Following the death of George Best in November 2005, it was inevitable that a great deal of old Manchester United footage would be resurrected and shown on TV news bulletins and tribute programmes. Many of the clips we saw were taken from the 1968 European Cup Final, which saw United pitted against great rivals Benfica, the Portuguese champions. I was just nine years old at the time and remember watching the match live on TV, live matches being quite a rarity in those days, and I can still recall the air of excitement and emotion which had built up around this particular game.
Ten years earlier, many of the players from manager Matt Busby's vibrant young team, known as the Busby Babes, had lost their lives in the Munich air crash, along with club staff and journalists, and for Busby, together with players Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes, each of whom had narrowly escaped death, this was the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to those whose lives had been cut short so tragically. To become the first English side to win the trophy would be the culmination of Busby's dream, and even those who weren't supporters of the club were able to recognise the poignancy of the occasion, becoming Manchester United fans just for the evening.
Watching the tributes to Best, my sons were curious to know what all the fuss was about, so when I saw this DVD on sale, it seemed the perfect opportunity for them to see the great man in action, and at the same
time, find out a little more of their favourite club's history.
I had completely overlooked the fact that the match coverage would be in black and white, possibly because both the photograph on the front cover and the clips shown on TV had been in colour, with United playing, not in their familiar red shirts, but in an all blue strip. Having said that, it isn't too difficult to distinguish between the two teams, but given this and the inevitable deterioration in the film quality over 37 years, the picture certainly lacks something in overall sharpness and definition. The problem is less noticeable during close-ups than in aerial and long shots; however, we noticed a marked deterioration in picture quality at the start of extra time, probably caused by the fading of natural light, and the effect of the floodlights.
Surprisingly, the sound, although a little muffled, isn't too bad considering the film's age and the crowd noise comes through quite effectively, helping to maintain the big-match atmosphere. It's quite amusing to observe the extent to which commentary styles have changed over the years - the commentator on this occasion was Kenneth Wolstenholme, aided by the (very) occasional contribution from the former England manager, Walter Winterbottom, and these two gentleman, with their clipped English tones and understated phraseology, were in stark contrast to some of today's excitable and often grammatically-challenged pundits and so-called experts. That said, the commentary is perfectly adequate, and I'd go so far as to say that the lack of waffle enhanced my enjoyment of the match.
It's also a refreshing change not to have each move replayed a multitude of times from every conceivable angle and then analysed relentlessly - naturally there are action replays of the goals and other major incidents, but thankfully, from my point of view at least, we don't have to listen to the views of every Tom, Dick and Harry in the studio, as to what went wrong and who should have done what, and so on. I'm afraid that those who enjoy this kind of in-depth analysis will be disappointed, as will those who like to know which team had the most possession or how many shots were on target - the technology of the day simply wasn't there to provide us with all this extra information, and to be truthful, I'm not altogether sure we needed it.
The overall match coverage is more than adequately efficient, after all, televised football matches were nothing new in the sixties and despite the lack of modern day gizmos, I don't think the film has suffered too much with age. There's certainly value for money here, courtesy of the match going to extra time, providing viewers with a full two hours of football in addition to the presentation of the cup and the after-match celebrations on the pitch. The poignancy of the occasion has been captured perfectly too, with the closing scenes being played out to the strains of 'Jerusalem', and it's hard to escape the emotion which was very much in evidence on that balmy summer's evening.
The DVD menu is very simple but effective and there are about a dozen significant points to which you can navigate, the start of each period of play and the goals, for example. This is particularly useful bearing in mind that the match lasted longer than the usual 90 minutes, and enthusiastic as they are, two hours is a long time for two small boys to sit still and watch something of this length without becoming distracted.
~~Bonus feature~~
Just in case two hours of football isn't enough for you, tagged on at the end is a 30 minute documentary, entitled 'The Boys of 68', which was filmed in 1982. It consists mainly of the manager and players re-living not only the events of the evening, but also the build up to the match, and they talk us through their own thoughts and emotions during those moments, as well as adding a few light-hearted anecdotes. There are more clips of course, but the parts I found most interesting were those which weren't directly related to the match itself, newsreel from the 'Swinging Sixties' for example, and footage of the players boarding the train for London, carrying their own suits over their shoulders! How times have changed - nothing less than a private plane these days, I'd imagine.
This is undoubtedly one for the dedicated fan or for collectors of football memorabilia in general, and I don't suppose I'll be watching it again for some time, at least not in its entirety, although my boys have watched certain parts of the match several times. At this point I feel I should offer a small word of consolation for those football 'widows' who dread the prospect of their other halves settling down to a couple of hours of the beautiful game - do bear in mind that footballers' shorts were very short indeed in those days, and there's a considerable amount of muscular thigh on show throughout, so all is not necessarily lost!
In my haste, I paid £9.99 for my copy in HMV, but according to Ciao's price comparison list, you can pick it up for £6.99 at Blah DVD, which I feel is pretty good value. I'd recommend it strictly for the fans, but I've got to knock a star off for the picture quality.
Incidentally, Ciao's category heading incorrectly quotes the match as being the European Cup Winner's Cup Final. It was of course, the European Cup Final, as the picture shows.
~~Other details~~
Distributed by: ILC Sport Ltd Catalogue No: DVD2760 Running time: approx 150mins PAL: all regions Language: English Exempt from classification.
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Manchester United's dream of capturing the coveted European Cup was finally fulfilled on a ... more
balmy, never-to-be-forgotten, night at Wembley Stadium. It was the dramatic conclusion to a twelve year quest to claim the enormous trophy, which had began, unde...
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