- Directors: Ido Ricklin, Israel Seyger
- Format: Classical, Colour, DVD-Video, Full Screen, PAL, Subtitled
- Language Hebrew
- Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Region: All Regions
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: Exempt
- Studio: Decca
- DVD Release Date: 8 Sep 2003
- Run Time: 3 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00009V3OC
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 20,536 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Delius - A Village Romeo And Juliet [1992]
The sound track for this Czech film is taken from the superb Argo recording conducted by Mackerras, whilst the screen characters are portrayed by Czechoslovakian actors except for Thomas Hampson acting himself as the Dark Fiddler.
The actors are ideally cast, heartrending in their portrayal of despairing innocence and rejection in the face of adversity, and being driven to the desperate conclusion of the drama because of their fathers' feud that has left them bereft of homes and futures.
I presume it was filmed in Czechoslovakia but the enchanting scenery is redolent of English hills and rolling downland, the absolute embodiment of Delius' sublime score.
The direction gets right inside the world of Gotfried Keller's novel written at the end of the 19th century, with the film surpassing anything possible in the opera house.
There are some problems with the lip sych, but to expect perfection from young Czechoslovakian actors attempting a rather difficult libretto (I find it naive in places) is asking far too much.
A superb DVD rounded off with an excellent hour long Delius documentary from 1993 including a welcome involvement of Eric Fenby.
The sound track for this Czech film is taken from the superb Argo recording conducted by Mackerras, whilst the screen characters are portrayed by Czechoslovakian actors except for Thomas Hampson acting himself as the Dark Fiddler.
The actors are ideally cast, heartrending in their portrayal of despairing innocence and rejection in the face of adversity, and being driven to the desperate conclusion of the drama because of their fathers' feud that has left them bereft of homes and futures.
I presume it was filmed in Czechoslovakia but the enchanting scenery is redolent of English hills and rolling downland, the absolute embodiment of Delius' sublime score.
The direction gets right inside the world of Gotfried Keller's novel written at the end of the 19th century, with the film surpassing anything possible in the opera house.
There are some problems with the lip sych, but to expect perfection from young Czechoslovakian actors attempting a rather difficult libretto (I find it naive in places) is asking far too much.
A superb DVD rounded off with an excellent hour long Delius documentary from 1993 including a welcome involvement of Eric Fenby.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is how I discovered for myself Frederic Delius, the composer.
The music is full with new harmonies and unusual for classical or romantic period structure.
I bought this DVD mainly because of the name of Thomas Hampson, and really enjoyed, as always, his performance. Besides, he is the only singer that acts in this film.
And I really enjoyed the set: beautiful mid-Europe mountain idyllic landscapes.
The actors are playing very well and convincing, other performers voices sound great.
I would give this film the highest rating.
The music is full with new harmonies and unusual for classical or romantic period structure.
I bought this DVD mainly because of the name of Thomas Hampson, and really enjoyed, as always, his performance. Besides, he is the only singer that acts in this film.
And I really enjoyed the set: beautiful mid-Europe mountain idyllic landscapes.
The actors are playing very well and convincing, other performers voices sound great.
I would give this film the highest rating.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
There are two major problems with this, Delius' fourth opera: the lack of dramatic momentum and the tessitura of the young lovers' music.
The story is a good one in essence but the way it is presented in the libretto fails to engage; at times indeed, it becomes ridiculous.
The essential fact about the lovers is their youthful vulnerability but Delius requires voices with sufficient power throughout their range to top some pretty heavy orchestration. Opera singers able to do this don't come looking like innocent teenagers. Pelleas and Melisande would have been a good model here but what we get is something closer to Tristan and Isolde.
The film's solution is to cast actors in these roles, lip-synching to a (very good) existing recording. They look gorgeous and act the parts with total conviction but they are not singing and that limits involvement.
The film's outdoor scenes look wonderful and the actors playing the fathers manage to make something of next to nothing. But I was disappointed the director didn't help the dramatic flow more; the opportunity was there to make the lovers' journey to their inevitable but triumphant death convincing. But the whole sequence from the shared dream through the fair and Paradise Garden (whose occupants seem to have strayed in from another mid-European arthouse film) fails to add up. And the bathing-towel that appears so surprisingly when Sali takes off his pants is a dreadful miscalculation.
However unviable this opera may be on stage, it contains some of the most achingly beautiful music ever written. And this film, for all its shortcomings, does at least reflect that beauty and helps construct an ideal vision of the piece in one's own imagination
The story is a good one in essence but the way it is presented in the libretto fails to engage; at times indeed, it becomes ridiculous.
The essential fact about the lovers is their youthful vulnerability but Delius requires voices with sufficient power throughout their range to top some pretty heavy orchestration. Opera singers able to do this don't come looking like innocent teenagers. Pelleas and Melisande would have been a good model here but what we get is something closer to Tristan and Isolde.
The film's solution is to cast actors in these roles, lip-synching to a (very good) existing recording. They look gorgeous and act the parts with total conviction but they are not singing and that limits involvement.
The film's outdoor scenes look wonderful and the actors playing the fathers manage to make something of next to nothing. But I was disappointed the director didn't help the dramatic flow more; the opportunity was there to make the lovers' journey to their inevitable but triumphant death convincing. But the whole sequence from the shared dream through the fair and Paradise Garden (whose occupants seem to have strayed in from another mid-European arthouse film) fails to add up. And the bathing-towel that appears so surprisingly when Sali takes off his pants is a dreadful miscalculation.
However unviable this opera may be on stage, it contains some of the most achingly beautiful music ever written. And this film, for all its shortcomings, does at least reflect that beauty and helps construct an ideal vision of the piece in one's own imagination
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Village Romeo beautifully presented.
Delius was notoriously disinclined to consider the practicalities of performing his works. For this reason Village Romeo
is better suited to film than opera house. Read more
is better suited to film than opera house. Read more
Published 10 months ago by orkneystu
An authentic, bucolic and scenic Romeo and Juliet.
I am sure this is how Delius envisaged his lyric drama.
Weigl's approach is sympathetic to the era in which this work is set. Read more
Weigl's approach is sympathetic to the era in which this work is set. Read more
Published on 6 May 2008 by RD Marchant
A Village Romeo and Juliet.. Delius
A beautiful production with actors of the authentic age, dubbed but not detectable. One act is like an Impressionist painting. Highly recommended for lovers of opera.
Published on 3 Jan 2008 by D. Neill
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