maltin) that garnered the prestigious Filmmakers Trophy at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. Set against the backdrop of the instrument's ethereal sound, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey is nothing short of sensational! In the 1920s and 30s, Russian ?migr? Leonard Thereminthe inventor of the world's first electronic musical instrumenthad it all. His self-named theremins were in high demand from filmmakers and musicians around the globe; he was married to a beautiful American dancer; he lived among New York's socialelite. And then, in 1938, he mysteriously vanished, not to be seen again for over 50 years!

Leon Theremin was the secret link between sci-fi films, the Beach Boys, and Carnegie Hall. His self-named electronic musical instrument--the first of its kind--took the world by storm in the 1920s and '30s. Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, winner of Sundance's Filmmakers Trophy, explores the inventor's strange life and times, including his mysterious 50-year disappearance beginning in the 1940s. Interviews with theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore, synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog, and Theremin's contemporaries, as well as clips from movies such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, featuring the unworldly sounds of his creation, show an eccentric genius working toward success until his sudden vanishing in the Soviet Union. Footage of Theremin at 94 years old, finally rediscovered and rewarded for his achievements, brings a celebratory ending to what could be a grim or at least uncertain story, but instead is a fascinating documentary. --Rob Lightner

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