Costumes Movie Reviews

I'm a big Cirque du Soleil fan and decided to buy everything available on DVD after watching the previous releases, Quidam and Drallion. This, along with a few others that have been recently released, turned out to be a big disappointment. I couldn't enjoy a single minute of this the extremely outdated and kitsch show. The music is terrible. Everything has a ridiculous 80s edge that completely kills any aesthetic qualities that I'd associated with CdS. Before I've seen this I had thought that all of their shows were timeless. Apparently, the earlier ones are not. I wouldn't even rate this favourably as an ordinary, low quality and low budget circus. Plus the DVD is very short and doesn't have any extras. Considering its claimed historical importance (?) perhaps it would be worth the price if it had been bundled with Baroque Odyssey.

Its easy to tell who the real CIRQUE fans are. I am 30 yrs old now, but saw Cirque in Cali. in 1987 when they first started. A live, small, big-top show on the Santa-monica pier. This Vegas razzle dazzle Cirque is not better. the old show is best. youd watch the show and actually get goose bumps. grow up. this is the best of all of em.

I am a huge Cirque du Soleil fan. We went to see onstage this the year I was born, and although I was too young to remember much, I have always remembered the glorious entrance of the first actor. From the costumery to the music, this is Cirque's greatest production. This is, has been, and will always be my favorite video-for after all, who can resist the power of imagination?

Singing is good but the picture ( with settings rather empty and over-simplified ) is not as good and the orchestra is not so good. The tempo as a whole is fast, particularly the overture. Yes, the audience then perferred a faster pace, but certainly not rushing: it sounds more like the metal-scraping glass sort of giggling of Mozart instead of the refined music he promised us!

What's more, the orchestra was there not to support the singer(s):, outpacing or else eclipsing the singers here and there. The odd accentuations added by the conductor totally failed to dramatize but were quite enough to scare the comfort and peace of the audience off. There is no drama, nor poetry, nor lyricism. The whole opera is chopped up into pieces. One gets the feeling that this is just a rehearsal instead of any serious performance save and except some great individual singings.

I really belive in the title of my review. Musically the performance of the orchestra and the singers is first-rate; technically sound and in the spririt of Mozart and the play. Theatrically the production of the opera is also excellent: The minimalistic staging is imaginative and well suited to the comic plot and all the soloists are acting very good.
Technically the production of the DVD doesn't match the production of the opera but its not that bad; the sound is great (I prefer LPCM since my stereo equipment are far better than those of the home theater)with good stereo image and dynamics and the picture is at good VHS level (soft with some "artificial" colour feel).
Generally I think it is a very enjoyable disc and a must have for any opera lover.

Despite of what the critics say about this performance, Bryn Terfel performed superbly! 10 out of 10!!!

It's bizarre to watch this version. The music is there in its classical essence, but the costumes and scenery are set in a modern time period and are ugly and weird-looking.

The overture doesn't play to its end, but is melded into the first act. Tannhauser is on stage during the overture, to which has been added a sort of "dream-ballet" as in Oklahoma, during he wanders around,lost, and is tempted by Venus and her nymphs, who are partly nude, depicting the decadent atmosphere of Venusberg. OK so far.

But when he returns to the real (?) world, the castle in Thuringia is the same ugly setting, and the minstrel knights are a bunch of thugs in dingy gray.

The pilgrim's chorus is done by a bunch of people in dark gray work clothes. Again, the music sounds great, but the odd setting is a distraction.

Waltraud Meier makes a good Venus, and Jan Hendrik Rootering is a great Landgrag. Rene Kollo as Tannhauser sings well, but he looks too much like a bum to be a minstrel knight.

All in all, the visual distractions make this rendition not very entertaining.

The music is wonderful. Singers range from exceptional, Meier and Weikl, to very good, Kollo and Secunde. That part of the opera is fine. The production suffers from an acute outbreak of obscure meaningful symbolism. There is a guy in a wolf suit, a woman dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, a [body part] here and there, lots of film noir camerawork with big shadows, and some things that look left over from Evita.

The visual impact is powerful, but to what end? Meier's Venus is worth the purchase of the DVD.

As for the visual aspect of this "Tannhäuser", it is dominated by gloom and a lack of colour to the point where it often looks like a black-and-white show.
The creatures living in the Venusberg look fleshy but hardly appetizing. "La chaire est triste" in this lovenest, and one wonders why Tannhauser went there in the first place. Wagner never suggested that his hero came from Mars, so why should he have felt attracted by that naked woman crawling over the scene and showing off her huge green (!)Bavarian buttocks?
Having fled this inferno (where boredom seems to be the greatest torment), our hero is supposed to find the colours and vigour of nature, but the real world is just as dark as the one he has left behind. There is no sign of hope in this opera (even the pilgrims come back dressed in black, just as they were before), so the only way out is death. All the more as Tannhauser's former friends are depicted as a bunch of unpleasant hypocrites, oddly dressed of course (I've got so used to these weird costumes that I hardly notice them anymore. Let's just be thankful they kept the scuba-diving equipment for next time).
The singing and acting is quite convincing on the other hand.
Meyer, Rooterink, and Weikl are excellent. Unlike other reviewers I do think Kollo sounds slightly past his prime. Some passages sound forced, and I prefer Windgassen anyway...
The biggest surprise for me wass Nadine Secunde. The prayer at the beginning of the third act moved me to tears. Here the bleak setting (not to mention the clothes) provided a potent contrast to the pure and deeply sensitive voice that brings light into this darkness.
The orchestra and chorus is very good. I love Mehta's interpretation of the prelude to the Third Act (the horns are magic)
All in all, I recommend this work in spite of its shortcomings. The overall quality is very good.

I recently worked with a local Gilbert and Sullivan theater company to put on "The Gondoliers," and it has been interesting to compare the live show with this particular film production. Opera World has done a surprisingly good job with this low-budget version; while the sound quality is still poorer than could be wished, the choreography and filming are infinitely better than those used in their disastrous rendition of "HMS Pinafore." Particularly outstanding are the performances of Don Alhambra (Keith Michell) and Marco (Francis Egerton). Michell's soft-voiced Alhambra is an interesting contrast to our own bellowing and confused one, and his cold condescension contrasts well with the boisterous Gondoliers and their wives; while Marco has less to do and say in the operetta than his brother Giuseppe, his incredible facial expression and quirky additions (such as the rose between the teeth during the Cachucha in Act II) give him at least as much on-screen presence. Giuseppe (Tom McDonnell) comes off as somewhat stiff and ill at ease during the first act, but begins to settle into his role during his aria "Rising Early in the Morning." The sound and choreography flag somewhat during the Duke's song "In Enterprise of Martial Kind," but are made up for in full by the charming Gavotte in Act II. Casilda and Luiz aren't given much to do, but they make the most of their time on screen with the lovely duets "O Rapture! When Alone Together" and "There Was a Time."

Musically "The Gondoliers" is one of Sir Arthur Sullivan's often-overlooked gems, and W.S. Gilbert's keen humor is as fresh and on-target as in his widely recognized works, "The Pirates of Penzance," "HMS Pinafore," and "The Mikado." While Gilbert and Sullivan are something of an acquired taste, for hard-core fans this production is still worth watching. If you are interested only in the music, I recommend buying a CD version instead; but if you're looking for something more, Opera World has produced a version which is quite satisfying.

The acting and the singing are both acceptable but not wonderful. The text was also difficult to understand.

The Gondoliers is one of G&S's greatest works and having just wrapped on The Gondoliers myself playing Gianetta, I found this production extremely enjoyable. With the exception of a few casting mistakes (The Duke and perhaps Casilda), I fully commend Opera World this time. They nailed the rest of the characters and cast them correctly (Michell (Don Alhambra), McDonnell (Giuseppe), Egerton (Marco), and Christie (Gianetta)) and even though the staging and technical stuff was not at it's best, the actors had enough energy and brilliance to their performance that the poor filming was masked. Great fun. If you are a G&S lover, this is a must-see.

Wasn't perticularly thrilled. Was expecting more classical tap dancing. I wish the product details had specified that it was more 'New age'. At least I would have known what to expect.

Ive seen them live in Norwich (England) and they were wonderful, its a little slow to start but with wonderful light humour and sound that have to be heard live to belive, a wonderful performance from 6 men who are all in their own way geourgus and extreamly talented, you will leave tired for them, i brought the dvd but it doesnt give you the real thing, if their in a town near you, go, their worth every penny to see, im not a dance person but oh how i wish now i was!!!!! Wonderful, breathtaking and loud...

love this video. it's well-filmed, not too jumpy -- you actually get to observe the dancing closely for nice long stretches. feels like you're really in the audience, in a front row seat! my young son is just learning to tap, and loves this tape.
a previous reviewer mentioned a brief simulated pee near the beginning -- i found it to be clearly just pretend, and meant in fun (albeit earthy fun). i explained to my kids it was just pretend, and they were cool about it. i'm a bit of a prude, and would not hesitate to recommend this for the whole family.

This concert is basically a Peter Gabriel showcase that unfortunately casts Gabriel and a number of high profile "stars" in a less than flaterring light. It has all the overproduced lustre of an awards show, including noxious blabbering by some official from Amnesty, a few Gabriel influenced animations and a sense that this had the element of social contract obligation to it.
But it has its moments: Tracy Chapman is terrific and delivers the goods, as does Kassiv, a Latin group that is on fire from the start. However, Springsteen is in Tom Joad laconic low gear and while he presents well worn songs in a different light, he just never connects. This seems to be about him asserting his good intentions and rightful conscience. Youssou N'Dour gives it his best, but when Gabriel joins him, it is poorly choreographed, a bit too cliched, and in general deflating to the energy N'Dour seemed to be msutering. His "7 Seconds" at the end of the concert lays an egg, for a lot longer than 7 seconds. Mic problems abound and syncing the lips and the music never quite match up.
Gabriel is a disappointment throughout. Apart from previewing his song from UP, he just never seems to be that into the performance, and having been absent a good while by this time, it is a bit jarring to see how he seems to have let himself slip into beer-belly middle age. He reminds me of a computer consultant wondering where the cheapest pizza is. Kofi Annan makes his appearance, coincidentally not long after having visited Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. I have always found Annan a bit of a joke, and while I am sure he harbours righteous thoughts, his disconnect with reality has always struck me as subverting what he should be standing for.
In fact, the only real dynamic appearance on this tape comes from His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and he is absolutely un-self-absorbed, which in comparison to a number of other performances, stands out all the more clearly. He has a simple and direct message that connects with peole who have no real interest in anything other than the music. What I found humourous though is that, although in Paris, he addresses the crowd in English, as does the British woman who seems to fawn all over every celebrity.
All in all, it's entertaining, a bit of an infomercial, but Chapman and His Holiness give it a little something extra that basically redeem the effort.

The sound is quite good overall, camera work likewise. Well worth getting if you're a fan of one or more of the main acts.
Bruce plays alone, and does a great bottleneck guitar blues version of "Born."
OK, so Zep isn't a charter member of the PC rock club, but they showed up and really burned. Caveats: "Babe IGLY" was a bit bombastic, and Plant looked and sometimes sounded too old to be doing the Zep material. Given that their "Welcome to Clarksdale" album generally sucks, the first P&P tune, from that album, was damned good, with a blistering yet cerebral solo from Page.

The first reason why you must buy this DVD has nothing to do with it's content or quality, it's just because it's an Amnesty International Concert and this world is in profound need of this kind of institutions, yeah even in America or Europe there're people whose most elementary rights are compromised.
But if that's not enough maybe you should buy it because of it's content and quality. The astonish performance of Radiohead (Karma Police at its best), or the great Pete Gabriel ("In Your Eyes" with Yousou n'dour is very emotive), or Tracy Chapman singing better than ever, or his holiness the Dalai Lama or ..... Buy it, Share It, and Enjoy It.

Nos encontramos ante una gran version musicalmente hablando de la ópera de Gluck. SIR JONH ELIOT GARDINER conoce a la perfeccion este repertorio y es difícil que alguien pueda hacerlo mejor que él. Su lectura al frente de los magníficos ENGLISH BARROQUE SOLIST es más acertada que en el disco que años atrás protagonizó Lee Ragin. Además, aquí se oferta la completa version de París.
MAGDALENA KOZÉNA es un Orfeo contralto de voz doliente, segura en toda la tesitura y sin problemas en las coloraturas. PATRICIA PETIBDefON cumple notablemente como Amour, y MADALENE BENDER cumple sin más en Eurydice. El MONTEVERDI CHOIR supera con nota su largo y complicado cometido.
Y aquí se acaba todo lo feliz de este dvd: La puesta en escena de Robert Wilson, desnuda, vacía y oscura es un fiasco. La dirección de actores, que deambulan por el escenario como si se tratara de estatuas acaba por cansar.
Definitivamente, este es un dvd para disfrutar de una leccion de canto y de una puesta en escena francamente aburrida.

This minimal version of Gluck's opera is not bad....not bad at all. [Gluck himself was trying to strip down the complexities of the usual opera affair in his own time so Wilson has some authority here]

The music is beautiful to my ears but I am no musician. Fortunately opera isn't just music. it's theatre. I come from the design side of theatre and so I shall comment on the look of this production.

Wilson is very clever with his "less is more" approach. As a friend of mine noted, this stripped down production makes you listen to the music. Yet there is great beauty in Wilson's stage picture. And one of the best stage devices I've ever seen.

Throughout the work's 1st act there is this shape, 1st seen as a rock upon which Orpheus stands in a pose of outstretched arms as he mourns the loss of his beloved. This image is repeated and often shown in silhouette with strong backlighting. When Orpheus descends into Hades he takes his familiar position on the rock, backlit. He and the distinctive shape of the rock are a positive black image on the white scrim. Then a black drop comes down with the rock shape in reverse cut out of it. Orpheus moves into this now negative white shape on black, now the entrance to Hades, and strikes his familiar pose. WOW! It is so simple and so effective you must see it!

Also the shocking flying in of a perspective Baroque set with 18th century [well, almost] costumed singers for the final chorus....and that cryptic floating cube Wilson likes so much....is a wonderful device.

If only Orpheus had some masculine features on his costume, it being in this instance a pants role. Just making it knee length would have worked. And the Elysian Fields were lit as cold and blue as the rest of Hades. Could we have some golden light at least?

Still, an interesting production that mostly works and is worthwhile.

Wilson's "Alceste" is in the same vein but even more refined and perfected.

Gluck's ORPHEUS & EURIDICE is one of my favorite operas. Strangely enough I have seen several different productions. I say, "strangely" since it is rarely produced in New York, but I have seen it in a gorgeous, traditional production at the Metropolitan Opera House starring the incomparable Marilyn Horne and in a concert version at Tanglewood with the same star. I have also seen a post-modern production at the New York City Opera which made little sense to me and in two interesting productions outside of New York City.

Robert Wilson is a director I admire greatly and this production is gorgeous: the costumes, the choreography, the stark settings and especially the lighting are all of a piece as if done by one person. The formal structure of the opera is stressed with Wilson's use of simple, symbolic gestures, mask-like make-up, few props and a bold use of color. The story is the mythic one of Orpheus who, in mourning for his wife, Euridice, decides to venture to Hades in order to return her to Earth. After various struggles, he does so with the great aid of the goddess, Amore.

There are only three principal roles in the opera, all sung by women and this cast is very good, if not up to the likes of Horne or in another fine recording, Anne Sofie von Otter, or in yet a third, Rise Stevens. In fact, there are times, especially in Act 1, when the mezzo, Magdalena Kozena, as 'Orpheus' frequently sings off pitch. Patricia Petibon does better as the goddess and Madeline Bender is fine as 'Euridice.'
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, his orchestra the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, and the Monteverdi Choir are all superb.

...- the production is flat & lacking in energy (especially in the chorus numbers "See That Building" & "I Hear America Singing/All the Livelong Day") and sets look cheap. And some of the actors are miscast or can't sing very well. It would have been much better filmed in performance with an audience instead of an empty studio.
I happen to have done this musical & like it, but this is just an OK production. Fans of the show will want to buy it as it's the only "movie" version available.

There are standout performances - Barbara Hershey as a vulnerable hooker, Eileen Brennan as an exhausted millworker, Edie McClurg as a perky operator, Charles "Hill St Blues" Haid as the mischievous "gas man," Charles Durning as a retiree, and James Taylor adds a nice touch as he sings something he actually wrote for the show ("Brother Trucker").

But there are also annoying, jarring or boring performances, like Beth Howland as the housewife & Didi "Grease" Conn as a receptionist - both of them breathy & nasal.

Some actors push it too hard - seems like most were cast because they were the "hot A list" for the moment (i.e. the late 70s) which makes the show a little dated. It would have been better casting some unknowns (but great singers from Broadway). So "Where Are They Now?" - Eileen Brennan? Barbara Barrie? Beth Howland? Didi Conn? Matt Landers? Vernee Watson-Johnson?

Good thing they didn't make an album of this soundtrack - its thin singing & orchestrations pale in comparison to the original cast album of 1978, which has much better singers (like Bob Gunton & David Patrick Kelley) and there's more excitement, feeling & fullness in the songs.

Interesting note: Lynne Thigpen (cast as receptionist) & David Patrick Kelley (playing an activist Copyboy complaining about his capitalist newspaper) are the only ones from the original Broadway cast to make it into this broadcast, originally shown on PBS ~1982. On Broadway, Kelly sang the soaring ballad "The Mason," which very unfortunately was cut from this version. Pigpen sang "Cleaning Women."

The story of my life? So begins one of the most underratd musicals ever. With a simple message, "Everyone has a story." This is a TV adaptation of a musical based on a book by Sociologist and pundit Studs Terkel available by the grace of God for the first time on DVD. I knew the play from high school and was anxious to see it on film. It's a fairly reliable adaptation of the play, except that it omits two very fine songs and is kind of simply set up (it was PBS after all).

For those unfamiliar with the book or the musical, Working is based on a series of interviews Terkel performed with people from all walks of life. The book was subtitled "People Talking About What They Do All Day And How They Feel About What They Do." Composer and Lyricist Stephen Schwartz (with help from the likes of James Taylor and Craig Carnelia) adapted the interviews (which were verbatim from these peoples' mouths) into a musical.

Now let me adress a common concern right here. "I don't like musicals." Something like that is simply impossible to say. It's like saying "I don't like soup." You can't. There are too many different kinds of musicals (indeed soups) to say that you hate them all. Do you hate bright and sunny musicals like "Meet Me in St. Louis" or lavish dance numbers like "42nd Street" or quasi-historic grandeur like "Camelot?" In Working the musical performances are limited to singing at the camera, or singing off camera.

And the singing is performed by some wonderful people. "Rocky Horror's" Barry Bostwick as the Steelworker, Scatman Crothers as a Parking Lot Attendant called "Lovin' Al: The Wizard," "West Side Story's" Rita Moreno as a Waitress who feels like an artist, Charles Durning as a retiree, Patti LaBelle as a Cleaning Woman and James Taylor (mentioned above) as a Trucker. Highlights include Bostwick's stirring ballad "Fathers and Sons" Moreno's "It's an Art" and the highly affecting "Me and My Machine" performed by an unseen vocalist during the Millworker scene.

People who do these jobs, might be inspired by these completely true stories. And people who interact with these people might be inspired as well. Inspired to spend a few brain cells thinking about the guy who put his car together, talking to the telephone operator who's been having a hard day, showing respect for the cleaning woman, you even see hookers in a new light.

"Hey somebody, don't you want to hear the story of my life?"

First off, the reason that they are all "staring at the camera" is because this is filmed in a documentary style. As if all of the people are being interviewed about their lives and jobs.

Great performances by an all-star cast. Eileen Brennan ("Clue," "Murder by Death") gives a WONDERFUL performance, but unfortunately does not sing her character's "Millwork" song herself. Patti LaBelle sings the [...] out of her "Cleaning Women" song, but does not seem all that emotionally involved in the proceedings. Barry Bostwick gives a touching and brilliant performance, delivering a heart-wrending rendition of "Fathers and Sons." Rita Moreno stops the show, and other wonderful performances given by all.

The sets are rather like "Sesame Street for adults," but I personally find it to be very affective and theatrical. Semi-realism with some flat, 2-dimensional pieces thrown in there for you to remember that this is--after all--a theatrical piece (despite all of the realism in the documentary-style acting and film-making).

All in all, this is a BEAUTIFUL piece. A show about REAL human beings, telling their lives and stories in a non-linear way. Few musicals about real people are out there (only Sondheim's and Kander & Ebb's pieces, as well as I DO! I DO!, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and RAGTIME come to mind), but those that are are very affective and are truely quite moving.

However, my one MAJOR let down: Craig Carneila's beautiful song "The Mason" is not in this film.

This Opera may be considered among the better ones. Not in the league of Aida, or Rigoletto, or Carmen. However, well sung and presented, it can be made to exude magical qualities. With Joan Sutherland (JS) as Norma, and Tatiana Troyanos (TT) as Adalgisa, I expected a thoroughly satisfying experience. I had never before heard of Francisco Ortiz (FO, - as Pollione), but then this Opera is mainly for the lead female singers.

What do you have instead?

First of all, mono sound! Yes a mono recording made in 1981! Did not stereo recordings become standard in the '50's or '60's? Do the sound engineers (assuming there were any) at the Canadian Opera Company (COC), having failed to record in stereo, not heard of enhancing mono sound for stereo, without any loss in quality. Poor marks for this!

Then the lighting! Could the COC not afford to pay their energy bills in the period preceding this presentation? As it is, there appears to be only one spotlight, and that shines brightly on the front and center stage. All else is dark and murky, and depressing. I cannot comment on the stage props or the costumes of almost all of the supporting performers, as they can barely be seen in the all-pervading shadows.

Then the performance! It might as well be a series of still photographs, with some movement in the lips to confirm that the performers were all alive and not cardboard cutouts. Was this really why the lighting was turned down? Even so, why were all the shots made from a static position? Did they have cameramen of average competence, to pan the cameras a bit, to put some life in the shots?

By the way, both JS and TT were supposed to be temple virgins, but they played what they were at the time - stogy middle-aged. women. FO deservedly did not go very far in the opera world. In that, justice was subsequently done.

No libretto was supplied, and this has become standard for DVD presentations. It is needed in this case however, as the English sub-titles (which incidentally, cannot be turned off), are very sparing. A lot of the nuances in the singing were therefore lost.

The opera did end eventually, or I should really say, expire. This presentation, which lacked dynamic energy and was quite boring at times, simply fizzled out an the end

Then why do I still give it two stars? Simply because JS's singing was generally superb, and so to a lesser extent, was TT's. Viewed as a presentation of arias, and not as a whole opera, there were redeeming moments.

Please avoid this DVD, which certainly does not deserve a premium price. Buy something else instead, and wait for another presentation to do some justice to Bellini's good composition.

Troyanos is the most exciting presence and singer in this production. Both Norma (Sutherland) and Pollione are not great, but they are more exciting when Troyanos is on stage. Sutherland must have been history by the time this was made. I have heard her on cd's and I know her voice was tremendous. This DVD does not convey at all why she became famous and was called "La Stupenda." Not at all.
The only thing I can say about Pollione is he looks pretty good in short armour, remembering he's supposed to be a warrior (therefore solid looking); his singing did not interest me.
The production itself is not so great: the sound vanishes periodically (during arias!) and the sub-titles are erratic at best, vanishing for whole chunks of time. I would not buy another disc from this company unless I were certain that production values (and subtitles) were better and the star singers in better form.

Firstly, I agree that Norma is 'not in the same league' as Aida, Rigoletto or Carmen. It is in a league ABOVE any of these except perhaps Carmen! Norma is a true, fully-sung, lyrical opera, not a dramatic play with the speaking parts replaced by ear-piercing recitatives and interspersed with a few paltry arias like most other so-called operas (I could not sit through my Aida DVD). Bellini stands alone in being capable of such a creation, and musically is more akin to Chopin than any opera composer. If only he had lived longer, and if only we had an early Callas performance on DVD!

As for this performance, Sutherland's 1978 with Elkins is slightly better, though her Casta Diva was wobbly. Sutherland was already off her peak then, but better than in this 1981 performance. Its also available on DVD but offered here only in VHS format. Caballe has 2 performances available on DVD/VHS too. The one with Vickers/Veasey of 1974 is more beautifully sung, but the 1978 with Cossotto as Adalgisa is the fiery one. And both show Caballe at her prime.

They say first impressions are important. Well this was my first FMW video and I was impressed. The action was great all-around. First it was supposed to be Comat Toyoda AKA "Mother-in- Law" vs. the Bad Nurse Nakamura. Before the match, Sub Miss Saito begged "Mother-In-Law" to let her wrestle the Bad Nurse. So "Mother -in--law" agreed. You will here the two commentators bantering so much they missed "bad Nurse" pinning Sub Miss. There was a female Muta named Megummi Kuddo she is one of the toughest female wrestlers I've ever seen. The announcers spend more time arguing that calling matches. The Gladiator/Hayabusa match was well put togather. Gladiator is Mike Awesome from ECW fame. There was a lights-out death match that would have been better if there was no lights out stip. There was a crazy tag team coffin match with Mr. Pogo and Horace (Hogan) Boulder vs Super Leather and Matsunaga. Matsunaga gets ... whopped all over this tape. This is a great intro to the world of FMW: Hardcore wrestling Made in Japan

Well, this is the first FMW video ive ever seen, so... Was it good? It was diferent, ill give you that, but it wasn't what I expected. The wrestling was good and all, but the announcers where the weak spot in the thing... They seemed more concerned with comparing the wrestlers to american wrestler, and with talking about which one of them had worse gas..... But don't let that fool you into thinking that this thing is bad... It isn't.. Its a great video.. The DVD version has some great add ons. The Mr. Pogo match would of been awesome, if it wasn't compleatly dark... but hey it was a lights out match (I think). The 'Gladiator' (Mike Awesome) Vs. Hayabusa (Probably spelt wrong) match was awesome (no pun intended). All in all a pretty good DVD.... Good enough that I will probably buy some other FMW ones too...

This tape is great from start to finish! If you are a fan of Hayabusa than you will love this video! It is the best one of all the US commercialy released tapes! If you never heard of FMW this will be a great introduction. Try it!