On the Bowery:
conditions there have a long history. Bowery
The Deluxe DVD
Edition
Ed Carter
Documentary Curator, Academy Film Archive, Los Angeles
One of the classics of documentary cinema,
Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery (1956) rose
from humble beginnings. Rogosin and his cine-
matographer Richard Bagley spent months re-
searching the film with long drinking and talk-
ing bouts with the Bowery’s down-and-outs
(Bagley died from alcohol abuse just a couple
of years later). Though American Ambassador
to Italy Claire Boothe Luce snubbed the film
at the Venice Film Festival and the New York
Times critic Bosley Crowther attacked the film
as making no new points about its subjects,
Rogosin gained support from the Flaherty
family and many favorable reviews. On the
Bowery went on to win wide acclaim and nu-
merous awards, including an Oscar nomina-
tion. It was added to America’s National Film
Registry in 2008.
Milestone Film has released a terrific two-
disc DVD of On the Bowery. It’s an immersive
experience into the film, the physical environ-
ment of New York’s (in)famous neighborhood,
and Rogosin’s early career. You really get a
sense of the place, the men who lived there,
and the history of the Bowery. Of course the
film can stand alone, but this package gives
a rich overview that only adds to the under-
standing of the complexities of the film. The
feature looks particularly good, with a pristine
transfer, from the preserved materials at the
Cineteca di Bologna.
In his introduction to the film on Disc One,
Martin Scorsese notes not only the historical
and aesthetic significance of the film, but his
personal connection to it, as it was filmed near
where he grew up in Little Italy. Along with
the feature, several extras give broader scope
to the locale and to the filmmaking process.
120
Street of Forgotten Men (1933) shows that the
Men’s Shelter (1972, preserved by the New York
Public Library) demonstrates that, even with
a more substantial governmental safety net,
things hadn’t changed much in 20 years.
The longest supplementary piece on Disc
One is The Perfect Team: The Making of On
the Bowery (2009) by Rogosin’s son Michael.
It includes excerpts from a Today Show televi-
sion interview of Lionel Rogosin and “star” Ray
Salyer; Marina Goldovskaya’s interviews with
Rogosin; and a history of the Bowery. Film his-
torians David Bordwell and Ray Carney examine
the film’s importance to film culture. The son
of cameraman Darwin Deen and the widow of
editor Carl Lerner give insights into the process
of making the film. We also learn what hap-
pened later to some of the men seen in the film.
In Michael Rogosin’s A Walk Through the
Bowery (2009), Rob Hollander and Peter von
Bagh talk about how the Bowery has changed
over the years, and what it looks like today.
Disc Two features more of Rogosin’s early
work. Good Times, Wonderful Times (1964)
intercuts a London party full of inane prattle
with footage of war and atrocities around the
world. Out (1957), a United Nations film shot
by Rogosin, shows the plight of Hungarian ref-
ugees fleeing the 1956 revolution in Austrian
camps. Michael Rogosin’s Man’s Peril: The
Making of Good Times, Wonderful Times
(2009) includes more of Goldovskaya’s Rogosin
interviews, as well as other commentary.
A supplementary booklet includes a thor-
ough Rogosin biography and filmography, a
history and analysis of On the Bowery, and
short biographies of the film’s cast and crew.
On the Bowery must have stood out as a
thorn among roses when released in 1956, with
style and subject matter far outside the norm
of contemporary documentaries. Though its
blend of fact and drama would not be con-
sidered non-fiction today, films of this type
were definitely in the mainstream of docu-
mentary filmmaking at the time. However,
one need only compare its competition for
the 1957 Academy Award in the Documentary

On the Bowery (US, 1956, Lionel Rogosin)
Feature category to see what a radical depar-
ture it was. The Oscar winner that year was
Albert Schweitzer, an affectionate biography
of the humanitarian doctor-philosopher. The
other nominee, Torero!, was a portrait of the
Mexican bullfighter Luis Procuna. Other fea-
ture docs submitted (but not nominated)
that year included The James Dean Story
(co-directed by Robert Altman), the silent
film compilation The Golden Age of Comedy,
Disney’s Mars and Beyond, and the docudrama
Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot. All worthy
films, no doubt, but all worlds away from the
denizens of Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
ON THE BOWERY: THE DELUXE DVD EDITION.
THE FILMS OF LIONEL ROGOSIN, VOLUME 1. Milestone
Film & Video, 2012. 2-disc DVD, Region 1; main feature
65 minutes, with 187 minutes of extras, and booklet.
JFP
87 | 10.2012
Ed Carter
The Deluxe DVD Edition
fr
On the Bowery:
On the Bowery (1956) de Lionel Rogosin est devenu un clas-
sique du cinéma documentaire, universellement célébré,
récipiendaire de plusieurs prix et nominé pour un Oscar. Le
coffret de deux disques récemment publié par Milestone Films
est fantastique : c’est à la fois une véritable plongée dans le
film, dans le célèbre quartier new-yorkais où il a été tourné,
et aussi dans les premières années de la carrière de Rogosin.
Le premier disque, en plus du film, contient plusieurs com-
pléments permettant une connaissance plus large du milieu
et de la genèse du film ; le second inclut d’autres exemples du
travail de Rogosin au début de sa carrière, notamment Out
(1957) et Wonderful Times (1964) ainsi qu’un « making of » de
ce dernier.
es
On the Bowery (1956) de Lionel Rogosin, se ganó un mere-
dvdS
cido reconocimiento de numerosos públicos. Recibió impor-
tantes premios, incluyendo una nominación para los Oscars
y se convirtió hoy en uno de los clásicos del cine documental.
Milestone Films acaba de lanzar un extraordinario álbum de
DVD de dos discos conteniendo On the Bowery y numerosos
extras. Se trata de una experiencia de inmersión total en
la película, en el entorno de la famosa calle y los barrios de
Nueva York, y en los comienzos de la carrera de Rogosin. El
CD#1 presenta la película junto con varios extras destinados
a ilustrar el entorno geográfico y el proceso de filmación. El
CD#2 contiene ejemplos adicionales de la obra temprana de
Rogosin, y en particular Out (1957) y Good Times, Wonderful
Times (1964), así como un “making of” de esta última cinta.
121­
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.