Product Details

• Actors: New York Dolls
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Surround Sound
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Music Video Distributors
• DVD Release Date: December 6, 2005
• Run Time: 230 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BKDNWG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,780 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

NEW YORK DOLLS:ALL DOLLED UP - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lookin' Fine On Television..., December 25, 2005

By 

317 East 32nd (Toledo, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New York Dolls - All Dolled Up (DVD)

I was going to give this DVD four stars; then I reevaluated it in the context of what it represents technologically and sociologically, and I had to give it five.

It's 1973-74. You have a band playing '50s rock and '60s girl-group music, sloppily and more distorted, but with obvious reverence; a band that wanted to put good times and visual appeal back into rock 'n' roll. You have a good photographer who happens to be in the right place at the right time (as good photographers often are), but now he's armed with space-age technology in the form of a portable videotape recorder.

Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya obviously had a knack for videography. Their earliest concert footage serves mainly as a historical document (and certainly not "art"), but as the DVD progresses (chronologically), they begin to explore the capabilities of the new video medium as the camera follows the band backstage, onto an airplane, into a restaurant, inside Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco (!), etc. One startling backstage sequence features the doll seen poking out of Jerry Nolan's kick drum on the cover of Too Much Too Soon. Here, the sinister doll rests on Johnny Thunders' knee in the extreme foreground of the frame as Johnny and Sable Starr chat at what due to foreshortening appears to be a distance of ten feet away. There are numerous other "photographer's tricks" employed to keep the all-black-and-white footage interesting. Since much of the "action" is fairly tame offstage hijinx and chatter, one would assume Gruen has done us a big favor by editing the 40 hours down to 95 minutes for the "documentary" segment.

The song performances -- presented whole on the "extras" portion of the disc -- are charmingly ramshackle, as one would expect. The mono audio is surprisingly good (by 1973 standards). It's great to see a band with modest talent and a huge visual "gimmick" confidently exploiting what they know to be their greatest asset: well-written basic rock songs. One comes away from this DVD entirely convinced that the Dolls all fell in love with rock 'n' roll at early ages, and were dedicated students, amateur rock historians, and big fans as much as they were performers. Sylvain's completely unpretentious audio commentary drives this point further home, even including references to specific guitars and how they were obtained. JoHansen comes off as more jaded in his commentary track; it's worth noting that he's conspicuously silent when viewing footage of himself being particularly annoying.

A brief interview with Gruen conducted by Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators covers the same ground as Gruen's liner notes to the 16-page color booklet included, then delves deeper into the subject of drug abuse and the general decline of Thunders, Nolan and Kane (without becoming maudlin). Billy Murcia is mentioned only in passing; his own passing predates Gruen's acquisition of the video camera.

Finally, Gruen narrates a slideshow of what must be nearly 100 excellent Dolls photos, some familiar, many not, including a barely-swimwear-clad JoHansen relaxing poolside in Los Angeles (with Lisa Robinson's toes visible in the foreground) and another "welcome to L.A." shot of the Dolls crammed onto a hotel bed with Iggy Pop, Kim Fowley, a very young Shaun Cassidy (!), and various hangers-on.

Some of Gruen's b/w video footage had found its way onto bootleg VHS years ago, but the poor quality of the boot made it almost frustrating to view. Here all is put right, and at the price you can't go wrong. This isn't just a New York Dolls video; it, like Dogtown & Z-Boys, captures the essence of the '70s the way I prefer to remember them, and brings that spirit into the new millennium with no loss of fidelity. It is as "1974" as Ashley Whippet catching a Frisbee in center field, yet as fresh as an egg cream from Gem Spa. (It's still there, and they still sell 'em.)

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You Best Believe I'm in Love L-U-V, December 11, 2005

By 

matthewslaughter "matthewslaughter" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New York Dolls - All Dolled Up (DVD)

Not ever having seen live footage of the New York Dolls in their prime before, this documentary comes as a complete revelation to me. Gruen and Beck's footage is rough, but, hey, so was the band. Given amazing access (we are there at the photo shoot that produced the cover for the 1985 compilation "Night of the Living Dolls" and "The Real Don Steele Show" performance of "Personality Crisis" that resulted in the cover for "Too Much Too Soon"), this film shows the Dolls as not only a professional, rowdy rock n' roll group, but as a charismatic bunch of young men. Not only that, they are much more savvy and intelligent than they are usually portrayed in textual accounts of the group. There is some footage from the Malcolm McLaren/Lipstick Killers era, which has Johnny Thunders more in the limelight than during 1972 and 1973, but this is not really the focus of the film. The bonus material is good, but not great: there is a curious interview of Bob Gruen by Handsome Dick Manitoba from the Dictators, and two commentary tracks (one by David JoHansen and another by Sylvain Sylvain). This is must for any New York Dolls fan, and an excellent video intro to the group.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another place-another time, March 19, 2006

By 

R. Wagner "fritzopup" (Earth, Milky Way Galaxy) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New York Dolls - All Dolled Up (DVD)

I was there. My best buddy and I caught the Dolls on their 1973 promotional tour in Pittsburgh. What a knock out! I was a senior in high school and heavy into the developing Glam Rock genre-having already seen Bowie, Mott, Queen, Iggy and Bolan I was itching to see if the Dolls show would live up to the power of their debut LP. After seeing them live I realized how much Todd Rundgren had homogenized them when producing their LP. These guys rocked like the Stones used to. This DVD captures that time. It's gritty and raw and has the appearance of a bootleg-not that this is a bad thing. It's honest for sure. Watching this labor of love makes me miss those days when anything could and often did happen. I followed Johnny Thunders to the end and getting to see him at his fiercest (in these live tracks) and getting to see him in his unguarded moments was worth the price of the DVD. The commentary tracks by Syl and David are much more than informative-so much background on this time and place. Instead of buying those overdone compilations or collections of demos and sub-par audio bootleg tracks, drop a dime here and you'll be mighty glad you did. Sorry for those who missed those heady days of the early 70's. First glam then REAL punk. To bad that you can't put your arms around a memory.