Product Details

• Actors: Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Renata Scotto, Franco Zeffirelli, Rudolf Bing
• Format: Black & White, Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Mono)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Bel Canto Society
• DVD Release Date: December 7, 2004
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000641D42
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,745 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Extensive performance footage including some real rarities.

Newsreel footage: her funeral cortege; the Rome Walkout ("I would spit in the faces of my enemies...and make them go on their knees in front of me! I can! I will! And I must!"); her break with Ghiringhelli, Callas reading Bing's telegram firing her ("I cannot do routine"); Meneghini, Onassis and Churchill; Callas hounded by the press on her private life; Callas dancing with Onassis; her return to New York (1965); press conference about the Medea film (plus clips from the film); Callas as co-stage director with Di Stefano, directing Vespri in Turin; in a bathing suit with Onassis; Onassis's death.

Interviews: Bing ("She became intolerable!"..."She was more difficult than others because she was more intelligent"); Nicola Rescigno ("Her body was like that of a pachyderm"); Menotti; Scotto (on Sonnambula and Medea--"Cut Glauce's aria"); Caballé; Gobbi on her lost confidence and unhappiness; De Hidalgo on Callas as a student; manager Gorlinsky on the Callas-Di Stefano concert tour; Tebaldi on their rivalry; Visconti in discussion with Callas, including the "radish" incident.

Other topics: Sound vs. the use of sound; her debut at 15; "No agent would give me a job because immediately after my debut I wasn't loved that much. I was something new to listen to and they disliked anything that took them away from tradition"; her history at La Scala; her weight loss; Jackie Onassis; Zeffirelli and Gobbi on the London Toscas, her loneliness, her death.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative DVD, June 8, 2005

By 

Justin T. Anderson (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Callas - A Documentary Plus Bonus / John Ardoin, Franco Zeffirelli (DVD)

The previous reviewer may not realize that this documentary was originally produced in the late 70s for television, after Callas' death. The footage quality is what one would expect from something of that time and no amount of DVD remastering could fix it. The DVD has a wealth of information about Callas. The interviews are particularly fascinating and insightful.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Lady Soprano, May 22, 2006

By 

AlexanderTheGreat "AlexofCaslano" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Callas - A Documentary Plus Bonus / John Ardoin, Franco Zeffirelli (DVD)

This documentary is to remember a great soprano.When you talk about Maria Callas,it's like talking about a costliest gemstone,a jewel.Maria Callas is widely known throughout the World. The best singing actress ever remembered!!!powerful voice,full of vibrations and passions at the same time.Unique and beyond comparisons.Far from the voice,we must look at her also as a person,an artist,the music and a human being like all of us.This entertainment (dvd) contains interviews with some celebrities such as Monserrat Caballe and Renata Tebaldi.
Maria left behind one of the most valuable inheritances to mankind in the world story of music.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth having!, August 21, 2009

By 

Claudia N. Davidsen "Claudia Davidsen" (Ruskin, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Callas - A Documentary Plus Bonus / John Ardoin, Franco Zeffirelli (DVD)

For fans of Callas, this is about as good as it gets, and you must have it in your library. The interviews with her, taken out of the context of the whole, make this documentary worth having. Insecurities and other emotional baggage notwithstanding, Callas knew who Callas was. She provides an excellent perspective of her place in the art of music and opera specifically. Her views on art are a revelation.

For fans of opera, but not necessarily Callas--And, yes, she is an acquired taste!--the documentary is instructive on a revolutionary period in the history of opera. The documentary earns its place as an historical document.

Callas was a teacher on many levels. Her inspired mentoring of Caballe, for example, contributed much to the body of art we have today. Without Callas, we may not have had the magnificence of Caballe's "Norma". I only wish there was footage of Callas's master classes. I wish I knew something about the singers she coached, and where they are today.

Zeffirelli's narrative, handling of the contributing artists. and smooth transitions among archival footage and interviews are especially fine. Zeffirelli, himself, understates, rather than overstates his case. One has the sense that one is seeing and hearing the truth. Caballe's thankful tribute, however brief, was lovely. Gobbi's anecdotal comments will bring an iceberg to tears. Gobbi, all by himself, provided such an insight into Callas's inner being.

Enough! Read the other reviews! Then, buy it!