An Accidental Studio Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

An Accidental Studio Blu-ray Movie Review

All things must pass.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III January 13, 2023

An Accidental Studio tracks the rise and fall of ex-Beatle George Harrison's HandMade Films... at least from 1978-1991, during its "original run" before mounting financial difficulties let to closure and a change in ownership later that decade. (Somewhat serendipitously, the studio dissolved in 2017 and was fully defunct in 2020, a year after this film's theatrical release.) For a time, though, HandMade's star burned brightly as a safe haven for creative types normally strangled by studio input and focus groups, leading to some of England's most acclaimed films during its decade or so of success. Not bad for a company that only started because Harrison just wanted to see another Monty Python film.

That film was Life of Brian, arguably the acclaimed comedy troupe's best work and a hell of a way to get things rolling. Originally financed by EMI Films, it was pulled from production only a week before filming -- long after several sets had already been built in Tunisia -- due to complaints from the studio head, and thus needed backing from another source. Enter one George Harrison, a long-time friend and fan of the troupe, who then launched HandMade Films with business partner Denis O'Brien; famously mortgaging his house to help finance the ~£3M project, the new studio would quickly recoup its money several times over when Life of Brian was met with critical and commercial favor.

Continued success would arrive with The Long Good Friday, which starred Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren and would eventually be named one of Britain's greatest gangster movies. Then came Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits in 1981, which had the extremely difficult task of not being marketed as a Python project despite the involvement of several members but ended up being the studio's biggest hit. Other films enjoyed lesser but modest success later that decade, or at the very least, would continue to bolster the studio's critical cred. (One example of both was 1986's Oscar nominated neo-noir drama Mona Lisa, again starring Bob Hoskins and newcomer Cathy Tyson.) But it wasn't until Shanghai Surprise a few months later that HandMade would suffer its first crippling loss: budgeted at $15M with Hollywood involvement, including starring roles for the husband-and-wife team of Madonna and Sean Penn, the film was a total critical and commercial failure. HandMade would never fully recover and, though it produced a series of late-period standouts including Withnail and I and Powwow Highway, the studio would barely make it out of the decade.

An Accidental Studio recounts the tale via interviews recorded during the last several decades, from Python mainstays Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Eric Idle to cast, crew, and friends including Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Michael Caine, Richard E. Grant, Roy Cooper, Denis O'Brien (perhaps the closest thing this documentary has to an antagonist), and many more, including of course Harrison himself on different occasions. Its only notable omissions include late Python member Graham Chapman -- seen briefly in a few pieces of archival footage, but nothing substantial considering his prominent role in the studio's first film -- and more recent interviews with O'Brien. But given the latter's bitter falling out with Harrison right around the time of his 2001 death, O'Brien's absence isn't all that surprising.

This does make for an unavoidably one-sided experience, but one that still gets by on merit and nostalgia alone. An Accidental Studio has its best moments when exploring HandMade's rockier moments and studio politics, but can still be enjoyed as an enhanced clip show that also includes lesser-knowns such as A Private Function and The Missionary, as well as totally forgotten films like Water starring Michael Caine, while only skipping over a few mostly minor entries in their catalog from this era. If nothing else it'll pique your curiosity for home video versions... until you realize that all but the most mainstream ones are mostly (a) out of print, or (b) have not been released on Blu-ray, if on any digital format. Luckily, An Accidental Studio can readily be enjoyed on Blu-ray courtesy of RLJ Entertainment, which serves up a solid A/V presentation and includes a decent mid-length bonus interview with a few familiar faces.

An Accidental Studio Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

"Par for the course" is my best approximation for RLJ Entertainment's 1080p transfer, which plays by all the expected rules of a patchwork-style documentary. Image quality varies wildly depending on the source material: film clips seem to line up with their best-available home video counterparts (at least as of 2019), the archival interviews are mostly shot on videotape, and vintage photographs mostly look clean and crisp while still retaining era-specific color fading and blown-out contrast thanks to photographers who always kept the flash on. Perhaps the only areas of concern are select photographs and bits of footage where the original shape has been panned and scanned to fill 16x9 displays -- these are actually few and far between, as most of the material from An Accidental Studio varies in aspect ratio -- and a handful of older broadcast clips that either suffer from interlacing issues, or have been scrubbed with noise reduction and hastily "corrected" with edge enhancement to compensate. (The worst of the lot is an opening TV interview with Harrison [screenshot #6] that unflatteringly makes him look like a living mummy.) But for the most part this is a good-looking documentary that's been transferred cleanly to disc, so I doubt anyone will be disappointed.

An Accidental Studio Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

An Accidental Studio's DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix provides a clean two-channel experience that perfectly suits the recent interview footage and vintage material; as far as I know all of these featured films have mono or stereo roots, so nothing of consequence has been lost in translation. No obvious signs of damage can be heard along the way, at least within reasonable expectations set by the source material included. Overall, it's a modest effort but one that's as clean an crisp as possible. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are also offered during the main feature and extras.

An Accidental Studio Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with illustrative cover artwork and no inserts. Bonus features are limited to one recent Q&A featuring three key members of the cast, which is well worth a look.

• An Accidental Q&A (34:10) - This interview was recorded on April 29, 2019 following the film's premiere at Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh, UK. Hosted by Sanjeev Bhaskar, it features Sir Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Ray Cooper, who served as HandMade Films' head of production, with a mostly relaxed pace that nonetheless covers a variety of topics including their first individual meetings with George Harrison, the early turbulence of Life of Brian's production, behind-the-scenes duties at the studio, test audience screenings, their performances or other roles in specific HandMade films, the cult of Withnail, quality vs. quantity, and much more.

An Accidental Studio Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Assembled and directed by Bill Jones, Kim Leggatt, and Ben Timlett, An Accidental Studio offers a reasonably revealing but unavoidably one-sided history of HandMade Films, the spontaneous brainchild of ex-Beatle George Harrison who really just wanted to see another Monty Python movie. Featuring a nice collection of lesser-seen interviews and behind-the-scenes clips and photographs, as well as more recent chats with first-hand participants, it's well worth a watch for casual and seasoned fans alike. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray has solid A/V merits and a decent mid-length bonus Q&A, which collectively make An Accidental Studio a good blind buy for the money. Recommended.