5/5 Reality in the World of Rock-n-Roll
  by Mr. Richard D. Coreno (Berea, Ohio USA)
The movie is a bridge between the classic "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) and the 1984 "This is Spinal Tap," but is a gritty gaze into the real world of rock-n-roll, where the other pair are witty in unbridled fun and parody.

Slade portrays a fictitious band during the pop rock explosion of the late-1960s that is looking for that one break to make it into the big time. And though there are some neat comedic bits, there is a shadowy overtone that never exits the stage. From the former manager looking for revenge to the true battle of the bands - and songwriters - screenwriters Andrew Birkin and Dave Humphries and director Richard Loncraine capture the incredible motivation a band needs to stay in the game, but also artfully bring into play the soul-destroying elements on the perilous journey to the top of the charts.

The movie has been remastered as well as possible - it is not "perfect" by today's exacting standards - but such is the case when the dusty vault is open to reveal a movie from the mid-1970s. A bonus is a pretty inclusive interview with Noddy Holder, which is worth the price of admission for any fan of glam rock or collector of interesting pieces of pop culture that have origins from the golden era of rock-n-roll.



5/5 Them Monkeys Can Swing!
  by R. Pettie (OWINGS MILLS, MARYLAND United States)
This DVD is strictly a Slade fan collectible. The DVD itself has some problems ie. sound, picture grainy at points. BUT - for the true Slade fan look past this! The story of two bands competing with each other and then becoming what is Slade is truly entertaining (the premise is that the story while fiction is loosely based on fact). The Noddy interview is worth the price of the DVD alone. SLADE ROCKS - FOREVER!!!!!!

1/5 Hmmmm
  by Three Chord Circus (Illinois)
I've only watched this film once and I don't have any Slade in my collection but based on the "Hard Days Night" reference in the original review I expected a higher quality film. The pacing in this film is pretty bad. The video is dark in many spots and the audio is horrible. It's interesting to watch but I think you had to be there the first time to understand the "greatness" of this film.

5/5 "8 Mile" is "Flame's" Love Child.
  by John J. Baker (New York, NY United States)
Having only heard Slade's standards "Cum On Feel the Noize," and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now," someone had taken a real gamble giving "Flame" to me as a Solstice gift. But she knew about my taste for, in her words: "A load of ugly f*ckers from the seventies who play good, loud music." I gave it a viewing once, then twice, then three times...

My verdict: "Flame" is good, raunchy fun. I got a good laugh watching the prologue featuring the group as a middling wedding band. I became entranced with the opening track, the wistful "How Does it Feel?" By the time the wedding band got in a row with rival band The Undertakers, I was sold.

I'm not at all surprised that "Flame" and Eminem's "8 Mile" follow the same "fortune, glory and ill-gotten gains" formula. What surprises me is that two films dealing with two disparate genres, two different neighborhoods, and two different subcultures took said formula and became gritty, offbeat masterpieces. Noddy's "Stoker" and Em's "B. Rabbit" are both rough, gritty and driven characters with endearing character quirks. Jim Lea, the Mehki Pfieffer of this earlier film is the perfect foil for Noddy as the partner in crime who occasionally butts heads with his mate. And the shootout at the Thames Estuary pirate radio station is every bit as surprising and hilarious as when "Cheddar Bob" shot himself in the bollocks in the Eminem vehicle.
Enough comparisons, on with the story. After the wedding band ditches their slobby frontman Jack Daniels (Alan Lake) in favor of ex-Undertaker Stoker, and in turn get ditched by their shifty Gangland manager Ron Harding (Johnny Shannon), they are quickly snapped up by two stuffy corporate opportunists played with cold deviousness by British All-Star Tom Conti and Kenneth Colley (known to Star Wars fans far and wide as Admiral Piett!) Conti and Piett-- erm, Colley repackage the quartet as "Flame", who spends their 15 minutes of fame conquering the UK. Just as they plan to invade the States, Gangster Ron and Jack Daniels (paging Wink from 8 Mile!) conspire to wrangle their share of the profits, and the phenomenon. What ensues is a duel of words and muscle between Blue Collar Gangsters and White Collar Suits as "Flame" crash, burn, and prepare to fizzle out.
The members of Slade hold their own alongside Conti and Admiral-- ah, Colley, most especially Noddy and Jim. Don Powell's charming performance as the shy, down-to-earth drummer is made all the more poignant due to the fact that he suffered from memory retention lapses in real life. Dave Hill is the resident comic relief as he looks up women's skirts and bolts Noddy/Stoker into his casket during the Undertaker gig. For all the world Dave Hill looks like a bucktoothed Davy Jones.
It's astonishing to see how many of the performers - along with the writer and director - saw their careers take flight after this obscure, yet surprisingly well executed film.
A minor greivance: Good as I am with picking up British accents (A damn sight better than most Yanks,) it would have helped to have some caption option on the DVD to keep up with the North England accents.
As for extras, the DVD boasts a lovely 50 minute interview with "sing-guh" Noddy Holder, circa 2002. With his wild grey curls, the aged Noddy looks like a cross between "Doctor Who's" Tom Baker and Gareth Thomas from "Blake's 7!" ;-)
I proudly place this music gem in my DVD library next to "24 Hour Party People," "Hedwig," and "Pink Floyd - The Wall."

4/5 Flame are gonna be big stars.......
  by Hellion Zephreid (Pittsburgh)
Slade. A group that was HUGE in England in the 70's and all we really heard of them here in the states were the covers by Quiet Riot and "Keep Your Hands Off of My Power Supply" LP years later. Imports were way too costly then and I was just a teenager. So they remained a mystery to me like all the other U.K. glam rockers who failed to raise any interest or hits over here (T. Rex, Quatro, Mud, Wizzard, etc..). When I heard this movie was seeing the light of day in the U.S. thanks to some words by Classic Rock magazine (another Import), I had to check it out. As others have pointed out, this is not "A Hard Day's Night" or anything happy or silly that The Beatles have put out at the time. This story is of the other side of the Rock 'n' Roll business, the "dark" side. It does make one want to give up on the "R 'n' R dream" though. It is not a movie that you will watch again and again but is worthy of a once through. The music is good. Trademark Slade sound. One of the extras on the dvd is an interview with the lead singer/guitarist of Slade, Nodddy Holder in which he discusses all to do with the bands popularity and the reason for the choice of story for this film. Interesting to listen to him, definitely a bonus to the disc. The movie is average, watching musicians try to be actors and it does show. The 4 stars are for the courage to go against the grain and make this type of movie instead of acting like a bunch of clowns. The movie represents more a solid 3 though....