Product Description

A nostalgic backward glance at an era when radio reigned supreme. A family triumphs over mundane reality during world war ii by fostering elaborate fueled by songs and adventures riding the airwaves even the rich mingling in the new york nightlife are compelled by the same aspirations. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/21/2004 Starring: Mia Farrow Danny Aiello Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Woody Allen

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10467 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-11-06
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
A sweet and clever combination of anecdotes and autobiography, Radio Days draws heavily on Woody Allen's childhood. Fittingly, the unfolding episodes are woven together by music--lovely hits of the 1940s like "In the Mood" and "That Old Feeling." Some episodes are built around radio itself (like the burglars who answer the phone in a house they're burgling and win a radio contest), and others center on the life of a young Jewish boy (Seth Green, clearly playing a version of Allen himself as a child). Though light in tone, Radio Days is an ambitious re-creation not simply of an era, but of radio itself. Nowadays radio is little more than a way to sell pop tunes, but it used to transmit dreams; watching this movie, you get a taste of how inspiring this simpler medium could be. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

Nostalgia...ah, yes...
I'm a huge fan of Woody Allen (even his "clunkers"), but this is my absolute favorite Woody film. All of his films are personal, but none as personal and revealing as this...and ABSOLUTELY entertaining. Seth Green, Woody's young character, is perfect, justifying his current success. Wonderful performances from Woody's usual stock troupe (Kavner, Wiest, etc) are all in tune with the goings-on. Mia Farrow, in particular, is a hoot, especially her scenes with Danny Aiello. Woody even managed to squeeze a cameo from Diane Keaton at the end ("You Be So Nice to Come Home To"). Lovely and sweet. It's too bad the Academy eliminated the category for "Best Adapted Score", cuz this woud've won, no question. The greatest songs of the period (1940-1945) were lovingly presented, and anyone who sees this film can't help but be left with a wistful, soft and nostalgic feeling. Yes, this is my favorite Woody film.

One of Woody's Most Underrated Films
One of Woody Allen's most underrated outings, "Radio Days" is a tremendously funny film which depicts the grip that radio had on America during World War II. While void of an actual plot, "Radio Days" succeeds as a series of vignettes involving a loud, comical New York family whose lives are enlightened by an array of music, sporting events and soap operas which reach their home by way of static-filled airwaves. Long before TV and the Internet, radio was the only source of popular culture in many American homes. Family members who fought constantly (And boy do they fight in "Radio Days"!), always found time to bond around the big radio cabinet in the kitchen or living room. In typical Allen fashion, the dialogue and characters are delightfully over the top. The cast -- Michael Tucker, Julie Kavener, Seth Green, Mia Farrow -- are stellar and perfectly suited for the outrageous script. The real charm of the film is Allen's witty take on War-era radio shows. Everything from Superheroes to a radio ventriloquist (think about it...) are spoofed in way that only Woody can spoof. Of course, classic songs from the 1940's gloriously re-reate the romance and charm of a bygone era. While "Radio Days" may not be as "important" as "Annie Hall" or "Manhattan", it is a wonderfully entertaining film which bares all the trademarks of a Woody Allen classic.

Bittersweet Comedy
The best thing about Woody Allen is his ability to build a movie on episodic material and subplots, without the need for an overarching plot. "Radio Days" is told in anecdotal vignettes, which relate to Allen's memories of radio in the 1940s. These vignettes are seamlessly interwoven, and through them, we come to get a feel for how and where Allen grew up.

Where he grew up was Rockaway, Queens, and -- having been there dozens of times, visiting from my own Brooklyn -- Allen's actual use of the neighborhood locations really places this movie not only in place, but time, as Rockaway Beach has changed so little since the 1940s.

Most memorable are the actors which comprise the ensemble cast: Seth Green plays a young Allen, casted as "Joe"; Julie Kavner and Jeff Tucker play his always bickering parents; Diane Wiest plays his old-maid aunt, Bea. But Mia Farrow as aspiring radio personality Sally White steals the show with her Canarsie accent "Hawk, I heyuh da cannons raw. Is it da king approachin'?" and later blossoms into a radio gossip show hostess, a la Hedda Hopper, replete with a proper Anglicized accent to boot.

Living now in an age when many social critics blame television for driving the American family apart, Allen paints a portrait of a time when it was radio which drew families closer together; all his favorite childhood memories having some connection to a radio program or song, and it is this connection which Allen memorializes, suggesting a time that was not so much more innocent, but one that was more dramatic, classier and less jaded.

DP Carlo diPalma's beautiful use of primary colors and editor Susan Morse's perfectly-timed montage flesh out a gorgeous visual counterpart to the soundtrack, which is brimming over with jazz, big bands, cop dramas, boy crooners, game shows and torch song sirens.

"Radio Days" is, along with "Crimes and Misdemeanors" the closest Allen came to making a perfect movie.