|  | Directors: Michael Jackson, Nick Brandt, Chilvers, Colin, Giraldi, Bob, Isham, Wayne
Actors: Paula Abdul, Mayim Bialik, Jackie Collins, Richard Dreyfuss, Lou Ferrigno
Studio: Sony
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $6.45
as of 11/23/2009 02:09 CST details
You Save: $5.53 (46%)
New (52) Used (22) Collectible (2) from $5.75
Seller: wholesaledvdsforless
Rating:  144 reviews
Sales Rank: 228
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: 50138
ISBN: 1573300403
UPC: 074645013893
EAN: 9781573300407
ASIN: 1573300403
Theatrical Release Date: May 20, 1997
Release Date: March 3, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New! Factory Sealed 100%Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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Showing reviews 21-25 of 144
 Michael Jackson Review September 11, 2009
T. S. Phillip
This extraordinary video compliation of Michael's work is truly brilliant! I watch it quite often and am always deeply mesmerized and moved to tears. Michael, (God Bless him) is truly the most brilliantly gifted, sensitive, compassionate, electrifying souls to ever grace this planet. I wish, (with all my heart) that he was still here.
LOVED IT - READ ON & BUY IT September 7, 2009
Viking Spirit (Mountain View, CA USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This DVD is well worth the time it takes to watch. I loved it. Got a few minutes? Here's why, in intimate detail:
I must admit, it's been quite a while since I sat and watched Michael Jackson videos one after another. But now I'm looking at them through different eyes, trying to make sense of his senseless death, and whatever is being written or broadcast about him these days, I find I simply cannot look away right now. I want to know everything, and remember, and thank him somehow. Was there ever an entertainer before this who stripped himself naked for us, asked us to really see who he was, in so many ways? I don't think so. He makes us willing voyeurs, and welcomes our intrusion.
I've just finished watching Michael Jackson: HIStory on Film Volume II with those new eyes I mentioned. Some of the videos included on it I've seen many times before, but now they are clearly valuable as a chronicle of the evolution of a unique performer.
The teaser is very funny and over the top, a good example of the famously wicked MJ sense of humor, in this case spoofing himself. Here also you have the seminal introduction of moonwalking and Michael-bling in the Motown 25 live performance of "Billie Jean", and this is a performance that really has a sense of defiance to it, saying "Here I am on my own, not The Jacksons but THE Jackson, and get ready coz I'm happening!" It's also interesting as the first public indication that this artist was not going to stay in the Motown "standard" for very much longer. Included also is the slightly vague and disjointed "Billie Jean" video, historical as the first video by a black performer to be shown on MTV, not really satisfying on its own but rather an omen of better things to come...
And here's the huge Grammy winner "Beat It", where MJ now seems such a young naïve idealist and is all forearms and legs, a gawky fawn with attitude and grace that surprises you, and the determination to show you what he thinks about gang violence whether you want to hear or not. Contrast this much simpler video with the huge scope of another idealistic video, "Earth Song", where his need to speak out to us about serious social and global issues is again evident but the level of sophistication and production complexity has increased exponentially, as has the level of emotion Michael puts into his performance. The local residents recruited for the video are awesome. It's clear that he really feels deeply what he has written about in this song, and it makes a striking and interesting video. Gives me goosepimples.
The MJ ideals are given another outing in "They Don't Care About Us", this is the Brazil version, with director Spike Lee providing an edgy forum for Michael's growing displeasure with "them", and frankly, given the impressive logistics that must have gone into filming this piece, I can't imagine anyone but Michael Jackson being able to pull it off. (Well... okay, maybe Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, but they probably weren't available that day...)
Speaking of Spielberg, there he was amongst the movie and television luminaries (and holy primates, Batman, it's Bubbles the chimp, conversing with Suzanne Somers!) that were gathered to cameo in MJ's charming video "Liberian Girl", and here is one of the perfect examples of Michael's huge love of movies. He expressed in many interviews his fascination with film past and future, and after playing the scarecrow in "The Wiz", which he loved doing, it really fired his desire to express himself cinematically. The music, though in the background in the video, seems to have come right from a 1930's musical night club act. As you finally see him behind the camera at the end of the video, his joy at the fun of it is written all over his face; even though he seems a bit shy, he just beams. A sweet piece. So is the dedication to Elizabeth Taylor.
This joy and fun were also at the core of the (dare I say) immortal video "Thriller", which I dearly love, because Michael is so obviously having a blast and sharing that with us every minute. I've seen this video so many times, but somehow it (and the song) never gets old. The song all by itself is terrific, and the lyrics (and the inimitable Vincent Price's poetry delivery) always make me smile - having grown up fiercely addicted to the Friday night screamfest called "Creature Features" in my home town, I have happy memories of scaring myself silly watching classic horror films every week and dreaming of monsters and ghouls all night. However, none of them ever danced quite as wonderfully as Michael, and I will see his devilish grin and wolfish eyes at the end of this video in my mind forever. Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson was a match made in musical heaven and I'm sure they both knew it very well. Adding John Landis to the mix (after his success with "Werewolf in London") really frosted the cake and changed music video forever.
Also on this DVD is another very cinematic video, among my favorites - "Smooth Criminal". Here MJ gets into a complex dance number with a sort of a gangsta plot that's really fun to watch, he gets to hoof it a la Fred Astaire (whom he named at 18 as one of his early inspirations) and we get a taste of his propensity to get kids into his videos. (The little boy who "taught him all he knows" and imitates MJ's moves is really cute. Wonder what he's doing now?) However - I would have liked to see more of Michael dancing alone in this video, instead of getting lost in the crowd so much. And wow, time for another stark contrast: look at "Smooth Criminal" and "Blood on the Dance Floor", where suddenly MJ doesn't look like a kid wearing Fred Astaire's costume anymore but rather a grown man with great presence and intensity and sexual energy (and OMG doesn't he look killer in dark red leather and satin! Whew!) I had not seen this video before, and he blew me away. Here he really is as much a trained dancer as he is a singer/composer. His body is filled out more, he moves with more forcefulness, he actually dances with a partner, and is really impressive in a rather overwhelmingly sensual video - lots of color and eye candy. Ignore the negative comments on this one, it's a keeper. As in the other video though, he gets lost in the crowd of other dancers too many times for my taste. (Do all video editors have Attention Deficit Disorder? Stop hopping around, guys! Let the scene flow!)
Another surprise on this DVD is the MTV awards performance, which is almost worth the price of the thing all by itself. Lucky MTV audience! An extended live performance by any television measure, with perfectly timed pyro and Slashy geetar majic (if the guy wears any more jewelry he may electrocute himself on his guitar! hahaha), and several extended dance numbers (including a tantalizing portion of one of my all-time favorite MJ songs, "Dangerous"), a reprise of "You Are Not Alone", and oh yes, kids. Michael seems extremely open, genuine and happy on this particular evening, a feeling seemingly not shared by Lisa Marie Presley, who the cameras hunt down and expose with rather sour and grumpy looks on her face.
And of course we get a full serving of Lisa Marie in the video "You Are Not Alone", which is a really great song, a beautiful sentiment, and very well sung ... but the video troubles me a bit. It seems to be another moment of Michael baring and sharing who he really is with us, and the intimacy becomes rather excruciating (not to mention extremely revealing!), and I haven't figured out who he is in it yet or what he really wants to say. The angel shots are a bit unsettling too, viewed in 2009... And right alongside this video in the "Yikes, Michael, did you really have to tell us that?" department is "Childhood", which I had not seen before, and for a moment I thought I was seeing Janet Jackson behind the soft focus! But of course it wasn't, and there were all these kids, with dreams in their eyes... and magical flying boats... and by the end of it I was sniffling, dammit. He's stripping off layers of himself again and I'm never quite ready, especially when he hits a nerve in my own complicated psyche.
Janet Jackson does however turn up with MJ in "Scream", a sort of space fantasy with very cool costumes and lots of special effects (Fred Astaire would have loved the dancing on the ceiling parts, Michael, another salute to the past from you) and lyrics that must have been very satisfying for both of the performing siblings to express, especially when directed at the media, and rather ironic to see now given the general crucifixion Michael got in the press in 2003-2005. This is a very interesting video visually, obviously cost a small fortune to produce, but not a song that stays with you terribly long. I enjoyed seeing the brother-sister dynamics though.
"Stranger in Moscow" is another one I suspect was inspired by honest emotion on MJ's part, and heck, he might have even written it in Moscow; I'm sure he went there at some point, and I'm sure he was lonely. He was a (beloved) stranger all over the world and completely alone in huge masses of people. The pervasive loneliness of his life pops out at various moments in his music and interviews, and this video hits you in a stark place, is even shot in black and white to increase the detachment about which Michael sings. It brings forward the silence that is the flip side of all the hullabaloo and excitement of fame and touring and performing: it's the thoughts that come when you're alone in the middle of the night. Don't watch this video if you're contemplating suicide and it's raining.
Finally, the HIStory Volume II DVD treats us to a mind-numbing epilogue of sorts, which plunges us into a frenetic compressed hyper-edited Michael's-eye view of what his touring life was like. (Hey, let's hang a sign on the sound tower so the guy remembers where he is tonight!) It ends with what I'm sure was meant at the time of its release in 1995 as a positive, endearing, encouraging grabber of a teaser line: "BRACE YOURSELF". We were to look forward, more to come, stay tuned!
Well, as they say in the movies, "we wuz robbed". His impassioned and improbable personal life has deprived us of the next iteration of Michael Jackson and all the fabulous ideas that were still rattling around in his marvelously talented brain. Personally I think that "This Is It" would have been just what he needed to turn it all around, and probably cathartic too, but I suppose it could have done damage if it had turned out to be less than the success the perfectionist that he was all his life he was used to, and needed. Sadly we'll never know. The good news is that his extensive musical legacy will live on for a long time, more things will appear out of various vaults and collections and get released to the public, and other performers will want to keep it alive in their own interpretations too. But to see the incomparable Michael Jackson, as he really was, in all his guises and disguises, you'll need all of the videos, warts and all. This DVD is a must for MJ collectors.
MJ History part 2 September 7, 2009
D. A. SCOTT (L.A. CA)
Rcvd product in excellent condition. I'm really going to miss seeing him. He was a great artist and performer.
 Slow shipping. September 5, 2009
J. Cyann
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Even though this seller wasn't the cheapest, I bought based on being close to my home. But DVD didn't arrive until third week, no way did they ship within two days, but because they ship using third rate postage(presorted standard), there's no postmark to see what day it was mailed. DVD was fine.
Michael Jackson - History on film, vol.2 September 4, 2009
G. Bembenek
One of the best Jackson video's. I am so glad I bought this.
All Jackson fans should own this one.
Showing reviews 21-25 of 144
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