Dream On Fire: the Land Jack London Loved; Journey To the Heart Of Nigeria

Written and directed by former Bulgarian actress Nadia Kostov, this pair of quasi-travel/biography documentaries share similar technical drawbacks. Dream on Fire: The Land Jack London Loved takes viewers to Glen Ellen in California's Sonoma Valley, where London married his second wife Charmian, in 1905, and lived until his death in 1922. Technically, the video quality is often substandard, the wallpaper music background inappropriate, and the script more the musings of a fan than a knowledgeable critic of London's life and work. While the archival footage of London and the area are interesting, the contemporary camerawork pales by comparison. Too, the interview with London aficionado Russ Kingman, who finds fault with many London biographers, is both confusing (the audio and video are occasionally out of sync) and unconvincing. Kingman resolutely states that London's mansion burned from "spontaneous combustion" and that there was no possibility of self-induced drug overdose in London's death (though modern scholars have doubts). In short, the program works neither as travel documentary nor biography.Journey to the Heart of Nigeria, in which Kostov describes life near Ajuba (the future capital of Nigeria), is on surer ground, fact-wise, since it details Kostov's personal experiences and reactions to living in Nigeria. Viewers will learn about the "life camps" (where foreigners reside), the dangers of traveling unchaperoned in Nigeria, and see the hustle and bustle of the sprawling market. Unfortunately, the video quality is even worse than that in Dream on Fire, with interior shots so dark that you can't make out the people, and exterior shots both fuzzy-looking and almost devoid of color.Neither title is recommended. (R. Pitman)