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Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Michel Gondry

A final goodbye to VHS

Struggling to hold back the tears, Adam Lee Davies comes to terms with the end of a long love affair – with VHS

Michel Gondry’s ‘Be Kind Rewind’ (released on DVD this week) is a cooing love letter to the retro delights of VHS and all things lo-fi.

For some viewers, it might invoke a nostalgia for a simpler, dying home-viewing experience. But, for others, Gondry’s film represents a thinly fictionalised account of an ongoing obsession that the arrival of DVD has only served to inflame, as two video-store jockeys, played by Mos Def and Jack Black, refuse to bow to the juggernaut of digital progress by not stocking DVDs in their shop and favouring the plain old VHS.

The London equivalents of Def and Black might spend a Saturday trawling through the racks of Music & Video Exchange in Notting Hill or Up the Video Junction in the heart of Camden Lock Market. But even these stalwart vendors have been forced almost to abandon sales of VHS tapes. On a visit to Video Junction in Camden, the owner Nick showed me a storeroom stuffed with boxfuls of ‘unsellable’ VHS tapes which, to these eyes at least, was an experience akin to peeking into that warehouse at the end of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’.

Naturally, there’s the odd drawback to buying secondhand videos. I recently came across an ex-rental big-box copy of Clint Eastwood’s hysterical 1982 Cold War potboiler ‘Firefox’ only to find that a pristine transfer was interrupted after 20 minutes by a Central TV ad break, circa 1986. Somebody had none-too-craftily taped over Warner Brothers’ version of the film with one screened on telly after Midweek Sports Special.

It seems only yesterday that the arrival of the VCR first allowed the hallowed vaults of cinema to spill into our front rooms. Costing a fortune and more complicated than manned space flight, these early players signalled the dawn of a utopian futurama and were often the most expensive thing in the house. I kicked off my own love affair with the aid of a trusty top-loading Ferguson Videostar that was spray-painted red with white ‘Starsky & Hutch’ lightning bolts down the side. Noisy, cantankerous and possessing a mind of its own, it was less a part of the furniture than a beloved family member.

The films initially chosen for release on this new format were either serio-comic Oscar plodders like ‘Kramer vs Kramer’ or antiquated Disney children’s fare like ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’. This would all change as dominion over the remote control ceded from dad to the kids, and the video floodgates opened. With a captive audience virtually assured, production values went out the window and lame comedies and exploitative ‘video nasties’ were churned out to insatiable playground demand.

When you can have any film imaginable delivered overnight by ordering on the internet, it’s hard to recall anything as pedestrian as idly browsing the racks of a video store or corner shop. But it was here that the true devotee was inducted into the VHS brotherhood. The original rental releases of these films invariably came in cases that were the size of cereal boxes and made of the same material as flight recorders.

We’re talking about the iconic puffy Warner Home Video ‘clamshell’ boxes here, of course, rather than the subsequent three-for-a-tenner versions knocked out in Woollies. These obelisks featured either covers that were faithful to the spirit of the original film poster art or, more commonly, hand-drawn scenes of licentious debauchery that bore no relation to the content of the film.

Even trailers seem less exciting and gleefully unhinged than before. Current trailers routinely restrict themselves to the latest arthouse crossover or high-concept behemoth, but back in the day they offered an entirely random and often inappropriate selection of promos: ‘On Golden Pond’ would follow ‘Maniac Cop’ and nobody batted an eyelid.

Nowhere was this laissez-faire attitude more apparent than in the case of the infamous Medusa Home Video, whose trailers were regularly peppered with swearwords, full-frontal nudity and graphic torture. But even these were less unpleasant than the ubiquitous explanation of the ratings system trotted out by Radio 1’s Simon Bates, in which he warned us to be aware of any upcoming ‘sexual swear words’.

Obviously, the films themselves are the same on any format. But, stripped of the distractions of commentaries and superfluous alternate endings, they present one with a viewing experience that’s far closer to the director’s original cinematic vision. Sadly, after it valiantly saw off Betamax and the Laserdisc, the game was finally up when the bells and whistles of DVD put the venerable VHS out of commission. Video recorders were all but discontinued, cassettes disappeared from high street retailers and magnetic tape became the province of crackpots, bores and Luddites – or, as I like to think of us, connoisseurs.

‘Be Kind Rewind’ is out June 30. VHS tapes may possibly still be found in your local charity shop, underneath the duffel coats and next to the George Formby 78s.

Author: Adam Lee Davies

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User comments on this story

Aline said...

hey, would any of you like to share your feelings of nostalgia for VHSs? if so, please e-mail me ASAP at allyrey85@gmail.com. I'm writing an article on the subject. Thanks! Posted on Nov 14 2008 02:31

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Fin said...

An interesting article brought back some very old VHS memories and i'm still missing my VHS copy of the right stuff... Posted on Jul 26 2008 00:03

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Alex said...

I still record onto VHS cos I haven't got Sky+ or anything, and I occassionally buy Amazon's second hand videos, which are much cheaper than DVDs (from a penny plus c. £2.75 p&p!). I don't see much point in a DVD myself unless it has special features: I like directors commentaries. Posted on Jul 23 2008 22:08

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Burra Coens said...

I took a very long time converting to DVD. I had a very nice collection of VHSs, quite a few special additions and box sets (which i still have up in the loft, but now I can't watch them because I have no VCR. the reason I finally gave in to DVDs was the commentaries and extras. VHSs did try to combat this, (bless 'em) does anyone the remember the green Trainspotting? If anyone's interested in buying the films I have in my loft, send me an Email and I'll tell them what I've got. I'll have to go up and have a look though! Bellybuttongrit@talk21.co.uk Posted on Jul 09 2008 00:06

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Tarzan said...

VHS bad. DVD good. Jane agree. Posted on Jul 02 2008 08:19

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simon said...

mayor's income mentioned about widescreen films
i now have over 100 w/s on video just try typing widescreen in on amazons vhs pages and you get a few results-i use it to find out whats been released but its nothing compared to amazon us they have thousands of w/s vids which you can buy mostly quite cheap from the u.s. Posted on Jul 02 2008 07:39

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Thomas said...

I think some of the negative comments are missing the sheer importance of VHS. Despite it's many flaws (emphasis on many) it made many films available for wide consumption. For old timer cinephiles (like myself) simply being able to have a selection of films beyond what one could find at the local cinema was a huge milestone. Now that we have entire generations of people who don't remember a time before home viewing of films was even possible, I fear VHS will only be remembered for it's flaws. In it's day however, the mere existance of VHS copies of films (shoddy as the selection often was back then) was nothing short of glorious Posted on Jul 02 2008 07:10

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Casimir said...

What a shameless bit of self-satisfied retro fetishism. VHS is an insult to cinema and true cinephiles know it. Chopped aspect ratios, shoddy blown up resolution, horrific digital pan and scan mockeries against the brilliance of cinematographers, not to mention the awful degredation in quality after repeated viewings. VHS is NOT like vinyl records. It is an inferior medium. Brittle, unstable, and ugly. I cringe today when I see full screen films on VHS, fuzzy tracking lines and all. It's one thing to own a VHS tape if the film hasn't been released on DVD, but that's the only justifiable reason to still pay credence to this mung of a medium. Posted on Jul 02 2008 05:58

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Mayor's Income said...

"Obviously, the films themselves are the same on any format. But, stripped of the distractions of commentaries and superfluous alternate endings, they present one with a viewing experience that’s far closer to the director’s original cinematic vision."
The films are the same? Hardly. Any piece of crap pan and scan version of a movie with a wide aspect ratio can loose up to half of the frame. I hardly would say that cutting off half of his/her movie is present a viewing experience closer to the director's original cinematic image.
(note: I take this all back if in London widescreen VHS are easy to come by. In the states they certainly are not) Posted on Jul 02 2008 03:10

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grapeshot said...

I still buy the occasional VHS tape, but only when there's no DVD version available. There are some pretty rare items that never crossed over, and some of those are worth a fair amount of money -- er...to the right buyer, that is. For example, certain, rare, animated versions of A Christmas Carol VHS go for upwards of $200. (Not the Mr. Magoo version, or the Mickey Mouse one, either!) I collect old Pat O'Brien movies, and some of those are only available on VHS. Fortunately, I'm somewhat alone in my Pat O'Brien obsession, so they're not priced out of my budget yet. (Pat WHO???) I was also somewhat surprised to discover that the BBC edition of The Lady's Not For Hanging VHS evidently has a street value of $120. I didn't think that anybody had remembered the performance, but I remember enjoying it many years ago. Sadly, my pocketbook wouldn't stretch to cover that amount.
So the format is not completely dead yet, and I'll still hang on to my player for the time being. Posted on Jul 02 2008 01:30

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Apathygrrl said...

I still have my vcr and use it regularly. I still have a ton of vhs movies that I have not yet gotten around to picking up on dvd. I even actually bought one final vhs movie last year, only because it's just not really available on dvd, Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie. Posted on Jul 01 2008 21:56

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Albert said...

Travis, just how does VHS bring out the character of a film?
There are two things that I like better about VHS tapes than DVD's - VHS tapes don't get scratched or accidentally come loose from their spindle, and VHsS tapes don't (or didn't) have a tendency to freeze up during playing. If you have been eating candy, or cake, or pizza, or have been painting something, for heaven's sake, wash your hands before touching a DVD. If you don't, it could seriously affect the playback. Posted on Jul 01 2008 20:32

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simon said...

ive recently started buying videos again after finding lots of old rare films that still arent avalible on dvd and also they are so cheap the most ive paid is £2 for a film but looking around charity shops and car boot sales you can pick up lots of bargains
the last one was at a local car boot sale all 7 seasons of buffy the vampire slayer and all 5 seasons of angel and all 23 box sets only cost £10..vhs forever!!!!!!!!" Posted on Jul 01 2008 20:15

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M Raymond VIllamor said...

I not only remember browsing the isles as a child, but the unit we rented to watch the video was a VCP! No recording abilities at all, just a simple player. Posted on Jul 01 2008 19:47

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elizabeth said...

i remember being able to rent the player as well as the tapes. i also had the betamax--seems like it cost $700-$800 bucks. i bought a dvd player at the grocery store a few weeks back for $20! Posted on Jul 01 2008 17:08

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