Customer Reviews

Bette Midler in Concert: Diva Las Vegas [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

July 2010 UPDATE: AS STATED BY OTHERS, THIS DVD WAS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH REGULAR PLAYERS USED TO BE SOLD IN THE STATES BUT READ NOTE AT THE END; THINGS HAVE CHANGED...

Diva Las Vegas was produced in Germany (under PAL Format). DIVA was filmed during Bette's last two shows of her Vegas MGM Grand performance from 1995-1996. It is a MUST HAVE for all Ms. Midler's fans. A DVD was not produced or sold in the US because of her contract with Disney during those years.

Bette starts her show with a unique & typical of her entrance; coming down from the sky in a cloud. She then proceeds with the usual welcome and sings the expected oldies including the First Wife's Club, Bed of Roses, and other great classics followed by the regular Sophie Tucker jokes with more spice than usual (remember, it's Vegas). Next, an exquisite section on Burlesque; four terrific girls and only three costumes; yeap, someone's showing more than what expected. Vegas allowed it...

The second act starts with DeLores De-Lago; the wheel chaired mermaid who then decides to become a Home Shopping TV sales-woman [competing with Joan Rivers] and promoting her "Balls" to improve physical condition. You will be surprised on how Bette masters said balls. The section concludes with eight wheel chaired mermaids performing on stage at one time, singing New York-New York.

The show continues with a love song from her native Islands; Hawaii which prepares us for the grand finale singing the famous themes & love songs from Beaches, The Rose and the rest of her classic repertoire. It ends with the introduction of the orchestra, the back-up singers, the Harlettes and the great Bobby Lyle plus an unexpected and truly emotional "encore" of three songs.

Overall, the Divine Ms. M offers in Diva Las Vegas a much more sophisticated performance than on Divine Madness and a better production than Kiss my Brass (the 2005-2006 tour). The DVD sound is excellent and the picture surprisingly great for a PAL format. Diva compiles more than two hours of continued energy from the Divine Ms. M. This is a DVD that you will watch many times and will be proud it to show your friends, relatives & neighbors.

NOTE: If you do decide on getting this very expensive Germany produced DVD, buy an affordable programmable DVD player with Multi Region capability (for $30.00 TO $70.00 or so). You might have to change the region code from 1 (USA) to 2 [Europe] or to 0 [no region] following the instructions found on the Internet. Once accomplished, the device will play DVDs from all over the world including those from Japan, Spain, Great Britain and the US. Otherwise, burn the DVD into your computer HDD and watch the VOB version over & over. BTW, many current types of software allow you to burn VOBs into Disks. You can figure out the rest...

Folks - Save yourself some money and go straight to the Amazon UK website. With the exchange rate and shipping, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than what the used vendors are selling it for. FYI - you need a multi region DVD player for this one.

I have the VHS edition of this show and it is very good although a little tamer than some of her other live recordings. The "1" rating below is deceptive (especially since it is written in French). Their problem was the DVD wasn't compatible with their region, nothing to do with the actual content.

MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE A REGION 2 OR MULTIREGION
DVD PLAYER BEFORE YOU PURCHASE THIS ITEM IT WILL
NOT PLAY ON REGULAR USA DVD PLAYERS.

STOP, READ THIS!!! If you live in the USA and do NOT own a MULTI REGION DVD PLAYER, DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM!! This DVD is FALSELY ADVERTISED!! It is NOT a REGION 1 NTSC DVD, it is in PAL and compatable in Regions 2 thru 6!! A TRUE Bette fan would know that this DVD has never been released to us here in NTSC Region 1 USA!!! Please be advised this DVD is FALSELY ADVERTISED!! However it does get 5 stars for content!

Dear Readers of this review this is to tell you about my experence with this.
Purchase of my copy of Bette Midlers Diva LAS Vegas with the help of Amazon.Com.
i had been chasing this DVD for some time but without any luck i received an e/mail
from amazon.com and they had sent me some places where it was for sale the best.
price for my wallet was a copy that was for sale second hand but with good write
write up and the price to suit my wallet with postage etc in England i was at.
first a bit uneasy about this as being 75 years old this was against my grain of
trust in people these days but finally decided i trust amazon com. so lets go it.
was amazing they kept me informed about everything and my DVD.arrived on the day.
they said it would and play as if it was new. i can only say to all those Seniors.
out there trust Amazon.com.and you will have no WORRIES THEY ARE GREAT.

Best Wishes To All.
Barrie Le Brocq.
Australia.

Il y a un erreur pour la zone de ce DVD, ce n'est pas un DVD pour la zone 1, mais plutôt pour les zone 2-3-4-5-6.

Veuillez corriger s'il-vous-plaît l'information sur internet.

J'ai acheté le DVD et j'ai dû vous le retourner. J'étais très déçue.

Si jamais la version DVD zone 1 existe vraiment pourriez-vous m'aviser

Merci.
Mélissa