Product Details

• Actors: Moira Shearer, Robert Rounseville, Ludmilla Tchérina, Ann Ayars, Pamela Brown
• Directors: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
• Writers: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, Dennis Arundell, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Jules Barbier
• Format: Color, Original recording remastered, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: September 21, 2001
• Run Time: 128 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302919754
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,954 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Jacques Offenbach died with his masterpiece not quite finished, and that has made The Tales of Hoffmann a predestined victim for adapters who have dropped some numbers, inserted others, altered the plot, fiddled with the casting, and changed the order of scenes. It has survived and kept its essential identity through many adaptations because its music is so witty and compelling, its imagination so vivid and varied, its story of the poet Hoffmann's unhappy loves so intriguing they can transcend such tinkering.

A critical performing edition prepared by musicologist Michael Kaye has made it possible to come close to Offenbach's original intentions after more than a century of misunderstanding, and major companies have begun to use that edition, but so far no universally satisfying production of it has reached video. An Opera de Lyon production, using Kaye's research but with a radically untraditional staging, has won wholehearted approval from some fans but unequivocal rejection from more.

As adaptations go, this 1951 film is the best compromise currently available on video and will always be a classic in its own right, even when a more faithful treatment becomes available. It drops some of Offenbach's music and includes some that is spurious, and it changes the plot (Hoffman's beloved Stella is made a dancer--Moira Shearer--not a singer). But at least it treats the story with affection, imagination, and technical expertise. The music presents only highlights of the score, but it is in the hands of a great conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham. The movie is essentially the work of the same team that produced The Red Shoes (directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger); it has the same kind of imaginative appeal and its technical resourcefulness is still exciting, still on the cutting edge despite its age. I expect eventually to add a more faithful Tales of Hoffmann to my video collection, but I will never stop enjoying this one. --Joe McLellan

Product Description

A brilliant integration of dance, story, and music," is what Variety calls this lavish screen adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's phantasmal opera. Robert Helpman (Henry V) and Moira Shearer (The Red Shoes) are included among bravura performances from some of the greatest ballet dancers and opera singers ever to grace the stage or screen. Lovingly restored, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's glorious production includes twelve minutes cut from the original theatrical release. The Tales of Hoffman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

129 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My One Desert Island Film., November 28, 2005

By 

Chip Kaufmann (Asheville, N.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tales of Hoffmann (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

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.

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BENCHMARK FOR OPERA ON FILM, October 2, 2003

By 

Rene (California United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Offenbach - The Tales of Hoffmann [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Greatest example of opera on film, October 20, 2005

By 

C. Boerger (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Tales of Hoffmann (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

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.