The Doors

One of the most sought after unreleased rock films of all time certainly has been The Doors’ “Feast of Friends.” Due to legal hassling, and other issues, the movie finally has an official release (DVD and Blu Ray) - and it only took 43 years after the demise of Jim Morrison to see the light of day.

“Feast of Friends” is a documentary which was made by the band to capture The Doors during their summer of 1968 tour. As filming was never totally finished, it runs approximately 43 minutes long, but captures some great behind-the-scene visuals of the quartet during their all too brief journey.

Some frenzied live footage of The Doors performing has local police actually stationed on the stage trying to contain overzealous fans from interrupting the performances, which must have been as annoying the band (Morrison is seen peeking on out of the police barricade to get closer to the audience) as it was the audience whose view of the band was mostly obstructed by the cops.

While the legend of Morrison does not always focus on his “sweet” side (and that is not to say he did not have one), a caring Morrison is seen backstage post-concert attending to a female fan who was hit by a chair. Morrison is genuinely concerned as he comforts her and rubs some of her facial gashes down. It is a real touching and selfless gesture from the Lizard King, and one we don’t hear enough about.

While the Feast of Friends itself is a great documentary, the release also contains some great bonuses as unused material from the filming of the documentary is on the feature “Feast of Friends: Encore.” Included is some very cool footage of the band recoding “Wild Child” (which would end up on the bands “The Soft Parade” LP). Scenes of a band-bonding card game and Morrison lazing at a pond prove that the bands life one the road was not always filled with insanity.

Another bonus feature is the restored UK television documentary, The Doors Are Open, which was shown on British in December of 1968. Filmed in black and white, it chronicles the ensemble at their commercial peak

Also included is a legendary performance of “The End,” taken from a show in Toronto, Canada during the Summer of Love (August of 1967). Long thought to be one of the Doors’ best moments onstage, it is no lie as the controlled chaos that was a Doors performance is all captured for posterity and reminds all once again of the amazing musicianship the Doors had to offer - which was a quartet (Morrison, Robby Krieger, John Densmore and Ray Manzarek) and not just Morrison, who is too often and unjustly the sole focus of many.