Wagner - The Complete Epic
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: John Gielgud, László Gálffi, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Vanessa RedgraveBrand: Kultur
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Producer: Ágnes Havas
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 540 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of Wagner - The Complete Epic
Movie Review: Wagner's Life was better than a Soap Opera!!
Summary: 5 Stars
+++++
This mini-series on DVD is a dramatized biography of one of most celebrated opera composers of all time, Richard Wagner (1813 to 1883) played by the late, great Richard Burton. The movie begins when Wagner was just beginning to be known for his works (at age 35 or in 1848).
Despite its long length, this movie can be roughly divided into two parts: (1) the time Wagner was essentially poor and with his first wife, Minna (Gemma Craven) (2) the time Wagner met "Mad" King Ludwig II of Bavaria (Laszlo Galffi) and met his second wife Cosima (Vanessa Redgrave), the illegitimate daughter of his friend, famous composer and pianist, Franz Liszt (Ekkehardt Schall).
Be aware that this movie is interested in spectacle not introspection. And what a spectacle it is!
Richard Burton gives what some say is his best performance. (Contrary to what other reviewers say, this was his third to last movie role.) Wagner was a scoundrel, joker, philosopher, con man, womanizer, poet, refugee, virulent political orator, and one of the greatest composers who ever lived. Burton conveys all these characteristics in his exceptional performance.
The star-studded supporting cast (Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson, etc.) have bit parts. The narrator (Andrew Cruickshank) does a good job with his unique voice of providing continuity between the ten parts of this mini-series/movie. There are standout performances from Gemma Craven as Wagner's first wife and Laszlo Galffi as King Ludwig.
The music (all by Wagner) is fantastic. (The music was conducted by the great Sir Georg Solti.) Unfortunately, we only get to listen to bits and pieces of it. However, this is in accordance to what Wagner would have wanted.
Wagner called his operas "music dramas." This means that music should not dominate drama. And this is exactly what occurs in this movie.
This mini-series was filmed in more than two hundred separate locations, over seven months and in seven European countries.
Do you have to be a Wagnerian fanatic to understand this movie? No. However, I read a short biography of his life before viewing this movie and had a list (with dates) of his thirteen principal operatic works while viewing this movie. I especially found helpful the brief printed part summaries that are included with this DVD set. These items aided my understanding of the movie and, as well, made it easier to follow.
The picture and sound quality of this DVD, I felt, were acceptable. (Part #9 has occasional flickering). All interior photography is fantastic. All costumes are authentic and magnificent.
There seems to be some confusion as to the true length of this movie/mini-series. Here are the times my DVD player obtained for each of the four DVDs respectively:
136 min, 38 sec (written as 136:38), 131:24, 96:54, and 104:38.
Adding these times up, the total time of this DVD set is:
468:54 or about 469 min (7 hr, 49 min).
Now the original TV mini-series length was 540 min (9 hr).
Does this mean that this DVD set presents a cut version of the original TV series. Answer: Yes and no. The only thing that's cut is the opening credits for each part (except part #1) as well as the closing credits for each part (except part #10). All acting scenes that were presented on TV are UNCUT.
Proof: The opening credits for part #1 take 4:58. The closing credits for part #10 take 3:26. Doing the math:
540 - [(9 x 4:58) + (9 X 3:26)] = 469 min.
Finally, this mini-series focuses on Wagner's operas giving the impression that he only composed these. Not true! He also composed beautiful orchestral, piano, vocal, and choral music. He also wrote important literary works.
In conclusion, this is a spectacular mini-series/movie. Be sure to see it so as to learn more about the man who said, "Poetry is the reason for music and drama is the reason for both!!"
(1982; 7 hr, 49 min; 4 discs; 10 parts; made for TV; closed-captioned; full screen)
+++++
Summary of Wagner - The Complete Epic
Over a hundred years after his death, Richard Wagner remains an enigma. His was a rags-to-riches saga with a fairy tale ending. He was loved, yet hated; admired, yet despised. He was a heroic villian who was worshipped and whose fame and exploits were the gossip of Europe. Above all, he was an incurable romantic whose affair with Liszt's illegitimate daughter rivals that of Romeo and Juliet. But he was also a dangerous political revolutionary whose influence penetrated the fabric of German society in the nineteenth century. He was a legend in his own lifetime, and he was one of the greatest composers to ever live. Only an actor of the stature of Richard Burton could measure up to the titanic character of Wagner, and this proved to be his final film role. Academy Award winner Vanessa Redgrave co-stars as Cosima, Wagner's second wife, a woman who had a dramatic impact on German history until her death in 1930. The incredible supporting cast also includes screen legends Sir Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud.Similar DVD Movies
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