Product Details

• Actors: Irek Mukhamedov, Natalya Bessmertnova, Bolshoi Opera Ballet
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French (PCM)
• Subtitles: French, English, Spanish, German
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Arthaus Musik
• DVD Release Date: May 17, 2005
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0008JEK5O
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,526 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible / Mukhamedov, Bessmertnova, Taranda, Zhuraitis, Bolshoi Ballet" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Production, July 27, 2005

By 

F. Butler "Hamlet" (Gulfport, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible / Mukhamedov, Bessmertnova, Taranda, Zhuraitis, Bolshoi Ballet (DVD)

I enjoyed this ballet very much. The dancers were superb, as were the sets (I thought the use of the curtain was quite clever). Irek Mukhamedov in the title role was outstanding. The camera was a bit too distant at times, but not so much it spoiled the viewing. Overall, a very good production.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not terrible - great!, February 10, 2008

By 

Peter Rodda "rock doctor" (Fiji) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible / Mukhamedov, Bessmertnova, Taranda, Zhuraitis, Bolshoi Ballet (DVD)

A really powerful production. If you don't care for Prokofiev's music in general you might still like this. A powerful story of a powerful ruler and his descent into cruelty and madness, reflected in the music becoming disjointed towards the end. Superb choreography and dancing. Unlike the video tape of the Bolshoi production of this ballet, well photographed.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Dancers Wasted, July 27, 2008

By 

Amnerees (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prokofiev - Ivan the Terrible / Mukhamedov, Bessmertnova, Taranda, Zhuraitis, Bolshoi Ballet (DVD)

If you've ever tried to decide who the worst choreographer of the twentieth century was, Maurice Bejart or Yuri Grigorovich, this ballet, or this production of it at any rate, may help you to settle on the latter. The technically brilliant Bolshoi dancers emote and leap about in an exhausting two hours of relentless but utterly pointless dance. The eye-rolling and huge gestures characteristic of Grigorovich's direction count for nothing here. Elegant, long-legged ballerinas mince around on point for no reason whatsoever. There's nary a bourree to be seen. And the costumes! The dancers are upholstered and slipcovered rather than costumed. You know there must be wonderful, expressive bodies under all that drapery, but you don't get to see them. Mukhamedov wears tights, a doublet, a Speedo embroidered with Mylar, and loincloths, front and back. What a waste! And his is not the silliest costume by a long shot. And all these people dance like crazy with extraordinary line and vigor--to no effect. (Some of those grand Bolshoi lifts almost don't come off, though.) It's all so driven and difficult. I won't comment on the score used for the ballet except to say that it's "arranged" from Prokofiev's film scores. Poor man, he was still suffering indignities at the hands of Soviet functionaries after being dead for more than thirty years.