Bullfighter

Starring:William Dafoe
Studio: Pathfinder Home Ent.
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

Why does FOX still neglect Rita Hayworth ?
Two beautiful people, Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth, tell us all about ambition, temptation and redemption. It involves bulls
Someone once said "Technicolor isn't true to life - It's BETTER than life'
Quinn and Hayworth's Pasadoble remains one of the movie's best remembered moments...
Finally!!!

Blood and Sand
Starring: Tyrone Power , Linda Darnell , Rita Hayworth , Alla Nazimova , and Anthony Quinn
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000JLQPQI
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Amazon.com

You have to wait over 20 minutes for Tyrone Power's entrance in Blood and Sand, but it's a good one: a close-up of Power grinning like FDR, his hair oiled and a cigar jutting out of his teeth, framed against a blood-red backdrop. This is the young matador Juan Gallardo, now grown after the opening reels have established his childhood as a bullfighting prodigy. What happens upon Juan's return to Seville is high Technicolor drama: success in the ring, romance with a childhood sweetheart (Linda Darnell), and then temptation in the arms of a dangerous temptress (Rita Hayworth).

The film is, of course, a remake of the silent 1922 Rudolph Valentino hit, but there's no mistaking it for that one: not least because of the torrid tones of the Oscar-winning cinematography by Ernest Palmer and Ray Rennehan, and the equally lush score by Alfred Newman. The director here is Rouben Mamoulian, whose operatic style meshes with the subject--bullfighting--and the old-school approach to heavy-breathing melodrama. The movie's a little too operatic for pacing purposes, and that opening definitely goes on too long. But the attractions include Rita Hayworth reveling in the bad-girl role; you can hardly blame Juan Gallardo for wandering, even if Linda Darnell is fully in her early-career lusciousness. And then there's Anthony Quinn, who swims around Gallardo like a shark sniffing blood. Tyrone Power is physically right for the role, and his steadfast earnestness suits the character. If it all seems faintly ludicrous today, it was good enough for box-office success in 1941, keeping Power's late-1930s winning streak going. --Robert Horton

Description

TYRONE POWER, LINDA DARNELL, and RITA HAYWORTH star in Rouben Mamoulian's stunning remake of the 1922 silent classic. A "potent drama of love and danger, pride and death," this "magnificent presentation" (Variety) tells the story of a handsome matador torn between his loving wife and a beautiful, unscrupulous aristocrat. Juan (POWER), the naÃ¯ve son of a once-famous bullfighter, tries to recapture the glory of his family's name. Though he is branded fifth rate, he soon becomes Spain's greatest matador and returns home top marry his childhood sweetheart (DARNELL). But when a beautiful, passionate aristocrat (HAYWORTH) seduces him, Juan succumbs to her temptations, only to see his own happiness and success crumble.

Customer Reviews:

Why does FOX still neglect Rita Hayworth ?.......2007-06-27

The studio made 3 movies with Rita Hayworth. Blood and Sand was even the movie that made her a real Star even though she worked at Columbia afterwards. Why is FOX not proud of having had her ? Why did they put such
a little pic of her on the new Cover as if it was only a Tyrone Power film ?
Why do they totally neglect MY GAL SAL which even does not exist on video ?
Hayworth was the combination of the 2 big female stars that
20th Century Fox had in the forties : She was the perfect match between
the dancing abilities of BETTY GRABLE and the beauty of GENE TIERNEY.
To bad they do not realize this even in 2007 : BLOOD AND SAND is a glorious
example for a great movie with 2 great Stars.

Two beautiful people, Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth, tell us all about ambition, temptation and redemption. It involves bulls.......2007-05-30

Blood and Sand is an allegory of a man's pride, lust and ambition, who is redeemed by the love of a good woman and a death ennobled by regret. In other words, the movie is a Hollywood weeper. At just over two hours, it's way too long. Still, it shows what can be accomplished when professionals take hold of a teary melodrama and give it color, sleekness, sex and, at 27, an extraordinarily handsome leading man in Tyrone Power. Rita Hayworth, as the femme fatale, is almost as pretty.

Young Juan Gallardo, poor and illiterate, dreams of becoming a famed matador. As a young man (Tyrone Power), he achieves his goal, along with the friendship of men he knew when they were children and the love of his childhood sweetheart, Carmen (Linda Darnell). But fame and money can bring superficial values, and Juan's head is turned with a vengeance. He becomes a great matador, but spends money freely, ignores his old friends in favor of hangers-on and, even worse, he forgets the love of Carmen, now his wife, for the lush and erotic charms of Dona Sol (Rita Hayworth). Although Carmen is lovely, she spends much time looking either compassionate or sad. Dona Sol, or at least Rita Hayworth, is another matter entirely. Hayworth, in a white, form-fitting gown, is something to see as one evening she strolls with perfect posture and a perfect chest toward the poor sap Juan. He doesn't have a chance. In time, his skills become dull and Dona Anna finds him dull and moves on. At last he rediscovers his values and his roots. Wouldn't you know it, just when he restates his love for Carmen, he meets this one particular bull in his last fight. It has two very sharp horns. Music up, lights down, hankies out.

The movie seems to go on and on. We spend almost half an hour on Juan's boyhood before Tyrone Power shows up as a young man. It's nearly an hour before we encounter Rita Hayworth. For Hayworth, the wait is worth it. Her character is selfish, rich, beautiful and all the things a teenaged boy's erotic dreams are made of. This was Hayworth's first color movie and she knocks 'em dead. Says Natalio Curro (Laird Cregar), the effete and envious newspaper bullfight critic, "If this," gesturing at the bullfight arena, "is death in the afternoon, she," gesturing to Dona Sol, "is death in the evening." Towards the end of the movie Hayworth does a dance in a cantina with Anthony Quinn (as an upcoming bullfighter Dona Ana is about to leave Juan for) which is charged with sex.

What redeems the movie, in my opinion, is the professional gloss Darryl F. Zanuck and his team gave the film. At this point Tyrone Power was emerging as a box office power house for 20th Century Fox. Zanuck saw to it that Power was surrounded by the studio's best. The entire look of the film, from the poor village where Juan came from, to Dona Ana's luxurious estate, from street scenes to the arena itself is framed beautifully. Everything has that detailed, lavish, almost awe-inspiring perfection that only highly skilled professionals and a lot of studio money can provide. Color is used to create particular palettes for key scenes, often considerably more subtle than the garishness of many early Technicolor films. The actors all do fine jobs. Power, as usual, is earnest, but with his looks it works. Linda Darnell, obviously being groomed by how carefully she is lit and photographed, hasn't much to do but does it well. It's always good to see Laird Cregar being loathsome, and J. Carrol Naish and John Carradine as two old friends are authentic and don't overact. Anthony Quinn in an important role without much screen time makes an impression. And Rita Hayworth almost stops the movie every time she shows up.

Considering that bull fighting is a bloody business, where some people believe killing is an art and courage is not cheapened by spectacle, the movie goes to great lengths not to show us the reality of the picadors slicing into the bull's neck muscles, the animal's blood seeping down its sides, the occasional disemboweling of a picador's horse by the bull, the gorings of the matadors or the sword thrust into the neck of the bull which all too often doesn't kill cleanly and leaves the bull thrashing and trying to stand. The movie does give us a picture of the drama, the man versus animal contest, the roaring blood lust of the crowd and the inner workings of the arena. The average Roman citizen from 150 A.D. might have found it too tame, but he would have appreciated the intentions.

The DVD transfer is first rate. Extras include a commentary and a restoration comparison.

Someone once said "Technicolor isn't true to life - It's BETTER than life'.......2007-01-21

If you desire to know why in hell people were excited with Technicolor when it first got popular, we're talking the kind of color that jumps off the screen and seeps into your skin, here is presented in the grand style of Hollywood's golden age "BLOOD & SAND". This movie has the best color ever. I use it as a reference disk to show off what Technicolor was REALLY like.

Truly any one of the movies below could be studied for the art of Technicolor. Many of them are over 40-50 years old and sparkle like new.Due much in part to Warner Brothers restoration process.

Here is my Technicolor Reference list:
1) Blood & Sand

2) Singing In The Rain

3) The Garden of Allah (with Marlene Dietrich)

4) Auntie Mame (with Rosland Russell

5) Robin Hood (with Errol Flynn)

6) Gone With The Wind (Warner Brothers special edition) The scene where she waiting in that red dress at the front door after Clark Gable forces her to go to Melanie's party.

The numerical order has no meaning other than to list.

Quinn and Hayworth's Pasadoble remains one of the movie's best remembered moments..........2006-12-19

'The Mark of Zorro' and 'Blood and Sand' confirmed Rouben Mamoulian's enduring concern with drama conveyed through movement of characters and camera... The former was a rousing, deliciously ironic swashbuckler; the latter an adaptation of Ibañez's story about a simple country boy whose success as a matador leads him into temptation and towards a violent early death... Rudolph Valentino had scored one of his biggest success with 'Blood and Sand' in 1922, and the same story served as a Tyrone Power vehicle nineteen years later...

Color, and Mamoulian's almost choreographic direction, turned the motion picture into an exquisite melodrama, where all the passes and swirls of the bullring were vividly depicted: The parade of the bullfighters and their entourage, the race of the vicious predator into the arena, the matadors flashing their yellow and pink capes...

Rita Hayworth blood-red lips and scarlet fingernails, contrast the cool colors of her Spanish mansion, and show her off to glittering advantage...

In her sensuous screen Pasadoble with Anthony Quinn, she looks sensational in her rose evening gown, symbolic of the Spanish bullfight flavor...

The arrogant and passionate dance, based on Flamenco dancing that characterizes the man as the matador and the lady as his red cape, is performed with style and surety... The colors, rose and green, are blended to perfection with the amazing prowess of an appealing couple in tune with the balanced perfection of shapes and the sweeping movements of Rita Hayworth...

Quinn is perfect for redoing old Valentino roles... He always demonstrated his grace and remarkable agility on the dance floor... This sequence remains one of the movie's best remembered moments...

Mamoulian begins the film with a 30 minute prologue, establishing the characters ten years before the main narrative...

Juanillo, just a little boy with fire, vigorously illiterate but possessing his father's passion for bullfighting, is seen by night currently taking the bullfighting world by storm... Not least for his exceptional brave and agile style of fighting but also for his age... Juanillo adores the art of bullfighting... Hr runs off to Madrid with his boyhood friends, Manolo, Nacional Pablo and La Pulga...

After winning a certain reputation as a 'flat-footed novillero,' Juan (Tyrone Power) returns years later to Seville to marry his childhood sweetheart, Carmen Espinosa (Linda Darnell - a voluptuous beauty with perfect complexion), and brings her to live in his luxurious home where he has installed his mother (Alla Nazimona) and his sister, Encarnacion (Lynn Bari).

Then he goes on to become the 'first matador in Spain' showing his individual personality by the combination and variations of his passes... Juan brings the bull past his body with the elegance of a premier ballet dancer, making it seem effortless and beautiful...

As his popularity climbs Juan's entourage of hangers-on increases joining his boyhood friends Nacional (John Carradine), Manolo de Palma (Anthony Quinn), La Pulga (Michael Morris), Pablo Gomez (Charles Stevens), Sebastian (William Montague), and his loyal dresser, Garabato (J. Carrol Naish) who left the ring just as he came in to it, 'without a peseta.'

But all is not so perfect in the ranks of Juan's cuadrilla... Nacional is anxious to leave bullfighting for politics, and Manolo, jealous of Juan's success, wants to make his own name in the ring... And then there is the on-going feud Juan has been engaging in with Natalio Curro (Laird Cregar), the famous bullfight critic who had insulted the memory of his father...

When Juan established himself as Spain's most important matador, Curro opportunistically affirms: 'At last Sevilla has a matador. The greatest matador of all history. The first man of the world. The day he was born, there was salt in the air, a great quantity of salt.'

And at one of Juan's 'great afternoon', we are introduced to the stunning Doña Sol des Muire (Rita Hayworth) whose chief passion is bullfighting and, in particular, handsome matadors...

The torrid Spanish beauty had little difficulty, in luring the new risen star away from his home...

Falling under her tempting beauty, Juan begins an affair with her at the expense of both his faithful wife and his career... His skills as a matador go downhill and his bad attitude loses him all his once loyal friends...

'Blood and Sand' is sensitively directed by Mamoulian and might be considered one of the greatest examples of Technicolor film-making... The film won an Oscar for Best Color Cinematography, and was nominated for Best Interior Set Decoration...

Finally!!!.......2006-11-03

Finally Columbia is getting off their butts and releasing more of this wonderful actresses movies. She is the Love Goddess for heaven's sake. Come on Columbia Execs--she was such a huge draw and still is. This movie was one of the first I ever bought of hers. It is not her best, but it is exciting and lots of fun to watch. I do hope this means we will finally get to see greats like Salome, Affair In Trinidad. Also, if any MGM Execs read this--we need The Strawberry Blonde--it is imperative, Rita and Cagney at their best!! So come on, everyone who is a Rita Fan, please post--we need more of her movies on DVD!!

Bizet - Carmen / Levine, Baltsa, Carreras, Metropolitan Opera

Average customer rating:

The star 'Jose'
Excellent Voices... BUT
Carreras shines in "Carmen"
Carreras and Baltsa are stealing the show
Overall, its good.

Bizet - Carmen / Levine, Baltsa, Carreras, Metropolitan Opera
Starring: Agnes Baltsa , Josep Carreras , Samuel Ramey , Leona Mitchell , and Myra Merritt
Director: Brian Large
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Verdi - Aida / Levine, Domingo, Millo, Metropolitan Opera
Puccini - La Boheme / Pavarotti, Scotto, Niska, Wixell, Plishka, Levine, Metropolitan Opera
Puccini - Turandot / Franco Zeffirelli - Marton, Domingo, Mitchell, Plishka, Cuenod - James Levine, MET (1988)
Verdi - Rigoletto / Domingo, MacNeil, Cotrubas, Diaz, Levine, Metropolitan Opera
Verdi - La Traviata / Levine, Stratas, Domingo

ASIN: B000050X2Y
Release Date: 2000-12-12

Customer Reviews:

The star 'Jose'.......2007-04-18

This MET production in 1987 is in many ways illustrious: two top opera stars in the lead roles, big staging and festive choruses plus good dancers.
Agnes Baltsa shined vocally here, but really, Carmen is a bit of a stretch for her in 1987 visually.
I have heard Samuel Ramey elsewhere, and must say that his Escamillo is somewhat mediocre in this production. His two big arias lacked charisma, especially when you have Jose Carreras as Don Jose. It would be difficult to convince the audience that this toreador is the man that Carmen would prefer over Don Jose!
Jose Carreras is in his absolute prime here - big arias sweetly sung, physically convincing, ardent in acting (he is not consistently passionate elsewhere). Most of all, he has the right characterisation for this weak-minded Don Jose. Rather than ranking him behind Domingo in this role, I would rather opt Carreras as the best Don Jose of his era.

Excellent Voices... BUT.......2007-02-09

If you are looking for a version with excellent voices, this is it!!!
If you are looking for a great "theatrical" production, this is it!!!

BUT I must say that I found a terrible issue in this version: Carmen (Baltsa) and Escamillo (Ramey) were not Carmen and Escamillo.

CARMEN, as far as I understand these character... she must be sensual, sexy, seductive, graceful, not rigid but loose while dancing, surrounding with its charisma, mysterious and at the same time cold, jealous and interested. Carmen must astonish like a gypsy. Baltsa was never Sensual nor graceful. Yes, she has an EXTRAORDINARY volcal interpretation... and musically is just perfect... that's Puccinis and the actual conductor work. But I never saw Carmen. You must fall in love with Carmen even though you know that that love is going to take you to the perdition. She must HYPNOTIZE us... but Baltza couldn't do it.... it's a shame. I saw a Carmen so rigid and so plain... that even though she sings excellent... I missed Carmen.

ESCAMILLO, Oh my God!!!... the male version of these Carmen. Where is that charming "Toreador"?... he never showed up. ESCAMILLO must be charming, elegant and seductive. Ramey was just somene there singing with no Toreador feeling.

DON JOSE and MICHAELLA... Oh Yes!... great performances, great voices,great actor skills, great feelings of their character. Excellent Excellent Excellent!!!

Musically, these version of Carmen is GREAT... but... "Where is Carmen and Escamillo"?...

Carreras shines in "Carmen".......2006-03-14

If you are relatively new to opera as I am, Baltsa's performance of Carmen may have to grow on you - as it did on me - but you'll have no trouble admiring and appreciating Carreras' Don Jose character right away. (The role is one of his specialties.) Back to Baltsa: You'll have to get over her physical apperance -Carmen is supposed to be 17!- as a temptress
and then you will enjoy her portrayal. Magnificent voice!
Samuel Ramey is dripping with confidence as Escamillo, the bullfighter, and his voice is really nice.
Leona Mitchell's voice is less than perfect in this live performance, but it is a voice I would be greatful to own.
She is a sweet Micaela, (The girl who loves Don Jose) and is rather convincing in her big aria in act 3.
There is a wonderful supporting cast, although some of the older women in the Met chorus will gross you out in their 'cigarette-girl' costumes in Act 1!
And now what the Carreras fans are waiting for: How was Carreras in this performance? It would take an entire book of positive adjectives to describe his stellar, passionate performance. Here you will find a great artist -in real life on the brink of being diagnosed with leukemia- singing his heart and soul out with fire, urgency, and love. He puts everything into this role and the audience -you & I- are richly rewarded!
Conclusion: Don't miss this one!!!

Carreras and Baltsa are stealing the show.......2005-09-16

At first I have to say that a lot of operas often happen to have a wonderful tenor and a really bad soprano or vice versa. This is absolutely not the case here. Both mezzo soprano Agnes Baltsa and tenor José Carreras are doing a brilliant job with both their singing and acting. I think they both have a stage presence that very few can beat. Agnes Baltsa possesses a crystal clear voice, but she can also belt if that's what it takes to make the final outcome more believable. José Carreras' voice contains so much beauty; it's full of emotions, sensual and with that irresistible hint of honey. Like Baltsa he can also sacrifize beauty to enhance his performance.

Agnes Baltsa is just so sensual as Carmen it's no wonder Don José is powerless against her. I love the scene in first act where they spot each other for the first time and Don José is trying his best not to show any interest in Carmen who is surrounded by a crowd of eager men, but still we see him watching her out of the corner of his eye and Carmen is putting on a display trying to attract his attention. The way she's taking the rose from down her cleavage and throwing it on Don José is most seductive. And he's obviously overwhelmed by this woman so full of sex-appeal. The sweet and innocent Michaela doesn't stand a chance compared to the wild and seductive Carmen. Baltsa's singing is beautiful; it's filled with her usual energy and involvement and I just love her version of "pres de ramparts de Seville". And in "non, tu ne m'aime pas" she's so persuasive that it's no wonder José almost is giving in to her pleas about him leaving the army. She is undoubtedly my favourite Carmen.

José Carreras is perfect as Don José. Some reviewers have claimed that his acting is a bit wooden, but I disagree. He's playing a naïve and shy, young man falling in love for the first time and by the way, he's also a soldier and they hardly go dancing all around the place. Like always Carreras is pouring his heart and soul into his singing. Even if this performance was very close to his leukaemia treatment I think he sounds wonderful. Just listen to the "flower aria" that's sung with such emotion and ends up like a gentle love song. (And I would have sacrificed a lot to be Carmen, having Don José Carreras looking at me the way he did that moment...) He's also outstanding in the final act where Don José ends up killing Carmen. They both are, actually. Don José is at first trying his best to persuade her into coming back to him, because he's still in love with her. And his rage at the end is very understandable, because I think we all can identify with him when he realizes that he has ruined his life because of her and in the end she refuses him. His cry (Ma Carmen, adorée) after having killed Carmen makes my hair stand on end. It comes from the very deepest of his soul. During curtain call you will see Carreras completely drained of emotion. And I feel almost the same after having watched this version of Carmen. The final 10-15 minutes of this opera are worth the price of the dvd alone.

Leona Mitchell is a very sweet, but slightly nervous Michaela. Escamillo is portrayed by a brash Samuel Ramey. He has a rich, dark voice and his singing is very good. But even so, if I was Carmen I would stick to Don José. The rest of the supporting cast are excellent and they all make this version of Carmen very enjoyable. If you like me, happen to like Baltsa and Carreras I wouldn't hesitate buying the dvd.

Overall, its good........2005-01-13

As the previous poster mentioned, this production was very close to the famous tenor's Leukemia treatment, which is unfortunate, because there are elements of absolute bliss created by carreras and other parts not so. When he really gets into the singing he is the emobiment of passion, emotion and drama, but he also seems rather stiff in parts, both in his movement and in acting(which is evident in the many spoken lines).
Agnes Balsta playing Carmen was great, a beautiful voice and probably the best actor on stage. Samuel Ramey sings Escamillo very well, but perhaps a little more emotion rather than merely singing is desired. Leona Mitchell was of course excellent, as was Levine and the Met orchestra.
This production stirs within a great respect for the opera profession, but there is an underlying hesitance perhaps the somewhat aged cast fail slightly to create the strong emotions of lust, jelousy and rage that are the centre of this opera. I have the fullest respect for carreras, and I really enjoyed this production.
But overall it was great to listen to and watch this traditionally styled Carmen.

Average customer rating:

Hunky male co-stars a definite plus, but ...
Car wreck for undersexed juveniles.
BOlero!
"I had so many years of being so very proper. I had good-girl claustrophobia."
Bo Derek - the erotic dream princess

Bolero
Starring: Bo Derek , George Kennedy , Andrea Occhipinti , Ana Obregón , and Olivia d'Abo
Director: John Derek
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
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Havoc (Unrated Version)
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ASIN: B00094ARZ0
Release Date: 2005-07-26

Amazon.com

Bolero, directed by Bo Derek's husband John, comes billed as "a masterpiece of erotic adventure" (the original theatrical trailer included on this disc is almost worth the price of the DVD). Derek stars as "Mac," who, after "so many years of being so very, very proper," is determined to lose her maidenhood. After a comically disastrous episode with a sheik, she catches the eye of a matador, but their affair takes a frustrating turn after he suffers an inconvenient accident in the ring. As many observers note throughout the film, Derek just may have been "the most beautiful woman in all the world," and for some, that is enough. The fact that she is clearly more comfortable with her equine costars than she is with the rest of the human cast (including--good Lord--George Kennedy as her chauffeur and confidant) is just another of her endearing charms. But for Derek's less patient fans, Amazon.com presents this timed-out guide to the "good parts," or, to be less PC, the scenes in which the ravishing Ms. Derek appears in various stages of undress: 5:00; 20:57; 59:12; 1:28:36; and 1:38:48. But really, for connoisseurs of bad movies, it's all good, from the curious credits ("Love scenes scored by Elmer Bernstein") to the ludicrous dialogue ("I want ecstasy... right now"). Bolero may not be a 10, but as a cinematic debacle of Showgirls proportions, it is a must-own "20." --Donald Liebenson

Description

Upon graduating from school in Britain, the wealthy Ayre "Mac" McGillvary (Bo Derek) hungers for more education in the art of love! Journeying to Morocco, she meets a handsome sheik, but alas, he falls asleep while seducing her. A hot-blooded matador in Spain does not disappoint, however. Unlocking her deepest desires, her world-class lover gives her a lesson in ecstasy she¹ll never forget.

Customer Reviews:

Hunky male co-stars a definite plus, but ... .......2007-06-21

This movie is mediocre. Not real good, not real bad. I watch it for the hunky Scotsman and the hunky Spaniard. The Scotsman has a very seductive voice, and isn't bad looking; the Spaniard looks like Hugh Jackman. The Arab sheik, forget. One of the characters was right when they said he could pass as 'your sister' - too pretty to be a real man.

The sets were nice, the locations were fabulous. Weak, almost non-existent plot. The best thing for me was seeing the nude male co-stars, and I do wish there had been more emphasis on that, and also the sideline romance between the Scotsman and the Spanish woman. Got a good laugh when the Arab sheik made a kidnapping attempt.

Just my female viewpoint.

Car wreck for undersexed juveniles........2007-06-04

There's no doubt in my mind that the people who created this load of celluloid sewage knew that featuring Bo Derek getting her bones banged just shy of aggravated battery would have a draw, particularly for juveniles with unrestrained hormones. And that's the only reason anyone would watch this movie. The script is straight out of a fantasy contest, the acting abysmal, and the whole premise ludicrous. They do their best to create a fantasy atmosphere, indulging in the beauty of Spain for romantic backdrop and give us a Bo Derek pleading for sex. For most of this movie's audience, that's enough. For lovers (no pun intended) of quality film it isn't even close to a reason to spend a quarter watching this crud. Oh, I admit, I watched it several times whilst in my college years. But that's what college age guys do. And I would venture to guess that the demographic for this movie is 90% male, mostly from 18-30. Frankly, watching Bo get her brains banged out is worth the price of admission, especially for that group. But everything else about this movie isn't just bad, it's purely comical. I wondered to myself what was George Kennedy thinking when he accepted his role in this. If he'd have dug into his Dragline character from "Cool Hand Luke" the movie would have at least conceded to it's absurdity and not tried to be taken the least bit seriously. I find it hilarious that Amazon realized this to the point that they conceded by giving out the times in the movie where Bo gets banged. That alone should say something- that anything outside those time slots isn't worth watching. I know lots of 40 somethings that would have liked the same thing for "Lolita," though those encounters are less frequent. All in all, this movie ranks (pun INTENDED) in the hall of fame of incredibly bad movies. The 1 star is for the Bo sex scenes, otherwise, ZERO!

BOlero!.......2007-01-15

John Derek will go down in history as one of the worst directors of all time. One could call him the antipode to Stephen Spielberg. However, Derek did have ONE thing going for him in his movies: showcasing his lovely wife naked!

It is odd that these days many people are too young to remember Bo Derek. Growing up in the 80s, she was the undisputed queen of eroticism, and this film shows why that was so. I just watched it again this morning & I had almost forgotten just how perfect her body is & how her long flowing hair looked while riding a horse.

If it were not for Bo, I doubt if anyone ever would have heard of John. In fact, he is already quickly becoming a footnote in the annals of Hollywood. To be sure, this is a "B" movie and it's not very well done. 90% of the scenes look like they were thrown in as an afterthought. The movie attempts to be comical at times, and fails miserably. For the most part, it is a yawner.

The one factor that just barely elevates it to 4 stars is Bo Derek shedding her clothes @ will. If you're a Bo Derek fan, this movie is a can't miss! When it comes to John Derek movies, this is as good as they get.

"I had so many years of being so very proper. I had good-girl claustrophobia.".......2006-09-25

The alternate title for the film Bolero (1984) is Bolero: An Adventure in Ecstasy...after watching the film last night a better one might have been Bolero: An Adventure in Stupidity...written and directed by the late John Derek (Tarzan, the Ape Man), the film starred his most current wife at the time Bo Derek (10, Tarzan, the Ape Man). Also appearing is George `Anything for a Buck' Kennedy (The Dirty Dozen, Cool Hand Luke), Andrea Occhipinti (Conquest), Ana Obregón (Monster Island), and Olivia d'Abo (Conan the Destroyer, "The Wonder Years"), in one of her first roles.

Bo Derek plays Ayre `Mac' MacGillivery, a woman who (get this) is preparing to graduate from an English college and once she does, she'll trade in her diploma for a vast inheritance. Once that happens she plans to travel the world and learn the ways of love because, as you see, she's still a virgin. Okay, wait a minute...Bo's pushing thirty and she's just graduating from college? I can buy off on that, but I'm having a much harder time with the notion she's untouched, I mean seriously...anyway, after seeing one too many Valentino films (the film is supposed to be a period piece, set in the early 20th century I guess), Mac hits the road with her trusty chauffeur Cotton (Kennedy) and college friend Catalina aka `Cat' (Obregón), the trio heading towards the Middle East as Mac thinks it would be the ginchiest to get bagged by a real, honest to goodness sheik. After a failed attempt (the sheik got stoned on magic smoke and passed out, but not before covering a nekkid Derek in warm honey), Mac, with entourage in tow, makes her way to Spain with the intent on hooking up with a handsome matador, and she finds one named Angel (Occhipinti), who, when not faux fighting bulls or shagging fourteen year old gypsy girls produces wine, and lots of it. With the help of Angel's tagalong gypsy girl named Paloma, played by Ms. d'Abo sporting a ridiculous Spanish accent, Mac worms her way into Angel's bed after agreeing to use her vast fortunes to buy his wine, the deal sealed with a good shagging (I find Spanish business negotiations quite agreeable). Following this there's some more idiocy, capped off by Angel getting his doodle gored by a bull, and now unable to perform, much to Mac's dismay (no more zoom zoom in the boom boom). So anyway, while Cat's getting friendly with Mac's kilted Scottish lawyer and Cotton gets his groove on with Angel's sassy cook, Mac tries to draw Angel from his depressed funk in the hopes she'll be able to cure his condition by prancing around his room nekkid. When not sadistically teasing a man who can't perform, Mac begins taking up bullfighting for some odd reason or another.

Okay, I first saw this film back in the mid 1980s on cable I was in the hormonally charged state of a teenager coming into his own, so my main focus was obviously on Derek's nekkidness, of which there's quite a bit. After watching this film again some twenty years later, I find I still enjoy the nekkidness, but I have to say the rest is probably one of the more ridiculous efforts I've seen in a long time. I think the intent was to create a rich, erotic drama, but the film fails miserably mainly for the fact Bo Derek cannot act, at least not enough to carry a film. She's certainly attractive, but her ditz factor is incredibly high, not helped any by her husband's completely rotten and moronic scripting (the film comes off like a poorly written Harlequin romance novel). Speaking of her husband, how creepy is that, knowing he wrote and directed the film, especially given the sequences where his wife is getting it on with other guys (he filmed her in some equally steamy sequences in the 1981 moron-a-thon Tarzan, the Ape Man)? The man was pushing sixty at the time (while Bo wasn't quite yet thirty), so the maybe wedding tackle didn't function the way it used to which resulted in his willingness to let his wife dally about on screen with other men (a couple of the intimate sequences looked pretty realistic)...I don't know, but whatever...a good part of the story has Bo's character talking about her virginity like it was some sort of gift she was willing to impart, which, after awhile, got really old (at least she didn't refer to it as her `flower, but she did refer to it as `her fruit' at one point), which ends, mercifully, after she gets her shag on with Angel. As far as the rest of the cast they didn't fare much better. George Kennedy seemed kind of lost, hanging about to pick up a check and see some nekkid broads I suppose, and Olivia d'Abo appeared simple-minded as the young gypsy girl stuck on Angel (eventually she gives way to Mac as she realized she couldn't compete). One of the biggest mysteries for me, besides the actual point of the film, is why it ran an hour and forty-five minutes. Once you get by the juicy stuff (the attractive people being a nekkid), the rest just drags under the unbearable weight of its' own harebrained idiocy. Perhaps the funniest scene in the film comes near the end, as Mac and Angel are getting it on (seems Mac's desirability is such that it can cure a broken doodle) and they're transported to, get this, a smoke-filled plane of reality. Right in the middle of their routine a large, purple neon sign appears behind them spelling out the word EXTASY, as if to really bring it home (yeah, I know it's spelled wrong but that's how it was in the film, intentionally so). All in all if you're looking to see Ms. Derek in the raw, then this film is right up you alley as she's got about five or six scenes, but if you're looking for anything remotely resembling an actual movie (plot, interesting and engaging characters, etc.), best to keep on looking.

The picture on this DVD, presented in widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, does looks clean and clear, and the Dolby Digital Stereo Surround audio comes through well. As far as extras there isn't much except for a theatrical trailer and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

Cookieman108

By the way, did I mention how creepy (and skeevy) I found it for a man to write and direct a film featuring his really hot wife enjoying the pleasures of other men? Maybe he took some weird sense of pride in showing the world how, even at his age, he could still get with really attractive women...

Bo Derek - the erotic dream princess.......2006-06-07

... As a film it isn`t up to much, but the lovely photography of Bo Derek leaves a lot to be desired -aaaaaaaa u were my teenage dream(with Christopher Atkins hehehe)... C it for camp reasons only:-)))

Average customer rating:

intense and disturbing......
Almodovar the God!
'Talk to Her' with truly speak to you...
The beautiful worlds we create within ourselves
Paloma

Talk to Her (Hable con Ella)
Starring: Geraldine Chaplin , Chus Lampreave , Loles Leon , Marisa Paredes , and Darío Grandinetti
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
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ASIN: B00005JLQW
Release Date: 2003-05-27

Amazon.com

Writer-director Pedro Almodóvar makes another masterpiece with Talk to Her, his first film since the wonderful All About My Mother. Marco (Dario Grandinetti) is in love with Lydia (Rosario Flores), a female bullfighter who is gored by a bull and sent into a coma. In the hospital, Marco crosses paths with Benigno (Javier Camara), a male nurse who looks after another coma patient, a young dancer named Alicia (Leonor Watling). From Benigno's gentle attentiveness to Alicia, Marco learns to take care of Lydia... but from there, the story goes in directions that deftly manage to be sad, hopeful, funny, and creepy, sometimes at the same time. The rich human empathy of Almodóvar's recent films is passionate, heartbreaking, intoxicating--there aren't enough adjectives to praise this remarkable filmmaker, who is at the height of his powers. Talk to Her is superb, with outstanding performances from all involved. --Bret Fetzer

Description

The lives of four characters flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny. Golden Globe WINNER: Best Foreign Language Film. Academy Award Nominee: Achievement in Directing. Academy Award WINNER: Original Screenplay. Directed by Pedro Almodovar (All About My Mother, Flower of My Secret, High Heels).

Customer Reviews:

intense and disturbing.............2007-03-24

HABLE CON ELLA (English translation: TALK TO HER) is a look at the lives of two men caring for coma patients, and how their lives intersect and are interconnected by their shared experience. Benigno Martin (Javier Camara) is a nurse who cares for Alicia (Leonor Watley), a beautiful ballerina, who went into a coma after being struck by a car. Marco Zuluaga (Dario Grandinetti) is a writer looking in on his girlfriend, Lydia Gonzalez (Rosario Flores), a bullfighter who was gored and knocked unconscious. Through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, the pieces of their lives are put together like an intricate puzzle, with an unlikely twist at the end.

This film sent chills up my spine, in some of the sequences (for reasons I won't elaborate on, to ruin the film). This is only the second film I have seen by the Spanish filmmaker, Pedro Almodovar. I find his style as a director and writer to be at once provocative, grotesque and neurotic. The dynamic between the men and women in this story are in a word turbulent. Also, there is a surreal quality to the style of this film that is at once dreamlike and nightmarish. I came away feeling more than a little sick to my stomach......

Almodovar the God!.......2007-02-03

No transvestites? No Transvestites? That's just sublime especially for an Almodovar film. Still there will always be this innovative edge that "eeks" strange. Psychic male nurses, crying lovers, and two comatized patients make one brilliant film by one eccentric director. It's doesn't have that Soap opera-esque appeal that Pedro is known for but it does contain a certain distinguished factor that is absolutely mesmerizing, the cinematography. The depth of the film is surreal, the bull-fighting is grotesque, and the adventurous ideals of the director are normal but still bold. Talk to Her (Hable con Ella) is a film about love, faith, deception, and innocence, each moment you discover these moments is another tear that comes dripping from your eye.

'Talk to Her' with truly speak to you..........2006-12-09

Pedro Almodovar has again given us a beautifully haunting film, a film that causes us to truly think about our lives and the way we live it. In `Talk to Her' we have the story of two men brought together by the women they love, both of whom have fallen into a deep coma. The first man is Benigno Martin (Javier Camara), a male nurse who has fallen in love with young aspiring dancer Alicia (Leonor Watling). Alicia has been lying in a coma for four years after a tragic car accident and he has been caring for her day and night ever since. The second man is Marco Zuluaga (the remarkable Dario Grandinetti), a journalist who is brought to the hospital after his girlfriend, bullfighter Lydia Gonzalez (Rosario Flores), is gored by a bull and thrown into a coma as well.

The real story here revolves around these men bonding in the face of their trials. Marco struggles with loving Lydia, struggles with guilt over her predicament and his battles with whether or not she ever really loved him. Benigno on the other hand ahs never had Alicia's love for she never truly knew him, but after spending four years at her side he feels as though they are in love and truly meant to be together. He talks to her constantly, divulging his secrets to her, his passions, and he begins to live her life for her, watching the movies she once loved and seeing as much live dance as he can in order to have more to tell her.

The script is original and captivating and is only heightened by the superb acting and directing of this film. Benigno's unconventional love of Alicia is a subject that is sure to cause a lot of controversy and talk, but also is Marco's devotion to Benigno in his time of dire straights. Their relationship is an ambiguous one, one that raises my suspicion, especially in the final frames when Marco sees Alicia. I'm brought to wonder if he wants to be with her for himself or in an attempt to have yet another part of Benigno. You watch and you decide. A truly wonderful and unique film.

The beautiful worlds we create within ourselves.......2006-12-09

Talk To Her is a movie about loneliness, the fragile connections between human beings, and the worlds we create within ourselves. Benigno is a lonely man, who had lived in isolation taking care of his mother for most of his life. Through his window he watches Alicia, practicing in a dance studio across the street, and falls deeply in love with her. This window is his only contact with the outside world, and Alicia becomes his entire world. Then Alicia is in a car accident and falls into a coma. Benigno works at a hospital as a nurse since his mother died. He serendipitously is hired to take care of her fulltime, which he does with care and love and joy. He dotes on her, and tells her everything as if she were an imaginary friend. Although she is completely unaware of it, he is now her window to the outside world.

Then Benigno meets Marco. Marco is a journalist who has fallen in love with the bullfighter Lydia, who has just been admitted to the coma ward after being gruesomely gored by a bull. Marco visits Lydia daily, while Benigno cares for Alicia down the hall. Benigno reaches out to Marco, which first frightens Marco because of Benigno's awkward lack of inhibition, but then they soon realize they share an intense yet one-sided love. They are both lonely men, who hide away from the world, and while they are limited in their abilities to connect sincerely with healthy human beings, they find themselves easily poring out all the love and locked up emotion inside them into their coma patients. This one-sided love for their coma patients slowly morphs into their own real friendship. Benigno supports Marco when Lydia dies, and Marco becomes the only one who will try to help Benigno when what Benigno believes was an act of love lands him in jail. Alicia finally wakes up, from what can only be described as giving birth to herself.

Paloma.......2006-10-18

In the Extras on the DVD, Almodovar narrates the entire film along with Geraldine Chaplin explaining his motivation in doing certain things in the film. One thing he says is that many people are speechless after viewing the film. Me too but I'd say the really bad thing about this film is its concept that women are no more than beautiful mindless objects: sort of like babes in "The Wedding Crashers." But beautiful the women are. The actress who plays the bullfighter gives an incredible performance before she goes into a coma. (Are there really female bullfighters?) And best of all is the song Paloma. The wedding scene was idiotic and should not have been included because it was unlikely to have happened the way it was filmed. The photography was very beautiful. (Do they really have jails like that in Spain? Maybe Martha Stewart served her time in one like it.)

Average customer rating:

A Classic
What might have been
I love the video!
THIS is the official Fox "Snows of Kilimanjaro" DVD to get!
A big popular star film of its time...

The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Starring: Gregory Peck , Susan Hayward , Ava Gardner , Hildegard Knef , and Leo G. Carroll
Director: Henry King
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
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ASIN: B000LC4ZD0
Release Date: 2007-03-06

Amazon.com essential video

Several pieces of Hemingway fiction fold together for this pastiche movie, in which a writer (Gregory Peck) lies on the slope of Africa's famous mountain and thinks back on his life while awaiting medical attention. "Africa" in this case is a back-screen projection; fortunately, the majority of the film is told through flashbacks set in France, Spain, and other parts of the Dark Continent. Peck's relationships with various women (played by Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner, and Hildegard Knef) are at the center of his recollections, but the overall thesis is a very Hemingway-esque summary of the responsibility of a writer to get at the truth. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

A Classic.......2007-05-07

A fan of Gregory Peck, will enjoy this movie. Unfortunately the quality of my DVD,made watching this movie to fuzzy to enjoy. Thereby I recommend asking about clarity before purchasing.

What might have been.......2007-04-11

This film can only be characterized as a huge disappointment. A great cast, a screenplay based on the works (and life) of a great author, a dangerous, romantic setting, and this film simply doesn't go anywhere at the end. This film opens with the main character Harry Street (played by Gregory Peck) lying in bed at a safari camp in Africa, wounded, perhaps mortally, and being attended by his lover, Helen (played by Susan Hayward). We are then taken back to Peck's earlier life as a young, talented writer (much like Hemingway himself) through a series of flashbacks. We see the ups and downs of his life, his loves, and his mistakes. We are occasionally taken back to Africa where Street reflects on his life, the women that he loved, and the relationship with his current love. This is a tale of adventure, of life, of love, and of reflection, it could have been an all time great film, but unfortunately falls well short. There is a lot to like in this film. The acting is, for the most part, top notch. Great performances by Susan Wayward and Ava Gardner in my view. The complex relationship between Peck and Gardner is particularly well done. You'll really feel the emotions of their love affair, as well as their ultimate lack of any real connection. I also thought that the overall portrayal of Street's life and his successes and failures, both professional and romantic, was well done. There are some things I really dislike about this film though. The cinematography in Africa is horrid. One thing that the audience can usually count on in films set in Africa (particularly with a safari-related theme - compare with other Africa films shot in the same era such as Mogambo or King Solomon's Mines) is spectacular cinemtography of the wildlife, the landscape, etc. These scenes are so dark and poorly shot that you'll be left wondering why you bothered. Second, the writer/producer/director went over the top with the melodrama at times, and it really weakens the overall effect of the film. I found the ambulance scene in Spain in which Harry Street comes across his long lost love in the middle of a battle to be almost laughably overblown. Finally, the ending is unimaginative and anti-climactic. Did Street truly find the women he loves because she spent one night taking care of him on what may be his deathbead? A pretty good film that is best remembered for what it might have been.

I love the video!.......2007-03-19

At last I'm happy to watch the movie, one of my favourite Gregory Peck's movies, in excellent quality! Video&sound of new release (from March 6, 2007) are marvelous! I had been watching this as though it was a completely fresh movie. I began to love this even more.

THIS is the official Fox "Snows of Kilimanjaro" DVD to get! .......2007-03-13

For the first time in home video history, Twentieth Century-Fox Home Entertainment has released "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" in a NON-public domain edition. Since the advent of the VCR, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" has been resigned to crappy, public domain videos from just about every cheapy distributor around. FINALLY Twentieth Century-Fox, the original studio behind this classic, has taken it from the public domain and given it a proper home video release on DVD. If you love this fan, you can use all previous DVDs of this film for coasters for your drink as you enjoy this marvel. Completely remastered and restored, "Snows" is nothing less than a technical wonder. For years I thought the only way to watch this film was on washed out, dark and scratchy prints. No more! Twentieth Century-Fox gives us a glowing transfer, superb soundtrack and loads of extras. Included as part of the "Ernest Hemmingway Film Collection", this DVD is also sold separately, which is basis for this review. Do not hesitiate to buy this version, which currently retails for under 20 bucks. It is worth every penny! Good-bye poor quality PD DVDs, hello "Snows of Kilimanjaro" the way it was meant to be seen!

A big popular star film of its time..........2007-01-14

Gregory Peck plays Harry Street, a famous American writer, who lies dangerously ill in a hunting camp at the foot of the highest peak in Africa, Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro... His lovely companion Susan Hayward, who had arranged this hunting trip in the hopes of winning his love, takes care of him faithfully and prays for his recover... Peck, surrounded by vultures in the trees, is semi delirious and fears that he's going to die from an infected wound...

His feverish mind goes back to his youth... He recalls his uncle Bill (Leo G. Carrell), who guided his life in those early years, Connie (Helene Stanley), the first girl he was interested in, and his travels around the world in search for something he never seemed to discover...

We see him entering a charming bistro in Montparnasse, Paris, where he first meets the beautiful (Cynthia) Ava Gardner... Inspired by her love, he writes his first novel, making her the central character without conscious planning...

'Snows of Kilimanjaro' is Hayward's third movie with director Henry King, and her second with Peck after "David and Bathsheba." Hayward and Peck's scenes at the foot of Kilimanjaro are constantly interrupted by flashbacks and this, plus the fact that most of their sequences in France were left on the cutting room floor, made Hayward's part sort of 'evaporate' from everybody's mind... However, she does have strong dramatic scenes at the end of the movie... Ava Gardner appeared as the ideal Hemingway heroine...

The film celebrated the mastery of Benny Carter--one of the most important and influential musician in the history of jazz, and got two Oscar nominations for Art Direction/Set Decoration and Cinematography...

Average customer rating:

Horrible DVD color transfer
Beautiful Ava !!
Ava à son zenith
Romantic dream
Timeless Beauty, Mystery and Romance

Pandora and The Flying Dutchman
Starring: James Mason , Ava Gardner , Nigel Patrick , Sheila Sim , and Harold Warrender
Director: Albert Lewin
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305848750
Release Date: 2000-05-23

Amazon.com

There are few films that can be acclaimed as truly mad, but Pandora and the Flying Dutchman stands rather wonderfully in this category. Its combination of lust and erudition is inspired by mythology but seems peopled by characters from some hybrid novel co-authored by Somerset Maugham and Ernest Hemingway. Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner) is a singer in a coastal town in Spain, where her hobby is attracting the devoted love of powerful men made helpless in her presence. (A race-car driver blithely pushes his one-of-a-kind vehicle over a cliff, just to earn her trust.) While fending off other suitors, including a bullfighter, she becomes intrigued by the mystery man (James Mason) whose yacht is moored offshore. Since he is Dutch, perhaps he is related to the mythical, immortal Flying Dutchman? Don't think it can't happen in this overheated affair. Gardner and Mason are not at their best (she looks ultra-glamorous, of course), but their movie-star wattage is high. The real star is the Technicolor cinematography by the great Jack Cardiff (The Red Shoes); the throbbing colors are just right for the unreal scenario playing out before us. Writer-director Albert Lewin, probably best known for his Picture of Dorian Gray, had a literary bent, and in this movie that means people are constantly planting their feet and reciting snippets of poetry toward the moonlit sea. Somehow this fits in perfectly with the rest of the delirium. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Horrible DVD color transfer.......2007-06-22

Albert Lewin's 1950 PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN comes from that weird period in the late studio era when filmmakers were fascinated with romantic poetic allegory: it might be classified with PORTRAIT OF JENNIE, and THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, and THE RED SHOES. Glamorous ex-patriate Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), originally from Indianapolis, but now whooping it up on the Spanish Riviera, destroys every man who falls in love with her until she comes across--of all people--the Flying Dutchman (James Mason). As if the Pandora and Flying Dutchman legends were not enough, Lewin adds elements to the film as well from Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES and Merimée's CARMEN into this strange hodgepodge: when Pandora's friends celebrate a racecar victory by dancing on the sands, it seems appropriate they would dance on the beach among statue fragments from about twenty different cultures. The film is perhaps more confused than it should be, and there's not simply a romantic triangle but something more like a pentagram, with Gardner, Mason, Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim (incredibly annoying), and Mario Cabré (a worthy romantic foil for Gardner) occuping the five vertices. There are some moments that will really make you hoot, such as the painting of the mythical Pandora Mason executes that was really painted by Man Ray to look like a Dali by way of De Chirico, but everyone seems much too confused for the film to be a true camp classic. The best things this film has going for it are Gardner's and Cabré's beauty and its famously lush cinematography; unfortunately the DVD transfer here is wretched, with multiple skips and faded colors. It really cries out for an AFI or Criterion full-scale restoration.

Beautiful Ava !!.......2007-06-10

I love the movie and was wery pleased when it was on DVD !! Ava is as sexy and beautiful as ever !!

Ava à son zenith.......2007-05-20

(Sorry for my bad english, it's not my native language).

Pandora is the second movie (and the best) of the informal art/fetishism trilogy of Ava Gardner (One Touch of Venus, Pandora and Barefoot Comtessa).

Behind the romance between Pandora and the Dutchman, this movie is a reflexion on art and it's relation with religion/mythology. A bit hard to understand at the beginning, it's possible you need more than a single view to catch all the meanings.

For fans of Ava: Pandora is the movie where she's the most pretty. And the cloths she wear are marvellous. Look at black robe at the end: all the girls I know are mad of jealousy at the sight of this chef d'oeuvre of fashion.

Pandora est définitivement mon film préférée de la belle Ava. Un peu compliqué à suivre, ce film se veut une réflexion sur l'art fétichisé et sa relation avec la mythologie (reproduction du corps d'Ava sous forme de statue, comme dans One Touch of Venus et Barefoot Contessa, peinture représentant Ava comme la Pandora mythique avec sa boite, etc).

Pandora est définitivement le film où Ava est à son mieux. Elle est incroyablement belle et ses fringues sont renversantes (tout particulièrement la robe noire qu'elle porte vers la fin)

Romantic dream.......2006-09-26

Pandora is the story of the Flying Dutchman who, condemned to eternal life, must sail forever on his boat, alone. He will be released from his curse only the day he will meet a woman ready to die for him.

More than the mythological story, what makes this movie interesting is its remarquable, strange, mysterious, dreamy, totally surrealist atmosphere.

Not an easy movie, but a fascinating one.

Timeless Beauty, Mystery and Romance.......2006-02-01

This is one of a handful of films from this period of saturated color and the gorgeous cinematography of Jack Cardiff. Many of these films incorporate within their story and script elements of literature, art, mystery and timeless love that transcends death. This one delivers all.
Ava Gardner's character is beautiful and untouchable in this film, her heart is as cold as the statues she caresses, her attention as bloodthirsty as the bullfights of her ex-lover... one of many we discover. Her requirements of a lover are that she be given all, and of course, no one can deliver. The story begins in one of these trite vacation atmospheres - playground of the very rich dilletantes. We are told she was a singer - not a very good one by her own admission. We are treated to Gardner's real singing voice, which is not cultured, but unique and husky (too bad they didn't let her sing all her own stuff in SHOWBOAT - it's the right voice for that character). She seems to get by on her beauty, which is immense, and her capriciousness. She is not particularly likable, but she doesn't pretend to be better than she is, and that is interesting. Then a mysterious boat appears, with a sad handsome man who is working on a painting of Pandora... which bears a resemblance to her.
At this point the movie moves from the mundane into the magical, with tormented love at its most operetic. This movie was an artistic enterprise, with high emotions, high risk. If F.Scott Fitzgerald's characters interbred with Greek mythology, this is the child they would create. It has some faint awkward moments of voiceover and explanation, but it is magical in it's look, and moreover, it is, like many other Jack Cardiff films, simply one-of-a-kind. The perfect rainy day movie. Very watchable.

Bizet - Carmen / Bumbry, Vickers, Freni, Diaz, Hamari, Diakov, von Karajan, Salzburg Opera

Average customer rating:

Buy a CD and skip this cartoon. . .
Dream cast
Dated movie but great singing
Horrible
Hot !!! Hot!! Hot!! Grace Bumbry As Carmen!!

Bizet - Carmen / Bumbry, Vickers, Freni, Diaz, Hamari, Diakov, von Karajan, Salzburg Opera
Starring: Grace Bumbry , Jon Vickers , Justino Díaz , Mirella Freni , and Olivera Miljakovic
Director: Herbert von Karajan
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Rossini - Il Barbiere di Siviglia

ASIN: B0007P0LN4
Release Date: 2005-06-14

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Bizet's tale of the fiery gypsy and her naive, ultimately murderous lover, is an operatic staple but few versions boast such well-acted, brilliantly sung leading roles. Grace Bumbry's Carmen is a beautiful, witty temptress, amused at the deliriums she induces. Bumbry's facial expressions and body movements help create a nuanced character, and her singing is compelling, especially effective in the big moments; the Habanera done with languorous flirtatiousness, the Seguedilla entrancing.

One of opera's greatest singing actors, Vickers portrays the unworldly soldier of Act One before morphing into the tortured hero torn between love and duty of Act Two and finally, the insane outlaw of the finale. He and Bumbry strike sparks in the tavern scene and his "Flower" aria is the vocal and emotional highlight, begun in a throaty half-voice and building into an overwhelmingly intense cri de coeur. Mirelli Freni's Micaela, the village girl Don Jose abandons for Carmen, acts and sings her arias with vocal beauty and charm to burn. Justino Diaz is a straightforward Escamillo in a part that wants more flair and self-centered smugness. Smaller roles are adequately done.

Herbert Von Karajan directed and conducts. He's seen during the Prelude and the entr'actes in his closed-eyes mode of conducting. This Munich-made film is based on 1967 Salzburg Festival performances. It's without obvious lip-synch problems, but busy camera work indulges in many meaningless close-ups, including a shoe-top view of von Karajan's hands. Not as cohesive as Kleiber's DVD or Levine's MET production, but a must-have for Bumbry and Vickers. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

Buy a CD and skip this cartoon. . ........2006-05-07

I am seldom ANGRY over a DVD purchase. The artistic forces here would have seemed
to portend greatness. Instead, we get a cartoon Carmen, with Bumbry et al in
ghastly 60's hair-dos, and Vickers in a wig. Meaningless close ups of chorus members
in THEIR awful wigs, and Mercedes and Frasquita in polka dots. Bumbry shows up
in Act II in some flaminco drag (I guess the cigarette factory pays well enough for
expensive, awful clothing). The editing is awful beyond belief, and what we wind up
with looks something like a 60's TV show. The sets are claustrophobic and the
chorus over acts like meth amphetimine addicts. During the entr'actes we get
close ups of THE GREAT MAN, eyes closed, blah blah blah: If he was in charge of
this whole mess, someone should have yanked artistic control over the video and
production away from him. Now, the SINGING is first rate, but unfortunately
Bumbry's Carmen is all over the place interpretively: she hasn't a concept of
inner motivation and the psychology of the character. She moves and
mugs only because the director told her where to go: the character winds up
completely unformed. Vickers fares some better, as does Diaz, but Freni is
a victim of 'opera acting': meaningless mugging ala silent screen acting.
This DVD is an example of what I HATE in opera video: one never gets the sense of
what these great artists must have been like in the THEATER; Karajan traps them in
a tiny screen, where their gifts, best seen from a great distance in a theater, are
confined to a box.

Skip this one, or listen to it with the TV turned off.

Dream cast.......2006-03-16

Herbert von Karajan was certainly an ambitious devil. Not content with being a great conductor, he insisted on "dabbling" in film, making a series of opera movies. This Carmen is one of them, and it proves the conductor to be quite talented as a visual artist. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a cast this good, which is as close to perfect as you are likely to get.

The film itself is lovely to look at. The costumes are beautiful, the sets spacious and realistic, and quite gritty(appropriate, considering the setting and earthy subject matter), and the use of camera angles is revealing of character, glorious during some of the crowd scenes, frequently imaginative. The scene in the first act where the gypsy girls sit on the steps of the cigarette factory and languidly sing is colorful, artistically staged, worthy of a painting. The way Escamillo connects with his female admirers during the Toreador Song is well staged. The flamenco and ballet scenes(inserting music from L'Arlesienne) are choreographed superbly. And of course the closeups of Carmen at her most seductive or Don Jose at his most angst-ridden are priceless. One caveat, the film is dubbed, but the quality of the dubbing is very professional, most of the time it's hardly noticeable, rarely is it distracting.

On to the singing actors. John Vickers has his detractors, but I am not one of them. Critics suggest that his voice is not beautiful enough, but I find no evidence of this, particularly in this performance. His Flower Song is heart-rending, enough to melt the heart of any Carmen. His Don Jose has a soul, a wounded soul in fact, loyal(in love at least) to a murderous fault while aware of its own weaknesses. It's a mesmerizing performance.

Mirella Freni has the correct ingenuous beauty, as well as the vocal chops to pull off a ravishing performance as Micaela. It's not a large role for such a big name, but Freni makes it large through the sheer force of her lung power. Her act three aria is among the opera's, and this film's, highlights.

Justino Diaz is a suave, handsome Escamillo with a powerful baritone voice. The Toreador song is sometimes difficult to pull off, with singer and orchestra competing for center stage, but Diaz olds his own against the forces of the Weiner Philharmoniker.

As for Grace Bumbry, what can you say? Her Carmen is absolutely smoking HOT!!!! Not only is her Carmen among the best I've ever heard, it is probably THE best I have ever seen. Instead of playing Carmen as an oversexed mankiller, she brings layers of intelligence and sophistication to the role, which not only makes her character more logical, it makes the unfolding of events more logical as well, and, as a result, this is probably the most thoroughly satisfying Carmen from my experience. Simply astonishing!

Von Karajan and his orchestral forces give a vital interpretation of the score, slow at times but always involving. I noticed only one cut, in the final duet between Carmen and Don Jose. Overall, the sound quality is very good. From an aural standpoint, you aren't likely to find a better Carmen anywhere.

Nor from a visual standpoint. The filmmaking is surprisingly good, and the video transfer is superb, bringing a brightness and purity to the colorful images.

Highly recommended.

Dated movie but great singing.......2005-12-26

This is a movie, not a live production. With an opera movie, you get the standard lip-synching - yuck. I was really disappointed when I saw it was a movie. It is also a very dated production - Carmen and Micaela are wearing the bouffant wigs with the dippity-doo curls on the face and lots of mascara. Carmen is wearing a mini-skirt - a red flared one. The soldiers' uniforms are olive jackets over light blue pants - art deco meets the military. So, I just didn't watch the whole thing, but I did listen to it. The singing is wonderful. I did find Karajan's conducting a bit pokey at times, particularly on the Habanera. He always takes the most exciting moments down to a plodding shuffle. I recommend this video only to hear the singers, but otherwise, I would strongly suggest purchasing a video of a live production of Carmen, or if you want to see a movie of Carmen, the Domingo/Migenes one is much more timeless.

Horrible.......2005-11-16

This recording is lip-syched and is terrible. The singers obviously aren't singing and the recording is horrible. Don't bother with this recording - you'll be very disappointed.

Hot !!! Hot!! Hot!! Grace Bumbry As Carmen!!.......2005-07-25

The reviews for this newly released DVD have been very favorable and attest to the top-notch quality of the performance. Grace Bumbry as Carmen is liberated, dramatic, a tad cynical and tragic, sensuous and quintessentially Carmen, the perfect embodiment of the heroine that Bizet envisioned. Jon Vickers has incredible chemistry with Bumbry and as Don Jose is passionate, intense, dark and masculine; he is a man consumed by possession of Carmen and driven mad by jealousy. The final confrontation in which the inevitable stabbing occurs is fresh, frightening and highly dramatic, in fact the best finale I've ever seen, irregardless of the many times I've seen it. No other tenor and soprano made this final moment more visceral than Jon Vickers and Grace Bumbry. Mirella Freni sings her heart out as Micaela, and from her first scene in Act 1 as she searches for Don Jose among his regiment to the final scene where she, armed with faith in God (Je Dis que ne rien) confronts Jose in the criminal smuggler world he has become part of. Micaela is suddenly larger than life and not the minor character she can be reduced to. Mirella Freni sang the role of Micaela numerous times and handled it with grace and awe-inspiring dignity. A very young Justino Diaz, not yet a star, is the baritone in the role of Escamillo. He is elegant and masculine, singing one of the finer renditions of "Toreador" that I've heard but looking less than ideal opposite Carmen who towers over him in personality. Diaz had the right voice but lacked the right attitude for Escamillo. But this is just a small thorn in a very beautiful rose.

What more can be said about Maestro Herbert Von Karajan, largely considered the best conductor of the 20th century ? He conducts as if this were a live performance (which it is not) and keeps his eyes tightly closed, immersed in the music, a trademark of his as a conductor. The score is not the original Choudens score but the more traditional Guiraud score with sung recitative. Karajan tinkers with the score (he has done this with other works before such as Don Carlo, Trovatore and Otello). He includes music from Bizet's other tragic opera L'Arlessiene for the Spanish dances in Lillas Pastias directly after Carmen's "Les Triangles". The look of the sets are not lavish or detailed, but very effectiev in its simplicity. Authentic costumes, walls, floors, chairs, guitars, shawls, streets, shops and much more. But the star of this production is neither the sets, conductor but Grace Bumbry in a role that she made entirely her own. The more sought after Carmen at this time however was another black artist Shirley Verrett but after watching this Carmen, I can see why I have always preferred Grace Bumbry. She is exactly as Carmen is supposed to be. She sings the Habanera, Seguidilla, Gypsy Song, and Death Card Scene with the most dedicated musicianship and passes with flying colors. Carmen was a role she did outstandingly well, though Bumbry never really liked the role. At this time, still a mezzo-soprano, Grace was also taking soprano roles such as Lady Macbeth which she first sang in 1964, only a few years earlier than this performance!!! She would transition to soprano and enjoy success in such diverse roles as Elizabeth in Don Carlo, Bellini's Norma, Verdi's Aida, Santuzza in Cavelleria Rusticana, Puccini's Tosca and Richard Strauss' Salome. Now if only there were filmed DVD's of those performances!!!

Average customer rating:

A Classic
What might have been
I love the video!
THIS is the official Fox "Snows of Kilimanjaro" DVD to get!
A big popular star film of its time...

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Customer Reviews:

A Classic.......2007-05-07

A fan of Gregory Peck, will enjoy this movie. Unfortunately the quality of my DVD,made watching this movie to fuzzy to enjoy. Thereby I recommend asking about clarity before purchasing.

What might have been.......2007-04-11

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A big popular star film of its time..........2007-01-14

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