The Tales of Hoffmann [Blu-ray] [Criterion Collection]

Director: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger

Overview

Most baby-boomers are familiar with the Powell-Pressburger production of the Offenbach opera Tales of Hoffman only through the full-color stills from the film which were reproduced in the "Motion Picture" section of The World Book Encyclopedia. If this is your only memory of the film, we advise you to seek out a copy of this lengthy but visually enthralling picture as soon as possible. Metropolitan opera star Robert Rounseville plays Hoffman, a university student who is spectacularly unlucky in affairs of the heart. Each of his love affairs with Olympia (Moira Shearer), Giulietta (Ludmilla Tcherina) and Antonia (Ann Ayars) is doomed to failure due to circumstances far beyond our hero's control (Olympia, for example, turns out to be nothing more than a life-sized mechanical doll). As in the previous Powell-Pressburger collaboration The Red Shoes, the film's best moments are its ballet sequences, choreographed by Jane Ashton. Offenbach's score is given a splendid rendition by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of the legendary Sir Thomas Beecham. Most prints of Tales of Hoffman run 118 minutes, eliminating the closing "Tale of Antonia" sequence; the laserdisc version has been restored to 127 minutes, while the search goes on for the complete 138-minute negative.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2022
UPC:	0715515272810
Original Release:	1951
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	2:13:00
Sales rank:	10,133

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Rounseville	Hoffmann
Pamela Brown	Nicklaus
Moira Shearer	Stella / Olympia
Robert Helpmann	Lindorff/Coppelius/Dr. Miracle/Dappertutto
Frederick Ashton	Cochenille/Kleinzack
Meinhart Maur	Luther
John Ford	Nathaniel
Richard Golding	Hermann
Philip Leaver	Andreas
Edmond Audran	Cancer,Cancer
Ludmilla Tcherina	Giulietta
Lionel Harris	Pitichinaccio
Ann Ayars	Antonia
Mogens Wieth	Crespel
Ludmilla Tchérina	Giulietta
Léonide Massine	Spalanzani,Actor
Jean Alexander	Mother [The Tale of Antonia]
Bruce Darvaget	Actor
Owen Brannigan	Singer
Monica Sinclair	Singer
René Soames	Singer
Dorothy Bond	Singer
Thomas Beecham	Conductor
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra	Actor

Technical Credits

Emeric Pressburger

Michael Powell

Dennis Arundell

Emeric Pressburger	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Michael Powell	Screenwriter,Producer,Director
Dennis Arundell	Screenwriter
George Busby	Producer
John Cox	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are responsible for some of the greatest movies ever to come from across the Atlantic, including A Matter of Life and Death (a.k.a. Stairway to Heaven, 1946), Black Narcissus (1947), and The Red Shoes (1948), to name a few. This luxurious adaptation of Jacques Offenbach’s famous opera is something of a Red Shoes follow-up; it, too, stars ravishing redhead Moira Shearer, whose beauty cinematographer Christopher Challis sublimely captures in Technicolor. Offenbach’s phantasmagorical piece is transferred to film with great imagination and taste, unusually inventive effects, and a lush, resplendent production that’s a joy to look at. A brilliant integration of narrative and dance, it presents three story lines, all of which spring from the imagination of Hoffman (Robert Rounseville), a student spurned by the prima ballerina (Shearer) whom he loves. In his dreams she represents lovers from his past lives -- a life-size doll (also Shearer) created by a magician, a beautiful and bewitching courtesan (Ludmilla Tcherina), and a famous conductor’s daughter (Ann Ayars). Powell forces his viewers to work a little: In true operatic fashion the dialogue is sung rather than spoken, and the individual stories may not be fully comprehensible without fairly close attention. But Tales abounds in cinematic virtuosity and ingenious stagecraft, and any viewer willing to immerse him- or herself in the fantasy world created by Powell and co-writer Pressburger will be amply rewarded for their attentiveness.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

The Tales of Hoffmann is a unique, visually and aurally stunning adaptation of the Offenbach opera. It will not be to everyone's taste; to start with, many are daunted by the mere concept of opera, and others have had bad experiences with operas inexpertly transferred to film. But even those not inclined to opera should give Hoffmann a go. There's such an abundance of visual riches that they may find themselves so absorbed in the beauty that they forget their prejudices against the art form. Rarely has a film taken advantage of the glories of Technicolor as has Hoffmann; the colors are so incredibly sensual that they seem to take on a life of their own, almost becoming a character in their own right. Similarly, rarely has a film been blessed with the beautiful voices that fill Hoffmann (many of them dubbed for performers who are essentially dancers rather than opera singers); they do full justice to the soaring Offenbach score. In the title role, Robert Rounseville is in absolute peak vocal form and dazzles with his technique, and if his acting is less than Oscar calibre, it is still more than adequate. Robert Helpmann is appropriately evil and Pamela Brown appropriately steadfast in important supporting roles, but it is the loves in Hoffmann's life that really shine, from a radiant Moira Shearer to a lusciously alluring Ludmilla Tcherina to an innocently doomed Ann Ayers. The choreography is marvelous, captured in Christopher G. Challis' brilliant camerawork, and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have directed with flair and imagination to spare. If Hoffmann is ultimately a little uninvolving emotionally and a trifle "fantastic" for many modern audiences, it is still a cinematic feast.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler