Customer Reviews

Tangerine Dream: Inferno

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well well well... This is a spectacle worth seeing. Filmed in 1910 and released early in 1911, it must have had a terrific impact on the viewer. It's full of special effects, flashbacks, monsters, appearances and disappearances, giants, dragons, demons and other hellish apparitions. There's a lot of nudity and agony, smoke and mud. But make no mistake: it's all according to 1911 standards. There still are no close-ups, no proper editing, and no acting to speak of aside from gestures as broad as one's hands are capable of doing. There's also no real story: it's a series of tableaux depicting Dante and Virgil moving through the different circles of Hell. It's all shot in broad daylight of course, in some weird looking mountains that can look quite majestic, but can also be no better than an disused Italian quarry. It's not boring, but it's very unclear what the viewer is supposed to think. There are lengthy title cards in very weird English, summarizing the action to come. Some of the trick photography is among the best that was available at that time (and men like Melies did a fantastic job even ten years before the release of this film); some is 'rags on a stick'-variety. Had there been at least a few close-ups, or anything to make it look more cinematic, I would have been much happier. The picture quality is so-so, it's obviously edited from two or three different prints that can vary quite a lot. It also could have been made more interesting using colour tinting for different hellish locations, such as red for fire and brimstone and blue for the ice lake. The music by Tangerine Dream became annoying very quickly. As long as it is ambiance background, it's OK, but as soon as the lady vocalist bursts into weird pseudo-Dantean songs, it's pure Hell indeed. I was seriously considering turning the sound down, but then I sort of grew used to it. This film might prove to be a bit heavy for those who are not prepared to sit through 1,5 hours of agonizing and slow moving journey that doesn't seem to lead nowhere. Then again, the selection of pre-WW I full length films released on DVD isn't wide enough to dismiss this one. But you need to know your Dante before you delve into this one, otherwise it's a total mishmash. A good friend and a bottle of strong booze would come handy as well. This film might prove to be a bit heavy for those who are not prepared to sit through 1,5 hours of agonizing and slow moving journey that doesn't seem to lead nowhere. Then again, the selection of pre-WW I full length films released on DVD isn't wide enough to dismiss this one. But you need to know your Dante before you delve into this one, otherwise it's a total mishmash. A good friend and a buttle of strong booze would come handy as well.

This silent movie classic is essential viewing for avid horror movie fans! It ranks right up there with the chilling classic 'Nosferatu' with similarly eerie, haunting, and unforgettable scenes.
It's basically a man's voyage through the many levels of Hell and his various conversations with the damned. It's appropriately packed full of strange and disturbing scenes depicting the many tortures of the damned. There are many incredible sets on display as well as various demonic creatures. The only weak element is the poor soundtrack by the usually great Tangerine Dream. It lacks the drama and passion that the movie is screaming for! Sort of like the many badly scored versions of Nosferatu. Both of these classics deserve truly haunting original scores more than any other movies that I can think of! Overall the movie itself was much better than expected and is essential viewing if you like haunting imagery.

I have little to add to the preceding reviews, other than to say this movie is more enjoyable than I expected, and a noble attempt to movie-ize the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy. The Inferno is one of the cornerstones of western literature, and probably the most inspiring nightmare ever. Few have attempted to film Dante's Inferno in its entirety, although you can find bits and pieces of it in movies as desperate as Hellraiser and What Dreams May Come. A lot of what we imagine Hell must be like came from Dante.

But I think the film's mastermind, Giuseppe de Liguoro, would have needed a much bigger budget to bring this project up the quality of--say; F.W. Murnau's Faust. And make no mistake; a film version of a National Literary Treasure is what de Liguoro had in mind. For all its faults, it mostly sticks to the book.

The only real problem I have with this movie is the sets and scenes become--well--the same, as the film goes on: de Liguoro either lacked the vision, or the bread, to up the intensity as the story's central characters progressed.

But part of the blame has to go to Tangerine Dream's background music, which is also notable for its unrelenting sameness. A bit more dramatic build--preferably darker and more brooding--would have assisted the viewer in at least imagining the trip though Hell was getting more intense the deeper Dante and Virgil went. On the other hand, maybe TD's score really is appropriate for this movie. It seems to me that a sense of tension and release, all too uncommon in medieval literature, is what made Dante's Inferno a classic to begin with, and part of what helps The Divine Comedy retain its enduring appeal. And its absence is what keeps this movie obscure.

But I still recommend Inferno. If you love Dante, or are just a fan the exceptional, you will love this. Whatever it is that makes creepy old silents fun is definitely present on this disc, soundtrack and all.

This movie is amazing for providing a most beautiful, allegorical depiction of Dante's hell.Every other movie on the subject and all horror movies have borrowed from this imagery. I certainly remember Passolini using very similar images in one of his films. For this reason alone it is a MUST-SEE for cinema historians and students.
It sticks to the plot and has extraordinary special effects for such an early film. The appearance of Beatrice is radiant, she has a very vibrant halo and elevates into the heavens after ordering Virgil to assist Dante through hell, in a most graceful ascension. This is nothing compared to the appearance of Francesca di Rimini and her lover Paolo, floating in the air in a white cape that enfolds them and then she tells the story of their passionate kiss, which is a romantic movie condensed in a few moments, absolutely masterful.
There are also demons and monsters, which includes the best depiction of harpies in film I have seen to this day. A fabulous giant that transports Dante and Virgil from one circle of hell to the other, an also enormous Pluto that is an unforgettable image and of course, Satan himself, with three sets of bat wings and three heads, most impressive. But most unforgettable is the image of a tormented, headless soul holding its very own, talking head.
The scenes are not repetitive like some reviewers have quoted, they are as described by Dante, and therefore have a unity of tonality which is excellently translated here in the visuals. There is a difference between one circle and another and things do get considerably worse as they approach Satan. The lakes of hell are particularly striking for their otherworldliness. An unforgettable scene is the count Ugolino eating the head of the archbishop that condemned him to starvation. He tells Dante and Virgil his story which we see in retrospect (the first flashbacks in movie history are here, and they work perfectly with the story).
I would also like to point out, that following Dante's descriptions, there is a lot of nudity in this film, it is very naturally employed to tell the story of the tormented souls, but I doubt this movie could be filmed in America, even today, taking these liberties with the human body, yet another great reason to see it!
The only drawback is the soundtrack by Tangerine, which turns out to be a bit disappointing, particularly at the very beginning of the film, but once one gets used to, it is not as grating.

L'Inferno, released in 1911 and directed by Giuseppe De Liguoro, is a masterpiece for its time as the first feature length film made in Italy. In it, the viewer witnesses the gradual descent of Dante and Virgil through Dante's version of hell, viewing the different punishments given to each class of sinner.

The acting was good for the most part, with broad theatrical gestures used in this era due to the lack of sound technology. The scenery and costumes are excellent. I did not feel that the scenes were 'static' at all, considering the year this film was produced. Scenes tend to be visually complicated, with great attention to detail. Some of the special effects were mind blowing -- how did they produce that scene with the horizontally floating spirits with such little technology?

Now for the cons. The only costume and scene I believed could have been worked upon further was the scene with Lucifer. Some color tinting and modifications to his costume might have greatly improved this scene, as it is quite possibly one of the most important scenes for this film. The music set by Tangerine Dream was also a distraction, especially when the singing began. I felt it did not work with the film at all and is the primary reason why I drop this rating from a five to a four.

All in all, an excellent film for its time and definitely worth watching for any silent movie fans out there.

I think Giuseppe da Liguoro created a masterpiece when he directed L'inferno. Although the same set was used throughout the movie, they did a very good job at changing around the scenery to depict Dante's and Virgil's descent through hell. I especially liked how much they tried to stay true to the story. The various characters Dante and Virgil encounter on their journey were depicted very well and although the acting is a bit overdramatized (which is necessary since it's a silent film) it made it easy to understand what was going on without dialogue. I think the actor who played Virgil was very well cast, he successfully depicted a special regality and overall disposition that one associates with such a legendary ancient poet (without even speaking!!). The one thing that I really think brought the movie down a bit as a whole is the new musical score created for the film by Tangerine Dream. To be entirely honest it was distracting and at times pretty ridiculous. The score that should have been written for L'inferno would have been one that depicted the danger, fear, suffering, and at times chaos of the inferno. Other than that, the movie was absolutely incredible and then next time I watch it (and there will be a next because it's just that good) I'll probably play one of Beethoven's symphonies in the background with the movie on mute.

This being my first silent film I wasn't sure what to expect. It was quite a charming film in its antiquity simply because our cinematographic technology has moved so far past the special effects that were used in L'Inferno although the ones used were at the cutting edge of technology at the time it was made. I found it hard to follow some of the scenes even with the scene card, but still entertaining to watch the actors use their overly emphatic, theatrical gestures that was the only kind of acting that they knew at the time. Overall I found the whole thing fairly humorous and not a bad hour and a half of cinema, with one of my favorite scenes being Lucifer's appearance at the end that was not at all menacing in which he looked comically like a giant hamster gnawing two handedly on his food. The only real problem I had with the film was the score by Tangerine Dream. The music in itself was not bad, but I could not stand it when the singer would start singing verses of Dante's Inferno in a whiny voice both in English and Italian, it was horribly distracting and actually took attention away from what was going on since it was fairly difficult to concentrate on what she was saying and what was going on in the scene at the same time. They would have been much better off if they had kept the score purely instrumental, you don't need words in music to convey the sentiments of a scene.

Most people might be surprised to learn that in 1911 only Italy and Australia were making feature length (over an hour) silent films, and "L'Inferno" is in fact the first full-length Italian film ever made. It took several years to make and was a big international success at the time, making it a classic of the silent cinema. Being a silent film enthusiast, I can confidently say that "L'Inferno" is quite unlike any other silent classic I've seen so far. This is mainly due to the subject on which it is based, namely Dante's Divine Comedy, combined with artistic and visual interpretations that might seem quite unusual, even bizarre, to the modern-day viewer. Anyone familiar with medieval art and in particular the works of Gustave Dore (which inspired this film) will recognize many images and find this film quite fascinating, such as naked bodies writhing on the ground to express suffering in hell. For the complete novice, "L'Inferno" might be surprising and very unusual, but a cinematic experience nonetheless. The film is greatly enhanced by the specially-composed soundtrack by Tangerine Dream, giving it a definite ethereal quality which suits the fantasy/religious theme. The picture quality is fairly good overall, though at the beginning it appears a bit blurry in parts. Otherwise, this classic is in good condition and has been nicely restored, given an unusual but suitable soundtrack, and there are some good notes accompanying the DVD. I would certainly recommend "L'Inferno" to any serious silent film enthusiast and any broadminded viewers interested in early cinema.

For the Tangerine Dream fans, regarding the soundtrack:

Despite what it says on the back of the case, which claims both 5.1 Dolby Surround and 2.0 Stereo soundtracks, there is only one dual-mono soundtrack. That is to say, there is, technically speaking, a stereo soundtrack, inasmuch as it has two channels, but both channels contain the exact same mono mix, except for a tiny difference in volume.

The volume peaks at around -12db throughout, squandering the limited resolution provided by the 16bit word size, meaning you get to listen to more of the hiss and hum of every amplification stage of your playback setup than should be necessary. For some reason, I have found this drastic attenuation to be common on most DVD soundtracks. Whereas one may imagine some marginal excuses for low average sound amplitude in a contemporary film, there is little justification for it in what is, essentially, a long-form music video with no dialog or sound effects.

As for musical content, after close examination of both sources, I can confirm that the DVD soundtrack consists of an edited portion of the LEFT CHANNEL ONLY of the 2002 Tangerine Dream "Inferno" CD (TDI CD032). Whether this was up-sampled to 48k from 44k, or both derive from the same 48k or better source, I do not know. No new composition or recording was done for the DVD. I am even now in the process of matching the edits so that I can create a personal copy of the DVD with the full stereo soundtrack.

If you are a Tangerine Dream fan who has either joined the ranks in the last decade, or has hung on through all the changes and usurious marketing, you probably already have the "Inferno" CD, so this DVD would not be a worthwhile purchase solely on the basis of the expectation of new music, mixing, or performance. Until near the end, the edits are all very minor, so this is not a case of Tangerine Dream putting any significant work into making the music closely accompany the events in the film, especially considering that the project of creating this score came along some years after the live concert recording which serves as the soundtrack. Both the music and the film, however, are indeed based upon the same literary source, so they are not completely alien to one-another. As to the quality of the music itself, this is entirely a subjective matter. I enjoy it on it's own terms, but cannot find any reasonable basis of comparison between this work and classic Tangerine Dream. The only person common to the full 1969-present history of Tangerine Dream is Edgar Froese, and the other continuity is the participation of Jerome Froese, who had been working with his father since around 1989.

For early film fans, regarding the motion picture:

In terms of film history, this is certainly a significant artifact, and at present, this release constitutes the only form in which any significant number of interested parties are likely to see it. The scale of the production was very ambitious for 1911, and the implementation of the special effects was very inventive and probably very difficult to achieve at the time. While much of it has a kind of casual "home-made" feel to it, even to my jaded 21st-century eyes, some moments in this film are truly involving and mildly disturbing. I can only imagine the nightmares it must have given to it's contemporary audience. Having said that, getting from one end to the other of this film does require some commitment and historical perspective. It is by no means "entertainment" by today's standards.

Do not expect the restoration to be on par with some of the better examples, such as the 2002/2010 releases of "Metropolis". It is hard to say, without knowing the condition of the source material, whether all that could and should be done to restore and preserve this film was carried out. A documentary supplement detailing the process of the restoration would have gone far to answer such concerns, but is conspicuously absent.

Briefly, regarding the source work "The Divine Comedy":

I cannot deny that the work has had persistent influence over the centuries, and has added a few concepts to the collective consciousness, such as the "circles of Hell". Having said that, I must confess that I find the work to be over-rated, and mis-cast as a significant spiritual work. On the face of it, it seems quite blatant that the primary motivations of Alighieri were childishly petty. The entire work serves as a contrivance by which he could play out imaginary vengeance on a number of his contemporaries, philosophers, religious and political figures, and other cultural icons of his day. It was essentially the ancient equivalent of today's tabloids, gossip blogs and tell-all memoirs. Sort of a TMZ for the 14th century. The main difference is that the half-truths and fictions we use to slander our public figures now are not nearly as elaborate, or lengthy, as Dante's. The only reason the parallel is not more obvious is that we are so removed from the context in which it was written.

From my personal perspective, this work was elevated most by the illustrations executed some centuries later by William Blake. It was the subsequent illustrations of Gustave Dore however, which I do not prefer, that directly inspired the visual design of this film.

I was considering giving this film a 4 stars because of the music that goes with it. However, both the film and the music are great if used separately. My complain is that Tangerine Dream's music is too modern for this type of film, although great. I strongly suggest you buy this film but turn down the volume all the way down and play piano music instead, as it was the norm with silent films.

This is the only Dante's Inferno live action feature film that is really worth watching, simply because it is made according to Dante's poem and not a commercial interpretation as it was done ever since the success of this film. Hollywood has never been able, to this day, to get close to a Dante's Inferno adaptation without distorting the story in one way or another. I found this review that is interesting and extensive: [...]. There is also another film worthy of consideration although it is documentary, which you can find on Amazon as Dante's Inferno - Abandon All Hope.