The Great Pretender [Blu-ray]

The DVD for “Freddie Mercury The Great Pretender” was received in a timely manner and in good shape.There was material from interviews, performances and band working sessions that I had not seen before, making this a very worthwhile purchase for me. The main interview with Freddie on the first part of the disc I have seen before (with David Wigg where Freddie is wearing his suspenders). But there were other parts that I had not seen before, especially in the Bonus Features section.- Most touching to me were the interviews with Montserrat Caballe. I had not seen any of this before and you could see how emotional she was remembering her times with Freddie when they met and then made the Barcelona album. You could tell how much she loved him as a friend, and in turn he felt the same way towards her. Coming from worlds apart in the music business, an unlikely friendship that in reality was an amazing and loving friendship.- There were also insights on how people in Freddie’s circle including band members, felt about Paul Prenter and why. It confirmed to me what I thought of him based on previous readings and interviews.- A fun fact I learned - I had wondered after seeing the movie if the band in reality had the nickname Miami for Jim Beach. Yes, they did, although it did not say who gave Jim that nickname. His interview portions gave much insight also into the workings of the band members, especially Freddie.- The interview portions with Roger and Brian were also very interesting. They have such different styles in interviews as Roger pretty much says what he is thinking and Brian is more measured and thoughtful in his responses. Between the two you really get a feel for how the band worked together. I enjoyed hearing both of them.- I think Freddie would have been a wonderful role model and father for his own children, had he had any. I could tell this by the videos of him with Mary’s son and with Mack’s family.- In summation, I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD and have watched it twice already and will again I’m sure. Anytime I can learn something I did not know before about this talented, intelligent and amazing band, it is always worthwhile to me. Sad to think of all Freddie would have given the world had he lived. And sad to me too that John decided to retire from the music business, as I think he also would have contributed much more to the music world.

Unlike most of these other reviews by lifetime Queen fans, when I was in high school in the mid 70's, I hated Queen. I was one of those rare weirdos who listened to what would later be known as Disco. Long story short, last summer during a sleepless night , I turned on the Biography Channel ("bio."): it was Freddie Mercury. I was instantly drawn to this phenom who I realized I really knew nothing about: I needed to know more, and began a 10 month quest to find this on DVD. But bio. didn't have it, and Amazon had it in Spanish. Periodically I obsessively searched, and 2 months ago, I found this DVD. Based on how highly all of you recommended this for Queen fans, I figured that if the fans were this enthusiastic about this DVD, surely this had to have some merit and bought it.Over the next month, I watched this dvd a.minimum of 30+ times. This dvd is far superior to what I'd seen on bio., and at almost 57 years of age, I've been captivated by this brilliant man and the members of Queen. I can't believe how much Freddie represents EVERY SINGLE arena in which I'd immersed my entire life, from the age of 3 to present, and I never knew how much more than a rock star Freddie Mercury was!!! I'm just grateful that I've discovered this legend thanks to all of you fans who spoke so eloquently about this one extraordinary enigma.Since purchasing this DVD, I now own every single DVD on Amazon regarding Freddie's solo career as well as everything Queen: all live concerts as well as all greatest music videos, and I've never been disappointed; I watch Queen at every chance I get.In conclusion, just in case it's not obvious, I highly recommend to ALL people of ALL ages that you watch this DVD. It has permanently altered and enriched my life In ways that very few things have, or ever will.

I am a Freddie Mercury fan! Loved it.

I was unsure when I bought this, but I am so happy I did. This dvd shows the real Freddie throughout his career. His amazing talent and voice. It was interesting to hear Jim "Miami" Beach talk. I had to laugh about the Freddie and Michael Jackson collaboration. Freddie calling Jim Beach to come get him because MJ brought his pet llama to the studio and Freddie didn't like it one bit. Freddie in the royal ballet. Mr. Bad Guy. The Munich days. His time in NYC. Some of the footage I have seen before but the picture quality is so much better on this dvd. Sound quality excellent. This is a must have for all Freddie Mercury fans.

I thought this documentary was very well done. There was plenty of actual band performance and interview footage. I also feel like this was a celebration of Freddie's life rather than focusing simply on his death like some other documentaries have done. I would like to clarify that this is not the same documentary that has been on tv lately even though the name is very similar (I think that one is called Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender Revisited, or something along those lines). I watched about 10 minutes of that one before I had to turn it off, because that one focused solely on his disease and untimely death. This DVD focuses more on his extraordinary life including his wonderful sense of humor. Some of the interviews and other footage can be found on other documentaries, but there was some footage that I had never seen before. I really enjoyed it.

This DVD is absolutely the best, most entertaining, and informative DVD that I’ve ever watched! I’ve already watched it 5 times and am looking forward to seeing it again. This shows me why I love Freddie Mercury so much. He’s funny, realistic, and human with deep feelings. I wish I could have had him for a friend.

Suma y sigue...otro más !

Auf dieser DVD sehe ich viele von den Interviews, die schon in dem Buch"Freddie Mercury A live in His own words" gelesen habe nur hier sehr und höre ich den leider viel zu früh verstorbenen Freddie Mercury diese Dinge sagen; seine spontanen Reaktionen auf manche Fragen sind sehr interessant. Ich mag diese DVD weil sie mir völlig neue Facetten dieser schillernden Persoenlichkeit zeigt.

Beautiful documentary about a beautiful and brilliant man! You feel like you know Freddie personally by the end of it. I know it was focusing on his solo career but it would've been cool to see his entire story from birth up until his solo career through HIS perspective..but I know that he never really talked about his childhood/teen years in depth in interviews, so there probably wasn't much, if any, archival footage of that available anyway. Regardless, this documentary makes you realize just how sad it is that Freddie's life was cut so short. He was such an innovative, creative force in the music industry but he also had a heart of gold and truly just wanted to find 'somebody to love' (which he did a year or two later with Jim Hutton, thankfully).What this documentary is really good at is showing the human side of Freddie and how if you take away the glitz and glam and his larger than life stage persona, there was a shy, sensitive, and introverted person underneath who was struggling with personal issues and relationships, just like we all do.As I stated in my title, I wish it had been longer because it's SO intriguing! It's 1 hr 25 minutes but it should've been AT LEAST 2 hours!One of the special features is a 7 min clip of his famous interview with David Wigg (parts of it are shown throughout the doc). It's an awesome interview - intimate but also light and funny. If anyone knows where I can see the entire thing please let me know! I've seen a bunch of segments of it on YouTube and it seems to be really long, which is why I'm dying to see the whole thing!

Tiene una gran calidad de imagen y sonido, se rescatan entrevistas de Freddie Mercury y cuenta con subtítulos en español. Una gran ayuda para todo aquel que desee conocer un poco de la enigmática e interesante vida del cantante.Tiene opciones de búsqueda y en definitiva es maravilloso.Llegó antes de lo previsto y en excelentes condiciones. Tiene un pequeño libro que habla del vídeo, solo una hojas. Así como una caja de cartón con el logo de la carátula. ¡Me ha encantado!

Un très beau documentaire qui laisse la parole à Freddie Mercury et au groupe. FM est hilarant dans ses interviews et il va droit au but. J'ai toujours adoré sa personnalité même si le personnage est construit de toute pièce car le vrai FM était un loup solitaire et très réservé. Une star qui brillera toujours. Ce documentaire lui rend un bel hommage.