Documentaries: 9 1/2 Hours of the Holocaust . . . : . . . Enlightening Look at Seattle’s Street Kids

Seeing “Shoah,” Claude Lanzmann’s 9 1/2-hour Holocaust documentary, in a movie theater was difficult for many because of both the length and the subject matter.

On videocassette, it may find acceptance in the rental market. Paramount released the five-cassette set last week, and at $300 a set the sales market will be limited.

Lanzmann said he knows of many people who have seen part of “Shoah” but not all of it. “I discovered that a lot of people had seen the second half but not the first half,” he said. “I also found out from these people that it doesn’t lose its impact when you see parts of it or if you see the parts out of order.”

A series of interviews with people who were in and around the Nazi extermination centers, “Shoah” doesn’t lose anything in the move to home video. “It’s mainly a lot of faces,” Lanzmann said. “They are as expressive on a TV screen as they are in the big screen in the theaters.”

As Lanzmann acknowledged, you have to be in the mood to see “Shoah.” On videocassette, you can see part of it anytime. “It’s a difficult, sometimes painful subject,” he said. “It’s best to deal with it when you can handle it. You might want to see some of it at 1 in the morning. So then you just pull out a cassette.”

Though Lanzmann shot 350 hours of film for this project, he didn’t add any of the extra footage to the video version. “I can make other films with that material,” he said. “I may do something with it that’s just for the video market.”

This was an expensive project that was a financial drain on Lanzmann. So far, it has not been profitable. “With a film this long you can’t show it as many times in a day in a theater,” he said. “People won’t come to see it because of the length and the subject. You can’t expect it to bring in much money. But I didn’t make it to make money. I made it because I had to.”

BRIEFS: “Streetwise” (New World, $59.95), the grim, enlightening documentary about Seattle street kids, came out a few weeks ago. . . . RCA/Columbia has joined Embassy and Paramount in the 8mm software market. In the fall, RCA/Columbia will release 21 films at $29.95, among them “The Big Chill” and “Taxi Driver” and kidvids. . . . ABC/Vestron is rush-releasing a 45-minute, $19.95 cassette of highlights of ABC’s coverage of Liberty Weekend. It should be out next week. . . . “Big Trouble,” the flop comedy starring Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, came out at the end of May and was in home video stores by early July. The gap between theatrical release and cassette debut is usually six months. Movie industry observers hope this isn’t a precedent.

UNDERGROUND TRACI: Recently it was revealed that porn star Traci Lords didn’t turn 18 until May. So in nearly all of her 75 movies, she was under age. Since she’s a minor, it’s now illegal for retailers and distributors to stock those cassettes. So, suddenly they’re the hottest tapes around. Sources report that some video retailers still have Lords tapes on their shelves; others are selling them under the counter in the $200-$500 range. Most adult-only retailers, aware that they could be an easy target of vice raids, removed the Lords tapes from their stores as soon as the news of her real age surfaced last week.

NEW AND COMING MOVIES: The list of major September releases continues to grow. On Sept. 17, Paramount is putting out “Gung Ho,” director Ron Howard’s comedy about the auto-making industry, and “Young Sherlock Holmes,” the teen-oriented adventure that most critics liked but audiences largely ignored. Goldie Hawn’s football comedy, “Wildcats,” is due Sept. 24 on Warner Video.

“Salvador,” praised as a gritty, gloomy look at the social and political problems in Central America, will be released by Vestron on Sept. 10. James Woods and Jim Belushi co-star.

Possibly the oddest comedy of the year is “Turtle Diary,” about a couple (Ben Kingsley and Glenda Jackson) who scheme to steal turtles from an aquarium and set them free. The small art film was generally well received by critics, who particularly loved the star performances. It will be out on Vestron on Sept. 24.

At the end of September, New World reportedly will release “The Trip to Bountiful,” for which Geraldine Page won an Oscar.

Released last week: Warners’ “Spies Like Us,” the comedy starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd; MGM/UA’s “Marie: A True Story,” with Sissy Spacek, and New World’s “House,” a bizarre, amusing horror tale.

Out this week: RCA/Columbia’s “Murphy’s Romance,” with James Garner and Sally Field. Garner was nominated for the best actor for this performance. A dubbed version of the comedy “La Cage aux Folles 3: the Wedding,” also on RCA/Columbia; Thorn’s “The Hitcher,” a high-class splatter movie starring Rutger Hauer that should do well with gore lovers; Media’s “The Delta Force,” the action drama with Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin that should be a huge rental hit.

Next week: Two Lou Gossett movies, “Iron Eagle” and “Enemy Mine,” both on CBS-Fox.

POP MUSIC: When it was released in 1967, “Don’t Look Back”--D.A. Pennebaker’s behind-the-scenes documentary of Bob Dylan--was generally considered astonishing. Paramount released it last week at $39.95. Back then, it was the most revealing peek at the new electrified rock business. This film, which now has a certain nostalgia value, is a record of Dylan’s tour of England in 1965 when he was just 20. It’s been a standard for rock documentary film makers ever since, outshining Pennebaker’s other classic, “Monterey Pop.”.

So far music videos haven’t done very well in the home-video market. Only a few, by superstars like Prince and Madonna, have sold respectably. The prices are low but, according to one popular theory, sound is a deterrent. It’s hard for fans to get excited about $15-$30 music cassettes played on the mono speaker of the average TV set. Once stereo VCRs and TVs, the theory goes, become standard, selling these videos will be a lot easier.

Whitney Houston is a phenomenon in the record business. Her debut album, “Whitney Houston,” has sold more than 6 million copies. That appeal has spilled over into the home- video market and made “Whitney Houston: 1 Video Hits” (MusicVision, $14.95) the top music video.

TOP MUSIC VIDEOCASSETTES, SALES

(Compiled by Video Insider Magazine)

1--”Whitney Houston: 1 Video Hits” (MusicVision).

2--”Judas Priest: Fuel For Life” (CBS-Fox).

3--”Stevie Nicks: I Can’t Wait” (MusicVision).

4--”Dick Clark’s Best of Bandstand” (Vestron).

5--”Madonna Live: the Virgin Tour” (Warner Video).

6--”Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms” (Warner Video).

7--”Robert Palmer: Riptide” (MusicVision).

8--”Bring on the Night” (Karl/Lorimar)

9--”Genesis Live: the Mama Tour (Atlantic).

10--”John Lennon: Imagine” (Sony).

OLD MOVIES: James Cagney’s recent death alerted film buffs to the non-availability of his two best movies, “Public Enemy” (1931) and “White Heat” (1949). However, both will be available Aug. 21 from Key Video at $59.98. “Public Enemy” helped define the gangster genre. It’s famous for the scene in which Cagney rubs a grapefruit in Mae Clarke’s face.

Some film historians consider “White Heat” the last great gangster movie until “The Godfather” came along nearly a quarter of a century later. The Cagney character in “White Heat,” Cody Jarrett, is one of the most complex in the annals of gangster films. Jarrett is troubled by both mind-numbing headaches and a crippling mother-fixation.

The other two Key releases, “13 Rue Madeleine” (1946) and director John Ford’s “What Price Glory” (1952) are considered entertaining movies but not Cagney classics. Both will be $59.98.

CHARTS (Compiled by Billboard magazine) TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”Back to the Future” (MCA).

2--”Jagged Edge” (RCA/Columbia).

3--”Cocoon” (CBS-Fox).

4--”Rocky IV” (CBS-Fox).

5--”A Nightmare on Elm Street 2” (Media).

6--”Witness” (Paramount).

7--”White Nights” (RCA/Columbia).

8--”The Jewel of the Nile” (CBS-Fox).

9--”To Live and Die in L.A.” (Vestron).

10--”Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins” (Thorn/EMI/HBO).

TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, SALES 1-”Jane Fonda’s New Workout” (Karl Lorimar).

2--”The Sound of Music” (CBS-Fox).

3--”Back to the Future” (MCA).

4--”Casablanca” (CBS-Fox).

5--”White Nights” (RCA/Columbia).

6--”Jane Fonda’s Workout” (Karl-Lorimar).

7--”The Jewel of the Nile” (CBS-Fox).

8--”Alice in Wonderland” (Disney).

9--”Playboy Video Centerfold 2” (Karl-Lorimar).

10--”Pinocchio” (Disney).