Product Details

• Actors: Frank Lloyd Wright, Anne Baxter, Murray Grigor
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Tapeworm Video Dist
• VHS Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000IBXL
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,115 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

For more than 75 years, Frank Lloyd Wright played a central role in the development of modern architecture. From his early prairie houses, which brought together Japanese and other influences in a quintessentially Midwestern design, to the revolutionary Johnson Wax Building to the late masterpieces, Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum, Wright strove to realize his unique vision in which living and working environments co-exist in harmony with nature.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT is a sumptuous comprehensive survey of Wright's life and career, from his apprenticeship with Louis Sullivan in Chicago to his final days at Taliesin in Wisconsin. Among the buildings included here are the Robie House, the Wright Home and Studio, Ennis House, Millard House, Unity Temple, the Larkin Building, Hollyhock House, the Guggenheim Museum and many others. Featuring rare recordings of Wright's own reflections on his work and the principles that guided him, the film combines beautiful camerawork with imaginative use of period detail to capture the buildings that continue to evoke awe and admiration today. More, the film shows Wright as a pioneer not only of functional design, but of such utopian projects as the build-it-yourself "Usonian automatic" house and an early prototype for a solar residence.

Narrated by Wright's granddaughter, actress Anne Baxter, THE ARCHITECTURE OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT is a brilliant introduction to the work of one of the twentieth century's great visionaries, whose concepts of form and function are, in large measure, the basis of contemporary design.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Quality, May 13, 2010

By 

Robert (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (DVD)

This programme dates from around 1982 and includes a lot of very interesting videos and information on a wide variety of FLW architecture including some less well-known buildings. Some of the scenes have been staged with period costumes and vehicles to better show the building as it would have appeared in context when first completed. Content deserves 5 stars, but I can only give 3 stars due to the poor video quality. It appears to be taken from an old video tape with low definition images and juddering even for slow image panning. Plus the DVD is a cheaply produced DVD-R (or similar) rather than a proper factory-produced DVD. Overall, I don't regret buying this, but if only the producers could have done some image restoration (since afterall the images are so important in architecture), and I think that this disk should have been priced at around half of the listed price, say US$12.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent biography of important American architect and designer., September 12, 2009

By 

B. A. Church "Design History Teacher" (Chicago IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (DVD)

The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright is a thoughtful, well crafted presentation of a gifted man who through his entire life was concentrating on creating special and unique architectural designs which incorporate the site - landscaping which supports and illuminates the design, the architecture itself, which stretches technology and imagination to its limits, the interior design which complements the end users life and lifestyle and the furnishings - furniture and accessories, textiles which are an extension of the design and a part of a well thought out whole.

Great visual presentations of a great variety of Wright projects.

Also, it is very nice to have the narration for the film done by award winning actress Anne Baxter who was Frank Lloyd Wright's granddaughter.

Overall, very worthwhile for those who don't know or who already know about the man and his work. Very informative.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive FLW., January 18, 2010

By 

Bradley Evans "Bradley Evans" (Denton, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (DVD)

This 75 minute video with the help of the Arts Council of Great Britain presents many intimate photographs of many of Wright's homes and projects. This video does not focus on the controversy surrounding FLW's life, but explores in great detail the work of the man and those who influenced him, including his Welsh family and roots and Walt Whitman. Anne Baxter, one of Wright's granddaughters, does a masterful and calm presentation of her grandfather's work. This is THE video that you want in case you cannot do a 'round the country tour of Wright's projects, which seem to span from The Guggenheim Museum in New York to the Marin County Civic Center in California to Taliesin West near Scottsdale, Arizona. Save some time, money, and air fare by purchasing this disc, which is far less expensive than a complete tour of the many FLW projects which are shown in this video. The emphasis of this DVD is on the design, craftsmanship, and integrity of FLW, and not on his apparent "mistakes" of his life. This video will be good for the family, the classroom, AND for the Soul. Happy FLW viewing!