Customer Reviews

THE GADFLY / OVOD - (Russian Import - PAL DVD)

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Ethel Lillian Voynich Boole is the author of the novel "Gadfly" which was enormously popular in the Soviet Union that the Russians even named a crater of the Venus planet after it.

The novel set in Italy in the 1800's, which was a time of revolt and uprisings and features the hero as a mysterious satirist who is only known by his pseudonym Gadfly. At once a romance, tragedy and heroic story, it's got passionate characters, dark secrets, betrayal and atonement, and expertly incorporates them into the author's controversial theme - the criticism of the church.

The movie was a great success, partly due to the charisma of young Oleg Strizenov in his screen debut. He was very convincing as romantic and tragic Arthur as he moves from being a theological student with Padre Montanelli (his father figure - powerful performance by Nikolai Simonov) to the life of a satirist, revolutionary, and great enemy of the church. The best Soviet actors played in the movie; the novel was adapted into the screenplay by very famous (and deservingly so) writer, Victor Shklovsky. But the real treasure of the film is the music written by Dmitry Shostakovich. He composed an orchestral suite for "The Gadfly". It's been a long time since I saw "Ovod" but I still remember it fondly as a very good film with a brilliant soundtrack.

I loved this book, I love Shostakovich's filmscore from the movie and, I CANNOT WAIT to view the film!!! WHAT is the holdup, does anyone know? I would be willing to view it even without English subtitles (since I already know the story quite well), if only I could get my hands on a copy that would play in my DVD player. I hope this one gets here soon -- I might just burst in the meantime! UPDATE!: I got it, having found a copy on e-bay from a Russian dealer! It is NOT SUBTITLED in English, as advertised on e-Bay, (or in any other language), being rendered in Russian. Still, I already knew what they were saying, having practically memorized the book, so I watched the entire movie, comprehended it perfectly, and enjoyed it highly. The film is very true to the book so this is quite helpful if you don't speak Russian. The DVD WILL play on all DVD players, and that too is helpful to know as well. There are occasional "film scratch lines" moreso in some scenes than in others, and the color is pretty faded, going mostly to reds, but I can live with that. The acting is tremendous and I particularly loved the filmscore which is played DIFFERENTLY from the Shostakovich CD version -- it was interesting to hear the ACTUAL, ORIGINAL filmscore, played on somewhat different instruments, (even classical guitar at one point!), by a different orchestra, probably by a different conductor. Now, I confess to being a little nutzo over this story/film so if you are casually looking for just any nice film to watch, this one is probably not a good selection for you; however, if you are a student of film, or, if you read "The Gadfly" and loved it, you'll no doubt savor the film version. It will be really nice when the subtitled version emerges (if ever), but I'm very happy with the one I received. The locations, the Italian mountain regions and the regal old buildings, are second to none -- very impressive. I hope you enjoy "The Gadfly" as much as I did.