WADD: The Life And Times Of John C. Holmes Review

Distributor: VCA Edition Details: Hardcore Version Special Edition DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Documentary Run Time: 105 minutes Rated: not Release Year: 1998 Director: Wesley Emerson (using the DGA pseudonym Alan Smithee) Written by: Rodger Jacobs Director of Photography: Willie Boudevin Cast: Bill Amerson, Don Brown (as Bob Vosse), Al Goldstein, Bob Chinn, Joel Sussman, Bobby Hollander, Ann Perry (as Anne Perry), Sharon Holmes, Paul Thomas Anderson (as P.T. Anderson), John Leslie, Dawn Schiller (as Dawn), Richard Pacheco, Ron Jeremy, Misty Dawn (as Laurie Holmes), Sharon Mitchell, Larry Flynt, William Margold, Jim Holliday, Bunny Bleu, Annette Haven, Gloria Leonard, Kitten Natividad, Juliet Anderson (as Aunt Peg), Candida Royalle (as Candida Royale), Don Fernando, Sean Amerson (as Sean 'Duke' Amerson), Denise Amerson, Ilona Staller (as Cicciolina), Kenneth Turan (as Ken Turan), Tom Blake, Paul Cambria, Mike Sager, Reb Sawitz, David Clark, Ron Coen, Vonda Lia, Mitchell Egers, Linda Adrain, Mike Horner, Rodger Jacobs, Ernest Paul Roebuck (as Ernie Roebuck), Jon Martin, John Holmes Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: Interactive Mode, Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Image Gallery, Interactive Profiles, John C. Holmes Bio, XXX-tras, Other Titles DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes is an intimate look into the life of porn's first male star and most recognizable figures of all time, John C. Holmes. The film looks at the legend from the eyes of those around him from the various portions of his life, the good and the bad.

Audio/Video:
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes is presented with an English 2.0 Stereo track which is all that the film requires. As the film is mostly composed of interviews and old footage, any fancy audio track would be a loss. The audio for the interview segments is excellent and is clear and easy to hear at all times. There is also an English 2.0 Commentary track included on the disc. VCA hasn't included any foreign language track or subtitle options for the feature film.

Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1. I'm not sure the aspect ratio that Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes was presented in for its festival run. The other R-rated release of the film also presents it in the full screen aspect ratio, so this is probably the original aspect ratio. The video for the interviews is excellent, presenting a clear and crisp picture free of artifacts or blemishes. The film clips included in the film are of varying quality, which is to be expected considering that all of the films were at least eleven years old as of the release of this film, most much older. However, the all look great, especially considering their age.

Cut Warning:
The original festival version of Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes appears to have had a 120 minute run time and didn't contain any hardcore footage. This DVD version from VCA, in which both director/producer Cass Paley and producer/editor Christopher Rowland have had their names removed from the credits, runs for 105 minutes and has some hardcore footage present in it, meaning that at least fifteen minutes of the original festival version has been cut. As I never saw the festival version I don't know what the missing footage is and whether it is all present in the deleted scenes on the disc. There has also been a mainstream release of the R-rated version, by Lion's Gate on their limited edition release of Wonderland. The R-rated release on this disc also runs for 105 minutes and is missing all of the hardcore footage along with some of the nastier footage from the Wonderland murders, the audio appears to be the same though. This release still bears the names of Cass Paley and Christopher Rowland in the opening credits along with closing credits for the film, which this VCA release doesn't have. The end credits for the R-rated version states that Linda Adrain, Mike Horner, Jon Martin and Ernie Roebuck were in the film, although I noticed none of them in the Lion's Gate R-rated version or the VCA unrated version, so they could be in some of the missing footage from the original festival version.

Special Features:
VCA has loaded this disc with extras, most of which add to the presentation of the film. The best of them, by a long shot, is a full length feature commentary with an unidentified male who appears to be Cass Paley, the director. The commentary is great for additional information about the film. There are interactive profiles, which include audio info from director Cass Paley, text info and a VCA filmography, for Annette Haven, Juliet Anderson, Bill Margold, Anne Perry, Bob Vosse, Bob Hollander, Bob Chinn, and John Leslie. There are also profiles, which contain only text info and a VCA filmography for Gloria Leonard, Bunny Bleu, Candida Royale, Kitten Natividad, Sharon Mitchell, and Jim Holliday. There are eight deleted scenes, including one with Eric Edwards who was cut completely from the film, that run for a total of 32 minutes. There is a biography of John C. Holmes, which includes audio info from Cass Paley, text info, his birth certificate, a partial VCA filmography and an audio biography with pictures. There are several image galleries on the disc. There are 43 Sussman Art Photos, which are on a track, 15 newspaper clippings, 16 personal photos, 7 photos of young John Holmes, 7 photos of John with the press, 28 production stills, 4 stills of the memorial invitation, 4 stills of John in a gay film, 16 premiere photos, 31 of posters and 5 off the wall photos, all of which you flip through yourself. The only problems with the photos is the bottom navigation bar partially obstructs them. XXX-tras include bonus sex scenes featuring John Holmes from The Best of Seka 4, two from The Best of John Holmes 2, Taxi Girls, and Around the World with Johnny Wadd. There is also other titles, which hold previews for White Lightning, Still Insatiable, and The Top 25 Adult Stars of All Time.

Disc Design/Navigation:
The disc is excellently designed with mainstream style animated menus with background music. The disc design is right up there with Evil Angel and Wicked as some of the best looking discs that I've ever seen. The only thing I didn't like about the design is a few misspellings here and there. It's too bad that they put so much work into the disc and then failed to run the menus through a spell checker. There are ten chapters available from the chapter menu, each one is identified by a video clip. There are 40 chapters within the feature film itself, including one for the end credits, which I always like. There is a time code encoded on the disc for the feature film. There is an interactive mode that the film can be viewed in which is similar to New Line's Infinifilm design which allows you to see pertinent extras at the appropriate time. The film can be viewed in standard mode or the interactive mode.

General Review:
The first thing that should be stated about this title is despite that fact that it is released by an adult film company, VCA, this is not an adult film that viewers will be able to use as masturbatory material. In fact it isn't anything that viewers would really consider to be an adult film. What Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes is, is a documentary about John C. Holmes which contains portions of adult scenes featuring him in it. If you are looking for jerk off material, this isn't going to be a title for you. If you are interested in learning about the life of John Holmes, then this is an excellent choice for you.

Cass Paley, the director, has collected a massive collection of adult figures past and present who in some way worked with John Holmes or are knowledgeable about the history of adult films, even to the point of including Tom Blake, who is retired from the police department and worked on busting the adult industry back in the day. The collection of different people who are interviewed, who all knew John in different ways, is what makes this film. The interviews when put together give what is probably a very accurate portrayal of John without bias from one side or the other. His life is shown from his rise as a porn star, with some history in is pre-porn days, to his decline and eventual passing.

Intermixed with the interviews and over portions of them are scenes from various films that John Holmes was in. The scenes are mixed in a way that they enhance the film and aren't just there to show hardcore footage. I don't know if the editor Christopher Rowland edited these scenes in the way they are shown since he had his name removed from the credits, but if he didn't who ever did ended up doing a great job. After the film is over and all is said and done, the viewer leaves with a great picture of what John Holmes' life was like, the good side and the bad side and any fan of his work or of classic adult films in general should enjoy watching this film.

It's too bad that VCA didn't include the festival version of the film and instead offers a version of the film that differs significantly in some way as the director Cass Paley is using the DGA pseudonym Alan Smithee which is only approved for use when the film has been changed against the wishes of the director significantly changing the film. Despite the use of the Alan Smithee name, the director appears to have been very active in the creation of this disc as he has done a full length commentary track and provides narration for some of the interactive profiles on the disc.

Parting Thoughts:
If you are contemplating whether to buy the limited edition Lion's Gate release of Wonderland for Wadd or the VCA release of Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes, despite the fact that the VCA version was apparently changed without the director's permission, this is the superior edition. The movie itself is very close to the version that still bears Cass Paley's name, the extras are excellent and this is the best disc from VCA that I have ever seen. If you are looking for masturbation material, this film isn't a great choice. But if you are looking for a film about one of the most legendary adult stars of all time, John C. Holmes that doesn't hold back this is definitely worth picking up.

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