Product Description

In 1978, Oakley Hall III was a 28-year-old playwright with a reputation for brilliance and on the verge of national recognition. The son of novelist Oakley Hall (Downhill Racer, Warlock), he was the charismatic co-founder of the Lexington Conservatory Theater in upstate New York, where he served as artistic director. His work had been optioned by Joseph Papp at New York's famed Public Theater. Mandy Patinkin and William Hurt starred in his staged readings of his plays. Hall was an enfant terrible in every sense, with not just a bright future but a great one. He had just completed work on his verse play Grinder's Stand, based on the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis, when his life was violently interrupted by a mysterious fall from a bridge. He suffered horrific head injuries, was hospitalized nearly a year and incapacitated much longer. There was little thought of him ever using his brain again, let alone having an artistic life... until twenty-five years later, when a Northern California theater company received an NEA grant to produce the very play Hall was writing the night he fell. The story does not end there, however, as The Loss of Nameless Things uncovers much more about Hall s work and that fateful night, long ago. It is the tale about how one powerful soul finds strength in who he is, when he could no longer be who he d been.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #97112 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-05
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Review
"A fine and compelling documentary. One of the best glimpses yet into the redemptive power of art." --Austin Chronicle

Review
"What a story this film has to tell" --Robert Horton

Review
"Marvelous and haunting.... Infinitely more moving than any scripting narrative." --Seattle Times

Customer Reviews

An Incredible story of Genius and Loss
Oakley Hall III was the resident genius, guru, and inspiration behind the 1970s Lexington Conservatory Theater, a high water mark in the history of energetic and inspired American theater. His play "Grinders' Stand" is a little known classic, the story of Meriwether Lewis in blank iambic pentameter. In 1978, Hall fell from a bridge and suffered massive brain damage, changing his personality and robbing him of his genius. He lost years. Life has its own genius, however, and Hall's post-fall life resonates with the indestructibility of the human spirit. Documentary filmmaker Bill Rose has made a great film: hard-edged, strong, inspiring. It's good.

Excellent Film - Simultaneously Eerie and Heartfelt
Fantastic work! I want to recommend it to all my friends, especially my sister, a screenwriter/filmmaker who lives in Tivoli, NY. (near Lexington). Again, great work - chilling, touching . . . . it has it all!

Matthew Krueger
Berkeley, CA

Rose's LOSS... is our gain...
A recent airing of Bill Rose's THE LOSS OF NAMELESS THINGS on PBS's "Independent Lens" afforded me the opportunity to see this extraordinary documentary film about an extraordinary playwright, Oakley Hall, III. Like so many of life's chance discoveries, I was completely surprised by the beauty of this film - both in its subject matter and its crafting.

It is more than apparent that Mr. Hall was - is - one of those uniquely gifted individuals who appear rarely on life's stage. Unfortunately, such exceptional characters seem inevitably to be cursed with flaws which lead to their own "falls." Though this was largely the case with Oakley, too, his tale ends on notes of redemption and rebirth.

Changed though he may be today, few among us will ever be able to create anything of lasting significance as Oakley has done. In his achievements, he is a fortunate man, indeed.

Bill Rose has captured this man's dramatic life in an artful and sensitive way. His use of old photos and films, interviews with friends and family, and visual references back to the LTC environs (especially, the haunting old bridge and the river below) are all superbly done. The care that has obviously been put into the creation of this documentary betrays a genuine fondness for the subject and the genius of the film artist behind its production.

Though Oakley appears at least contented with his life today, much was lost at the time of his accident. The saddest piece of the story, of course, is the apparent lack of reconciliation that exists between Oakley and his first wife. Hopefully, she - and their son - will one day see this film and it will serve to awaken those memories that are good ones; and, perhaps, they will be proud and thankful to have participated in Oakley's life.