Top opera films
Top opera films
MrMidwest
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/8/05
#1Top 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
#2re: 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.
#2re: Top opera films
Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:30pmWhat 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
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
#3re: Top opera films
Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:33pmForgot about that one- sorry. The most most bleedingly obvious one. That probably comes in first- Bergman and all...
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#4re: 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/
#5re: Top opera films
Posted: 4/30/08 at 4:38pmI 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
#6re: 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!
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#8re: 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?
bwaylvsong
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/28/05
#10re: Top opera films
Posted: 4/30/08 at 5:51pmI 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.
#11re: Top opera films
Posted: 4/30/08 at 6:03pm
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
LaurenB
Broadway Star Joined: 6/17/04
thatgirl712
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/29/08
#13re: Top opera films
Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:09amYes, don't forget Carmen Jones!
If I heard the bells and the banjos ring
touchmeinthemorning
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
#14re: Top opera films
Posted: 5/1/08 at 1:40pmI 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
#15re: Top opera films
Posted: 5/1/08 at 2:33pm
Salome with Stratas, followed by Elektra with Rysanek. Both had Varnay and both were amazing.
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#16re: 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.
#17re: 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.
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)
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#18re: Top opera films
Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:42pmJust because, I have to mention MEETING VENUS, which never fails to make me laugh.
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#19re: Top opera films
Posted: 5/1/08 at 3:53pmThere'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/
#20re: 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
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
SueleenGay
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/9/03
#21re: 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.
#22re: Top opera films
Posted: 5/1/08 at 5:53pm
"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
"Shut up! It's been 29 years!!!" --the incomparable Patti LuPone in her MUCH DESERVED Tony acceptance speech for Gypsy.
Kitzy's Avatar du Jour: Kitzy as Little Red Ridinghood in her college's production of "Into the Woods"
roquat
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/25/05
#23re: 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."
DG
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/2/05
#24re: 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 
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