Electric Dreams
Encyclopedia
Electric Dreams is a 1984
British
-American
comedy/drama/romance/science fiction film set in San Francisco, California
, that depicts a love triangle between a man, a woman, and a home computer. It stars Lenny Von Dohlen
, Virginia Madsen
, and Bud Cort
and was directed by Steve Barron
. It was the first film released by the Virgin Films production company.
The soundtrack features music from prominent popular musicians of the time, being among the movies of this generation that actively explored the commercial link between a movie and its soundtrack. The soundtrack album Electric Dreams
was re-issued on CD in 1998.. The song Together In Electric Dreams
was digitally remastered in 2003.
The VHS
recording of this movie is rare. It was released in 1984 and again in 1991, but has not been manufactured since the mid-1990s. MGM Home Video released a Laserdisc
in America in 1985, and Warner Bros released a Video CD
version for the Singapore
market in 2001, but both are out of print. The movie was released to Region 2
DVD on April 6, 2009.
When Miles attempts to download data from a mainframe computer at work, the computer begins to overheat. In a state of panic, Miles pours a nearby bottle of champagne over the machine, which then becomes sentient.
The remainder of the movie deals with a love triangle between Miles, his computer (which identifies its own name as "Edgar" at the end of the movie), and Miles' neighbor, an attractive cellist named Madeline (Madsen). Edgar composes a piece of music for Madeline after hearing her practicing through an air vent that connects the two apartments. She believes that Miles composed the piece and begins to fall in love with him. Edgar responds with jealousy, canceling Miles' credit cards and registering him as an "armed and dangerous" criminal.
Miles unplugs the computer, which reveals it no longer requires electricity to operate, and which retaliates by harassing him with household electronics.
Eventually, Edgar accepts Madeline and Miles' love for each other, and appears to commit suicide by sending a large electric current through its acoustic coupler, around the world, and back to itself. In the final scene, a pop song ("Together in Electric Dreams
") written by Edgar as a tribute to Miles and Madeline plays on radio stations around the United States.
and Roger Ebert
gave the film two thumbs up on their TV show At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
. The film garnered a 40% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
, It received a generally negative review in The New York Times, which said that the film failed to "blend and balance its ingredients properly," and that it lost plot elements and taxed credibility.
1984 in film
-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
-American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
comedy/drama/romance/science fiction film set in San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, that depicts a love triangle between a man, a woman, and a home computer. It stars Lenny Von Dohlen
Lenny Von Dohlen
Lenny Von Dohlen is an American film and stage actor, best known for his performance as the agoraphobic Harold Smith in Twin Peaks and the architect Miles Harding in the film Electric Dreams. Von Dohlen currently resides in New York and Los Angeles.-Early years:Lenny Von Dohlen was born in...
, Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen
Virginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
, and Bud Cort
Bud Cort
Bud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
and was directed by Steve Barron
Steve Barron
Steven "Steve" Barron is a director and producer, best known for directing the films Coneheads , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the innovative music videos for a-ha's "Take on Me" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"....
. It was the first film released by the Virgin Films production company.
The soundtrack features music from prominent popular musicians of the time, being among the movies of this generation that actively explored the commercial link between a movie and its soundtrack. The soundtrack album Electric Dreams
Electric Dreams (soundtrack)
Electric Dreams is a soundtrack album from the film Electric Dreams, released in 1984Several popular rock and New Wave musicians of the 1980s contributed original music to the film's soundtrack. It was available throughout Europe but remained unreleased on compact disc in the U.S. until September...
was re-issued on CD in 1998.. The song Together In Electric Dreams
Together in Electric Dreams
"Together in Electric Dreams" is a song by the British singer and composer Philip Oakey and producer Giorgio Moroder. It was written by Oakey and Moroder and recorded for the original soundtrack of the 1984 film Electric Dreams....
was digitally remastered in 2003.
The VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
recording of this movie is rare. It was released in 1984 and again in 1991, but has not been manufactured since the mid-1990s. MGM Home Video released a Laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
in America in 1985, and Warner Bros released a Video CD
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...
version for the Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
market in 2001, but both are out of print. The movie was released to Region 2
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD on April 6, 2009.
Plot
The story opens with Miles Harding (Von Dohlen), an architect who envisions a brick shaped like a jigsaw puzzle piece that could enable buildings to withstand earthquakes. Seeking a way to get organized, he buys a home computer (made by the fictitious company Pinecone Computers) to help him develop his ideas. Although he is initially unsure that he will even be able to correctly operate the computer, he later buys numerous extra gadgets that were not necessary for his work, such as switches to control household appliances like the blender, a speech synthesizer, and a microphone. The computer (Cort) addresses Miles as "Moles", because Miles mistyped his name during the initial set-up.When Miles attempts to download data from a mainframe computer at work, the computer begins to overheat. In a state of panic, Miles pours a nearby bottle of champagne over the machine, which then becomes sentient.
The remainder of the movie deals with a love triangle between Miles, his computer (which identifies its own name as "Edgar" at the end of the movie), and Miles' neighbor, an attractive cellist named Madeline (Madsen). Edgar composes a piece of music for Madeline after hearing her practicing through an air vent that connects the two apartments. She believes that Miles composed the piece and begins to fall in love with him. Edgar responds with jealousy, canceling Miles' credit cards and registering him as an "armed and dangerous" criminal.
Miles unplugs the computer, which reveals it no longer requires electricity to operate, and which retaliates by harassing him with household electronics.
Eventually, Edgar accepts Madeline and Miles' love for each other, and appears to commit suicide by sending a large electric current through its acoustic coupler, around the world, and back to itself. In the final scene, a pop song ("Together in Electric Dreams
Together in Electric Dreams
"Together in Electric Dreams" is a song by the British singer and composer Philip Oakey and producer Giorgio Moroder. It was written by Oakey and Moroder and recorded for the original soundtrack of the 1984 film Electric Dreams....
") written by Edgar as a tribute to Miles and Madeline plays on radio stations around the United States.
Cast
- Lenny Von DohlenLenny Von DohlenLenny Von Dohlen is an American film and stage actor, best known for his performance as the agoraphobic Harold Smith in Twin Peaks and the architect Miles Harding in the film Electric Dreams. Von Dohlen currently resides in New York and Los Angeles.-Early years:Lenny Von Dohlen was born in...
as Miles Harding - Virginia MadsenVirginia MadsenVirginia Madsen is an American actress and documentary film producer. She came to fame during the 1980s, having appeared in several films aimed at a teenage audience...
as Madeline Robistat - Maxwell CaulfieldMaxwell CaulfieldMaxwell Caulfield is a British film, stage, and television actor who is based in the United States, known for his roles as Michael Carrington in Grease 2 and as Miles Colby in The Colbys and its parent show Dynasty . He has more than 70 film, stage and television credits. He starred in Ronald F...
as Bill - Bud CortBud CortBud Cort is an American film and stage actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his portrayals of Harold in Hal Ashby's 1971 film Harold and Maude and the titular hero in Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud...
as Voice of Edgar - Don FellowsDon FellowsDon Fellows was an American actor, born in Salt Lake City, Utah, who spent the bulk of his career acting in England, mostly in television....
as Mr. Ryley - Miriam MargolyesMiriam MargolyesMiriam Margolyes, OBE is an English actress and voice artist. Her earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence .-Early life:...
as Ticket Girl - Giorgio MoroderGiorgio MoroderHansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
as Record Producer
Reception
The film received a mixed critical reception, with some critics praising it for its overtly MTV-influenced style and others criticizing it for the same reason. Popular American TV critics Gene SiskelGene Siskel
Eugene Kal "Gene" Siskel was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted the popular review show Siskel & Ebert At the Movies from 1975 until his death....
and Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave the film two thumbs up on their TV show At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert
At the Movies was a movie review television program that aired from 1982 to 1990. It was produced by Tribune Entertainment and created by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who had left Sneak Previews the previous year....
. The film garnered a 40% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, It received a generally negative review in The New York Times, which said that the film failed to "blend and balance its ingredients properly," and that it lost plot elements and taxed credibility.