Product Details

• Actors: Andy Warhol
• Format: PAL
• Language: Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Italian
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Raro Video
• Run Time: 210 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002JC674
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,477 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Chelsea Girls" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Italy released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Black & White, Booklet, Box Set, Cast/Crew Interview(s), Documentary, Featurette, Interactive Menu, SYNOPSIS: One of the first 'underground' films of the 1960's to achieve a degree of mainstream acceptance (it was an actual hit in New York City, was well-received in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and was banned in Chicago and Boston), Andy Warhol's The Chelsea Girls offered a long, unblinking look into the lives of Warhol's retinue of 'superstars' as they showed off for the camera in their various rooms in the notorious Chelsea Hotel, long a favored New York hangout for writers, artists and bohemians. Along with such notables of the moment as Eric Emerson, Brigid Polk, Ondine, and Mario Montez, one of the 'girls' was Mary Woronov, years before she gained a cult following for her work in Rock 'n' Roll High School and Eating Raoul. The three-and-a-half hour film consisted of two series of images shown simultaneously, though only one soundtrack was audible; in 1995, Warhol associate Paul Morrissey prepared a video edition for broadcast on British television, though the film has yet to be broadcast in the United States and there is no authorized video release as yet in North America. ...Chelsea Girls

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No AUDIO for 30 minutes of film, September 19, 2010

By 

Psychedelic Eddie (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chelsea Girls [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Italy ] (DVD)

Almost needless to say, this DVD is an extremely breathtaking remaster of the underground classic film - the colors are vivid and the image is extremely sharp. It's a huge beaut, but...

I'm REALLY shocked by the fact that no one even commented on the following minor flaw - but enough to merit this as a 4 star critique, not 5 star release for me:

One of the most riveting episodes in this film has no audio whatsoever! It stars Marie Menken, Gerard Malanga and Mary Woronov and it has a really crazy, cool Velvet Underground soundtrack in the background. Menken plays a disturbing sadomasochistic mom who chides her son and constantly whips his bed. An extract of this 30 minute episode is readily available for streaming, but the sound is quite oddly MISSING from the DVD.

I find this glitch unexplicable and maddening, and mars the viewing experience more than a bit. In order to watch it, at least I have my old VHS version of the movie, but the picture is quite inferior to the DVD. Oh, well.

Let's hope the Warhol Foundation releases this on official DVD in the near future and fixes this. PLEASE!!!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars At times boring, slow, strange, unique, and in the end, absolutely fascinating...., November 3, 2007

By 

Grigory's Girl "Grigory's Girl" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chelsea Girls (DVD)

I just saw this film at MOMI in NYC (that's the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City, Queens, Astoria for non-NYCers), and I was surprised at how much I liked it. The film (or films...this film is show with 2 projectors running simultaneously, showing something completely different on each projector) runs 210 minutes, but I was surprised how quickly it flew by once I settled in the Warhol groove. Having an editor on hand probably wouldn't have hurt. Some of the sequences are a bit too long, and I love long films, so my criticism isn't over the length of the film, which by Warhol's standards, is quite short (when you compare this film to Sleep, which is nearly 5 hours, and Empire, which is 8 hours), but I was nevertheless fascinated by what I saw. Warhol just filmed his friends/colleagues/stars of his circle at the time, and luckily for him, he had a talent for spotting really interesting, fascinating people, so it's not a boring film at all. Some of the sequences are quite startling (especially the ones in color), and the man/character who plays the "pope" is one of the best "characterizations" in the film. There is no real editing in the film. The takes are long, and there are some silly camera movements at times (pointless zooms, which look like mistakes at times), but overall it's worth seeing, especially if you're interested in the counterculture of the 1960's. If Andy and Paul Morrissey (who also directed, but isn't always credited) had cut it down to 2 hours or so, and played around a bit with the editing, they could have had an absolute masterpiece on their hands. Still, it's really quite a unique experience. I thought it was going to be a chore to sit through, but the opposite was the case. Thank you, Andy and Paul...

This is just a review for the film itself, not the imported DVD....

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Supposed to be Random, March 1, 2009

By 

S. Sharp (N. California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chelsea Girls (DVD)

A previous reviewer has said that the film needed editing & was puzzled by the two projectors running at once. OK the film is an experimental format. It was intended to be different every time so two projectors were running reels in random order on each showing. Warhol wasn't into editing. The show has a lot in common with the psychedelic light shows of the rock concerts of the time. I worked on those a bit. They were moving collages of fluid projectors, old cartoons & slides. Chelsea Girls was supposed to be a less chaotic version adapted to provide a more conventional story line. Actually the point of the show IS the charismatic people he attracted. Conventional movies use the same type of charismatic people but placed into tableau based on the written novel & staged theatre. Warhol's approach was to discard the stories & concentrate on the people. He called his people superstars. Very few ever understood the concept & of course it's not very well suited to making money then is it.