Born To Boogie: The Motion Picture

We all know that Marc Bolan was born to boogie though for those still in doubt the mighty Edsel Label has just released a Deluxe edition comprised of two DVDs and two CDs, all capturing T.Rex at their peak during the now legendary Wembley Empire Pool concerts on 18th March, 1972. Fans also get the Motion Picture directed and produced by Ringo Starr.

DVD-1 contains THE MOTION PICTURE, which basically is split into concert footage from the Wembley Pool gig, as well as recording studio scenes and an array of surreal vignettes, most notably the now famous ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ sequence filmed in John Lennon’s estate! The opening credits depict a b/w photo of a very young Eddie Cochrane playing the guitar, indicating one of Marc’s personal heroes and influences while next up comes a photo of Marc working his guitar!
The recording studio scenes feature Marc in action together with Ringo Starr on drums and Elton John on piano, and during a rendition of ‘Children Of The Revolution’ Marc sings with his head stuck through a piano while Elton plays on. We are treated to ‘Tutti Frutti’ which further indicates the school of rock ‘n’ roll Marc, Ringo and Elton come from! The scenes in the recording studio are great to watch because everyone seems to have had a lot of fun, not to mention copious amounts of raw energy. Other studio ‘guests’ include a zebra and the tiger which was used for the iconic sleeve / poster image!
As for the vignettes, well! We have Ringo dressed as a mouse while Marc rolls along a country road in his car before stopping and both Ringo and Marc indulge in a little nonsensical word play before reciting the lines “Some people like to rock / Some people like to roll / But movin’ and groovin’ gonna satisfy my soul!” over and over again. Meanwhile, a giant sausage comes flying through a nearby field while dwarfish actor George Claydon has a hard time eating the car’s wing mirror made of chocolate!

However, absolute tops has got to be the aforementioned ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ during which a curious and curiouser picnic takes place in the garden. No prices for guessing that our Marc is the Mad Hatter, Mickey Finn a renaissance vampire, and other guests include Ringo, legendary producer Tony Visconti (who conducts a mini orchestra which mimes), some ‘nuns’ scoffing hamburgers, and everyone’s favourite wizard Catweazle (actually, the actor Geoffrey Bayldon) dressed as a butler and serving grilled hamburgers fresh from the bar-b-q. Bayldon was, at that time, not only a neighbour of Marc’s (both resided in the London suburb of Barnes, where Marc was tragically killed in a car crash) but T. Rex as well as the Beatles were huge fans of ‘Catweazle’ so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Bayldon made a guest appearance in the movie, though most likely as a favour to Marc. Bayldon, a seasoned actor who deliver his lines like a seasoned actor does, speaks “Some people like to rock / Some people like to roll…” into the camera and it’s a total hoot!
One can only wonder what he made of the chaos on set. A few years back I had the pleasure to interview Geoffrey Bayldon via phone and he revealed that he was particular amused when Marc drove him home in his car and screaming fans went hysteric over Marc, who calmly replied, “Yes, it’s me… and Catweazle sits beside me!” Of course, the real irony is that both Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn have long left us whereas Bayldon, now 92, is still with us!
The DVD further contains the film’s original trailer, the ‘Evening Show’ concert at Wembley Pool Empire, and the ‘Wizards, Warriors & Wembley – Tony Visconti and Rolan Bolan’ featurette comprised of various interviews conducted by Marc’s son Rolan (who tends to say ‘yeah’ a lot).

DVD-2 offers the ‘Matinee Show’ of the Wembley Pool Empire gig performed in the afternoon, a longish sequence of Ringo and Marc backstage, Tour montage, Telegram Sam 2016 promo video, Newspaper Cuttings gallery, the Cosmic Rock (When T.Rex Ruled The World) documentary, as well as more Extra features though it must be said that things tend to get a bit repetitive after a while as we get to see extracts from the same interviews – albeit shown in different Extra clips. The most interesting (and mind blowing) is an interview with former T.Rex drummer Bill Legend who has obviously found God and is happy to play in a Christian band for his local church – crikes!

As for the 2-CD set, it is basically the ‘Matinee Show’ on CD-1 and the ‘Evening Show’ on CD-2. However, having recently reviewed the exact same concerts when the vinyl release came out back in April … Therefore I won’t bother with another review of the same, instead, feel free to re-read my review for the vinyl release (obviously the track listings are the same than on the CDs):

http://www.music-news.com/review/UK/11805/Album/T-Rex

Born To Boogie – The Motion Picture Blu-ray edition:

The Blu-ray version of Born To Boogie – The Motion Picture contains the film as we know it and love it, only here we get slightly different Bonus Material than on the 2-disc DVD set (see separate review): original trailer and the ‘Matinee Show’ concert film are the same, as is the ‘’Telegram Sam 2016 promo video, the Newspaper Cuttings gallery, and additional Extras comprised of pretty much the same interviews as on DVD 1 and 2.
However, the Blu-ray edition also contains the ‘Premier’ version though in reality it’s little more than the Wembley Pool Empire concert albeit with added footage of fans arriving and fans holding up Marc Bolan and T.Rex banners etc. Still, a little treat for all those interested in 70’s fashion and make-up!