Product Details

• Actors: Jerker Arvidson, Jane Darling, Helene Friberg, Nina Harte, Sven-Erik Jacobsson
• Format: Classical, Color, NTSC
• Language: Swedish
• Subtitles: English
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: September 26, 1995
• Run Time: 135 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303595731
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,206 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #12 in	Video > Art House & International > By Original Language > Swedish
  #13 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Sweden
  #39 in	Video > Musicals & Performing Arts > Opera

Editorial Reviews

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Ingmar Bergman's vision of The Magic Flute (sung here in Swedish) remains one of the indisputable classics in the opera-as-film catalog, its charm and enchantment undiminished since the film's initial release in the 1970s. This is a case not of competition between two geniuses (and two media) but of affirmative, graceful, and enlightening synergy. Instead of simply filming a staged run-through of the opera, Bergman chooses to play with the framework around such a performance (given in Stockholm's elegant Drottningholm Theatre)--and he moreover rearranges the order of the scenes in the final act. Intermittent shots of audience reactions--including those of a young girl infectiously involved in the story--and sudden, psychologically probing close-up angles result in a richly textured, multilayered effect.

Certainly Bergman renders the fairy-tale aspects of Mozart's mise-en-scène with such buoyant detail that the film makes an excellent entrée both for youngsters and for anyone who is uneasy about how to approach an opera. Yet there is much food for thought to be savored by the already initiated as well. One of Bergman's more brilliant interventions is to depict Sarastro and the Queen of the Night as a divorced couple engaged in a bitter battle over daughter Pamina. The director supplies plenty of energetic wit and arabesques of allusion (in addition to his Prospero-like demeanor, the high priest Sarastro is shown at one point during the intermission perusing the score of Parsifal), and--as might be expected of one of film's greatest symbolists--teases out the opera's weightier allegorical levels with hauntingly beautiful effect. Brilliant chiaroscuro and contrasted lighting patterns, for example, offer ongoing visual commentary on the contest between darkness and light. The cast is exceptionally photogenic, their abundant youth and obvious chemistry more than compensating for the often no-more-than-mediocre vocal performances (with the exception of Håkan Hagegård's utterly disarming, still-fresh portrayal of Papageno). For a desert-island audio recording, try Thomas Beecham. --Thomas May

Product Description

Ingmar Bergman's Magic Flute is a magical adaptation of Mozart's last opera. The tale of two star-crossed lovers--and an impish man whose greatest desire is to find a wife--unfolds through Mozart's glorious score. With all the urgency of a live performance, it is the most successful popularization of an opera to date.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bergman's Patented Rejuvenation Formula, March 9, 2001

By	Thomas F. Bertonneau (Oswego, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Magic Flute - Criterion Collection (DVD)

About Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman's 1974 film-version of Mozart's fairy-tale opera "The Magic Flute" ("Trollflöjten" in Swedish), I am probably unable to be objective. I saw it when it came out, when I was in my second year as a student of Germanic and Scandinavian languages at UCLA. The girl I took to see it on the night that it opened at the Avco cinemas on Westwood Boulevard was baffled by it. She made it perfectly clear that she had no interest in dating me again. But my mother liked it when I insisted that she accompany me to see it, and so did my sister. Two years ago, when my son turned four, I ordered the VHS edition and introduced the lad to it; he responded immediately, was deeply impressed by the antics of Håken Hågegård's Papageno, and has been humming the tunes ever since. Recently I showed it to the students in my "Critical Philosophical Problems" class at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. The Criterion DVD of Bergman's production is the best home-version yet. What is it that makes this the most endearing cinematic or video representation of Mozart's opera? Bergman filmed in the baroque Drottningsholmtheater in Stockholm. He exploits the wonderful charm of eighteenth century stagecraft and fosters the illusion that we are indeed witnessing a repertory traversal of "The Magic Flute" in a public venue. During the Overture, for example, we see the many faces in the audience, including a little girl (said to be Bergman's daughter) whose changing expression becomes the touchstone for onlooker-response during the two acts. On the other hand, we are aware that we are not really viewing some haphazard filming of a performance in the style of PBS at the Met. For the most part, Bergman takes us inside the action so that we forget the presence of stage and audience. So many details call out for notation. Notice how, by emphasizing a nod or a dirty look, Bergman conveys that the Three Ladies are not merely a girlish trio but resentment-driven servants of a resentment-driven Queen of the Night. Remark the gradual alteration of the Queen's appearance. Hågegård's bird-catcher surpasses any other know to me (and Bergman as director contributes mightily to the result). Ulrik Cold's Sarastro becomes a real and complicated person rather than the cardboard wiseman and lawgiver that he usually is. Swedish is as sinagble a language as Italian, with many feminine endings, so that the poetry strikes the ear as just as beautiful as the music. The English substitles are easy to follow and unobtrusive. One would have to be made of stone or wood not to laugh and cry by turns during the two hours and twenty minutes of this extraordinary film. Buy it for your children, especially if they are young. The dragon alone justifies the price of admission.

42 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Staging of A Wonderful Opera! Watch it Again!, June 11, 2000

By	Dan Sherman (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: The Magic Flute - Criterion Collection (DVD)

Director Bergman has given us a charming film production of Mozart's Magic Flute that is set to be a modern-day staging of the opera in an small, old opera house. The staging is low-tech (no lasers) and represents what one may have seen when this fairy-tale opera was produced in the early 1800s. Shots of the stage action are interspersed with backstage scenes of characters reading, adjusting their costumes, etc.

This is a Magic Flute that draws you into its world. The staging in enjoyable but is no way distracting from the music. This is a nicely balanced "Flute" with the comedy of Papageno/Papagena very well played along the more serious scenes with Sarastro and the priests. It is a film version that both children and adults will like -- I saw it as a teen many years ago and have loved opera ever since.

This is definitely a DVD to own, though there really are no special features on DVD, other than the ability to switch the subtitles off (the opera is sung in Swedish). The sound on the DVD is very good, though the picture is not partcularly sharp. The DVD is well indexed, though, so it is easy to find favorite scenes.

A definite buy!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How a 30 yr. love of opera began, December 9, 2005

By	John L. Ebel (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Magic Flute - Criterion Collection (DVD)

I saw this film in 1975, three days after it opened in Boston. I had no idea it was an opera, but being a filmmaker I'd seen all of Bergman's films. I thought it was the most wonderfull thing I had ever heard and seen. Because of this film I have enjoyed a thirty year love affair with opera. I have this DVD and I watch it at least once a year. I have seen many versions of The Magic Flute, but this remains my favorite. If Mozart were alive I think he would agree.