Puccini - Madama Butterfly
|
List Price: Our Price: $15.56 You Save: $14.42 (48%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $9.86 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Puccini - Madama Butterfly
Movie Review: The Many Faces of Madame Butterfly
Summary: 3 Stars
From the David Belasco play to Puccini's opera to Schonberg's Miss Saigon, there are many faces of Madame Butterfly. But none is any more exquisite than that of Mirella Freni-- especially as she sings the near-perfect aria, "Un bel di" and the Flower Song duet with Suzuki. However, Ponnelle, who staged and directed the film version, made Placido Domingo as Lt. Pinkerton a little too caddish for my taste. This version seems to resemble a faded memory that speaks not to the intellect but to the heart. It certainly deserves a place in any opera collection.Movie Review: madama butterfly not my favourite
Summary: 3 Stars
We were disappointed with this first viewing of Madama Butterfly. We found it melodramatic rather than tragic which may be attributed to the production. The flashbacks, dream sequences and "inner thought vocals" were annoying, the lighting was poor and too contrived in many of the scenes, the staging was good but not great and fading between scenes was disastrous. The vocals were very good... but I love Freni.Movie Review: It stunk
Summary: 2 Stars
I gave it 2 stars, the 2 being in reality a big 5 for the singing. I bought this turkey before I read the reviews, then stupidly after I'd read them, I had a chance to return it for a refund but chose to watch it instead. The music was glorious (except for the grunt during the "memorable dream sequence" (according to the box) that Puccini hardly wrote). That said (I suggest as do others in their reviews that if you want this production, buy a CD, NOT this ghastly DVD), on to the rest of it. The thing made both Domingo and Puccini look ridiculous. Freni's "thoughts" were stupid (nobody else did it), the boy's hair was brown, not blond, Freni's teeth were perfectly fine, the little introduction (Domingo jumping through the wall and knocking people out of the way) was I suppose supposed to be modern or some crap like that. Domingo did chew gum and wear a T-shirt. Their lip-synching was good enough, subtitles were sparse so I got to look at their faces, but they didn't seem to be miming, though of course from the way it was filmed you knew they had to be (plus I'd been warned by those who know better). It was supposed to have been filmed in color, but I watched half yesterday and half tonight, and woke up this morning thinking it was all in grey. In fact that's all I can remember of it now. I'm going to throw it away. It's trash. I feel I've been had (this sucker cost me $26 + shipping), I've searched everywhere but cannot find a good film of Butterfly. Why? The music is heavenly and the story is heartbreaking. (I cried at the end of even this one.) I want a conventional, traditional Butterfly performed the way Puccini and his librettists wrote it. Is that too much to ask? They do it with other operas. One last word (except from now on I read reviews before I buy a DVD!!!). The concept of this production conformed perfectly to the story. Many unconventional touches brought home, brought out perfectly what the story was all about. But it didn't work. It was just lousy. Oh. And there sure was a lot of fog for spring. Maybe someone else would like it, it was Butterfly after all (except for the grunt during the "memorable dream sequence"), but I sure as hell didn't like it. Now to the garbage with this. Yeah. I'm so damned rich I can afford to blow $30 on Freni, Domingo, Ludwig and Karajan and come up with a piece of nonsense like this! Thanks a lot. Reminds me 30 years ago when I trusted another hero of mine and wound up having the bejesus scared out of me watching The Omen.Movie Review: Butterfly dies...but NOT soon enough...
Summary: 2 Stars
I have a large collection of opera dvds. Many people only prefer to purchase staged versions, but I don't mind movie versions as well. They give you an entirely new prospective to the story...if its done well. This production of Butterfly is one of the worst productions of ANYTHING that I have ever seen. Once you see the opening scene, when Domingo begins running through a random field, you should brace yourself, because it only goes downhill from there. The singing is quite good, but the cinematography and the staging is absolutely attrocious. The camera angles are just bad and the sequence from Act 2 to Act 3 (which is all done as one act in this production) looks very, very, STUPID. The best part of this production is Butterfly's death, which leaves Pinkerton in a state of...well, you just have to see it. That is the only promising piece of staging in the whole production. If you want to save some money, I would not suggest buying this production unless you want to get a couple of opera friends together, and have a nice laugh...Movie Review: Disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
While the voices are fine, the production values are very disappointing. The video is poor and the audio is poor. The overall direction approach doesn't work. I'd much rather see a video of a stage production. After several emails to the seller, Moviemars, I received no satisfaction on return or substitution.