Elstree 1976 (2015)

Why so much hype?

not as good as all the hype

It is a performances centric movie

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Looking through the prism of fandom can sometimes be a frustrating experience where one feels daunted by their love of something no matter what anyone says. These feelings & much more rear their ugly heads as I watched Elstree 1976. If anything, this doc gives an interesting insight into the Star Wars phenomena as bit players, walk-on's & neglected extras rhapsodize on what being in the most famous film of all time has done for their lives.

I happened to come across this documentary on Netflix, I think it was. And being the big "Star Wars" fan that I am, of course I took the time to sit down and watch it; as I gobble up everything from that universe."Elstree 1976" was sort of a rather pointless documentary about some people with little or virtually no parts in the "Star Wars: A New Hope movie". Who really cares about an extra that has no speaking part?But more importantly, why was a documentary necessary about them?This documentary is not worth the time or effort, even if you are a big fan of the "Star Wars" franchise. It offers very little insight into the making of "Star Wars: A New Hope", and essentially just revolves around persons whom had little time on the screen and portrayed characters that had little to no impact on the movie at all.Seen it once, never returning here again.

I am watching this now as I type.All it is is a series of talking heads, most of which are unknown, that tell stories about how they went to Elstree Studios and ended up in Star Wars. I recognised Dave Prowse and that was about all. I know Jeremy Bulloch but have not got to his section at present.The extras, few of whom are unnamed, tell most boring stories about their experiences. This documentary must only be of interest to Star Wars nerds and completists. Random shots of people in costumes from the films fail to make it any more fascinating as their faces are still not shown. I fail to see why this curiosity was made at all.

While perhaps 20 minutes of this documentary deliver actually interesting anecdotes about the film-making process, the creators of it never show the personalities interviewed to be all that interesting. And the history of bit-players who became bit-players in the industry and perhaps their own lives could have been very interesting and significant, but none of it is ever elevated to anything but a bit-player film level... which is somewhat appropriate for a below average experience, but doesn't make the film worth seeing.If there is a reason to watch this movie, it is for future documentarians to learn what not to do.