Customer Reviews

Essential Art House: Tales Of Hoffmann

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As a member of a couple of film societies I'm often asked "What is your favorite film?". To which I usually respond that I like many different films each having its own merits and I can't really choose just one. Yet if I had to take one film to a desert island it would be this one, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1951 extravaganza THE TALES OF HOFFMANN. No other film has managed to combine most of my favorite elements the way this one has. It has fantasy, classical music, dance, stunning camerawork, editing, and imaginative visuals all blended into a seamless whole. In fact this film is really the first music video as the score was recorded first and then the movie was shot to fit it afterwards which makes it essentially a silent film. This allowed the filmmakers total freedom to do what they wanted from a visual standpoint as cameras and performers could be manuevered without fear of making noise. I think I can safely say that no other film looks like this one.

It also doesn't hurt that Jacques Offenbach's opera on which this is based is one of my favorite classical works (although this version edited by Sir Thomas Beecham is not for opera purists) while E.T.A. Hoffmann is one of my favorite fantasy writers (three of his stories THE SANDMAN, A NEW YEAR'S EVE ADVENTURE and RATH KRESPEL are used). This makes it even more remarkable that a single film could do justice to so many of my favorite likes. The new DVD release from Criterion is up to their usual high standards offering a crystal clear picture with excellent sound plus a host of extras including subtitles for all the dialogue and arias which enable you to understand what is going on with the story. I have had this film on VHS for years and have waited patiently for it to come out on DVD. It had been announced some time ago but it's great to finally have it here at last. While not a film for everyone, if you're into filmmaking that works on multiple levels and appreciate a wide variety of art and classical music than this is the movie for you.

It is true that, as other reviewrs have asserted, this may not be "Tales" as Offenbach originally concieved it. A case can be made that the current 2nd act was originally intended as the final act. (where can you go after loosing and retrieving your soul?). And the english translation used in the film has some awkward phrasing - Crespel to Antonia: "Now did you not swear that that you'd not do?". This said, The film nevertheless stands as a brilliant, imaginative interpretation in its own right.

The current issue on VHS states that it restores scenes eliminated prior to its release. This is not the case. (I attended the initial release in Southern California). The restored scenes are those eliminated from the film for its application to U.S. television release - a real hatchet job to its last act. As might have been expected it had no home on American TV.

In addition to making it whole with the initial theatrical presentation color has been substantially improved as compared with the original VHS release. This makes it true to what was seen in comercial release and well worth the price of admission.

However, there are still scenes tantalizingly referenced in the video packaging which wound up on the cutting-room floor before comercial release of the film and which do not appear on the VHS video. First is Franz's aria "Day & Night I Am Always Slaving" and brief exchanges with Crespel which serve to establish his deafness (These can be heard on the London LP recording of the sound track, and a still of Massine during this aria appeared in the color program which was sold at the Premier). Second was the scene in which Nicklaus became Hoffmann's golden-gilded muse.

Should this film be released on DVD, which it certainly deserves to be, some effort should be made to find these missing pieces so the film can finally be seen as Powell & Pressburger originally intended.

I saw Tales of Hoffmann years ago at an arts center in Columbus and fell in love with it. While this film is responsible for engendering in me a great affection for opera, and while Offenbach's music is lovely, powerful and timeless, this is more about the brilliance of filmmakers Powell and Pressburger than it is about the brilliance of the composer. If you want to see a great production of the opera, watch the Kultur DVD staged at the Royal Opera House by John Schlesinger. If you want to see a glorious example of cinema that just happens to have great music, then watch this film.

The sets, costumes, acting and choreography are colorful, surreal and almost unbearably beautiful. Director Powell must have empathized with the protoganist Hoffmann's plight of lost love, because there is a romantic aching to this film that transcends music, that is entirely visual. As much as I love Offenbach, watching this film with the sound off would be almost as entertaining.

Other attempts have been made to transfer opera to film, but most of them come off as just that, filmed opera, not especially cinematic, too respectful of the music to take chances. Rarely has a filmmaker utilized the full potential of film while making a movie of an opera. Zefferelli's La Traviata and Bergman's The Magic Flute are a couple of the success stories. But this is the greatest of them all.

I saw this film when it was first distributed in about 1953. The sets and costumes along with the direction are of such magnitude that it could not be done in the opera house. Scintelle diamond when the villian fashions jewels from wax candles is unique. The voices are dubbed for those characters who do not sing as opera stars. Two stars of the Royal Ballet portray the villians. Leonid Massine is one and I don't remember the name of the other one. This film is a feast for the eyes and the ears.

"The Tales of Hoffmann" (1951) - a beautifully photographed film version of Jacques Offenbach's opera, his final masterpiece is a magic (and there is no other word to describe it) blend of Adventure / Romance / Fantasy / with an endless stream of gorgeous melodies, seductive and tender love scenes, bizarre characters - comic, romantic or villainous, and tragic climaxes. The film was a follow-up to "The Red Shoes" (1948) a fantasy/musical/romance/drama set in the world of ballet with the same directors, stars, and production designers.

In "The Tales of Hoffmann", Robert Rounsevill stars as E.T.A. (Ernst Theodore Amadeus) Hoffmann, the poet and writer who tells three stories of his great but unhappy loves all ending tragically thanks to the meddling of his enemy, a supernatural villain (Robert Helpmann as quadruple evil, Lindorf, Coppelius, Dapertutto and Dr Miracle). Objects of Hoffmann's love and admiration include Olympia the wind-up doll (Moira Shearer who also plays Stella the dancer, the fourth and yet another Hoffmann's misadventure), Giulietta, the Venetian courtesan who sails away after trying to capture Hoffmann's soul (Ludmilla Tchérina -absolutely brilliant as the siren and the seductress who elegantly walks over the dead bodies, literally), and Antonia the beautiful opera-singer with the fatal voice and deadly illness. One of the greatest choreographers and dancers of the last century, Léonide Massine shines in three absolutely different roles demonstrating his talent as a dancer, strong emotions and tremendous humor.

What makes "The Tales of Hoffmann" not just an ordinary screen adaptation but the stunning unforgettable event, the film which had inspired the future famous directors George Romero and Martin Scorsese to become the filmmakers is the perfect combination of fantasy, classical music, ballet, singing, stunning visual effects, imaginative and often bizarre and even disturbing images that would fit a horror movie (deconstructing Olympia -the doll is horrifying), incredible but calculated feast of colors, their mixture, the unique color palette to match each story, camera work that is so innovative and dynamic that even now, 56 years after the film was made, looks fresh and modern. The feast for eyes, ears, and feelings, "The Tales of Hoffmann" is the love child of incredibly talented people from different epochs and countries. The opera by Jacques Offenbach, the French composer is based on the dark romantic fairy tales by the German E.T. A. Hoffmann. The team of two directors known as "The Archers", the British Michael Powell and the Hungarian Jew Emeric Pressburger who had to flee his country before the WWII, and their international team of stars, color consultants, choreographers and production designers made this miracle happen. The last but not the least is legendary Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

I saw this movie for the first time when I was 13 - in the fifties. I believe it changed my life. A door opened to myth, dream and music that never closed - there's something so captivating about the entire production, especially for a young mind still free of pop culture, that if they don't get it out soon on DVD, a whole world of adolescent wonder may be lost!
This is the third time I've tried ordering this film, without success, but I've enough people in my camp to guarantee its arrival. I've nothing better to add to the wonderful reviews - thanks, Folks!

The same producers behind the magic of the 1949 film, "The Red Shoes" (about a ballerina doomed to dance to her death), bring you the colorful 1950's film adaptation of the Offenbach French opera "Tales Of Hoffman." The Tales Of Hoffman was Offenbach's last opera and his most revised work. In this production, there have been alterations and only the highlights from the opera are showcased. An extraordinary cinematic sequence is the entire "Venice Act", featuring the famous Barcarolle and a sumptuous display of costume and color. Moira Sheer (the heroine in "The Red Shoes" and herself an accomplished ballerina, appears in this film as Stella. They have changed Stella's original career as an opera singer to a ballerina (in an effort to show more ballet sequences). None of this really matters, nor does it ruin the opera as film. In fact, French opera tradition has used ballet sequences in the grand operas of Meyerbeer (Robert Le Diable, La Prophete) and Gounod (Faust).

Moira Sheer's performance is excellent, an equal match to her previous performances with this director and his team. Hoffman is genuine, romantic and effectively portrayed as the dreaming artist. Every scene is full of magic, full of rich and colorful fantasy (the Doll Olympia has her moments) and striking visuals make this film worth going after. If you enjoy ballet, if you enjoy opera and if you are interested in this particular style of film (surrealist, fantasy) then you will enjoy this film. Even more specialized for fans of "The Red Shoes", for which this film is a follow up.

As a great lover of art, music and ballet, I have to say that this is my absolute favorite dance film - a true must-see, and must-own. Offenbach's music is played with great sensitivity and skill, the sets, staging and costumes are easily the finest I have seen on stage or screen, and the dancing of Moira Shearer, Leonide Massine and the cast is perfection.

It was not easy for me to locate a copy of this film, and when at last I did, I paid a hefty price. But absolutely worth it - I would have paid twice the amount without hesitation. This film takes "The Red Shoes" and its creativity to a level without precedent - it is like a dream caught on film, only more interesting. Some of the design concepts are almost inhuman in their genius. This is truly a film that must be seen to be believed.

Although I am no expert on the opera, I will say that I have a small knowledge, and great love for, the music of Jacques Offenbach. Here it is presented with wonderful precision and feeling, and the voice of Robert Rounseville is showcased to great advantage.

There're not enough words to describe a film like this: three years later than tandem Powell-Pressburger directed " The red shoes ", they worked once more with dancer Moira Shearer in this innovative and bold adaptation ( they introduce ballet scenes and imaginative visual effects in it ) of famous Offenbach's opera. The result was an oniric journey through the lights and shadows of romantic imagination and the best film of this creative " couple ": a delightful experience of colour, cinematographic invention, romantic imaginary, music and dance . " Tales of Hoffmann " captures wonderfully the dark romanticism, bizarre imagination and sense of sinister of this wizard and poet of uncanny that was E.T.A. Hoffmann. Powell and Pressburger put in images with their habitual technical knowledge and astounding plastic invention, three tales ( these are three impossible loves - with a mechanical doll, a gorgeous gorgon and a consumptive daughter of a composer- in which his main character, Hoffmann himself, daydreams ) of this german writter combining masks, human puppets, ancient mythology, classical music, exquisite ballet coreographies and decadent haunted stages. Moira Shearer is simply superb as well as all the other dancers in it, and precisely in this point is important remember to purist opera fans that both filmmakers put in the film bigger emphasis in dance and visual invention than in operistic concepts, circumstance that doesn't avoid ( or, inversely, allows ) to place this version of " Tales of Hoffman " as one of the most beautiful cinematographic adventures I can remember.

I highly recommend the DVD edition of Criterion.

I like to think Leonard Maltin did not himself view - or review - this film. If he had, he wouldn't use terms like "engages in bizarre dreams" because, afterall, the entire story is a "dream" and a "fantasy" to begin with. I am biased! I am a Powell and Pressburger fan! And, having said that, I believe this movie is simply the most creative work of cinema ever achieved. Powell and Pressburger, and their team, The Archers, truly have combined all of the major Arts into a comprehensive whole - a "composed" art form which is almost too beautiful to look at! Even if opera and ballet are not one's taste, this film should be seen for the exquisite sets, costumes, make-up, cinematography etc. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are sorely missed today! Amen.