Tokyo Olympiad

One of the three great documentaries made about the Olympic Games (the others are Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda-tinged Olympia, on the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin; and Visions of Eight, David Wolper's mosaic look at the 1972 Summer Games in Munich), Kon Ichikawa's Tokyo Olympiad, a fascinating record of the 1964 Summer Games held in Tokyo, distills some 70 hours of footage down to a three-hour shy film that combines Olympic Gold winning performances (USA's Frederick Hansen in the pole vault competition, Britain's Ann Packer in the 800 meters race, Australia's Dawn Fraser in the 100 meter freestyle swimming meet, etc.) with impressionistic fragments on gymnastics, horse jumping, water polo, field hockey (shots of a fight erupting in the final match between India and Pakistan seem eerily contemporary), and exciting longer sequences on the women's volleyball match between Japan and the U.S.S.R., and Abebe Bikila's triumphant marathon race. "Touched by the humanity" he saw, Ichikawa's cameras capture a wide range of human emotions (joy, despair, anger, pride, anxiety) both on the field and in the stands as he isolates individual faces among the crowd. Truly an inspired celebration, Tokyo Olympiad is given the red carpet treatment in this Criterion collection release, which features a pristine DVD transfer, and a solid Dolby Digital mono soundtrack. In addition to a 32-minute 1992 interview with Ichikawa, and an insightful 44-page color booklet, the disc sports commentary by film historian Peter Cowie, whose encyclopedic knowledge about the Olympic Games (past, present and future) and film in general make this one of the best and most comprehensive commentaries I've ever heard. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Pitman)