Customer Reviews

Prospero's Books [VHS]

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

First, I love this movie. It's five stars in my book.

The $50 version being offered here by 'classics_vhs_dvd' is a complete rip off. It's not a proper DVD-Video, it's a DVD-R that's been made from a VHS tape and one of those cheap home recording boxes. It's shame this movie isn't available in a better format.

I remember reading John Gielgud's obit in the New York Times this spring, and near the end, he is quoted saying that among all of his roles, his Prospero in Prospero's Books was his most satisfying. Since I've always liked his acting, that sent me on the trail of this film.

Wow! What a film! First, I highly recommend that you read The Tempest just prior to viewing this film, or at least be familiar with it--find a plot summary in a Shakespeare book. It will help in carrying you through the transitions, of which there are none in this film.

Second, if you are the least bit squeamish about nudity, male and female, in films, pass over this one. You won't enjoy it for watching all the bodies.

With that said, enjoy. What I found fascinating about the entire film is Greenaway's interpretation. I really don't agree with it all (three Ariel's, in different ages, play the sprite of fire and air), but he still pulls it off so that it works, and I credit him for that. Who knows? Maybe it was all a part of Prospero's imagination and infatuation with books.

Further, it is a cinematic smorgasbord. The camera just cannot contain all the visuals.

And then there's Gielgud, he really is smooth, polished, and enjoying himself. I loved watching his performance because he was putting in all the nuance, innuendo, and shades of meaning in the language, while presenting Prospero with all dignity.

This VHS version of the film for sale here is eight minutes short (118 vs 126) and pan and scan.

IE it is the "Blockbuster" video store version of a film, hacked to pieces in content, and 1/2 the picture lopped off the sides.

Boycott this version. get the DVD just released in Europe. A few minutes of research will tell you haow to play it just fine in the US

Peter Greenaway's films have been poorly served up by the DVD industry. This one, released theatrically in 1991, stars John Gielgud and was scored by by Michael Nyman. I'm not commenting on the film itself. (But it is a masterpiece, IMHO.)

Here I'm commenting on the DVD edition of "Prospero's Books" released by "AAE Films, Inc." on 18 September 2009 and currently retailing on Amazon for about US$72. It has no UPC#, which suggests it's not a standard US DVD release.

Between 2007 and 2009 I bought, from Amazon and other DVD retailers, four DVDs released by "Allied Artists Entertainment." I threw all four of them away after one viewing (really after watching the first 10 minutes). I'll never again purchase a DVD released by Allied Artists Entertainment," "Allied Artists Classics," or "Allied Artists," even if it's a true classic unobtainable from any other source.

As others have noted, this film really deserves Criterion treatment,but that's unlikely. Instead studios around the world continue to release onto the DVD market endless excrement, or as in this case, *offensively bad* and *outrageously overpriced* editions of great films. Amazon has recently begun marketing some classic films (e.g "Dreamchild") on demand, using DVD-R recordable media, for reasonable prices. The results are not outstanding, but better than nothing. Amazon should do the same for "Prospero's Books."

This is my favorite film and has been since it was first released. I bought the VHS (also for an insane amount) and was excited that it was finally available on DVD, but this transfer is really bad. The audio overloads at times, and the video quality is poor. the video isn't even full frame 4:3. I agree with those who said that this looks like a cheap VHS->DVD transfer. To pay $70+ for it is almost an insult. Unless you are a true hardcore fan of this film, avoid this DVD.

Roger Ebert, in one of his most sensible comments, said this film stands outside of criticism, and that's certainly true. It's just a delight, everytime I see it and hear the words "Bosun! Bosun!" I crack a big grin and settle in for one of the most unusual films ever made.

So, after all these years, and with thousands and thousands of DVD's issued for obscure and worthless crappy movies, where in the heck is the DVD for this, a landmark film that would obviously benefit from the treatment? There must be something going on behind the scenes that is preventing it.

Prospero's Books is one of the most remarkable films I've ever seen, and this DVD is no way to see it. Not only is this DVD not widescreen (and this movie, with its liberal and wonderful use of digital compositing must be seen widescreen to appreciate the compositions that Greenaway was creating), but the video and audio quality are terrible. The audio is best described as muddy. The video is best described as an over-compressed, bad transfer from VHS. Ironically, a local video store had a tape of Prospero's Books available for many years, and it was widescreen. So this DVD is actually worse than the VHS version I've seen. There's no excuse for that at any price, but for almost $80 this DVD ought to be flawless and filled with amazing extras. It is not. Beginning with the terrible compression artifacts in the opening text, I watched about 15 minutes of this DVD in horror, then dug up my LaserDisc copy of the film and compared them. Both are cropped, rather widescreen, but at least the LaserDisc transfer had better sound and cleaner video. If you can bear to watch VHS, and can find the widescreen version, that seems to be the only way to see this movie unmangled (apart from the massive loss of quality caused by VHS itself), outside of a movie theater. With great disappointment I returned the DVD to Amazon. To Amazon's credit, they provided a full refund. Thank you, Amazon.

At this point, I can only hope that someday soon there'll be a high-quality BluRay edition of this film. But I've waited for a high-quality edition of this film through three generations of technology and have yet to get it (with the LaserDisc and DVD versions being nothing short of embarrassing), so whoever owns the distribution rights to the film must not give a rat's ass about it. And that doesn't inspire optimism about future releases.

I purchased this from ''classics_vhs_dvd" and am rather disappointed at the image quality; the data is highly compressed (only 3.1GB for the whole movie!) and there are visible compression artifacts and audio hiss; no chapter markings, menus, or subtitles. A real shame for such a visually detailed film!

It looks very much like a ripped copy burned onto a DVD-R, though the seller claims this is how it was originally released. (Which seems likely to be true; I see a lot of complaints online about the quality of various DVDs produced by Allied Artists Classics.)

It's better than nothing, and no higher-quality version seems likely to come along any time soon... but it's sure not what I was hoping for.

If you like John Gielgud's or Peter Greenaway's work, then you should see this film.

It is typical of both, in that Gielgud gives a performance one could not fathom anyone else giving, and Greenaway fills the screen with visual and sensual stimulation such as no other director has attempted.

On the surface, this is an adaptation of Shakespeare's Tempest, with all roles played in voice-over by Gielgud while the other actors portray them physically--Caliban is particularly a delight--but it is also so much more that words fail me.

This is like nothing you have ever seen. However, if you are shocked or offended by human nudity, then you should stay away, because it might detract from your pleasure in viewing and that would be a shame.

Prospero's Books is an artful, elegant, beautiful film with the richness and texture of gorgeous human flesh. It has a dreamlike quality, rather like listening to the Shakespeare play while dozing off and dreaming semi-erotic images and bizarre imagery. The whole film has the feel of a rennaisance painting in motion with decorative nudes that are just there but not really part of the action or the story.

I don't think this film was intended to be a literal portrayal of Shakespeare's play "The Tempest", rather it was intended to be a dreamlike artistic rendition. There are plenty of artistic liberties taken with the play which I can forgive because of the elegant and highly original portrayal of the play.

I, like many other reviewers in this forum have stated, wish that this would come out on DVD to obtain the full aspect ratio of the film. Much detail is probably being lost on the edges of the picture.

I often think of "Prospero's Books" as "Caligula" lite. Though made by different people, they have many of the same qualities -- lots of beautiful human flesh and a dreamlike quality, although "Caligula" is much more violent and has explicit sexuality which does not appear in "Prospero's Books."

If you want a very literal portrayal of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" I would recommend going to your local Shakespeare play house, but if you want something offbeat, with sensuousness and just a little bit of sensuality then you will like this film.