Customer Reviews

Allegro Non Troppo [VHS]

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Allegro Non Troppo. The title is Italian for a musical instruction in classical music. Literally translated, it means "cheerful, not too much"

The b&w live action segments, which take place in the beginning and inbetween animation, feature a young presenter, who tells us proudly, "This show is destined for immortality. Music interpreted in cartoons." He then says the movie is called Fantasia, only to get a phone call, at which he's clearly embarrassed. "They've say some guy already made this picture, a certain Crisney, Prisney, an American." Which he doesn't believe. The rough and brutal conductor has more the manner of the local butcher, and the orchestra, consisting of old women in their 60's through 80's, are fearful of him, as is the animator, a mild-mannered man with a balding but flowing haircut that makes him look more like an 18th century composer. His creations make the old ladies applaud, laugh, and cry. There's a funny segment involving a gorilla (don't ask) and him doing the Russian kalinka dance.

The first is Claude Debussy's Prelude a l'Apres-midi d'un faune, which traces the repeated attempts of an aging, pudgy satyr to have one of the beautiful, nude and nubile women for himself. Debussy did write this dreamy work harkening back to the idyllic paganism of Greece. I was surprised my parents let me see this when I was nine(!)

Antonin Dvorak's Slavic Dance No. 7 tells the story of a man who moves from his cave-dwelling neighbours to live alone, only to have his actions imitated by the neighbours. Frustrated, he constructs a different house, only to be imitated by the mindless crowd. Their imitative actions give him an idea.

The next two segments are stand head and shoulders above the others. Life evolved from a Coke bottle, one of the glass ones, not the plastic ones we have today. That is set to Ravel's Bolero. To which the presenter asks, "Who composed it?" From some bubbling liquid Coke, to an amoeboid creature to a reptile, and beyond, the animation also presents the march of life over the ages. The tempo of animation accelerates in tune with the music, where each instrument takes its turn playing the repeated 8-measure tune based on a Spanish dance. Dinosaurs, prehistoric birds, sea creatures, and even the ape, all walk across the volcanic landscape, and things really heat up when the strings kick in for the first time.

The animation to Jean Sibelius's Valse Triste put a real tear in my eye, as it portrays a cat who climbs from a crawlspace under a large house, only to discover it is a bombed ruin. The cat's eyes glow when it remembers happier times, such as an old lady knitting in a sofa, a caged canary, when the house was full of life in general. The colourful scenes when the house is reconstructed in its glory days is a highlight. However, the cat is clearly distressed upon seeing the stark wreckage.

A perky and funny bee's nice lunch in the meadow is constantly disrupted by an amorous human couple. The music is set to one of Antonio Vivaldi's concerti, which resembles the Spring segment of the Four Seasons.

Set to Igor Stravinsky's "Fire Bird" is a revisionist retelling of the Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Serpent. Both Adam and Eve refuse the Apple, to which the Serpent himself eats it, and gets a nightmare flurry of images, a post-industrial hell, complete with horned demons and live footage of the night life. The image of the heart filled with money is a telling one.

The attempt of an Igor-like behemoth to find a fitting finale from the files is actually pretty funny and warped.

Bruno Bozetto's animation is in varied styles, be it the lovely hues of idyllic Greece or the collage of twisted images in the finale. The overall theme here is how the post-industrial society comes into conflict with the old ways, be it pre-war days, romance, and nature. I first saw part of this back in 1977, and 26 years later, have finally seen this parody of Fantasia in its entirety, and am glad because of it. A real one-of-a-kind.

Many many years ago, I saw this film and I was absolutely transfixed. This film cannot helped be compared to Fantasia because they mention this themselves. But what sets this film apart is it's absolutely brilliant interpetations, in animated form, of these wonderful classical pieces that don't get as much attention as the ones Fantasia made popular amongst the general public. And there is one classical piece, above all, that was so brilliantly interpeted that it STILL stands out as one of the most moving pieces ever to be put on screen and that is the "Valse Triste" segment set to the music of Sibelius. Don't get me wrong, Disney's "clean" animation of Fantasia is a wonderful film, but none of it's segment moved me as much as Valse Triste. And I think it's free form, scruby, it's understated color use and none heavy handed animation fits BRILLIANTLY here. You don't feel you are watching an animation, you feel as you are watching a painter, with each stroke, visualize the musical note of this wonderful classical piece. You get to see the abandon cat go from fantasy, reality, fantasy, that you wish you could adopt the poor cartoon kitty. If you are a teacher of music, especially classical, get this film and show it to your students, if they are not moved, then nothing will moved them. This is the type of stuff that stays with you for YEARS and I guarantee you will be the better for it.

It's okay to like Fantasia and Allegro non troppo too. But they're not the same, which makes the satire of Disney so funny, especially after 20 years of massive Disney expansionism.

Animating music, which is inherently abstract, is always a risk. However, if you aren't too worried about everything being pretty (like in Fantasia), this film will work for you. How can you tell? If you're still dry-eyed after watching the Sibelius Walse triste sequence, there's something wrong with you.

If you are one of those people who buys into the mostly-USAian delusion that all animation should be fluffy bunnies and Care Bears and suitable for even the youngest children, this is not a DVD for you.

If you're interested in this movie due to fondly remembering it from its 1977 US theatrical release, be warned that - as "Leon" is a different film from its original edited/softened US release as "The Professional" - this is a different, more European film.

Ten minutes have been restored, and they're mostly or all in the live-action framing sequences - bits that were cut for the original US release because they were too earthy or potentially "offensive" for any of a number of reasons. The animated sequences, are just as brilliant as you probably remember. The film is presented here in its original Italian, with subtitles available.

The image is clean and the sound clear.

Responding to a few things in earlier reviews:

First: The "director" in the framing sequence doesn't say they're going to *call* the film "Fantasia" - he says it will *be* "a fantasia", which, according to the dictionary is:

1. Music.
a. a composition in fanciful or irregular form or style.
b. a potpourri of well-known airs arranged with interludes and florid embellishments.

2. {Literature} an imaginative or fanciful work, esp. one dealing with supernatural or unnatural events or characters: "The stories of Poe are fantasias of horror."

3. something considered to be unreal, weird, exotic, or grotesque.

Every part of that definition pretty well covers some part of trhis film...

Second: "Allegro non Troppo" (short for "Allegro ma non troppo allegro") is a musical direction that literally translates as "fast/sprightly but not *too* fast".

I'd say that this film - mostly for the "Afternoon of a faun" sequence and some of the framing sequence - is about PG-13 level. You might want to pre-screen it before letting pre-teens watch it. (Personally, i wouldn't have any problem with that, but your mileage may vary.)

I will say that anyone who can remain dry-eyed after the "Sad Waltz" (Sibelius' "Valse Triste") sequence had probably better go back to "Shrek" or "Die Hard IV" or similar films. (From the opening and the last shot in this sequence, it appears to me, BTW, as if the old house in that sequence is being knocked down in order to build more soulless concrete boxes, rather than being a bombed-out relic of war...)

The extra material on the DVD includes ten of Bozzetto's short films (and, if you consider [live action] full-frontal female nudity offensive, you might want to skip some of them), and an Italian TV dcumentary, "The Worlds of Bruno Bozetto".

Bozzetto describes one of his long-time collaborators as an "Italian Tex Avery", and the description is apt - both in the anarchic spirit of the work, and in the way that it is willing to go further than much USAian animation.

A brilliant film for animation/music fans who aren't irevocably hung up on the idea that all animation should be clean, pretty and inoffensive.

This movie excels in combining art and classical music. It shows the "suffering artist" in chains and how he, his "domestic slave" girlfriend and the elderly female orchestra members are manipulated by powerful rich men. As the wife of an artist, I could really relate to this depiction. The artist overcomes the slave drivers by painting over his and his slave girl's black-and-white realistic images with colorful, cartoon caricatures and then flies away with her. In other words, he escapes the boundaries set for him by the "business world" and creates his own reality. This is a wonderful movie for anyone who feels strongly about classical music, art, and freedom. I first saw it at the Valley Art Theatre in Tempe, Arizona in the 1970s. I never forgot it and finally bought the video. See it. Its scenes and themes will haunt you for a lifetime. One previous reviewer made negative comments about the black-and-white connecting scenes with the inane human actors. They are there for a purpose. Like light and dark, this movie has opposites, too. Life is sometimes very ugly and painful, but seeing Creative Fantasy and Painful Reality arranged side-by-side sometimes helps us appreciate beauty and creativity all the more.

I first saw this movie while in college and thought it was a great "date movie". It has all of the brilliant animation set to beautiful classical music that Disney's Fantasia has, but it also has much more emotional depth. While Fantasia is great (and I love it, too), Allegro non Troppo really puts you through an emotional roller coaster ride with moments ranging from very funny to very sad and everything in between. It's a great addition to anyone's dvd collection because it's not only very entertaining, but it's also sure to be different than anything else you already have. A great change of pace from the humdrum and normal. I recommend it highly.

I'd seen this in college (about 1979?) as required for a music course. There were no Italian translations, and I mostly found it confusing. The DVD release has subtitles, and is most enjoyable. I especially found the "Best of" additional short works funny and mildly political (love/peace/green earth hippie ideals of the 1960's and 1970's). There's enough sexual content and mild nudity that I'd would suggest not for younger than 10 year olds.

This is a beautiful, funny, sarcastic, and sweet film.
Very funny, full of amazingly beautiful animation and swirling ideas.
Bozzetto's dreams are like something between Terry Gilliam and Ralph Bakshi.
This version has some extras on the end, including the fabulously poignant and hilarious GRASSHOPPERS which is brilliant.

Love this film - it'll damned near love you back.

I first saw this film in mid-70's at an animated film festival - and thought it brilliant satire. However, In the new millenium, the live action is now silly and tired. But the music! And the animation! Worth the price. As a previous reviewer said, this movie marked my discovery of Sibelius - and La Valse Triste brings tears each and every time. Bolero is ingenius, and Afternoon of a fawn such bittersweet fun.

As I already own a copy, I bought this DVD of Bozzetto's "Allegro Non Troppo" for my dad as a birthday present. He loved it--and he was watching it in Italian! (Being a DVD novice, he didn't realize that he could turn on the English subtitles. Ah, father. . .) This really is my overall favorite animated film. All generations should experience its beauty--even a somewhat younger, albeit sophisticated, audience at their parents' discretion (i.e. probably not a good choice for the under-10 American child reared on Disney and Barney). Horace Walpole's quote: "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel" aptly fits the mood of "Allegro Non Troppo." Please see this film.