Dvorak Movie Reviews

The DVD medium and the Dvorak piece serve each other well in this performance. 5.1 sound allows for greater articulation of instruments, despite the 448 kbs bandwidth. The film's editing reinforces this articulation by focusing on individuals or groups of performers during key passages. This is accomplished at the loss of a wider perspective and 'wall of sound' that devotees of a traditional concert might relish. What is gained, in the fusion of audio and video detail, is an appreciation of the roles played by the instruments and a better sense of the structure of the composition.

The power and dynamics of this piece highlight the capabilities of a good system. Properly reproduced, the horn sections are sweeping and the lower register strings and percussion are tightly focused.

Audio Merits:8/10; Video Merits:8/10; Cinematographic Merits:8/10; Musical Merits:10/10;Overall Artistic Performance:10/10;DVD Extras:10/10;Recording Total Quality:9/10. Professor's Recommendation: Unique reference including Dvorak scores on DVD medium.

This another example of fenomenal late Karajan. He really got into the inner aspects of this symphony. My most favorite part is the intentional delay in the low string notes just before the first crescendo in the opening movement. It really gets the american indian spirit like no other version does. The performance is magnificent, almost I would like to see it with the Berliner instead of the Wiener. It seems that at the time Karajan was having problems with the Berliner because of his favoritism to a female clarinetist while the orchestra member said she didn't match (she can be seen performing some Beethoven symphonies in other DVDs of this series). But, coming back to this performance, the Wiener philharmoniker is wonderful and the sound is rich and pure. I you already know this piece, you'll rediscover it in this version. I recommend it.

This was a very cool film. Henry Fonda did an excellent job as a man who is hiding from the law. Vincent Price plays the guy that gets killed by Henry Fonda at the very beginning. Almost the entire film is flashback, which explain why Fonda is in this predicament in the first place, and how it came to be that he killed Price. A great suspense movie.

Henry Fonda is Joe Adams, a man pinned inside his third floor apartment after gunning down a mysterious magician Vincent price. Joe's fractured memories are told in an intricate web of flashbacks that reconstruct the events leading up to the murder. Barbara Bel Geddes plays the third corner of the tragic, complicated and mesmerizing love triangle. Exceedingly mody and atmospheric direction by the masterful Anatole Litvak ("The Snake Pit," "Sorry Wrong Number"). The DVD is a pristine transfer made from a 35 MM nitrate negative. Bonus material includes a gallery of photos and artwork as well as excerpts from Marcel Carne's Le Jour se Leve. (Full Frame, B&W, 68 minutes, Not Rated)

It is wonderful to discover forgotten gems and this is such a title. Too bad the producers, Kino Video, could have taken time to produce better sound. On Chapters #5 & #16 the sound cuts out on front speakers when using surround sound and comes only from the back. Very annoying. Kino Video offer a disclaimer sayin thisis due to the age of the film....bull. It is due to someone cutting out the sound when the film was being reproduced. I hope others will take time to write Kino Video...someone should be horsewhipped. Otherwise the picture quality is super.

Don't look for special effects in this film. The eerieness is created by the black and white and actor facial expressions, especially at the beginning at Dracula's castle. Excellent performances by Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye. The same actor who played Dr. Waldman in Frankenstein, plays Van Helsing.

The main confrontation between Van Helsing and Dracula is not as spectacular as some of the later versions of the film though. The ultimate destruction of Dracula is done off-screen and loses dramatic effect.

Not having read Brahm Stoker's novel, I am not sure how true to the book this one is (there was a movie called Brahm Stoker's Dracula that was very different from this one) but just seeing Bela do Dracula is worth it.

Not many thrilling special effects here, but none are needed. So sad to see how Bela Lugosi forever embedded himself into this character. This is the orginal & just as scary,if you ignore the bat on a string !

Ask just about any vampire fan, and they will tell you, NO ONE has ever played Dracula better than Bella Lugosi. He remains a "cult" favorite, and this version of Dracula remains the most popular of all time. In this story, a young man goes on a business journey to see Count Dracula. The Count wishes to move to England and settle there. Upon arrival in the new land, Dracula begins his reign of terror, bringing more and more people into his family of vampires. After a short time, a man discovers what Count Dracula really is and works to try and kill the Count and all of his vampires. Does he succeed? Get the movie and find out. Horror, suspense, drama, are rampant in this one of a kind film.

John Wayne the reigning hero of Western & Action films is in a departure of his usual tough guy personna by playing a chracter of self doubt. Wayne plays a Rancher who competes with a gambling tycoon on the Barbary Coast over the hand of a beautiful dance hall queen. This film also displays the infamous 1906 San Fransisco Earthquake. One of the highlights in a film that is otherwise routine. Another highlight is seeing this film in colured version instead of black & white.

This early outing finds Wayne in a romantic, light hearted story that showed early signs of what was to come. Watch closely to see early parallels with later legendary performances with Maureen O'Hara in films such as the quiet man. Only about 100 mins long, but very easy viewing, and absorbing, don't be put off by the early year of production - this is a very good movie.

I love this opera. Dvorak wrote exquisite music for this fairytale. I saw a production of it at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and thought it was wonderful: I had to have a video of it, but what a disapointment. There is no resemblance to what I think Dvorak had in mind and this awful version. I would wager that he is turning over in his grave. I can't imagine what was in the mind of the stager who so distorted this beautiful opera.

Let me start by saying that I have never seen any performances of Rusalka besides this one. Maybe if I had seen a normal performance before this one, I might enjoy it more. I doubt it though. There are many things that just are done poorly. As said before this is an interpretive production. The interpretation does nothing but confuse me. I never know where any of the scenes are taking place. The scenery is all pretty much the same, except for certain objects on stage that are supposed to create different settings for the different scenes. Most of the scenes have very little scenerey, making this production incredibly boring, seeing a huge stage with harly anything filling it up. The first scene appears to take place in a nursery, but there is a big hole in the floor with a pond underneath. Isn't the nursery supposed to represent the life under the lake? If so why is there a lake/pond in the middle of the floor? Aren't they already "underwater." Why does Rusalka sing "Song to the Moon" with her back to the moon? In the second act, there is a glass cube witha single bed in it. I guess this is a bedroom. Whose bedroom is it? How come when the prince is supposed to straddle Rusalka and choke her it looks like he is so weak that he would be incapable of choking a small animal? Why is the glass bedroom right in the middle of the ballroom during the dance scene? Why is there a backdrop of the sky during the ballroom scene? Those are just some questions that occur to me when I watch this performance. As said before, this is an English translation of the Czech libretto, and it is pretty obvious. The text just doesn't fit well with the music at all. There are also no subtitles to help with the parts that are difficult to hear, which are many. The sound is also very shaky. There is a constant flutter throughout the performance. It is most audible when one of the woodwinds holds out a long note. The acting performances are horrible. I blame the director, though. The acting is just extremely overexaggerated in the facial expressions and movements which is a common tendency for many actors which is usually remedied by a good or even mediocre director. I think the casting for the prince was a mistake too. He looks about twice the age of Rusalka, and should have been cast as one of the hunters that accompany the prince in the first act. His mullet and ugly moustache look anything but regal. Not the kind of guy you would give up your immortality and your voice to be with, as Rusalka does. The reason this gets two stars instead of one is that Dvorak's score is magical, and contains everything that I love about his music. Unfortunately this is the only performance available on VHS or DVD. After reading previous reviews, I decided to buy this DVD anyway just because I like Dvorak's music so much, and I wanted to see how he handled operatic music. Don't make the same mistake I did.

This opera video is well-done in every respect, but it's not what I expected, so let me share my experience with you. The director, David Pountney, interprets the traditional "Little Mermaid" fairy tale in a Freudian vein: Here, Rusalka is a young girl on the threshold of sexual maturity who longs to be an adult -- and longs for her Prince. In her imagination, her sisters become the water-nymphs, her Grandfather is the Spririt of the Waters, and so on. Not exactly the traditional production of this opera, but it's very well-done, and the singing is excellent (not outstanding, but excellent). If you're an opera buff, you'll probably enjoy it anyway. Please know, however, that this opera is sung in English rather than Czech; naturally, there are no subtitles. Why, oh why, did they spoil the libretto and the arias that are part of our canon? I guess I can appreciate the artistic setting, but I'm a purist when it comes to the composer's music, and in opera, that includes the human instrument.