Verdi: La Traviata
by Franco Zeffirellli
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Cornell McNeill, Placido Domingo, Teresa StratasDirector: Franco Zeffirellli
Audio: German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), DTS 5.1
Format: Color, Full Screen
Picture Format: 1.37:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-09-30
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
Movie Reviews of Verdi: La Traviata
Movie Review: emotional powerhouse
Summary: 5 Stars
This is still the best dvd version of Traviata on the market. I own five others, including, Netrebko, Fleming, and two with Gheorghiu, but none of those versions (which certainly have their strengths, both technically, and vocally) express the full gamut of the emotional power and the pathos that is at the heart of this great opera-tragedy. It's all here: Stratas, Domingo, and Macneil singing and acting wonderfully; Zeffirelli's opulent movie staging, and Verdi himself seems to be guiding James Levine's baton.
This 2008 DG dvd copy of La Traviata (theatrically released in 1982) is obviously meant to replace the below-listed 1999 dvd (Universal Studios) version. There are some distinctions, however, and they are not unimportant. For one, the sound has been improved. Two, the 1999 version was shown in widescreen (1.66:1), this one is fullscreen (1.33:1); it appears to me that the film was originally filmed in fullscreen and then clipped on the top and the bottom to properly fill a widescreen commercial movie screen (I've read that some directors like to shoot their films this way, and Zeffirelli must be one of them). Be that as it may, a bit of the right and left edges of the 1999 film are cut off here, but there is more top and bottom displayed in this new version [so, we're actually seeing a little more picture content, but--paradoxically--in a smaller area (4:3)]. Three, the ridiculous [bracketed] closed captions, indicating "[laughter], [music playing], [finale], etc." have mercifully been eliminated from this new version. Four, this one's a lot less expensive.
On the negative side: even though the picture quality of this new version seems a little better than the widescreen version, it will never (ever) be mistaken for blu-ray, and two, there are (as with the 1999 version) some lip-syncing issues. Lastly, although I think that this fullscreen version is slightly superior to the 1999 version, there is definitely something to be said for watching a film that fills your widescreen TV. Enjoy!
UPDATE (1-2-11): For what it's worth, I noticed that Amazon has lumped the reviews of all three video versions of this performance together (i.e., the 2008 and 1999 DVDs, and the older VHS). It goes without saying, therefore, that any of the 80-plus reviews written prior to 2008 relate to either the 1999 dvd or the older VHS tape.
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