The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Anyone who knows me, know that I'm not a big fan of musicals. Though I do like some (Hello Dolly and Reefer Madness to name two of the few selected ones), mostly I try to avoid them, because I'm just not into them. By now you should wonder why I bothered watching this one then. The other thing about me, if you know me, I try not to read anything related to a movie I'm about to watch. And even a "classic" (as it is considered and the fact it's out on a Criterion Collection disc is just another proof to that "fact") as this one went under my radar, so that I knew exactly nothing about it.And still, while I was annoyed at times, the overall feeling was a good one. The fact that I was watching it at the Berlin International Festival (as a part of their retrospective section) in a packed cinema, might have helped elevate it and make me feel good about it. Still some stories were better than others and a few dragged quite a bit. So the overall feeling was mixed nevertheless. But for any self respected musical fan (which I'm not as stated above), this is a must see movie.

Without repeating the data and background of this film let me just state that in my humble view it sets a unique standard for lovers of E.T.A. Hoffman, Offenbach and/or this particular operatic work of Offenbach. I saw this one while quite young and in the ensuing half century at least a dozen productions both recorded and live…including a good one from the NY Metropolitan Opera just yesterday and while all were enjoyable (you cannot fault a professional presentations of its music) none rise to the towering level of this British production from 1951 for sheer beauty and creative imagery on every level of production and casting. Since it was done with otherworldly imagination it, curiously and uniquely, defies dating.In other words, the combination of visuals and performances both physical and oral stand as matchless by the others I have since experienced. Since the intellectual and aesthetic requirements of mass audiences have since greatly diminished it's very unlikely that we will in the foreseeable future ever see any production of this opera on film to come anywhere near to this one. If you can locate the DVD somewhere and are taking the time to read this, grab it.

I have a lot of admiration for Michael Powell and being a conductor, I wanted very much to see his Tales of Hoffmann. I've rarely been so disappointed! -If you are a film director student or a fan of old movies, I highly recommend you to watch his other movies such as "a Matter of Life and Death"/"Stairway to Heaven", "A Canterbury Tale", "Black Narcissus" or "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp". This one would only disappoint your sophisticated taste because it is utterly out of fashion and not even revolutionary for its time.-If you are an opera buff like me, you'll hate it for several reasons: Offenbach's score has always been a problem in terms of musical accuracy and legitimacy. Some conductors have edited the manuscript (fully discovered only recently after decades of persevering research from many musicologists), some have added material composed by themselves or by others. This version is just ludicrous, it is completely manipulated and arranged for a cinema version. BUT that is not the worst: Sir Thomas Beecham's conducting is a heavy bore in many parts (dreadful overture for example). The singing is in English and not in french! Although, it was the fashion in those times to sing operas in the language of the country where it was performed and not in the original language: total heresy! At last, the voices are terrible: the tenor is way too light for Hoffmann and could never sing such a demanding role on stage, Giulietta is often flat, Antonia has the voice of a goat, and Olympia should rather sing the soundtrack of Snow White.-If you don't know opera and want to discover this beautiful work, please avoid this! It won't make you appreciate it, it doesn't even remotely give justice to Offenbach's masterpiece. I can't recommend any version in particular as there are never flawless (wait for mine:)but the Brian Large's with Domingo will be more likely to make you love the music.

It was George Romero's mention of this one in an interview (perhaps in the book THE ZOMBIES THAT ATE PITTSBURGH) that first piqued my interest. I sought it out and found it to be very interesting, indeed. Though I normally can't take opera, the sets and the costumes in this one made it worth the time it took to sit through it. (Being a comic book fan my entire life, I came to think of it very quickly as a comic book waiting to happen. Like the excellent V FOR VENDETTA.) Inspirational, to be sure- but, of even greater interest to Yours Truly, was the ten minutes or so of THE SORCEROR'S APPRENTICE- one of the extras on the DVD that I saw. THE SORCEROR'S APPRENTICE is definitely comic book material. Seek out THE TALES OF Hoffman- and don't forget to check of THE SORCEROR'S APPRENTICE while you're at it.