Magic of the White City Expo

Color/B&W, PG (mature themes, violent images, nudity), 116 min., DVD only $24.95

DVD: World's Fair historian David Cope's commentary, four featurettes, deleted scenes, commentaries by director and writer on special features

Street: Sept. 13, Prebook: now

First Run: DVD premiere

Director: Mark Bussler

INECOM

The World's Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, cost $22 million to produce, employing some 40,000 workers for 1½ years to construct the fair's spectacular buildings and exhibits. Mark Bussler's Magic of the White City Expo is a fine examination of the Fair (and late 19th century America), filled with all sorts of stills and art that enhances details of the Fair's history, scope and effects. We learn that the Liberty Bell was brought there to be part of the Philadelphia building; Henry Ford, Walt Disney and Frank Lloyd Wright considered the Fair an inspiration; and the fair's Liberal Arts and Manufacturers Building was the biggest building in the world at the time. Narrated by Gene Wilder (who describes the Fair like he was talking about a certain chocolate factory), Magic paints a pictures of a more optimistic era—a period before war, a time of wonder. "If all the nations of the world could come together in Chicago peacefully to learn from one another, surely the brotherhood of mankind could not be far off," says Wilder, recounting the feelings of the Fair's awestruck visitors. "Their hope was as fleeting as the Fair itself." One of the year's finest DVD premieres docs, this one is a must-watch for all history buffs.