| Audiences
Who Know the Lingo Will Delight in New Eight-Cow DVD
What's
better than one Johnny Lingo film? How about two Johnny Lingo
movies for the same price? It doesn't take a famously shrewd trader
like Johnny himself to sniff that bargain.
"The
Legend of Johnny Lingo," which played in local theaters last
fall, is a feature-length film financed by the Utah-based Tahitian
Noni International and created by Hollywood filmmakers. But perhaps
even more famous is the original "Johnny Lingo," made
by Brigham Young University in 1969.
"The
Legend of Johnny Lingo" is newly available on DVD this week.
If you purchase the no-frills standard edition, distributed by
MGM, then the 90-minute feature film is all you'll get.
Devoted
Lingo lovers, on the other hand, will want to keep their eyes
peeled for "The Legend of Johnny Lingo: LDS Classic Edition,"
freshly minted by Deseret Book Distributors. A double-disc presentation,
the LDS Classic Edition includes both the new film and a restored,
remastered version of its 25-minute predecessor, a staple of both
seminary and Sunday school classes in the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
Daniel
Hess, an LDS seminary teacher at Provo High School, said while
the 1969 film is not part of the Church Education System's formal
curriculum, students generally know it well. Hess, who has taught
seminary for 14 years, said teachers often show the film on days
when their normal schedule gets interrupted, as when class periods
are shortened to accommodate a school assembly.
Although
"Johnny Lingo" is now nearly as old as the parents of
high school-age LDS teens, it remains a favorite. "There
are some kids who can speak the dialogue right along with the
actors," Hess said.
The
abiding fondness for all things Lingo was a driving factor behind
production of the new film. John Garbett, one of the producers
who worked on "The Legend of Johnny Lingo" and a lifelong
member of the LDS Church, said he grew up with the original movie.
"I've
always loved the story," Garbett said. As an adult, the idea
of taking its familiar characters and putting them on a larger
stage appealed to him.
Garbett
approached friend and fellow producer Gerald Molen and gave him
a copy of the 1969 film. Molen, a Hollywood veteran and Academy
Award-winner whose past production credits include "Schindler's
List," "Minority Report" and " Jurassic Park,"
liked what he saw.
"It
had such a wonderful message," Molen said. "There's
a lesson to be learned there for viewers young and old."
(Curiously,
though he is LDS himself, Molen had never seen the original prior
to becoming involved with the new version.)
The
1969 film is based on a short story by Patricia McGerr, a first-person
account in which an unnamed narrator visits the South Pacific
and meets legendary trader Johnny Lingo face-to-face, getting
the facts firsthand about his decision to pay a disgruntled father
eight cows for the privilege of taking his ugly daughter, Mahana,
to wife.
BYU's
version presents that account more or less unchanged. The wholesome
message -- Johnny promotes his bride's self-esteem by paying such
an impressive price to wed her -- has kept "Johnny Lingo"
in circulation. But the unintentional comedy of the badly aged
soundtrack outlandishly depicted Polynesian customs and memorably
appalling dialogue ("Mahana, you ugly!") has made it
beloved.
As
Hess put it, "The students think it's funny because of the
acting and the music." Then, he said, there is "the
very idea that men would barter with cows about what their future
wife was worth."
With
the LDS Classic Edition of "The Legend of Johnny Lingo,"
viewers can compare the old and new films side-by-side. Besides,
said Garbett, for LDS viewers, what better special feature could
there be?
"We
just knew that adding the BYU film would make it a complete package,"
Garbett said.
Additionally,
the DVD release presented an opportunity to rescue the original
version, previously available only on videocassette, from the
aging process that eventually breaks down all old films.
"We
looked at the original film as it exists now," Garbett said,
"and realized that if something wasn't done it would continue
to deteriorate and eventually be lost."
With
the benefit of digital storage technology and DVD, the original
print could be restored, remastered and preserved indefinitely.
The biggest challenge of the restoration process was the 1969
film's now obscure format -- it had been shot on 16-mm film. Today,
the majority of feature films not produced with digital recording
equipment are shot on 35-mm film.
According
to Garbett, "It's like trying to take analog tapes and make
them sound like they were originally recorded in stereo."
Along
with the restored version of the original film, the DVD includes
"8 Cows, Millions of Hearts," a documentary account
of its production. Among other tidbits, Lingo buffs can finally
learn why the wigs used by the original filmmakers look so terrible,
and why the whine of mosquitos is distinctly audible at a few
odd moments on the newly remastered audio track.
One
thing you won't notice when viewing the restored "Johnny
Lingo" is any reference to Noni Juice. The nutrition drink
is derived from an exotic Tahitian fruit that has a bit of a supporting
role in "The Legend of Johnny Lingo," which contains
a handful of passing references to its healthful properties.
The
product placement helped Molen and Garbett secure funding for
their film from Tahitian Noni International. Molen said the company
proved to be an excellent substitute for the usual approach of
arranging financing through a bank or investor group.
"I
can't think of a better experience I've ever had," Molen
said. "They're just a phenomenal group of people."
Beyond
including their signature product, TNI didn't suggest any modifications
to the basic story of "Johnny Lingo." Much of the new
content took shape after the filmmakers discovered, when researching
McGerr's story, that Johnny Lingo is an actual mythical figure
-- sort of a Polynesian Paul Bunyan.
"I'd
always thought that this was just a made-up character," Garbett
said. Knowing the details of the Lingo mythology helped the filmmakers
to craft a feature-length story where their predecessors had created
a finished product less than one-third as long.
Then
again, while there's more to learn about the characters in the
new film, the larger details are essentially the same. BYU film
and theater professor Eric Samuelsen thinks that's one reason
why "The Legend of Johnny Lingo" didn't rustle much
of an audience during its theatrical run.
"The
new film is better," Samuelsen said. "Better photographed,
better acted, a little better written. So what? It's still the
same message."
As
Samuelsen sees it, people who know the original either like it
and value its encouragement of self-esteem or find it thematically
misguided and comically outdated. Yet, in either case, there's
no compelling reason to revisit the story.
Whether
or not they see it as having something valuable to say, Samuelsen
said, "Most folks have already made up their minds about
it."
This
article appeared in the 15th of May issue of The Daily Herald
and is reproduced with permission.
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