Product Details

• Actors: Ying Huang, Richard Troxell, Ning Liang, Richard Cowan, Jing Ma Fan
• Directors: Frédéric Mitterrand
• Writers: Frédéric Mitterrand, Giuseppe Giacosa, Luigi Illica
• Producers: Ahmed Baha Attia, Daniel Toscan du Plantier, Karima Ladjimi, Pierre-Olivier Bardet
• Format: Classical, Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: April 22, 1997
• Run Time: 134 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630442065X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #190,552 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cheers for F. Mitterrand, June 25, 1999

By 

Sacha (Bloomfield, NJ) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Madame Butterfly [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When considering the characteristics of opera, it naturally follows that the genre would be difficult to film. Not so for Mitterrand with his Madame Butterfly; from casting to direction to filming, Mitterrand wins. The title role must do far more than "look Asian," she must also live the role...even more so when being filmed as "Butterfly." Ying Huang proves herself a sensitive and sensible actress as well as a singer with an expressive and powerful voice. Richard Troxell as "B. F. Pinkerton" shines in his role, allowing the callousness of his character clash with an accidental love. Troxell uses the flexibility of the film medium to act as many opera singers seem unable to do upon finding themselves on a stage. In fact, the power of this video lies in the fact that the singers realize that they have the opportunity to be better actors than they could be in a staged version of the same work. There are retakes, more natural positions, beautiful scenery, and an amazing acoustic, even when outdoors! All in all,it is a fine work by Frederic Mitterand, Huang, Troxell, Cowan ("Sharpless"), Liang ("Suzuki"), and the rest. None of the roles had less than an accomplished actor and singer; even the role of "Kate Pinkerton" played by Constance Hauman was rendered with a delicate hand aware of a conflicting position and an involuntary hostility. Enjoyable for the everyday opera viewer as a fresh, beautiful feast for the eye and ear, and a first-rate film for the opera newcomer.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Stunning, July 2, 2005

By 

L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" (Huntington Beach,CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Puccini - Madame Butterfly / Huang, Troxell (DVD)

This review refers to the Deluxe Widescreen DVD presentation of "Madame Butterfly" (Columbia/Tri-Star)

Frédéric Mitterrand has done a wonderful job of bringing this heartwrenching opera to film. I found myself deeply lost in the emotional story, the music, the voices and the cinematography for the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Filmed in Italian, Mitterrand uses Asian and Western opera singers/actors, to bring the true sense of Giacomo Puccini's tale of a young Japanese woman's deep and unending love for the American soldier, who married her for a short time of passion and then left her under the guise of returning in the Spring to take her back to America. Butterfly gives up all that is sacred to her; her religion, her traditions, and is even shunned by her family, in the belief that her love will someday return to her. She waits years, each day hoping this will be the one her love returns to her.

Soprano Ying Huang, as Butterfly, will mesmerize you with her stunning beauty and lovely voice. You will get lost in her songs of love and anguish. Richard Troxell is a strong Lt. Pinkerton, as the husband who loves and leaves, only to return and realize the pain he has caused. Ning Liang and Richard Cowen add their wonderful voices to the film as well.

If you are a fan of this opera, you will delight in the screenplay (David Belasco), that makes a beautiful transition from stage to film. It's a film that will open the door and hearts to anyone new to the emotions of opera, and will immediatley make new fans of the genre.

The DVD is presented in widescreen, with an excellent Anamorphic picture. Subtitles give the choice of English, Spanish Portuguese,Chinese or Thai(oddly enough, no Japanese subtitles). There is a making of featurette and scene selections. The Dolby Surround sound is clear and fulfilling.

An absolutely stunning production...enjoy...Laurie

also recommended:Le Nozze Di Figaro (Staatskapelle Berlin)

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PUCCINI'S BUTTERFLY MORE BEAUTIFUL ON FILM, October 29, 2000

By 

Michael D. Villecco (Fort Lauderdale, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Madame Butterfly [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Martin Scorsese's cinematography is utterly unparralleled in his filming of the beautiful Puccini opera "Madame Butterfly". It is with a reserved caution that I say it surpasses any staged version of the opera I have ever seen! I say that cautiously so as not to offend those die-hard traditionalists, myself having been one. Scorsese transports us to an authentic Japan and his photography captures all of the intricate details and beauty for the setting of one of the worlds most beautiful stories. The film is so real that one is truly moved to tears by the end and emotionally overwhelmed. The mixed cast of both Asian and Western singers makes it even more beliebable. Soprano Ying Huang sings and acts delicately the fragile geisha who will wed the American lieutenant Pinkerton, sung by American Richard Troxell. Both are aptly cast in the film and compliment one another. Ying Huang plays the child-like Butterfly accurately as the composer would have intended. Troxell is handsome, charming and plays well the role of a not so nice character, leading Butterfly to believe he will one day return to Japan and take her back to America. He's so charming, in fact, that at times one feels he may have a change of heart along the way. From the beginning of the film with the torii standing in the Nagasaki harbor through the duration of the film, much in the leased 100 year paper and wood house built for Butterfly, one experiences many visual nuances. Scorsese can even film the softness of a breeze blowing at sundown through the house, captured by flowers moving in the dimming sunlight in a vase. The only fault I can find with the film, and it's considerable enough to detract from the overall experience, is the very unrealistic Bonze flying down from the sky at the end of the wedding ceremony. It looked somewhat foolish, considering the rest was unprecedented. Of the many filmed scenes, one that was effectively done was at the end of the opera, where Scorsese created a bad thunderstorm around the time Butterfly committed hara-kari and just at the time Kate and Sharpless pulled up in a carriage in the pouring rain to have Suzuki push the child out of the house and picked up by the Americans to be returned with his father to the States. Lastly, the cowardly Pinkerton runs into the house hoping to once more see Butterfly, but rather finds her dead on the floor. Scorsese captures the intense awkwardness and ambivalence of this moment that closes the film. In my review, I've talked little about the music or the voices. Puccini's music was sung convincingly by the cast and particularly Ying Huang and Richard Troxell, who both had great acting ability as well. But the true essence of this production was the filming and Scorsese's ability to capture so many delicate moments through the use of cinema. Please do yourself a favor and watch this beautiful opera, but rather on film as an alternate to the stage. Highly highly recommended!