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#1

Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 2:27pm

Which ones work the best for you?

I'm fond of La Traviata with Teresa Stratas. The sumptuous photography and the hot-blooded performances by Domingo and Stratas are so captivating.
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
#2

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:24pm

I like the "Traviata" as well. Years ago, I remember being really excited by the Zeffirelli "Otello", loved Domingo and Ricciarelli, tryed to watch it last year and it just seemed to hokey and forced for me.
The Joseph Losey "Don Giovanni" is interesting in a stylised kind of way, but Berganza is just way too old for Zerlina.
#3

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:30pm

What happened to The Magic Flute?
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."

"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS

#4

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:33pm

Forgot about that one- sorry. The most most bleedingly obvious one. That probably comes in first- Bergman and all...
#5

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:34pm

I'd have to go with Bergman's film of THE MAGIC FLUTE, followed by Zeffirelli's LA TRAVIATA. The TRAVIATA kind of comes to a halt in the second act, and Domingo is just way too old, but it works anyway.

The overture section to Bergman's MAGIC FLUTE is one of the best things he ever did. Enchanting all around.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#6

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:38pm

I haven't watched Bergman's Magic Flute yet, but I did like Kenneth Branagh's Magic Flute and Carmen with Julia Migenes.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#7

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:47pm

Love La Traviata.

I also love the 1951 Powell-Pressburger film of The Tales of Hoffman. Stunning, excotic and strange. Even more eye-popping than their film The Red Shoes!

re: Top opera films
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
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#8

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:54pm

ALL of the above!

And don't forget CARMEN JONES!

re: Top opera films

re: Top opera films
#9

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 5:18pm

LOVE "Carmen Jones".
I've never seen the "Hoffman" before, but it looks fantastic. I'm going to have to hunt it out.
isn't there also a "Rosenkavalier" from the '50's with Schwarzkopf?
#10

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 5:25pm

re: Top opera films

I was right-
haven't seen it, though...

#11

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 5:51pm

I agree with Traviata and Carmen Jones, and I would love to see Rosenkavalier. However, I did not care for the Julia Migenes Carmen. She seemed like she was trying too hard, and the production was overblown, even for a studio film of a grand opera.
#12

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 6:03pm

re: Top opera films

Salome with Teresa Stratas (astonishing) and Astrid Varnay.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Op1VoQXXARs

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

Updated On: 4/30/08 at 06:03 PM

#13

re: Top opera films

Posted: 4/30/08 at 7:43pm

Carmen - by Carlos Saura, the Flamenco version
#14

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:09am

Yes, don't forget Carmen Jones!
If I heard the bells and the banjos ring
#15

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 1:40pm

I can't watch opera films. If it isn't a live recording, it annoys me. The whole point of opera is listening to the technique and knowing that it is live and not doctored.
"Fundamentalism means never having to say 'I'm wrong.'" -- unknown
#16

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 2:33pm

re: Top opera films

Salome with Stratas, followed by Elektra with Rysanek. Both had Varnay and both were amazing.

#17

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 2:38pm

I love the Zeffirelli Traviata mostly for Stratas' performance.
I always held out hope for a full new version of Hoffman. I should check out the Criterion DVD, has it been restored?
PEACE.
#18

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:30pm

And you must, must MUST include the haunting and wonderful TOSCA'S KISS, a documentary on the aging opera singers who live in the Casa di Verdi in Milan.

re: Top opera films

Pictured on the DVD cover is Sara Scuderi, who grace and humor make her the star of the movie. Adter seeing the movie, Scuderi became my all-time favorite opera dive, over Callas and Stratas and Bubbles and Jessye.
Tosca's Kiss - Il Bacio di Tosca (1985)
#19

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:42pm

Just because, I have to mention MEETING VENUS, which never fails to make me laugh.
#20

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:53pm

There's also a very good film of PAGLIACCI with Domingo and Stratas, directed I believe by Zeffirelli. Well worth seeking out.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
#21

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 4:33pm

Sue---Yes, the Criterion release of "Tales of Hoffman" has been restored and looks great! It also has an audio commentary by Martin Scorsese on it.
Here's a nice review of the disc...
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#22

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 5:29pm

Thanks, Best. I have seen bits of it before, but the print was SO bad I couldn't stand it.
That review doesn't mention how much of the score is retained, and the fact that the mono sound has not been improved too much is a disappointment, but damn, I just moved it to the top of my queue!

( I always loved the idea of a person singing themselves to death. How Romantic!)
PEACE.
#23

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 5:53pm

re: Top opera films

"You're the worst thing to happen to musical theatre since Andrew Lloyd Webber!" --Family Guy

"Shut up! It's been 29 years!!!" --the incomparable Patti LuPone in her MUCH DESERVED Tony acceptance speech for Gypsy.

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Updated On: 5/1/08 at 05:53 PM

#24

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 10:37pm

Julia Migenes kicks ASS in the movie of "Carmen". She more than convinces you she could destroy men without half trying. She is also unforgettable as Pirate Jenny in the wretched Golam/Globus film of "Threepenny Opera" (MACK THE KNIFE).

Does UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG qualify as an opera? Or is it more of an operetta, or is it a genre in itself? I love it, I'm just looking for clarification...
I ask in all honesty/What would life be?/Without a song and a dance, what are we?/So I say "Thank you for the music/For giving it to me."
#25

re: Top opera films

Posted: 5/1/08 at 10:39pm

Roquat - I think the genre in question is so limited, we're looking at ANY angle to be included re: Top opera films

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