Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9098 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-03-11
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 84 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Woody Allen's gentlest and most unassuming movie, Radio Days isn't so much a story as a series of anecdotes loosely linked together by a voice-over spoken by the director. The film is strongly autobiographical in tone, presenting the memories of a young lad Joe (clearly a stand-in for Allen himself) growing up in a working-class Jewish family in the seafront Brooklyn suburb of Rockaway during the late 1930s and early 40s. In this pre-TV era the radio is ubiquitous, a constant accompaniment churning out quiz shows, soap operas, dance music, news flashes and Joe's favourite, the exploits of the Masked Avenger. Given Allen's well-publicised gallery of neuroses, you might expect childhood traumas. But no, everything here is rose-tinted and even the outbreak of war makes little impact on the easygoing, protective tenor of family life.

Now and then Allen counterpoints his family album with the doings of the radio folk themselves (blink, and you'll miss a young William H Macy in the studio scene when the news of Pearl Harbour comes through). The rise to fame of Sally (Mia Farrow), a former night-club cigarette girl turned crooner, is the nearest the film comes to a coherent storyline. But most of the time Allen is content to coast on a flow of easy nostalgia, poking affectionate fun at the broadcasting conventions of the period and basking in the mildly rueful Jewish humour and small domestic crises of Joe's extended family. There aren't even any of his snappy one-liners, and the humour is kept low-key, raising at most an indulgent smile. A touch of Allen's usual acerbity wouldn't have come amiss. But for anyone who shares these memories, Radio Days will surely be a delight.

On the DVD: Not much besides the theatrical trailer, scene menu and a choice of languages. The screen's the full original ratio, but nothing seems to have been done to enhance the soundtrack, and the dialogue's not always clear. A boost in volume may help.--Philip Kemp

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
RADIO DAYS is Woody Allen's charming, nostalgic, very funny love letter to growing up in 1940s Brooklyn during the golden age of radio. The setting is the close-knit working-class neighborhood of Rockaway, New York, where a warm, crazy, sprawling Jewish family lives, sharing their happiness as well as their disappointments. The youngest member of the family, Joe (Seth Green), dreams of the glamour and excitement of Manhattan conjured up by the radio programs he and his family listen raptly to each night. Presented in a tapestry of interlocking vignettes, RADIO DAYS weaves tales of everyday family life with glimpses of the glittering--and not so glittering--world of established and aspiring radio celebrities. Allen makes the radio the film's central figure, taking its place as communicator to the world, existing almost as another member of the family. Allen and director of photography Carlo DiPalma capture the look and feel of the time marvelously, and the music is a joy to listen to. The result is a comic, bittersweet, kaleidoscopic look at a long-gone New York that is one of writer-director Woody Allen's most fully realized--and most enjoyable--films.

Customer Reviews

Another of Woody's Best.....
Radio Days is another of Woody Allen's wonderfully warm and affectionately nostalgic films.
Excellently put together (and featuring a quality cast), the characters are brought to life by a witty script rich with Woody's unique trademark humour.
The only problem is that it's so enjoyable that it passes all too quickly.
A film that leaves you with a warm feeling and wanting more of the same (just like Manhattan and Annie Hall).
Radio Days will not disappoint anyone who appreciates the genius of Woody Allen.

Nostalgic
Rarely does a motion picture capture an era with such nostalgia and reverence, as Woody Allen's "Radio Days". Set in New York City as World War 2 breaks; "Radio Days" captures the mood of the times through the music, drama, news, sports - and even the commercials that entertained and informed listeners in the days when radio ruled the media roost. Seen through the eyes of a young Jewish boy and his extended family in working class Brooklyn, the movie is really a series of well crafted vignettes, based on fact mixed with fiction. Some are hilarious, some touching, but always entertaining and filled with the great "Swing" music of the era. As usual, Allen's ensemble of actors deliver terrific turns as they recreate those great old days. Mia Farrow, Diane Wiest, Julie Kavner, Michael Tucker, and Seth Green are standouts, while Woody Allen narrates as only he can. A triumph in every respect, "Radio Days" will leave you, as the final scene does; longing for a more innocent time, while sadly knowing it is gone forever.

Woody Allen selects WWII Big Band tunes for your pleasure
The only real complaint with this album of selections form the original soundtrack for Woody Allen's "Radio Days" is that the most memorable song from the film is not included. That would be Carmen Miranda's "Down South American Way," which is lip synchs by his character's older sister while her father and uncle provide the "ay yi, ay yi"s at the end. That being said, what you do get are representative big band tracks from the time of World War II, which means Glenn Miller ("American Patrol"), Benny Goodman ("Goodbye"), Tommy Dorsey ("I'm Getting Sentimental Over You"), Larry Clinton ("I Double Dare You"), Xavier Cugat ("One, Two, Three, Kick"), and others. With songs like "Remember Pearl Harbor" and "(There'll Be Blue Birds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" it becomes clear that Allen was putting together a calculated musical background for his period piece. Even if you are a fan of the Big Band era I think you will probably find some track you do not own, because if you have all of these already you have a very nice music library.