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Directed by Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker
USA 1979

 

On April 30, 1971, a standing-room-only crowd of New York’s intellectual elite packed the city’s Town Hall theater to see Norman Mailer—fresh from the controversy over his essay “The Prisoner of Sex” and the backlash it received from leaders of the women’s movement—tangle with a panel of four prominent female thinkers and activists: Jacqueline Ceballos, Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston, and Diana Trilling. Part intellectual death match, part three-ring circus, the proceedings were captured with crackling, fly-on-the-wall immediacy by the documentary great D. A. Pennebaker and a small crew, with Chris Hegedus later condensing the three-and-a-half-hour affair into this briskly entertaining snapshot of a singular cultural moment. Heady, heated, and hilarious, Town Bloody Hall is a dazzling display of feminist firepower courtesy of some of the most influential figures of the era, with Mailer plainly relishing his role as the pugnacious rabble-rouser and literary lion at the center of it all.

***

When was the last time you saw Norman Mailer in the ring with his gloves on? Mr. Mailer, the moderator, meets and takes on with good humor the panel members (Germaine Greer, Diana Trilling, Jacqueline Ceballos and Jill Johnston) and members of the audience, some prominent in their fields, such as Elizabeth Hardwicke, Susan Sontag and Betty Friedan (all of whom keep their heads), and others who don't keep their heads and look extremely foolish. Much of what is said at the symposium, one of a series of events produced for the Theater of Ideas, is still relevant, which also says something about the march of women's liberation (it's slow) and a lot of it is just fooling around, as when Jill Johnston starts fooling around on stage with a couple of her admirers. As a movie, "Town Bloody Hall" reflects some of the chaos the discussion keeps threatening to fall into, but Mr. Pennebaker, one of our best documentary film makers, and Chris Negedus, his associate and the editor of the film, succeed in capturing a great deal of the live presence of the occasion.

Except from the NY Times located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: April 3rd, 1979

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Review: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Distribution Criterion Spine #1039 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:25:42.137         
Video

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 47,381,159,446 bytes

Feature: 25,800,960,000 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.71 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Criterion

 

1.33:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 47,381,159,446 bytes

Feature: 25,800,960,000 bytes

Video Bitrate: 35.71 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• New interview with Hegedus (25:03)
• Audio commentary from 2004 featuring Hegedus and author Germaine Greer
• Footage from a 2004 celebration of the film, which brought together participants Greer, Jacqueline Ceballos, and Jill Johnston and directors Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker (22:03)
• Appearance from 1971 on The Dick Cavett Show by author Norman Mailer, promoting his book The Prisoner of Sex (1:07:35)
• Archival interviews with Greer (12:40) and Mailer (13:38)
• PLUS: An essay by film critic Melissa Anderson


 Blu-ray Release Date: August 18th, 2020
 Transparent Blu-ray Case

Chapters 13

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (August 2020): Criterion have transferred Town Bloody Hall to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Chris Hegedus". This was shot in 16mm and the 1080P shows extensive grain textures. It looks as it looks - meaning presumably faithful to its roots.

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It suffers from its original production roots but is clean and clear enough for all dialogue to be discernable. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray offers a commentary by from 2004 featuring Hegedus and author Germaine Greer (The Female Eunuch) who claims she was used to raucous events and her nervousness about the night that the country is mired in political ignorance. It's pretty interesting and opinionated. There is a new 25-minute interview with Hegedus, footage from a 2004 celebration of the film, which brought together participants Greer, Jacqueline Ceballos, and Jill Johnston and directors Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, an appearance from 1971 on The Dick Cavett Show by author Norman Mailer, promoting his book The Prisoner of Sex and archival interviews with Greer (12:40) and Mailer (13:38) plus the package has liner notes with an essay by film critic Melissa Anderson.

I am very happy to have seen Town Bloody Hall on Criterion Blu-ray. The commentary and interviews are worthwhile and the night's discussion is unique and historical. It gets pretty wild and it's great to see the passion. I like the IMDb description: "The infamously macho American author shares a 1971 New York City panel with a group of famous feminists and responds as well to a lively critique from other intellectual women in the audience, in this time capsule of what a sophisticated political and literary public discussion was like in the early days of Women's Liberation." Mailer is inciting and the type of character that we are devoid of today. Recommended!

Gary Tooze

 

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Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

  

Distribution Criterion Spine #1039 - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 


 


 

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