For way too long Australian television has suffered the excruciating series of clichéd questions and stock answers delivered via interviews performed by such maestros of the art as Ray Martin and Kerry O’Brien. Oh, sorry, Mike Munroe as well.
Thank God then for Andrew Denton, deciding to throw caution to the wind and breathing new life into the genre with Enough Rope - which of course comes from the old adage of ‘Give them enough rope and they’ll hang themselves’. This, though, is a statement usually referring to someone having enough free rein that they will accidentally impart information that will indict themselves in some manner of wrongdoing, yet that isn’t wholly what this show is about. Instead Denton, ever razor sharp and using his unique gift of relating to anyone he speaks to and immediately putting them at ease, draws forth information and tales that his guests may not have had any intention of telling anyone in any format. And, with useful and erudite editing, we get very entertaining interviews across a broad range of topics from the broadest spectrum of people.
And with that new breath, the guests truly bloom in telling their own stories. Denton, the new friend, helps extract the gems from their lives and, rather than destroying them like so many women’s magazines or current affairs programs, holds them reverentially for all of us to see and understand. And truly appreciate.
In this rather sparse disc (though it clocks in at a whopping 178 minutes), Denton interviews eight very different groups or individuals and each is as fascinating as the last. Personal highlights, however, come in the form of Denton’s one on one with Steve Irwin, who at first seems to have missed the point of the show, but soon finds his feet to finally deliver some depth to his cartoon character persona. Another is in the interview with Jane Turner and Gina Riley who prove they are as funny and as fast as they are in their various comedic guises. Paul Hogan’s turn presents some purely Aussie home truths, while The Older Women’s Network provides some quite comedic and some quite horrifying moments. Plus, and this is what is so great about this program, Denton goes head to head with a randomly selected audience member in Alan Stephan who proves that everyone has a decent story to tell if only they are allowed to tell it.
Denton’s 21st century take on the interview format brings us a better sort of interview; one that crosses genres as easily as crossing a street. This has been evinced in some of the better films of the last couple of years as comedies meld with drama and can be labeled as neither, action films contain truth and documentaries include every possible angle of the subject. It’s a revolutionary format and while still youthful, it’s still wholly finding its feet, but it is most definitely off to a grand start in this first compilation of Enough Rope.
Quite simply, this is a perfect video transfer. Shot for TV in the latter half of 2003 (mostly), Enough Rope looks brilliant in its 1.78:1, thoroughly modern ratio with ultra-modern 16:9 anamorphicocity. Colours are even and full and the darker areas we see in the rare audience shots are all well presented by way of shadow detail. Blacks are true and there is no evidence of computer glitches or compression woes. Spotless.
As to the audio content, well this is of course presented in Dolby Digital stereo as 99.8% of DVDs that comes from TV are. Being a chat show, this is mostly a strictly talkie affair and everything sounds legible and clear as a bell. There is little music but that of the theme song and this sounds okay too as it plays over the cutesy caricaturish animated titles.
Disappointingly there are no extras here, though this is not uncommon on ABC DVDs. Maybe Denton should interview the genius who decides that next?
Overall this is a quality presentation of a quality program, that is presented in nice tidy chunks ranging from ten to 13 minutes in length to well over half and hour each. The biggest (and only) disappointment lies in the bewildering exclusion of extras when so much further information could have been added to enhance the interviews and individual pleas of a couple of included charity plugs. However, for fans of the show (that’s pretty much anyone who’s caught it by chance on the ABC and found themselves hooked) this holds some of Denton’s prime work and a full gamut of the range of human expression.
