Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 09/30/2002

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29026 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-02-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
The Winner Takes It All: The Abba Story reflects the peaks and valleys of the Swedish supergroup's popularity over the decades, as well as the quartet's turbulent years together. The documentary successfully manages to piece together both the group's public and private sides through the use of interview excerpts and video footage, and it also contains exclusive interviews with all four members of Abba for the first time since their split. Reflecting on the intricate nature of their music, as well as the elevation of their compositions to the heady heights of pop classics, the documentary concludes with behind-the-scenes footage of preparations for the Abba-inspired stage show Mamma Mia! This is a must for all Abba fans, as well as those wishing to discover the heritage of one of the world's greatest pop groups. --John Galilee

From the Back Cover
Agnetha, Benny, Björn, and Anni-Frid, four famous names that spell ABBA--one of the greatest pop groups in the world. The Winner Takes It All is their story--all four members of the band talk exclusively about their lives before, during, and after ABBA. We follow their fascinating 25-year journey, concentrating on the eight glorious years in which they conquered the world.

We see exclusive extracts from both rehearsals and performances from the smash hit West End musical Mamma Mia! based on the songs of ABBA. Combined with a wealth of songs, concert footage, and intriguing interviews with the likes of Bono, Malcolm McLaren, Paul Gambaccini, Tim Rice, and Steps, this is a "complete, serious and fascinating portrait" (Nigel Andrews, Daily Mail) of a band who in Bono's words are "one of the best pop groups that ever was." This exclusive video version includes about 30 minutes of footage, interviews, and music not shown as part of the television broadcast. 91 minutes.

Customer Reviews

an absolute MUST for any true ABBA fan!!!!!
ever since i heard my first ABBA song (which was "Fernando") when i was 11 years old i became an instant die-hard ABBA fan. this documentary, hot on the heels of the "Mama Mia" craze, is something wonderful for those of us who have loved the band and continue to find precious gems in their music.

As ABBA has been a constant fixture in my life for more than a decade, this documentary was wonderful to watch, i was surprised at how little i really knew about the lives of the four members and the rare footage of their careers before ABBA was a true treat to watch (Agnetha singing "I don't know how to Love him" from "Jesus Christ Superstar" in Swedish was definately worth it!). with more than 20 years separating the members from the end of ABBA, the older/wiser rememberances by Benny, Bjorn and Frida are poignant and almost sad. Agnetha, whose english has apparently waned over the years, did not agree to be interviewed on camera-- instead she supplies audio commentary for her experiences within the group as well as her heartbreaking decision to choose raising her two young children than persue international stardom.

The British rehearsals for the opening of "Mama Mia" which are interlaced throughout the documentary seem a bit tedious at times, yet they serve as a great catalyst for tying all the members memories into a coherent narrative. Clips of songs ("If it wasn't for the Night", just as an example) which are not easily available on such albums as ABBA Gold are also a great added pleasure.

I would most heartedly recommend this DVD for anyone who loves ABBA as much as i do, you will not be disappointed!!!

A Must for Abba Fans
For any really fanatic Abba fan around the world this video must be pure heaven. I miss the clips of songs like Take a Chance on Me and some songs from The Visitors album, but the whole video is a wonderful gift for Abba fans, with interviews with Benny, Frida and Bjorn as they look now, and with many of the persons involved in the work behind Abba along the years. And with the original video of the presentation of band singing Waterloo at Eurovison contest in 1974. Is not a good option for a new Abba fan and for those fans that want to enjoy the Abba most famous song's video clips because it shows only a bit of every video and every one of them is interrupted with the narration of the story of the band, but is really good for those people who want to know more about the story of the band related in the own words of the memebers of the group (each of them abord many subjects, like their divorces sand their feelings like persons and stars during and after Abba) and about technical aspects about their music and their way to create the songs, but for a really fanatic that already have seen all the videos and only want to know more about the band and enjoy with previously unreleased images of the group at stage and in the studio -even in their own island where Benny and Bjorn created most of the songs of the group-, and that ask for a long ttime to see how each member of the group looks today (except Agnetha, that only read with her voice in off parts of her book Just as I am), is a precious and unvaluable thing. Is good too for those people who remeber the live concert in 1979 because it shows many of the songs during the concert. Splendid, precious, but just for hard Abba fan..like me!

Worth getting tho it feels like an infomercial for Mamma Mia
I remember seeing this special when it originally aired on Bravo in 1999 or 2000 and enjoying it, so when I saw it on DVD, the Abbaphile in me had to buy it.

What you get is a 90 minute documentary about Abba with extensive new interviews with Benny and Bjorn (both of which speak excellent English nowadays) as well as some with Frida and a few audio bites of Agnetha while we see her walking by a pond.

There's nothing in here that most Abba fans don't know already, but to see it come to life instead of reading it is worth it. We see bits (though not all) of several tv performances, including the infamous 1974 Eurovision awards that started it all for them, a 1979 tv performance of If It Wasn't For The Nights, and also them singing Thank You For The Music in late 1982, probably from their final performance on tv together.

The biggest complaint is that despite how much Abba loving we get on the special, it keeps comign back to talking about "Mamma Mia", which at the time (mid 1999) was in the rehearsal stages. It gets annoying, but anyone who loves Abba enough to buy this DVD will be entertained regardless.