This week’s video was a new discovery for us. It’s an hour long interview/documentary done by the BBC in 1999. Allen seems to be promoting Sweet And Lowdown.

The cool thing about the show is that they play some scenes from Allen’s catalogue and gets him to comment on them. What is even more cool is that Woody Allen can’t even bring himself to look at the screen in front of him!

Presenter Mark Cousins presents plenty of reservations. In particular he brings up interesting criticisms of Allen. Negative comments we’ve never heard before from Billy Wilder, Sam Shepard and Michael Caine. He even manages to give Allen the big question about how his private turmoil affected his films.

It’s also amazing how much he remembers of making each film, like the very first day of filming Annie Hall. He talks quite a bit about ‘Sweet And Lowdown‘, and makes some fascinating comments on the genesis of Crimes And Misdemeanors. Of course, the show replays some of greatest scenes in Allen’s films.

It’s a very open and frank discussion, and well worth watching.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5