Customer Reviews

Kismet [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had seen this version of Kismet when I was about 12. My parents still had a black and white TV so a neighbor, who was the pianist at my dance studio, invited me to see it. The reason was that I was dancing ballet to "Strangers in Paradise" and she wanted me to get to see the movie from which the song came. I loved it, bought the album, and listen to the music to this day. I finally got to see the movie again. What a delight! It was even better than I remembered.

I have always loved this movie and I am very happy that I finally have it on DVD. Now I can watch it whenever I want instead of just dreamily remembering the movie and the songs. This is definitely a classic and worth having.

The music and acting was just as I recall from years ago when I saw it on TV. I am so glad I can watch it again and again and continue enjoying it. I liked that I could see the closed caption this time, so I don't miss a single word.

This movie is one of my all time favourite Howard Keel movies. I remember watching it as a child with my mother.

Before Kismet opened on Broadway it was taken on tour for a final tune up. My bride and I were 20, she a student nurse at the University of California medical center and I a Coast Guard seaman at a San Francisco Bay lifeboat station. We were at the Curran Theater on opening night in 1953 when Alfred Drake, Doretta Morrow and the rest of the original cast stood "Baghdad by the Bay" on its ear. Nothing we've seen in the 58 years of musical theater that followed can begin to compare to that performance. The standing ovation by the thrilled audience must have lasted 30 minutes.

That said, this wide-screen DVD with remastered 5.1 Dolby is much better than the negative reviews suggest. I suspect most of those reviewers have only watched the VHS tapes. I have two of those and they are garbage. But this DVD has good color, sparkling sound and captures much of the look and feel of the stage show, despite some unfortunate MGM editing. (The song that established the true evil of the wazir, "Was I Wazir? I was!" is replaced by a tuneless song with brainless lyrics about Lalume's monotony.) Those who want to hear the full "Kismet"score by the original cast can download it from Amazon as an mp3 file for five bucks.

So if you want to watch MGM's "Kismet" I'd urge you to look for a good buy on the DVD and forget the tapes. For a movie version of a stage classic, this is actually pretty good. Over the sands of time, the silent sands, it's held up well.

This is a delightful story in an oriental setting ---- beautiful costumes----
well chosen cast ---- lovely music ---- just a great family movie .

A wonderful romantic love story with great songs and costumes.A family movie. Howard Keel is great at belting out those now classic songs.....Vic Damone singing "Strangers in Paradise" brings back times of joyful love. .

First, this is an excellent video transfer, but a poor audio one. That's a major problem with a musical. It's coded as Dolby digital 5.1, but it sounds more like a mediocre grade of mono, which is a shame because this seems to be the only DVD release of the film available. Maybe someday it will be released with an audio track that does justice to the film, and if so I might have to buy it again.

The film is a lavish technicolor extravaganza, gaudy, melodramatic, not poorly acted but there's not much to be done with this material, which draws heavily on the comic opera tradition. It's a fun film, and much of the pleasure comes from the almost surreal juxtaposition of technicolor lycra filmed in the sexually repressed 50's (very little skin shown in this film) with the elegant 19th century music of Alexander Borodin. It's a perfect piece of camp, and memorable for it.

Don't expect it to be like a movie of the present and you won't be disappointed. Also, these are singers, not actors.

I meant to give the seller 5 stars and I hit the 4 stars and I published before I realized. I deleted it but Amazon won't let you try again. The lesson learned is check it twice!

One of the old MGM musicals, but still fun to watch. We love the old musicals and Howard Keel, Anne Blyth & Vic Damone are still wonderful to watch. Our old VHS copy was so faded, it is a pleasure to have the DVD and get the full benefit of the scenery and costumes.