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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
From the rousing opening to the desperate and tender finale, this is perhaps Verdi's most highly charged, sweeping score: a complete masterpiece. It's a natural project for Zeffirelli, who has filmed both Shakespeare (Romeo & Juliet; Taming of the Shrew) and Opera (La traviata) successfully. And he pulls out all the stops here.
His storytelling is lucid, if sometimes overstressed, with dreams and flashbacks, but led by the music.
The only reason this isn't awarded five stars is the regettable decision to miss out the "Willow Song" in the final act. It's there in Shakespeare, also in Verdi's opera. It was recorded and issed on the soundtrack cd, exquisitely sung by the divine Ricciarelli. And yet Zeffirelli felt he knew better than all these people and removed it because it "held up the drama". Personally I see it as an essential "calm before the storm". With it, the film would have been perfection. Without it, it's still very good, but fatally decifient in that one respect.
Domingo is magnificent, the greatest Otello of his generation, no question, with Ricciarelli the most lovely and radiant Desdemona imaginable. Diaz at Iago is fine and the whole production is eye-poppingly sumptuous, as you would expect from Zeffirelli.
For the complete opera, try the live performances with Domingo - the Covent Garden production with te Kanewa is pretty good.
His storytelling is lucid, if sometimes overstressed, with dreams and flashbacks, but led by the music.
The only reason this isn't awarded five stars is the regettable decision to miss out the "Willow Song" in the final act. It's there in Shakespeare, also in Verdi's opera. It was recorded and issed on the soundtrack cd, exquisitely sung by the divine Ricciarelli. And yet Zeffirelli felt he knew better than all these people and removed it because it "held up the drama". Personally I see it as an essential "calm before the storm". With it, the film would have been perfection. Without it, it's still very good, but fatally decifient in that one respect.
Domingo is magnificent, the greatest Otello of his generation, no question, with Ricciarelli the most lovely and radiant Desdemona imaginable. Diaz at Iago is fine and the whole production is eye-poppingly sumptuous, as you would expect from Zeffirelli.
For the complete opera, try the live performances with Domingo - the Covent Garden production with te Kanewa is pretty good.
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This film of Verdi's Otello has an awful lot going for it. Ably led by the masterful conducting of Lorin Maazel, the performance enshrines marvellous portrayals of Otello and Desdemona by Domingo and Ricciarelli who deliver performances which both vocally and on the screen often touch greatness. With the typically sumptuous sets of Zeffirelli, the film is often quite memorable (for example, at the unforgettable close of the first act).
Yet, as previous reviewers have pointed out, it is indeed a pity that the director chose to cut the Willow Song. That said, with a running time of 1hr 58Mins, Zeffirelli wields the axe on Verdi's score with disconcerting ease, with the consequence that the poetic beauty of Boito's libretto and the dramatic sweep of Verdi's music are all but destroyed. A snippet here, a few pages there, barely a scene passes without Zeffirelli's meddling; and it's not for dramatic continuity either, as ridiculously, the director insists on inserting two ballet sequences into the action midway throught the first act and after the arrival of Venetian ambassador in Act III. The music, I believe, may have been cribbed from one of Verdi's other operas, but sits uncomfortably within the sublime score of Otello and adds nothing to the dramatic credibility of the action.
Consequently, this is not a film for someone who loves Verdi's opera. As an introduction to Otello, Verdi or even the genre of opera itself, I cannot think of anything more seductive or appropriate: maybe this was the audience that Zeffirelli was targetting. However, if you are remotely familiar with Otello, I suspect that you will be disappointed with this film, more disconcerted by the director's habitual butchering of the score than seduced by the undeniably beautiful film sequences. No, if you insist upon a film of Otello, I would point the reader in the direction of Herbert von Karajan's early 1970's effort, undeniably flawed and with minor cuts of its own, but with even finer performances by Mirella Freni as Desdemona and Jon Vickers as Otello than here and accompanied by the incomparably grand Berlin PO, it is an altogether more faithful rendering of this wonderful opera and the more moving for that. However, if it is Domingo that you want, then the televised transmissions with Levine from The Met, Muti from La Scala and, to a slightly lesser extent, Solti at Covent Garden, are all superior to what's on offer here.
Overall, I'm glad to have seen this film, but I love Verdi's Otello too much to ever want to see Zeffirelli's Otello ever again.
Yet, as previous reviewers have pointed out, it is indeed a pity that the director chose to cut the Willow Song. That said, with a running time of 1hr 58Mins, Zeffirelli wields the axe on Verdi's score with disconcerting ease, with the consequence that the poetic beauty of Boito's libretto and the dramatic sweep of Verdi's music are all but destroyed. A snippet here, a few pages there, barely a scene passes without Zeffirelli's meddling; and it's not for dramatic continuity either, as ridiculously, the director insists on inserting two ballet sequences into the action midway throught the first act and after the arrival of Venetian ambassador in Act III. The music, I believe, may have been cribbed from one of Verdi's other operas, but sits uncomfortably within the sublime score of Otello and adds nothing to the dramatic credibility of the action.
Consequently, this is not a film for someone who loves Verdi's opera. As an introduction to Otello, Verdi or even the genre of opera itself, I cannot think of anything more seductive or appropriate: maybe this was the audience that Zeffirelli was targetting. However, if you are remotely familiar with Otello, I suspect that you will be disappointed with this film, more disconcerted by the director's habitual butchering of the score than seduced by the undeniably beautiful film sequences. No, if you insist upon a film of Otello, I would point the reader in the direction of Herbert von Karajan's early 1970's effort, undeniably flawed and with minor cuts of its own, but with even finer performances by Mirella Freni as Desdemona and Jon Vickers as Otello than here and accompanied by the incomparably grand Berlin PO, it is an altogether more faithful rendering of this wonderful opera and the more moving for that. However, if it is Domingo that you want, then the televised transmissions with Levine from The Met, Muti from La Scala and, to a slightly lesser extent, Solti at Covent Garden, are all superior to what's on offer here.
Overall, I'm glad to have seen this film, but I love Verdi's Otello too much to ever want to see Zeffirelli's Otello ever again.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Verdi: Otello
As a DVD this is OK except for the subtitles which are the worst I have ever seen.I switched to French and they were just as bad. The movie is over-elaborate and cut badly with little or no continuity. The singing is excellent and is reproduced well, but as a combination of sound and vision it just does not work. The DVD is very low price but still not worth the purchase price
As a DVD this is OK except for the subtitles which are the worst I have ever seen.I switched to French and they were just as bad. The movie is over-elaborate and cut badly with little or no continuity. The singing is excellent and is reproduced well, but as a combination of sound and vision it just does not work. The DVD is very low price but still not worth the purchase price
Most Recent Customer Reviews
More film than opera
This does not work for me at all The cinematogrophy makes the opera story and music subservient. The singing and singers are passable but do not have the immediacy of a stage... Read more
Published 3 months ago by I. Zaneres
not-so-new at opera
After enjoying Rigoletto I felt more confident ordering another Opera DVD and wasn't disappointed with this one. I particularly enjoyed Placido Domingo's performance.
Published 9 months ago by mausi1
Review
Zeffirelli is what it is. Placido Domingo brown painted. Katia Ricciarelli unable to act in front of a camera. A cult movie.
Published 10 months ago by Mag
Wonderful and Desperate
Why do we love this desperate story? Shakespeare's play, Verdi's opera: both are so popular. I love this opera film. Read more
Published 13 months ago by S. Johnson
Otello
My favourite opera, even though I always end up in tears, and Placido Domingo as Otello is brilliant. Wonderful production. Well worth buying.
Published 19 months ago by J. Staveley
Otello (DVD2005) Placido Domingo/Katia Riccarelli
A very dramatic storm at sea opens this film, designed and Directed by Franco Zeffirelli. A victorious Otello salutes from the deck, and Desdemona appears on the ramparts of the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Derek Vernon-morris
In spite of the gaps, very enjoyable
Starting with the negatives which knocked off 1 star: I don't bewail the 'Willow Song' as much as the cuts that deprived us of subtle the way Iago manipulated Othello from noble... Read more
Published 22 months ago by E. WOOLSTON
Otello the Zeferelli movie
This was a stunning movie at the time and still holds its own with the music, the settings and direction. The singing of Placido Domingo and Katia Riciarelli is just superb. Read more
Published on 6 April 2010 by Bennie Bookworm
Very fine Opera
Excellent production of one of the most famous operas. Can not believe that anyone would not enjoy it.
Published on 16 Nov 2009 by Mr. Christopher Lansdowne
Otello
this is a great opera, strong characters, superb music and wonderful voices. Placido Domingo is not in my opinion the best of the modern tenors, but he is probably the best actor. Read more
Published on 4 July 2009 by Mr Kiplin
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