Customer Reviews

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recently, a friend and I were discussing educational and ethical influences when we were growing up in the 1950's versus today. She mentioned Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who, in 1798, wrote The Rime of The Ancient Mariner. Both of us had been required to recite parts of the epic poem in high school and in English Literature courses in college. My friend said, "Its messages even might be called metaphysical within today's context."

We tried reciting it and only remembered bits and pieces. (I have problems remembering Dr. Seuss.) I said I'd get two copies of the poem so each could read it. That was easy enough, but I was extremely surprised to find it had been made into a film. We looked forward to watching the film to see how it had been interpreted. After all, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner isn't exactly light reading. After each had read the poem, we watched the film together.

We considered the film a remarkable achievement, especially considering it was made in the 1970's, before computers, before the so-called "Ken Burns effect," and before special effects too often began compensating for a lack of substance. Particularly noteworthy are the 19th and 20th century illustrations culled from "lesser known artists," such as Willy Pogany, the early Hollywood designer.

The film is narrated by Sir Michael Redgrave, whom had taught the poem when he was a schoolmaster, adding a tone of authority and credibility in remaining true to the poem.

Its mastery is in the layers of subtle messages, conveyed without "instructing," or becoming an oppressive and obvious morality tale. We found it such a refreshing change from today's 'in your face' and 'clobber them over the head' mentality. Most of today's morality messages in film are two-dimensional: extreme violence, murder and mayhem mark the bad. The bad are really, really, bad, and good are super heroes. It is as if human character lacked any nuance. The Rime of The Ancient Mariner is a celebration of the individual, of character, of an appreciation for celebrating all the richness life has to offer, within the larger context of humanity, i.e., man's capacity to give to others.

Proud of ourselves for having found this "unknown" gem, we then learned it had won the top award in its category five out of six times at "name" international film festivals. Another surprise was learning the film's director, Raul daSilva, is a recognized authority on early animation, and authored six award winning books about film.

This film's message is just as relevant today, if not more so, than when Coleridge penned the original epic poem and when Raul daSilva translated it to film. If I still was teaching high school, which I did for five years, I'd grab this one and show it to all my students. There's a level of richness here that naturally leads to discussion about the big and important issues all of us face, whether in 1798, 1978, or today--in fact, as long as humanity has a spiritual component.

Highly recommended.

I highly recommend this video to individuals, public libraries and for high school and college classic literature classes. This is an excellent film in which creative visualization of a classic poem makes it come alive. We feel the dynamics of the Samuel Taylor Coleridge's words as spoken by the Ancient Mariner. It is as if we are both the listener and the Mariner. When the dead albatross falls from the Mariner's neck, we feel we also were transformed through love in our hearts and understanding of our fellow humans. We have hope for a better outcome to the struggles we face in our own world of war and violence. Director Raul daSilva did an outstanding job in making this poem not only understandable but also to arouse our sensitivity. The incorporation of Doré's illustrations, visual effects of colors, the well-chosen classical music and sounds of the sea all enhanced our senses and deepened our emotional experience with the poem. BRAVO to daSilva and his team. Well done!!

This is one of the most creative and inspirational vidoes I have ever seen. I am surprised that the name of the director, Raul daSilva, is not listed at the top of the product description. It is clear that much of the excellence evident in this product is the result of careful, expert, effective directing and editing.

"THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER" is undoubtedly one of the finest video presentations I have ever seen, both in content and form. With a brilliant mix of animation and live images, the live sounds of seagulls, whales and the ocean, and an inspired reading by Sir Michael Redgrave, Mr. daSilva has created a new classic for both young and old alike!

This is a wonderful video. Through the dramatic vocalization and rich, imaginative illustrations, this timeless classic comes to life in a very accessible way. An additional bonus is getting to know about the life of the author. Wouldn't it be fantastic if literature of this quality was more widely available in video format?!

This is a good resource to use in the classroom when teaching Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." It gives them a visual image for a very difficult piece of literature because of its length and heightened language.

It has won six international film festival awards of which five were first place in category. Library Journal called it "compelling, perfectly captures the essence of the great epic poem." PBS Sneak Previews said, "A spellbinder." Other rave reviews from PBS Radio, Gannett and Newhouse newspapers.

Raul daSilva Producer-director

Far from a "power point" presentation the true background to this unusual and outstanding film is easily located on line.
While a few isolated individuals might not understand what they are looking at because they expect to see an average "movie",
this is not an average production. The film took two years to produce. The planning and graphic design for the shooting
the work of artists such as Dore and Pogany, who attempted to bring life to the epic poem, in the 19th and early 20th Centuries,
took three months on an Oxberry Master Series animation stand. Not only did the film bring great comprehension to students
who struggled for two centuries with the Elizabethan language written by Coleridge but it elevated the poem with Sir Michael
Redgrave's brilliant and experienced background in the epic poem. The film won six international film festival prizes,
five that are first place awards, including rave reviews from radio, TV, the print press and even Library Journal.

We salute the filmmakers for this effort and would love to see more like it. We have scarce little such films made these days
as most filmmakers today are more interested in the bottom line than what the film would bring to our society and culture.
This is not one of those.

There are several things taking place in the film. One of them is the filmic popularization of little known illustrative work of Gustave Dore who made an early effort to bring visualization to Rime of the Ancient Mariner in the late 19th Century by created astonishingly laborious illustrations in a period prior to the development of photography as related to its reproduction for periodicals and printing. Another artist who created a visualization of the poem in 1910 is Willy Pogany, greatly celebrated for his work in Art Deco. Pogany, who eventually ended up in early Hollywood was an immigrant whose work was first known in New York City where he was the designer of the famous Art Deco swimming pool at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn. These artists and others used in the film now have examples of their work on film for all to see.

The planning and graphic plotting for the camera movement over pieces of art is time consuming and laborious. This is the major reason why the film took two years to produce. Those who do not know or can grasp the technology of Photoanimation are urged to go to Wikipedia and read up on it. It begins with a soundtrack analysis and goes on through a difficult process.

One comment mentions about the film being "a narrated PowerPoint presentation". That kind of presentation is just a basic slide show and it takes no effort other than photographing still art or photography.

The secondary objective of this film is to serve as a pilot for The Immortal Poets. This would be an entire series on the visualization of great poetic literature. Such a work is something greatly missing in our society as we are currently into a dark age of letters and poetry. Poetry is literature that points to the highest achievement of humanity in the communication of ideas. It is not currently very popular. As it turns out, we need poetry, perhaps today more than ever.

A third objective is to indicate that film presentations can be a multiplicity of things and not narrow in concept or fixed to a bridle path like a rented horse that walks on an old path without guidance. When the filmmakers began to plan this film, they knew that it was not going to be a moneymaker. However, they felt that it would be life affirming...and bring constructive values to society. The poem itself cries out for the sanctity of all life on Earth.

That it brings additional comprehension to a very difficult piece of literature is unquestionable. However, students should not be expected to react to it with great enthusiasm. It is up to the teacher...if the teacher can grasp what the production is all about...to indicate and point out the triumph of this film to the students. Five of six educated, totally different, international film festival juries did not select it out of a mass competition and give it a first place prizes by mistake.

Rime Of The Ancient Mariner...Samuel Taylor Coleridge...just about my
favorite poem. He never did complete Kubla Khan...so this would be epic.
The film does serve the poetry. In its way.