Arts Movie Reviews

This video, billed as Ms. Russell's "First Farewell Concert," features almost all of her best routines including: a lecture in her series "Wind Instruments I Have Known," "How to Write Your Own Gilbert & Sullivan," and "The history of the Folksong." Of course, no Anna Russell collection would be complete without her analysis of Wagner's "Ring der Nibelungen." Creating great parody requires even greater knowledge of the subject being parodied, and Anna Russell, having studied at the Royal College of Music, is well qualified. The only other routine I would have liked to see on this tape would be "Introduction to the Concert (By the Women's Club President)." Truly classic Anna Russell! I'm glad this only the "First" farewell condert. I'm looking forward to many more. P.S.-- During the last folksong, look for a famous newscaster in the audience.

This is a Must-Have for ballet lovers and ballet historians alike. The DVD combines two prior VHS releases onto one DVD:

"Complete Bell Telephone Hour Appearances" and "Maria Tallchief in Montreal."

Tallchief made 5 guest appearances on the Bell Telephone Hour, with a starry assemblage of leading male dancers. The performances were broadcast in 1959,1961,1962,1964 and 1966.

The Bell Telephone Hour performances include:

Adagio from the "Scotch" Symphony (with André Eglevsky) music: Mendelssohn; choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust telecast of April 9, 1959

Grand pas de deux from Don Quixote (with Erik Bruhn) music: Minkus; choreography: Marius Petipa telecast of January 6, 1961

Pas de deux from Flower Festival in Genzano (with Rudolf Nureyev) music: Helsted & Paulli; choreography: Erik Bruhn, after Bournonville telecast of January 19, 1962

Allegro brillante to Tchaikovsky's Third Piano Concerto (with Nicholas Magallanes) music: Tchaikovsky; choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust telecast of February 25, 1964

"Balcony Scene" pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet (with Conrad Ludlow) music: Prokofiev; choreography: John Butler telecast of February 13, 1966

The second part of this DVD is "Maria Tallchief in Montreal."

These magnificent performances are the earliest known recordings of Tallchief's magnificent dancing. The performances were live telecasts from the archives of Radio-Canda, recorded between 1954 and 1963. Contents include:

1963 Pas de deux from Les Sylphides - Maria Tallchief, Royes Fernandez music: Chopin; choreography: Michel Fokine telecast of November 5, 1957

Pas de dix - Maria Tallchief, André Eglevsky, and Corps de Balletmusic: Glazunov; choreography: George Balanchine after Marius Petipa telecast of March 25, 1954

Swan Lake - Scenes from Act II - Maria Tallchief, André Eglevsky music: Tchaikovsky; choreography: George Balanchine after Lex Ivanov

Total running time of the DVD is about 83 minutes. That may seem short, but for these kinds of rare recordings, you'll treasure and cherish every moment!

I really got an idea of why she is such a legend. Thanks

Angela Gheorghiu has obviously received great training in cultivating her natural talent, and the result is phenomenal. I can't get enough of this woman. I like the musical choices on this DVD. It's not the standard greatest hits material. It's all wonderful, but Casta Diva and the Romanian aria are particularly fantastic.

I personally don't believe Angela Gheorghiu is the "next Callas"--she's not neurotic enough. She has a beautiful voice, excellent control, wonderful accuracy of pitch and timing, and she sings from the depths of her heart, living the piece. Absolutely charming. But she's not a Callas. The Callas fire simply isn't there; no tempestuous wild animal quality to sear your soul. But that doesn't mean Angela Gheorghiu isn't great to watch and to listen to. And this concert is beautifully recorded--the Dolby Digital sound is fantastic, with a superb balance between the orchestra and the diva (although when we hear the applause, it sounds as though it's coming through a tunnel), but the concert sound is as close to perfect as we find these days. The concert itself is also well balanced with a good range of very beautiful music. It's a great addition to my collection, and I'll listen to it often. You won't be disappointed--unless you're expecting Callas.

Though she's very original and proud of it, Gheorghiu is really the new Callas; she can sing anything, with a superb sense of stage and style, a warm and beautiful voice with a strong technique based on the very Bel Canto italian school.
The highest results are obtained with Charpentier's Louise, Puccini's Liù and Bellini's Norma.
At least a true opera star, and also a Beauty. I'm looking forward to her next concert to be captured in dvd.
Buy it !!!!

I first saw this production of "Antigone" on a scratchy VHS recording back in 1979. I was a freshman in high school, and the show, especially Genevieve Bujold's performance, made a tremendous impression on me. I had hardly dared hope that it would one day be released on DVD.

It's not quite as perfect as I remember it -- but well worth seeing. Bujold is excellent: her "dark, tense, serious girl" is a near-perfect portrayal of Anouilh's heroine, even if she goes into an excess of hysteria near the end of her confrontation with Creon. She is passionate, stubborn, and vulnerable even in her unwillingness to yield. Fritz Weaver is a fine actor, but his performance was undercut by a terrible hair and makeup job that made him look more like someone who lives in an attic than a king who is supremely conscious of public image. He does, however, manage to make Creon "the most persuasive of tyrants." Stacy Keach does a fine, understated job as the detached, cynical Chorus. The rest of the cast: Haemon, Ismene, the Guard, the Messenger, the Nurse, are competent but not anywhere near the same caliber as the leads, which is unfortunate. It would be nice to one day see a Haemon who actually seems as if he was capable of winning the love of a fierce and passionate creature like Antigone, or an Ismene who was as much a princess as a rationalizing, fearful nay-sayer, or a Guard who seemed genuinely dangerous.

Before the performance, there is a disclaimer about this DVD edition betraying the limitations of the original recording, and it is indeed an issue. The picture is sometimes blurred or scratchy, and the sound is out of balance in places -- particularly at the beginning, when the piano solo is intrusive under the Chorus's introduction. But I'd be very surprised if there were a better edition available.

All in all, this is a flawed production and a flawed recording, but the performances of the leads, especially Bujold, and Jean Anouilh's marvelous script make it well worth seeing.

Genevieve Bujold as Antigone is splendid; Fritz Weaver as Creon, even better. Anouilh's version of Antigone is longer than Sophocles', allocating far more time to the confrontation between the heroine and the king. Bujold has fine moments in this scene, but Weaver's acting skill and stage presence are completely, masterfully at home. What a shame that most of his video work has been with scripts which, compared with this, were poor stuff!

Before the struggle with Creon, there is a love scene between Antigone and her fiance, Haemon. James Naughton's handsome, well dressed, thoroughly decent, college-boy Haemon, is the sturdy male partner, with and around whom Bujold dances in words and movement. Beautifully and affectingly. Stacy Keach as Chorus, Aline Macmahon as the nurse, Louis Zorich as Jonas (the first guard) and Peter Brandon as the messenger suit the performance well and contribute to its excellence.

Jean Anouilh wrote in French. The translation used in this performance is Lewis Galantiere's "adaptation." It was used for the American premiere, New York City 1946, starring Katherine Cornell as Antigone and Cedric Hardwicke as Creon. Galantiere writes beautifully, but so does Anouilh, whom it's a shame to adapt when you can stay true to the original. Often, this production seems to agree, restoring some of the adapter's cuts and deleting various additions and emendations.

Galantiere's understanding of the heroine's motives differs from Anouilh's in important respects. At the beginning of the play, Galantiere has Chorus, when introducing Antigone, assert that she is "on the side of the gods against the tyrant, of Man against the State." That may be how many people, vaguely remembering Sophocles, think of the character. But the take is Galantiere's, not corresponding to anything in the speech at hand, and not consistent with the development of the play.

Anouilh's Antigone does not invoke the gods, the common people, mankind or humanity, or define what she opposes as tyranny or the state. Early in their confrontation, Creon asks Antigone why she tried to bury her brother, Polynices. She replies that she "owed it to him. . . Those who are not buried wander eternally and find no rest." She feels sure that what she did was right, but does not elaborate. One can tell little concerning her notions of an afterlife, and nothing concerning her belief in any gods.

Creon asks whether she really believes that the dead wander as shades if not properly buried, and reminds her that burial ceremonies are often wretchedly performed by the priests, an insult to the dead and their mourners. Then, in a passage omitted by Galantiere but restored in this production, Creon says: "And you still insist on being put to death, merely because I refuse to let your brother go out with that grotesque passport, which you would have been the first to be embarrassed by if I'd allowed it. The whole thing is absurd." She replies, "Yes, it's absurd." Then, for whom did she disobey the law? "For nobody," she replies. "For myself. For me."

Antigone had not seen Polynices, since he left home eight years ago, when she was only 12. Much of that time, Creon (honestly?) informs her, Polynices and her other brother, Eteocles, had spent plotting and attempting the assassination of her father, Oedipus. She is staggered by these charges, but finds a stance, in opposition to the kind of life that Creon exemplifies. To obtain happiness he must continually compromise, doing what he despises, saying Yes to what he hates. On the contrary, she insists, it is better to say No to what you would rather not do, even if you must die for it.

This is her position at the end of the confrontation with Creon. In the last scene, as Jonas takes her to the tomb where she is to be buried alive, she dictates a letter to Haemon: "My darling, I wanted to die, and maybe you won't love me any more. Creon was right. It is terrible to die. And I don't even know what I'm dying for." The last three sentences were omitted by Galantiere, but restored in this production. To make sure that they register with the audience, they occur twice, dictated by Antigone and repeated by Jonas.

Was Galantiere's version commissioned by the Broadway producers? Was he asked to soften the radical, existential despair in Anouilh's play?

On another issue, the Chorus says some fascinating things about tragedy, which seem partly contradicted by the play. His ruminations occur shortly before the confrontation between Antigone and Creon. For example: "Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope, that foul, deceitful thing, has no part in it. There isn't any hope. You're trapped. ... In melodrama, you argue and struggle in the hope of escape." But in tragedy, you "shout" to express what you are.

The point does fit Antigone's behavior. She has no hope of escaping death and does not try. But Creon argues and struggles with Antigone, hoping to change the outcome. So does Ismene. Haemon argues and struggles with his father. Even the Chorus gets into the argument, with suggestions to Creon on how to prevent the catastrophe. Should we treat the Chorus' aphorisms as evidence that sometimes he (or the playwright?) doesn't know what he's talking about?

Should the audience respond to tragedy as if there were no hope? Thanks to their myths, the Greek audience knew how Antigone was going to end. Thanks to Sophocles, so do we. But while experiencing the play I seem to suspend this knowledge, hoping against hope that a decent way out exists, even if the characters don't quite manage to see or take it. (...)

Presented by Samuel L. Jackson, THE ART OF ACTION is an enjoyable and entertaining look at the history of matial arts films from its origins in Peking Opera in China, which was performed by men in women's clothing. Strangely, the first kung fu features were made with the WOMEN doing all the fighting as film was then considered a lower medium in China, and it was "dishonorable" for men to stoop to that level!
Of course, no film about martial arts could be made without Bruce Lee, "The James Bond Of Martial Arts". Here viewers are treated to footage from RETURN OF THE DRAGON where Lee beats the bejesus out of a young Chuck Norris, as well as hearing Lee's philosophies on kung fu, which remain intriguing and inspiring no matter how many times you hear them.
THE ART OF ACTION also features appearances from Jackie Chan, recounting his experiences as part of a Peking Opera troupe at age 7, as well as ruminations by John Woo, Ang Lee and Steven Seagal. There's plenty here to educate and entertain viewers, though stranglely Hammer's martial arts/ horror film LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES is overlooked here... but Cynthia Rothrock's cruddy movies get some attention! I just don't get it! That remains my only quibble. Also features clips from more recent films like RUSH HOUR 2 and CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON.
If you like this, you may want to check out the similar documentary CINEMA OF VENGEANCE which is about the history of martial arts and Hong Kong action films, though personally I found THE ART OF ACTION to be more entertaining. Both movies are highly recommended.

This in-depth documentary gives a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the martial arts films. It shows what the early pioneers of martial arts had to do to pass on the skills when the then rulers wanted to forbid the practice. The journey is one of rebellious beginnings to high flying stunts in movies today. It also features the work of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan,Sammo Hung and others. This is a great documentary to watch if you want to learn more about the world of martial arts in films.

The actress Blythe Danner is Gwyneth Paltrow's mother, and some of us think she could have been just as big a star. Here is one of her very best performances in this PBS version from the 1970's of Anton Chekhov's classic play, "The Seagull." She plays Nina, a country girl who falls in love with the dissolute novelist Trigorin (Kevin McCarthy). She is the very incarnation of innocence and happiness in the first three acts. She uses that throaty voice, enormous eyes and piercing sweetness to make us care deeply about the character. Then in act four she transforms herself into Trigorin's destroyed victim and the result is heartwrenching. A great performance by a sadly neglected great actress. This video is part of the "Broadway Theatre Archive", a collection of plays taped for PBS as part of their "Theatre in America" series. Every drams buff should seek them out.

There really isn't a lot to compare this production to, as I don't know of any other filmed versions of "The Seagull" available. This is Checkov's third-most-often produced play, after "Uncle Vanya" and "The Cherry Orchard," though it is equally powerful, dramatically.

Actors and actresses run, rather than walk, to be cast in Checkov plays. It's easy to understand why, as he consistently wrote scripts that allow for character reinterpretation. His are also wonderfully cadenced lines, even in translation. His plays have depth and weight to them, even though the surface themes may appear ephemeral. "The Sea Gull" is no exception.

The reason I can't quite give this production four stars (but I would give it 4 1/2) boils down to personal tastes. I prefer my Checkov, as I prefer my Shakespeare, performed by British casts. Something about the training, and the innate ability to get at the essence of a character more convincingly. As American casts go, however, this one is nothing to sneeze at. A look at the roster will show you that these are all actors that have had a marked impact on the Broadway stage. This is a well staged, thoughtfully directed production, and is the best representation available to the home audience.

A dream cast doing one of the world's finest plays. A wonderful portrayal of the Russian aristocracy, in all their pomp and silliness, before the revolution. Each character is so self-centered that they aren't quite able to understand or have compassion for those around them, and, ultimately, that shortcoming brings tragedy. Does it sound grim? Not so. This production is rich with warmth and humor, and while each character is gravely flawed, the viewer can't help to love them all. The vivid acting of the film's amazing ensemble makes this production nearly jump off the screen. Treat yourself to this film. Its one you'll treasure.

The first time I watched the DVD, it was truly amazing. I really enjoyed watching all the numbers. There were tracks that I hadn't seen anywhere else (eg. Masquarade from Phantom); The other ALW classics were all very captivating and stirring. I was going to watch it over and over again. A funny thing though - the more I watched, the less I liked it. Being recorded live, there were lots of things that went wrong... missed notes, croaking voices, those awful costumes, etc. These mistakes actually started to annoy me. I also have Les Miserables and the ALW concert in Britain - and those performances were flawless. My advice - if you're going to buy this DVD, sit back and simply enjoy the performance... it really is very well done if you want to be entertained. But if you're a critic and looking for perfection - you'll probably tire of the show after watching 2 or 3 times.

Being chinese in heritage, it was great to be able to view such use of the building in Beijing. It was also amazing to be able to see such beautiful works performed by such an excellent cast and orchestra. Kris Phillips was awesome, and he had such presence on the stage.

I have seen both this DVD and the Royal Albert Hall concert DVD. Its true the singers in the Albert Hall performance are more famous and accomplished but the stars in this one is more energetic and spirited. I think Tony Vincent and Chris Philips both gave performances that are passionate and fresh. After watching the behind-the-scene documentary of this production (a very interesting piece by itself), I have a much greater appreciation of this endeavour. After all, this is the first time ALW's music is introduced to China. Although its not perfect, I will give this DVD a big thumbs up for its trail blazing effort.

The first time I watched the DVD, it was truly amazing. I really enjoyed watching all the numbers. There were tracks that I hadn't seen anywhere else (eg. Masquarade from Phantom); The other ALW classics were all very captivating and stirring. I was going to watch it over and over again. A funny thing though - the more I watched, the less I liked it. Being recorded live, there were lots of things that went wrong... missed notes, croaking voices, those awful costumes, etc. These mistakes actually started to annoy me. I also have Les Miserables and the ALW concert in Britain - and those performances were flawless. My advice - if you're going to buy this DVD, sit back and simply enjoy the performance... it really is very well done if you want to be entertained. But if you're a critic and looking for perfection - you'll probably tire of the show after watching 2 or 3 times.

Being chinese in heritage, it was great to be able to view such use of the building in Beijing. It was also amazing to be able to see such beautiful works performed by such an excellent cast and orchestra. Kris Phillips was awesome, and he had such presence on the stage.

I have seen both this DVD and the Royal Albert Hall concert DVD. Its true the singers in the Albert Hall performance are more famous and accomplished but the stars in this one is more energetic and spirited. I think Tony Vincent and Chris Philips both gave performances that are passionate and fresh. After watching the behind-the-scene documentary of this production (a very interesting piece by itself), I have a much greater appreciation of this endeavour. After all, this is the first time ALW's music is introduced to China. Although its not perfect, I will give this DVD a big thumbs up for its trail blazing effort.