18/7/2020 3:20 am  #1


Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

I stumbled upon this, free to Amazon Prime members.  It's a documentary by Chris Crosby (Bob's son) about Bing Crosby.  It contains clips of great vintage interviews Chris Crosby did in the years immediately following Bing's passing.  Included are Phil Harris, Bob Hope, Rhonda Flemming, Bob Crosby, Terry Moore, and others.  Interspersed with that are clips from Bing's 1930's shorts, a few films, and selections of Chris singing (not bad).  At the end, they touch on what was done to Chris's sister, which was much worse than anything alleged to have been done to Bing's sons.  As a documentary, it's no Rediscovered, but I found it very good, largely for the interviews that I don't think are available anywhere else.

https://smile.amazon.com/Crosby-Search-Bing-Behind-Legend/dp/B06XDQSCYC/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=crosby+in+search+of+crosby&qid=1595041897&sr=8-1
 

 

18/7/2020 7:42 am  #2


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

Joe, this has been discussed before. You might find it interesting to see  


  • New Biography available for streaming on Amazon.com 10/3/2017

Last edited by Malcolm Macfarlane (18/7/2020 8:04 am)

 

18/7/2020 11:23 am  #3


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

As Malcolm says, this has been covered and this is the link to the original thread.
https://crosbyfanworld.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=1178

However, on occasion a revisit can be justified, both to refresh memories and for the benefit of those to whom the topic might be new.

I have taken the opportunity to remind myself of the film in question and find no reason to change my views.
At the time of release it was possibly over hyped with claims made about years being spent in the preparation and of contributions from those who knew Bing best etc, but in fact very few of those involved knew Bing in any depth and many were, at best "outliers". Those who really knew Bing best did not feature at all. Almost all of Bing's later life was ignored. The whole thing had no structure to it. 

In my view the best that can be said of it is that it is a series of anecdotes contributed by a few of those whose lives touched upon Bing's at some point, mostly earlier. Some of those anecdotes were new and interesting but not in themselves revealing. If it had been described in some such terms at the time instead of being launched with the over hyped fanfare it might have had a slightly more positive reception. 



 

 

19/7/2020 5:52 am  #4


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

Sorry. I didn’t know it was covered before. Still, it’s ludicrous to say that little brother Bob Crosby, Bob Hope, and Phil Harris are outliers.  There are a lot of famous people who worked with and knew Bing here.  The only real outlier is Terry Moore.  This is what I indicated, a good collection of interview clips recorded in the early years after Bing’s passing with some other stuff thrown in.

     Thread Starter
 

19/7/2020 6:59 am  #5


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

JoeDoakes wrote:

Sorry. I didn’t know it was covered before. Still, it’s ludicrous to say that little brother Bob Crosby, Bob Hope, and Phil Harris are outliers. There are a lot of famous people who worked with and knew Bing here. The only real outlier is Terry Moore. This is what I indicated, a good collection of interview clips recorded in the early years after Bing’s passing with some other stuff thrown in.

Please do not misquote me. I did not say that the three you mention were outliers. I said that many who feature were outliers. That does not mean all. 

If you look at the publicity of the time the whole piece falls very far short of the promise. It was supposed to include those who knew and loved Bing best. And the best of those might be? Where were the close members of the family? Why was there almost no mention of life from 1950s on?  

I would also make the point that very few people got to know Bing well. Even those who had a good professional relationship over many years did not really get to know him, because he protected his personal life. I suggest that you read Giddins' two books. 


 

 

19/7/2020 1:01 pm  #6


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

Richard’s review of  “Crosby In Search Of Crosby” appeared in the “Keeping Track” section of issue 175 of “Bing” magazine, with a couple of follow-up opinions - from Ken Crossland and yours truly - appearing in “One Sweet Letter From You” in issue 176.

 

20/7/2020 12:29 pm  #7


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

The clips and interviews were interesting, but the whole purpose of the documentary was to revive Bing's image. The documentary falls short. Chris Crosby tried to raise money for the film but fell extremely short so I believe at the last moment they threw it together. 

I recommend it for some of the interviews but there's not much meat on the documentary in my opinion.

 

21/7/2020 5:51 am  #8


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

As a documentary, it’s a low budget effort for sure.  Other than the great interviews with Terry Moore being the only real outlier, it seems like a good fan type effort. As I wasn’t enticed by the hype, I also wasn’t let down by it, and could appreciate it for what it was.  The main absence in the interviews is Kathryn and her children.  I didn’t know it, but the Film indicates that there Was a rift between Kathryn and Bob Crosby.  This is not the documentary for newbies, but I think there’s a lot for fans.

     Thread Starter
 

21/7/2020 7:54 pm  #9


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

Yes, there was a rift between Kathryn and Bob because she was going to sell the Crosby family Bible.

 

22/7/2020 11:03 am  #10


Re: Crosby in Search of Crosby on Amazon Prime

It's interesting and good for anyone who is new to Bing. Wish there were more documentaries and films on things like Netflix etc. 

 

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