Product Details

• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: LTM
• DVD Release Date: July 16, 2007
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FIHJWY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,495 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly good dvd - and a must for FAC fans, April 28, 2008

By 

Martin Percival (Marlow, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shadowplayers : Factory Records 1978-81 (DVD)

I picked this up just on the off chance that I might find the content of interest and I was really pleasantly surprised.

The dvd tells the early history of Factory Records through interviews with numerous (22) participants in well shot interviews. These are not only the main players like Tony Wilson, Peter Hook and Peter Saville but also many unexpected contributors including Annick Honoré from Factory Benelux, Jaz Coleman - Killing Joke, Richard Jobson - the Skids and Chris Wilson - Cabaret Voltaire.

Director James Nice explores the history of the label over 2 hours 15 minutes divided into 19 chapters. These cover subjects like The Factory Club, sleeve art and graphic design, producer Martin Hannett, the riot at the Joy Division concert at Bury in April 1980, the Factory Benelux connection, the tragic suicide of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, the beginnings of New Order and the decline of the post-punk culture in 1981.

This dvd is a must for any fans of the early years of Factory, but be aware that it features very little music. It's mainly all interviews plus some live footage.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars heart and soul, March 23, 2008

By 

Paul Richardson (penrith nsw AU) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shadowplayers : Factory Records 1978-81 (DVD)

probably the best,definitive history of one of post punks most influential bands.Of course this is not just the story of joy division,their history includes factory records,it includes tony wilson and peter saville and rob gretton and alan erasmus.This documentary covers the three year period of JDs recording era,it includes many of the players in their shadows;A certain ratio ,vinni reilly,larry & vinni cassidy and many more building the story.contributions from contemporaries like the buzzcocks and killing joke and cabaret voltaire. and some touching insights from tony wilson and annik honore .unfurtunately hooky is the only band member on film , but is incredibly enlightening An absolute must for anyone interested in this genre.one of the best histories outside of debbie curtis or lindsay reades book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Haves and the Have-Nots, December 27, 2011

By 

A. Dagnall "widnesian" (north carolina, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shadowplayers : Factory Records 1978-81 (DVD)

What you don't get with this documentary. Music. There isn't any apart from during the opening and closing titles. You don't miss it. Happy Mondays? Northside? Sorry, mate. This is a very specific period of time we're dealing with here. What about flashback footage then? Sorry. There isn't any of that either apart from stills of sleeve art and very occasional black and white photography. Besides we've all seen this before and the footage is all over You Tube.

What you do get with this documentary, and what we haven't seen a great deal of before is the almost casual conversational anecdotal skills of the players. It's kudos to the interviewer to not speak for almost the entire feature, with virtually no questions on camera at all. This allows the subjects to relax and to tell us all some very informative and often hilarious tales from the legend of this unique record label. No speaker gets interrupted. For a two-hour feature to consist of little but interviews and still manage to engage the viewer entirely throughout, that's a major commendation.

Chiefly focusing around Joy Division - there's only Peter Hook from the band featured - the documentary also covers ground from other key bands such as Section 25, Crispy Ambulance, Cabaret Voltaire, and A Certain Ratio, as well as the lesser-known acts such as The Names, Biting Tongues, Swamp Children, Minny Pops, and Thick Pigeon. There's also input from Howard Devoto, Richard Jobson, and Jaz Coleman amongst others. Each interviewee has some great stuff to impart.

It's hard to imagine this feature satisfying the uninitiated, but for those of us trainspotters and anoraks that are acquainted we get abundance galore.

High points for me? I'd never heard Lindsay Reade speak and she's hilarious, as is one of the two brothers from Section 25. The dry Mancunian wit is so refreshing it had me in stitches throughout. Vini Reilly talks about Sketch for Summer, one of my favourite Durutti Column tracks, and Annik Honore discusses Factory Benelux and Les Disques du Crepuscule. Peter Hook reads an hilarious letter about those labels that is worth the price of admission alone. Annik doesn't talk about Ian since she covers that in the equally wonderful Joy Division documentary.

Of the dearly departed from the story - notably producer Martin Hannett and Joy Division manager Rob Gretton - their characters inhabit this tale through the words of designer Peter Saville and label boss Tony Wilson and the players almost as though each were sitting there being interviewed in person.

But it's the late Tony Wilson that steals the show for me this time. He is by turns engaging, infuriating, pretentious, and also hilarious, as you'd expect from the head of such a unique label as this. His huge loss makes me pine for the likes of his personality allowed to run riot through modern music today. Where would the likes of Tony Wilson be in this ever more corporate and music-for-money world today? It's well documented how Factory Records spent money like water on the most outrageous and inexplicable of follies, and let's face it, you could do a lot worse than to spend yours on this terrific DVD.

Did you like how I wrapped that up there? Yeah. That was ace. I only wish I could have printed it on expensive textured Italian cardboard instead. That would have looked amazing.