Product Description

An ITN Archive production documenting the life and death of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was a unique artist with record sales of over 750 million albums and the first man to launch videos on MTV with Beat It. In this official documentary from the archives of ITN, we gain a unique insight into the man who was both recluse and brilliant global showman. With archive footage showing the highs and lows of his career, his relationships with Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Di, Lisa Marie Presley and a host of of memories, this programme is a celebration of a superstar who shaped modern music for a generation.   This documentary of Michael Jackson s life features: The Jackson Five child star who charmed the world, constantly living under pressure from his demanding father.   The Thriller Years when he could do no wrong. How he created a 60 million selling album that is still the biggest seller of all time.   How Jacko Went Ex centric. How genius talent gave way to eccentricity that saw him befriending Bubbles his chimp, sleeping in an oxygen tent, changing his appearance and creating a Neverland hideaway.   The Final Curtain - culminating in what is sure to be an emotional funeral with exclusive footage from ITN and Fox America of the funeral. How did it all end so abruptly just as he was set to stage the come back of all time in front of 750,000 UK fans?     The whole extraordinary story brought together....essential viewing for all Jacko fans. Includes contributions from: Quincy Jones, Beyonce, La Toya Jackson, Janet Jackson, Paul Gambochini and rare interviews from the King of Pop himself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11739 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-07-20
• Rating: Exempt
• Formats: Dolby, PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Synopsis
Michael Jackson was a unique artist with record sales of over 750 million albums and the first man to launch videos on MTV with Beat It. In this official documentary from the archives of ITN, we gain a unique insight into the man who was both recluse and brilliant global showman. With archive footage showing the highs and lows of his career, his relationships with Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Di, Lisa Marie Presley and a host of memories, this programme is a celebration of a superstar who shaped modern music for a generation.

Customer Reviews

Great Historic Footage
Having bought this and seen a couple of poor reviews on Amazon I was beginning to think I'd bought a turkey, but I was delighted with the range of content when I sat down to watch it. As a Michael fan I have all the official products but there are rare archive interviews that I have never seen before and a fascinating two minutes of Michael visiting sick children in hospital that is really up close and personal. To criticise it for not having Michael's actual music in the programme is a banal criticism as it is not an official Sony release and doesn't even pretend to be an official release. It is what is says on the tin - a familiar and not so familiar collection of Michael Jackson archives from around the world, woven into a story of his life which concentrates on his career, fans, success, court cases, this is it comeback and sad death.

Out of the 70 minutes of the programme, I think that there is probably 20 minutes of clips and interviews from Australia, America, Germany, Belgium, Japan, etc that I have never seen before. And as a Jacko fan that is exactly what I want to see. For seven pounds that is a bargain. The Australian interview at the time of the bad tour is really touching and the sound a like tracks can be forgiven for this alone. Overall the tone of the DVD is very positive towards Michael and I'm pleased that it doesn't treat the fans as morons with many interviews of his UK fans for the this is it ticket sales.

There are three extras on the disc not mentioned on the Amazon write up which are Memorial Day with interviews from the world's journalists as they prepare for the memorial concert, Michael at the House of Commons and Exeter football club; and finally an Australian fan called James Jackson who has his own version of Neverland. Gambaccini tells the facts of his career as they are: Michael was the greatest showman, singer and entertainer of our era, and long after the dirt has been trawled over by the media, he will be remembered for his talent and that alone. I can't see how anyone can construe this as negative, Gambaccini has made the right call in my opinion.

Expected more from ITN
I was expecting this to feature lots of rare newsclips of MJ performing- but as this is not official- there is NONE of Michaels actual music- what you are 'treated' to are really bad instrumentals of his music, which sound like they have been knocked up on a keyboard. The footage itself is VERY grainy- and when it's Michael on stage- the sound is muted (as they are not allowed to have his music played) and the dreadful keyboards kick in again- sometimes for up to 4 minutes at a time and all you see are grainy images of Michael. I never buy items like this, and only did because I thought as it was from the archives of ITN it would be good quality- I was very wrong.

Rip off
I also was expecting something professionally produced and informative. Poor, brief quality clips of his concerts, instrumental music that gets as close to Billie Jean as it dares, Paul Gambaccini repeating Hollywood gossip and an inordinate amount of time spent on the trial compared to the achievements of an extraordinary artist.

The only reason for not flinging this trashy piece of junk out of the window are the brief interviews with Diana Ross and Janet Jackson - both of whom I like considerably more after watching this. Latoya's infamous denunciation is also reproduced here in full.

Lets face it - good news is no news, so don't expect this to be upbeat. It reflects the general interests of the press. If you're a Jackson fan, you have to ask yourself before buying if they should make yet more money from muck raking.