AllMovie

The unauthorized behind-the-scenes documentary Queen: On the Rock Trail places less weight on covering the band's familiar musical accomplishments (it contains no full or partial Queen recordings) than on charting the eclectic and unique histories of individual band members Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. It thus traces Mercury's origins as Farrokh Bulsara, the child of Persian parents in Zanzibar, Tanzania, who fled political tumult with his folks in the early sixties; the British guitarist May's early efforts to build a customized guitar with his father, dubbed "the red special," and his preternatural brilliance in physics, astronomy, and math (he graduated with honors from Imperial College); drummer Taylor's roots as a chorister; and Leicestershire-born Deacon's aptitude for electronics. It also charts how these four diverse personalities happened to come together, creating Queen out of the vestiges of the psychedelic rock act Smile in the late sixties. In documenting these multiple facets of Queen and recounting its members' individual stories, the program travels to the band's origins and old haunts. Former BBC series host Liam Dale narrates this hour-long program.