A Well Spent Life: No Man Like Mance

Sneak Peeks—

Dec 2, 2014

Share

Les Blank’s documentaries focusing on musicians are wonderfully easygoing and authentic. Watching films like A Well Spent Life, a 1971 portrait of Texas blues guitarist Mance Lipscomb, one senses a relationship of total trust between subjects and filmmakers. In this excerpt from a supplement on our collector’s edition Les Blank: Always for Pleasure, Blank collaborators Chris Strachwitz and Skip Gerson sing the documentarian’s praises, especially the way his movies elucidate music by showing the lives and environments that create it.


Related Films

More: Sneak Peeks

A Subtler Side of the Hepburn-Grant Magic
A Subtler Side of the Hepburn-Grant Magic

Filmmaker and distributor Michael Schlesinger and critic Michael Sragow dive into the pleasures of Holiday, a romantic-comedy classic that has long stood in the shadow of The Philadelphia Story but has a poignancy all its own.

Inside Criterion / Sneak Peeks — Jan 13, 2020
Wim Wenders Looks Back on the Digital Future He Predicted
Wim Wenders Looks Back on the Digital Future He Predicted

From search engines to all-engrossing handheld devices, the technologies that the German director conjured for his 1991 opus Until the End of the World are now common features of contemporary life.

Inside Criterion / Sneak Peeks — Dec 13, 2019
John Bailey Breaks Down a Tour de Force of Gothic Lighting
John Bailey Breaks Down a Tour de Force of Gothic Lighting

The veteran cinematographer takes a close look at the highly stylized and atmospheric lighting in one of the most pivotal scenes in pre-Code classic The Story of Temple Drake.

Inside Criterion / Sneak Peeks — Dec 6, 2019
All About Mankiewicz
All About Mankiewicz

One of the most celebrated Hollywood writer-directors of his time, Joseph L. Mankiewicz offers a window into the way he sees his characters in this illuminating clip from an archival interview.

Inside Criterion / Sneak Peeks — Dec 3, 2019

You have no items in your shopping cart

View Cart Check Out
Close Menu

Search

For streaming, search the  Criterion Channel