Mellodrama (2008) User Reviews

A review of a previous review.

[thomasbhacker · 8/10 · 7 January 2024]

It's a boy thing?

Is there something wrong with that?

Would you complain if the female director of this film made a documentary about the history of auto racing?

My guess is that you actually would!

Until the 1990's, there was an extreme shortage of female race car drivers! Even now there just aren't that many of them.

I'm not saying that that's how it should have been back then. For the most part, that's just how it was at the time.

The male musicians you mentioned by name were members of famous rock bands from several decades ago (AKA evil misogynistic history).

There weren't likely to be any well known female interview candidates for a film about an obscure musical device that was invented first by. Harry Chamberlin in 1949, and "reengineered" by Bradmatic in the early 1960's.

Was the writer/director (Dianna Dilworth) just supposed to rewrite history just to avoid offending people who hate history as it actually was?

We have Netflix and Disney for that!!

"It's a boy thing"

[dunks58-615-955316 · 8/10 · 2 February 2015]

Don't get me wrong - I really liked it - but I have to admit that there's a quaint irony in the fact that while this very enjoyable, documentary was directed by a woman, every single person who appears on screen is male. I guess that just reflects the inherent gender bias of popular music ... and, let's be frank, the Mellotron is definitely one of the ultimate geek-tech devices of all time, and as it happens just about all of the best known "Tron" practitioners - Mike Pinder, Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman et al - are all men.

But don't be put off ... 'Mellodrama' is an affectionate and very informative history of two iconic musical instrument brands, the Mellotron, and its progenitor, the Chamberlin, that lovingly unravels their tangled history, explains how the incredible devices were created and how they operate (or sometimes don't, as so many Tron players can attest) and explores their combined impact on popular music.

Although it's a fairly low-budget affair, production values aren't really an issue - it's the info that's the interest, and 'Mellordrama' is both a good exploration of the subject for aficionados, and an engaging introduction for novices. The only minor drawback is that, understandably, the music soundtrack includes virtually none of the many famous musical works that feature the Chamberlin/Melltron - but I'm guessing that the licensing fees for using even a small snippet of something like "Strawberry Fields Forever" would probably have been more than the entire budget of the show.

That being said, if you have any interest at all in behind-the-scenes stories about the history of technology and popular music or if, like me, you've had a lifelong fascination with the magical sounds and mysterious inner workings of these remarkable instruments, this is a must-see, and it definitely deserves full marks for giving the brilliant Harry Chamberlin the recognition he so greatly deserves.