Using various interviews with colleagues, acquaintances, artists and art historians the documentary charts Pollock's life from the period in the early 1940's, when he was still relatively unknown, to his mercurial rise after his appearance on the cover of LIFE magazine in the late 1940's to his descent and eventual death in 1956. The entire documentary concentrates primarily on the period of time between his life with Lee Krasner and his last relationship with Ruth Klingman. In this way the documentary takes a human approach as opposed to an intellectual or artistic one. Unfortunately, though only certain aspects of his life are present. For instance, what's missing is his rebellious youth -- in which he was expelled from two high schools -- and his early painting experience and his initial forays into New York's art world.

There is some footage from the infamous short film made by Hans Namuth in 1950. That documentary went a lot into Pollock's style by explaining his technique and then giving an example by having him paint on a glass canvas. It's too bad there isn't more of this footage in this BBC documentary but it does mention how much this short film both made Pollack more famous and ultimately helped to personally unhinged him. As numerous people tell us (including Ed Harris who played Pollock in the movie Pollock) Pollack was unable to handle celebrity. And too Pollock began to feel that once his techniques were documented they had lost a certain spontaneity and had becoming just another commodity.

Pollock's painting technique and style – which came to be called Abstract Expressionism – were completely new to the world of painting. Unfortunately, the work that went into painting such masterpieces as Lavender Mist and Autumn Rhythm are only given a passing mention. The way he dripped, dropped, threw, spattered and splashed paint is a key to his art and a key to his finding a signature style but none of that is included here. Nor is there any of the good stuff other painters and art students would want to know like what was his process and how long each painting took him or what inspired him to begin his "dripping" technique.

The most significant fact to come out of the documentary is the same fact that came out of Ed Harris' movie Pollock: that Jackson Pollock could not handle fame and success. Basically, his celebrity status went to his head and he became an insincere braggart an insecure alcoholic and a cocky artist.

Audio: The sound is in stereo and presented in English and sounds good considering it is mainly a bunch of talking heads. There is also a subtle background soundtrack, which sounds fine.

Video: The disc is presented 1:33 to 1 and since it was made for television nothing is missing. Most of the documentary is shot on video and has a very clean television quality. Some of the older footage of Pollack from Hans Numuth's film are grainy and scratched but that somehow adds an authenticity. One note on style: in between each time period segment the camera swooshes closely around a Pollock painting from a certain period. Perhaps the filmmakers were trying to approximate a visual style apropos to the paintings but by moving so quickly and so close to the painting it's hard to get the intended appreciation for the strokes or the thickness of the paint.

Extra: The disc has eight chapters and there is a pull out menu that is folded into four parts and opens up into a poster. The whole disc though feels as if it is an extra.

Overall: This is a good primer disc about the great abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock but it lacks the thoroughness and depth that someone really interested in him might want. It looks very good and sounds good. But due to the 46 minute length and the narrow focus on one (important) section of his life the whole documentary would actually make a great extra on Ed Harris's film Pollock.