The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus Movie Review

Well, It just goes to show that artists can be their own worst critics. This film remained unreleased until 1996 because the Rolling Stones were concerned that they had been upstaged by the Who. In fact, Rock and Roll Circus was a great show then and would be a great show today with no qualifications. It's fun to watch John Lennon at his goofiest, to hear Sympathy for the Devil with the original Stones line-up, and to experience so many of the very best rock acts of 1968. To watch this film on a triple bill with David Maysles’ Gimme Shelter and Lindsay-Hogg's Let It Be would be a wistful reminder of how much the world had…and lost…in a chillingly brief passage of time. Rock and Roll Circus was filmed in December 1968, the Beatles’ last concert on a rooftop was filmed the following month, Brian Jones drowned on July 3, 1969, and by December 1969, the Stones (with new member Mick Taylor) were the centerpiece of the deadly concert at Alta-mont, California, that ended the decade with a harsh aftertaste. Rock and Roll Circus is such a great rediscovery, it makes me wonder: how many more filmed records of vintage concerts are collecting dust in vaults?

1968 65m/C GB Rolling Stones, Marianne Faithfull, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal; D: Michael Lindsay-Hogg. VHS, LV