movie adaptations of Mozart operas
Julian E. Gomez
> on film? How about any of the other Mozart operas?
Bergman did "The Magic Flute" around '75 or earlier. Didn't someone
else do Don Juan (i'm not thinking of Fellini's Casanova).
--
"If Chaos himself sat umpire, what better could he do?"
Julian "a tribble took it" Gomez (ARPA: julian@riacs)
415-694-6141 415-694-6363 (UUCP: decvax!decwrl!julian@riacs)
RIACS - Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science
mon...@ucla-cs.uucp
> on film? How about any of the other Mozart operas?
> --rick heli
> ... {ucbvax,lll-crg}!ucdavis!ccrrick
Of course, Ingmar Bergman adapted the Magic Flute to the screen!
m.r.leeper
best known films of operas since it was done by no less a director
than Ingmar Bergman. It was made for TV in Sweden in 1974, then
released as a feature film in this country. I saw it in 1977 and
walked out on it. (It was through no fault of the film, I had gotten a
job offer to come to AT&T just an hour or so before going to see it
and had too much on my mind to concentrate on the film. Wouldn't you
know it, I never got another chance to see it, and my wife, who I
dragged out of the film, has never completely forgiven me.)
Other Mozart operas have been filmed, I am pretty sure, but they
always drop from sight shortly after release. MAGIC FLUTE was an
exception. I know of a major film production of Puccini's LA BOHEME
made in the 60's that isn't listed in film sources like Maltin and
Scheuer. I think these are considered to be just a special category of
films for a narrow audience. They are not covered by film books and
video-stores rarely carry them. That may change a little as video
sound reproduction improves. I haven't looked that hard for Mozart on
cassette, but I would have noticed Puccini on cassette. Puccini wrote
some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard and I would notice
if it was available in video form. You might want to keep an eye on
your local PBS station and, if you get it, the Arts and Entertainment
network. Both run opera fairly commonly and PBS usually gets a local
station to simul-cast.
Mark Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper
Peter Chen
> on film? How about any of the other Mozart operas?
ingmar bergman, "magic flute". a classic.
-peterc ...ihnp4!ihnp1!pwyc
"macho non troppo"
Charles B. Francois
>Bergman did "The Magic Flute" around '75 or earlier. Didn't someone
>else do Don Juan (i'm not thinking of Fellini's Casanova).
You are perhaps thinking of Joseph Loosey's "Don Giovanni".
--Charles B. Francois {...,decvax,allegra}!yale!francois
Tom Gross
>> on film? How about any of the other Mozart operas?
>Bergman did "The Magic Flute" around '75 or earlier. Didn't someone
>else do Don Juan (i'm not thinking of Fellini's Casanova).
Joseph Losey directed Don Giovanni, which was released
in 1979, I think. I saw the film and only remember that
it was filmed in Vicenza, Italy and was very boring.
It was a little bit like a very long episode of the
Monkees: arias made "interesting" by having people sing
different lines in different (quick-cut) shots in
"interesting" locations like standing in the middle
of a boat in the middle of a lake. I am not a big
Mozart opera fan (I am a Verdi-Puccini kind-of-guy);
someone who really enjoys Don Giovanni might have liked
the film. As I recall the reviews of the flick at the
time confirmed my feelings. Also, this was the only
production of Don Giovanni I have ever seen, so maybe
certain lines are SUPPOSED to be sung in the middle
of a lake.
I am trying to remember what other films Joseph Losey
is famous for and can't remember. I know he is famous
for SOMETHING. Please help, this is driving me crazy.
Tom Gross
Apollo Computer, Inc.
Rod Williams
of "Don Giovanni", which appeared to generally savage reviews about
four years ago (I loved it, saw it twice and bought the record, but
what do I know?).
It featured Ruggiero Raimondi , Kiri Te Kanawa, Edda Moser, Jose Van Dam,
Teresa Berganza, John MacCurdy and I-can't-remember-the-tenor. The music
was conducted by Lorin Maazel (Orchestre National de Paris?).
It was gorgeous to look at and the singing was magnificent. One of the
reasons the critics hated it was that it took a very stern, moralistic
approach to the story - staged productions tend to play it more light-
heartedly, almost as a farce. They also hated the fact that the music
and singing were studio-recorded first and the singers lip-synched to
it during filming - personally, I think that was preferable to seeing
the facial gyrations singers must go through in monstrous close-up.
Losey also introduced an extraneous, though non-speaking-or-singing
character into the action - a mysterious valet, dressed in black, whose
rather sinister appearances whenever Don G was up to no good suggested
that he may have been an agent of the Don's eventual doom.
As I said, I loved it - it's been about three years since I saw it last,
but it remains very vivid in my memory. It's shown every now and again
in repertory cinemas in San Francisco, by the way.
--
rod williams | {ihnp4,dual}!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw
-------------------------------------------
pacific bell | san ramon | california
Rod Williams
> is famous for and can't remember. I know he is famous
> for SOMETHING. Please help, this is driving me crazy.
books but...
The Losey films that spring immediately to mind (other than
Don Giovanni) are "Darling" (Julie Christie's ticket to
stardom), "The Servant" (Harold Pinter screenplay, starring
Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Edward Fox) and "The Go-Between"
(another Pinter screenplay from L. P. Hartley's book, with
Julie Christie, Alan Bates).
Sean Yoda Rouse
recommendation, I thought I'd post my views.
OK, the movie was good-looking, bright, funny, touching....
BUT
I was expecting a bit more.
The movie runs like an old cliche. It's almost like a Disney film
in the incredibly unsophisticated way it characterizes. If you're
willing to be charmed by it, then fine, go see it.
But if you are expecting a little more than B-movie archetypes,
stay away. The characters are just cave-people versions of old familiar
faces. Most of the lines are seen before they arrive.
I will admit that I was entertained. The overall craftsmanship ofthe
film was good. Costuming, makeup, photography, etc. But then, I saw the
film for free.
Let me try and summarize: It was a charming movie.
In my mind, I would NOT pay $5.00 to see it, unless I was
feeling particularly sentimental and schmaltzy.
--Kathy Li
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e.c.leeper
> walked out on it. (It was through no fault of the film, I had gotten a
> job offer to come to AT&T just an hour or so before going to see it
> and had too much on my mind to concentrate on the film. Wouldn't you
> know it, I never got another chance to see it, and my wife, who I
> dragged out of the film, has never completely forgiven me.)
Yes I have.
Evelyn C. Leeper
...ihnp4!mtgzz!ecl
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Marcus Hand
>Does anyone know whether anyone has ever done The Magic Flute
>on film? How about any of the other Mozart operas?
> --rick heli
> ... {ucbvax,lll-crg}!ucdavis!ccrrick
Joseph Losey's Don Giovanni.
--
Marcus Hand (mtuni!mgh)