1776 1776 Columbia TriStar 1972 / Color / 2:35 anamorphic 16:9 / 166 min. / Street Date May 28, 2002 / $29.95 Starring William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard, Donald Madden, John Cullum, Roy Poole, David Ford, Ron Holgate, Ray Middleton, William Hansen, Blythe Danner, Virginia Vestoff Cinematography Harry Stradling Jr. Production Designer George Jenkins Film Editor Florence Williamson, William H. Ziegler Original Music Sherman Edwards Written by Peter Stone from the play by Sherman Edwards, Peter Stone Produced by Jack L. Warner Directed by Peter H. Hunt
	Reviewed by Glenn Erickson Note:  New info on the length of this DVD in comparison to the old Laserdisc. A box office dud when new, 1776 weaves perfectly fine musical entertainment from the First Continental Congress's efforts to form a declaration of independence. The successful play transformed famous historical characters like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin into living, breathing people to whom modern audiences could relate, which was no small accomplishment. There's an attempt to mildly associate the revolutionary founding fathers with the radicals of the late '60s, which didn't go over well with President Nixon, and helped get the original film cut by 25 minutes. This DVD restores the whole show.  2 Synopsis: In a sweltering Philadelphia summer, the First Continental Congress is stalemated on the issue of independence. General Washington has been fighting the English for months and losing, and the Southern states are nowhere near as interested in breaking from England as is the embattled New England area. Firebrand John Adams (William Daniels) of Massachusetts is 'obnoxious and disliked', so he and the genial Benjamin Franklin (Howard da Silva) talk Richard Henry Lee of Virginia into introducing the issue. Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) is tasked with drafting the declaration, but he pines for his new wife Martha (Blythe Danner), as does Adams for his sturdy Boston housewife Abigail (Virginia Vestoff). With time running out, the issue of slavery is likely to foredoom the declaration's ever being adopted - the South has successfully mandated that any vote for independence be unanimous. Making entertainment out of two months' worth of debates and parliamentary procedures in a meeting hall doesn't sound very promising, but 1776 is bright, witty, and affectionately satirical. Writer Peter Stone (Charade, Skin Game) has a definite liberal bias that characterizes hothead John Adams as a corrosive and sour activist branded with the very negative (for 1969 and thereafter) words agitator and radical. He also included a tune called Cool, Cool Considerate Men where the smug, rich Southerners congratulate themselves for being conservatives who let others take risks, that's an obvious swipe at the Republican Party of the late 1960s. The liner notes and the commentary repeat the story that when President Richard Nixon saw the film in a Patton-like White House screening, he objected to the song and asked his buddy Jack Warner to remove it. 1776 was only partially censored by Nixon, because 25 minutes in all were dropped between the film's premiere and its theatrical run, where even at 142 minutes it seemed a bit long.  1 The songs in 1776 are excellent - with the possible exception of the grating The Lees of Old Virgina (remembered as a show-stopper on stage), but that's a matter of taste. The conscience of the Congress, mulling over petty details while the soldier volunteers of the Continental Army fight and die, is very well stated in the song, Mama, Look Sharp, sung by Washington's courier. There are some fine performances here. William Daniels is the stuffiest 'agitator' imaginable, but keeps John Adams the central force of the show. His letter-conversations with his far-off bride Abigail are touching for their insights into his character, and their duet 'Til Then is so powerfully plaintive, it regularly garnered applause in the movie house - after each of its reprises. Daniels was a well-known actor (The Graduate, TV's Captain Nice) whose first film was the liberal anti-nuke cautionary drama Ladybug, Ladybug. Great character actor Howard Da Silva (The Lost Weekend, They Live by Night) was the first Jud Fry in the original Oklahoma! Broadway show, but was blacklisted before the H.U.A.C. after a vicious attack by Robert Taylor, and disappeared from screens for ten years. In that context, it is strange to see him playing the jovial father of independence for the country that scorned him; when he says his most cutting lines ("Treason is a word invented by the winners as an excuse for hanging the losers") there's not a hint of bitterness. Writer Stone has fun with mild references to Franklin's gout, which doesn't prevent the elder statesman from prancing about or keeping appointments with the ladies. Da Silva brings the show to life whenever it threatens to become monotonous. Young Ken Howard, who had just finished a pair of Otto Preminger films, is appropriately reserved and thoughtful as Jefferson. Fresh Blythe Danner provides a highlight with her He Plays the Violin song. It threatens to become a serious dance number but chickens out with a few waltz turns. She, however, is adorable. The large cast of delegates is uniformly fine and composed mostly of Broadway actors without extensive film careers. You can spot William Hansen from Fail-Safe and John Myhers from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and several faces from early seasons of the Dark Shadows soap opera, but many are talented one-time visitors to the big screen. Clearly, the set-bound and talky 1776 was a filmmaker's challenge. Efforts to open up the show go little further than the street in front of the Congress, and the vaseline-dissolved dream duets. The direction in the dialogue scenes is good, but the film is afraid to embrace its musical numbers, which are simply recorded straight. Musical entertainment as a staple had withered to nothing in the Hollywood of 1972, and there's a reticence to let the camera become as emotional as the performers. The trailers, in fact, stressed the witty dialogue over the songs, as if from embarrassment. The least appealing aspect of the picture is its color design, which is non-existent. The prints in 1972 looked worse than the disc - drab greyed greens and blues, again suggesting that the period decor and costumes made the filmmakers self-conscious. For a show with such joyous music, 1776 looks almost as bloodless as UA's hideously designed Man of La Mancha of the same year. The early '70s were disaster years for Columbia, what with their turkey supreme Lost Horizon, and there's something about the look of this upbeat movie that evokes the aura of doom that surrounded the studio at that time. Columbia's DVD of 1776 is a very peppy-looking transfer that seamlessly restores the show to premiere length (? see footnote  2), and has colors much better than the original theatrical prints. Grain is kept to a minimum and the overall resolution is fine, especially considering that much of the film is in wide shots with dozens of men milling about the congress hall. A commentary track features director Hunt and writer Stone, who eagerly recount the circumstances around the crippling cutting of the picture by Jack Warner, making it sound as if Nixon personally dictated the losing of the one musical number. They proudly cover the success of the Broadway version, and fill in lots of detail for most of the actors we see. Several amusing screen tests for the stage actors are a welcome addition (but why they tested familiar film face William Daniels is a mystery). The disc has some helpful but unattributed liner notes, and reproductions of the dreary original theatrical posters. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, 1776 rates: Movie: Very Good Video: Good Sound: Good Supplements: Commentary with Director Hunt and writer Stone, screen tests, trailer Packaging: keep case Reviewed: June 23, 2002 Footnote: 1. Savant was an usher at the National theater in Westwood when 1776 opened, cut to 142 minutes; this DVD restores a director's longer cut at 166, which is satisfying on disc but back then would have made an already long film tough sledding. In the early 90s, a Pioneer/Columbia laserdisc produced by Joe Caporiccio did a restoration job on the picture using b&w workprint to fill in the missing scenes and shots. It was a distracting disc for ordinary viewers but a wonderment of editing, as the b&w slugs showed how cleverly pieces of scenes and reaction shots were excised to streamline the show, in some cases (according to Stone and Hunt on the commentary) eliminating 'controversial' snippets of dialog. Return 2. Both Stuart Galbraith and 'B' have informed Savant that this 'director's cut of 1776 is at least ten minutes shorter than the earlier Pioneer laserdisc, which claims a length of 176 minutes. Helpful reader Biff McKeldin has put me on to this Article at DVD Angle, which appears to have the inside scoop and details of all the versions. Unfortunately, it doesn't discuss the context of scenes everyone keeps saying were removed for their 'political' content. So it's back to the laserdisc for those who want to find out. 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