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Tony Palmer's epic film was made in 1982/3 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wagner's death. Filmed in 200 locations throughout Europe, many where the actual historical events took place, with a team from 19 different countries, the entire production was completed in less than a year.
Sadly Wagner was to be Richard Burton's last major role, but the stellar cast - including Laurence Oliver, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, László Gállfi, Gemma Craven, Ekkehardt Schall, Richard Pasco, Marthe Keller, Gabriel Byrne, Franco Nero, Ronald Pickup, Corin Redgrave, Cyril Cusack, Prunella Scales, Andrew Cruickshank, Joan Greenwood, Liza Goddard, Bill Fraser, Arthur Lowe, Joan Plowright, with composer Sir William Walton in a cameo role - assembled partly because of him.
Only now is the film being released on DVD as its director Tony Palmer wishes it to be viewed. Previously it's been seen in badly edited versions and been made available on DVD (reproduced from poor-quality VHSs) with sub-standard pictures and sound. Finally, here is the restored presentation as it was originally edited by Tony Palmer in its complete 7 hours 46 minutes duration, issued in wide-screen, re-mastered in Hi-Definition. The music, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti with singers including Dame Gwyneth Jones and Peter Hofmann, has never sounded better, and the astonishing images of cameramen Vittorio Storaro and Nic Knowland have never looked better.
The script by Charles Wood remains a miracle of historical compression and accuracy, given that Wagner himself was an appalling fantasist and the truth often hard to ascertain. And Richard Burton, who towers above the production, reminds us what a great actor he was. This is a fitting tribute to his - and to Wagner's - genius.
"One of the most beautiful motion pictures in history" - Opera News
"This film is one of the truly great experiences of the cinema." - The Guardian
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I had high hopes for this release. Who could not after reading the following?
'Only now is the film being released on DVD as its director Tony Palmer wishes it to be viewed. Previously it's been seen in badly edited versions and been made available on DVD (reproduced from poor-quality VHSs) with sub-standard pictures and sound. Finally, here is the restored presentation as it was originally edited by Tony Palmer in its complete 7 hours 46 minutes duration, issued in wide-screen, re-mastered in Hi-Definition. The music, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti with singers including Dame Gwyneth Jones and Peter Hofmann, has never sounded better, and the astonishing images of cameramen Vittorio Storaro and Nic Knowland have never looked better.'
Sadly, the above is absolute crap! If anything, this is the worst edition of Wagner available!
Picture quality: To be remastered in Hi-Definition is meaningless if not actually shot in Hi-Definition. There has been no digital clean-up of the print. It is the worst print I've ever seen of Wagner. The DVD picture itself suffers from a strange 'jerkiness' at times, probably down to the fact that the DVD is rendered in NTSC format and there is a strange blue 'bleed' effect that creeps in from time to time (the shadow on Pfistermeister's face as he peers out of the train window after King Ludwig and Paul for example) and the scratches in certain scenes on Disc 1 are atrocious. I've never seen such a damaged print of this epic film. 3/10
The edit: Strangely, I can't see a huge difference, just a few hideous flaws and one utterly inexcusable one. The film feels more structured and there is more of a sense of story being told, so if this is Palmer's definitive cut, then it's worth getting hold of for that reason. I have yet to compare this edit against the 2005 Chronicle release and the 9 hour 4 disc Dutch release (Don't hold your breath, I also have a life) but - and it's a very large 'but' - Disc 1 has one of the worst edits I have ever seen. About 15 minutes in, when Wagner's band are playing Rienzi and Minna is dancing as she walks - just before the cut to the 'Dresden rally' sequence - Palmer, stupidly to the point of my almost sending him a personal email voicing my disgust, slots in a 3 second shot of a digital photograph of the exterior of the scene of the rally. It appears, looking pixelated, with a white border that looks horrifically out of place. Prior to that, I noticed that Palmer had inserted some newly filmed footage, after the credits, when we first meet Wagner and Minna. Despite being shot on HD, it strangely worked, if utterly unecessary! No other new footage appears elsewhere on the 3 discs. 5/10 (for structure)
The Sound: It's in stereo. It's okay, but some of the music still suffers from 'wobble' and damages a few scenes. As with every other version of Wagner, it's atrociously dubbed at times with lots of ADR at different audio levels and plenty of 'lip flap'. 6/10
The Extras: Subtitles, scene selection. Apart from those - NADA.
And that's it. That's as good as it will ever get from Palmer for his masterpiece. Is it the version to buy, then? Well, unless my copy is a flawed edition (I doubt it) then it's a resounding 'no' I'm afraid. And it annoys me because I contacted Palmer years ago about an official DVD release of this film. He said it was unlikely because of rights issues. Between that communication and now, two other versions have been released onto DVD, and both are better than this official version, which should have been a masterpiece to equal the film, for its flaws, which are forgivable, unlike this DVD.
In my opinion, THE version to get is the now hard to find Chronicle/Metrodome 2005 release. The picture is crisp and bright and it also runs 7hr 46 minutes. The downside is that it is in 4:3 aspect ratio and the packaging is rather cheap, but it's a small price to pay for a pristine edition of this film.
Overall: 9/10 for the film, 4/10 for the DVD
'Only now is the film being released on DVD as its director Tony Palmer wishes it to be viewed. Previously it's been seen in badly edited versions and been made available on DVD (reproduced from poor-quality VHSs) with sub-standard pictures and sound. Finally, here is the restored presentation as it was originally edited by Tony Palmer in its complete 7 hours 46 minutes duration, issued in wide-screen, re-mastered in Hi-Definition. The music, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Georg Solti with singers including Dame Gwyneth Jones and Peter Hofmann, has never sounded better, and the astonishing images of cameramen Vittorio Storaro and Nic Knowland have never looked better.'
Sadly, the above is absolute crap! If anything, this is the worst edition of Wagner available!
Picture quality: To be remastered in Hi-Definition is meaningless if not actually shot in Hi-Definition. There has been no digital clean-up of the print. It is the worst print I've ever seen of Wagner. The DVD picture itself suffers from a strange 'jerkiness' at times, probably down to the fact that the DVD is rendered in NTSC format and there is a strange blue 'bleed' effect that creeps in from time to time (the shadow on Pfistermeister's face as he peers out of the train window after King Ludwig and Paul for example) and the scratches in certain scenes on Disc 1 are atrocious. I've never seen such a damaged print of this epic film. 3/10
The edit: Strangely, I can't see a huge difference, just a few hideous flaws and one utterly inexcusable one. The film feels more structured and there is more of a sense of story being told, so if this is Palmer's definitive cut, then it's worth getting hold of for that reason. I have yet to compare this edit against the 2005 Chronicle release and the 9 hour 4 disc Dutch release (Don't hold your breath, I also have a life) but - and it's a very large 'but' - Disc 1 has one of the worst edits I have ever seen. About 15 minutes in, when Wagner's band are playing Rienzi and Minna is dancing as she walks - just before the cut to the 'Dresden rally' sequence - Palmer, stupidly to the point of my almost sending him a personal email voicing my disgust, slots in a 3 second shot of a digital photograph of the exterior of the scene of the rally. It appears, looking pixelated, with a white border that looks horrifically out of place. Prior to that, I noticed that Palmer had inserted some newly filmed footage, after the credits, when we first meet Wagner and Minna. Despite being shot on HD, it strangely worked, if utterly unecessary! No other new footage appears elsewhere on the 3 discs. 5/10 (for structure)
The Sound: It's in stereo. It's okay, but some of the music still suffers from 'wobble' and damages a few scenes. As with every other version of Wagner, it's atrociously dubbed at times with lots of ADR at different audio levels and plenty of 'lip flap'. 6/10
The Extras: Subtitles, scene selection. Apart from those - NADA.
And that's it. That's as good as it will ever get from Palmer for his masterpiece. Is it the version to buy, then? Well, unless my copy is a flawed edition (I doubt it) then it's a resounding 'no' I'm afraid. And it annoys me because I contacted Palmer years ago about an official DVD release of this film. He said it was unlikely because of rights issues. Between that communication and now, two other versions have been released onto DVD, and both are better than this official version, which should have been a masterpiece to equal the film, for its flaws, which are forgivable, unlike this DVD.
In my opinion, THE version to get is the now hard to find Chronicle/Metrodome 2005 release. The picture is crisp and bright and it also runs 7hr 46 minutes. The downside is that it is in 4:3 aspect ratio and the packaging is rather cheap, but it's a small price to pay for a pristine edition of this film.
Overall: 9/10 for the film, 4/10 for the DVD
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Based upon the information given out about this DVD I was really looking forward to it, but maybe I didn't read it carefully enough.
I found the film a great disappointmwent. Far too little music, too much concentration on Wagner's love life, and on occasion some scenes which didn't make much sense.
Of course, visually it is a treat but Wagner as a young man played by the middle-aged Burton looked old and unconvincing.
I shall never watch it again and although I have offered to give it away, free, to around a dozen people, I've had no takers.
I wonder what the version played by Alan Badel, (who looks like Wagner),is like?
I found the film a great disappointmwent. Far too little music, too much concentration on Wagner's love life, and on occasion some scenes which didn't make much sense.
Of course, visually it is a treat but Wagner as a young man played by the middle-aged Burton looked old and unconvincing.
I shall never watch it again and although I have offered to give it away, free, to around a dozen people, I've had no takers.
I wonder what the version played by Alan Badel, (who looks like Wagner),is like?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
4 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Pretentious, overblown, embarrassingly dated and stupefyingly boring
10 Nov 2011
Format:DVD
This is over 7 hours and comes on 3 discs. I'll admit something up front: I only got through the first disc. I really did want to like this. On paper, it looks like it should be fabulous: colourful historical character, great actors, great music, shot on location, etc. But I cannot bring myself to watch the rest of it. If you feel that disqualifies me from providing a review, I guess you should read no further. I wish you luck with your own viewing. For the rest of you, I am faced with a dilemma. Just how much detail should I provide, so that you don't think I'm simply an uneducated moron who is unable to appreciate "art". By the same token I don't want to waste too much more of my life on this film. So I've decided to just list out some of the problems with this film, rather than put them altogether into a cogent, well-structured argument. You can take from it what you will:
- The portrayal of Wagner as a spendthrift, vain, self important, emotionally cold, nasty bully is so relentless, that it quickly gets tiring. There is no contrast, no light and darkness. He treats everyone with scorn and contempt. So much so it's hard to imagine anyone loving him, or any woman wanting to have an affair with him. Whatever his faults, I find the portrayal hard to believe. And the allusions to Hitler in some of the Dresden scenes are altogether embarrassing and over the top.
- A lot of the scenes drag, much longer than is necessary, long after they've made the point they were trying to make, like the endless scenes of Wagner and Minna talking in their sitting room. And then we are presented with another scene that is essentially making the same point, but in another context. I realise some repetition is necessary to get across particular character flaws, but there's no need to beat your audience over the head with a sledgehammer. How many scenes do we need to establish his spendthrift manner? His German nationalism? His cruel treatment of his wife? Some judicious editing would have been nice. Making an "epic" doesn't mean that you just stuff everything you want into a movie, and exercise no critical judgment.
- There are a lot of long-winded speeches (Wagner talking at length, railing against anyone and everyone, with people patiently listening), or outright weird scenes and dialogue in the style of European art house, that just annoyed the hell out of me, e.g. where people suddenly cry out, or say something absurd. Like Wager standing in a crowded room at a function, screaming out, unnaturally, something like, "Listen to me, damn you! Damn You! Listen to me! I'm Wagner!" Okay, I get it, it shows he was desperate to be heard, that he felt like people weren't listening to him etc. But it comes across as clumsy and gauche. In another set of scenes, Wagner kept waking up from a nightmare and screaming: "Nothing to do with her! Nothing at all to do with Mathilde Wesendonck!" (his muse and potential lover). Okay, once I can forgive, but the scene repeated over and over? In another scene, also repeated ad nauseam, we see a dwarf blacksmith forging the famed "ring" in front of a fire. Speaking off which, there is one very odd scene where Wagner is talking to one his dalliances on a French beach and says, full of gravity, "Where is there a blacksmith? Where? I need to hear the sound of metal being struck. I must learn to forge metal." To which the lover responds, "I must learn to walk." They then walk along the beach, and she says, "Richard, your words, your ideas, they fill me with confusion...love!" He says with gravitas, "Yes, love." And she shrieks, "I give it to you freely!" all to the swelling strains of Lohengrin. I laughed out loud.
- The script is full of such purple prose, with people talking in a manner, and stringing words together, that is hard to take seriously. There's also a problem with Burton's delivery. It's like a theatre piece, as if he's on stage in some kind of Shakespearean drama. I just didn't buy it. It felt like I was watching an actor delivering a particularly bad script. It's as if he thought that every word uttered by Wagner was important, and that Wagner likewise must have thought that every word he uttered was important, even if he was just asking for toast and marmalade.
- Even when Wagner is quoting something that Wagner actually wrote, like his poem Siegfried, the extract is way too long. Okay, I guess the filmmaker wanted to establish just why it is that everyone in the scene is falling asleep or snoring, but do we really need that much to get it?
- Some of the scene progressions are unbelievably stupid and clichéd. Like Minna telling Wagner "I hate noise...bangs" just before an explosion signalling the start of revolution in Dresden. To which she responds by dramatically turning her head and saying "My God. It has begun." Really?
- Some scenes and relationships with individuals are poorly set up and explained, like the love affair with Jessie Laussot. We're left with no explanation as to how this relationship came about (save for the ridiculous scene on the beach mentioned above), or what motivated Wagner other than a desire to get his rocks off.
- There's an awful sex scene, that includes a close-up, full-frontal (and totally unnecessary) shot of a woman's vagina, in the same art house style, replete with bushy, matted, curly orange pubic hair. Honestly.
- The film has a narrator. That's fine - the narrator is used to disclose elements of Wagner's story, and to explain some of the inter-relationships, but the tone is often the kind of tone that is used to tell bedtime stories to children. I found it cloying and annoying.
- Burton is way too old for the earlier scenes. I know, he was a great actor - yaddah yaddah - but it just doesn't work. It'd be like watching my grandfather trying to play me at 40. The problem is that we have an actor of advanced years trying to play a middle-aged Wagner.
- Some of the longer scenes start with music in the background, then the music suddenly cuts out when there is a shot change within the same scene. It's jarring and completely unexplained. I can only assume that when it was edited for television, the scene was broken up with an ad?
- Solti's conducting is a disappointment. Or maybe the sound just doesn't cut it these days? I was underwhelmed in any event.
Okay, I'll stop there. I think you get the picture. I rarely cannot watch something through to the end, but this qualifies for that distinction. Maybe in another era, as a television mini series, this might have worked. But not today.
- The portrayal of Wagner as a spendthrift, vain, self important, emotionally cold, nasty bully is so relentless, that it quickly gets tiring. There is no contrast, no light and darkness. He treats everyone with scorn and contempt. So much so it's hard to imagine anyone loving him, or any woman wanting to have an affair with him. Whatever his faults, I find the portrayal hard to believe. And the allusions to Hitler in some of the Dresden scenes are altogether embarrassing and over the top.
- A lot of the scenes drag, much longer than is necessary, long after they've made the point they were trying to make, like the endless scenes of Wagner and Minna talking in their sitting room. And then we are presented with another scene that is essentially making the same point, but in another context. I realise some repetition is necessary to get across particular character flaws, but there's no need to beat your audience over the head with a sledgehammer. How many scenes do we need to establish his spendthrift manner? His German nationalism? His cruel treatment of his wife? Some judicious editing would have been nice. Making an "epic" doesn't mean that you just stuff everything you want into a movie, and exercise no critical judgment.
- There are a lot of long-winded speeches (Wagner talking at length, railing against anyone and everyone, with people patiently listening), or outright weird scenes and dialogue in the style of European art house, that just annoyed the hell out of me, e.g. where people suddenly cry out, or say something absurd. Like Wager standing in a crowded room at a function, screaming out, unnaturally, something like, "Listen to me, damn you! Damn You! Listen to me! I'm Wagner!" Okay, I get it, it shows he was desperate to be heard, that he felt like people weren't listening to him etc. But it comes across as clumsy and gauche. In another set of scenes, Wagner kept waking up from a nightmare and screaming: "Nothing to do with her! Nothing at all to do with Mathilde Wesendonck!" (his muse and potential lover). Okay, once I can forgive, but the scene repeated over and over? In another scene, also repeated ad nauseam, we see a dwarf blacksmith forging the famed "ring" in front of a fire. Speaking off which, there is one very odd scene where Wagner is talking to one his dalliances on a French beach and says, full of gravity, "Where is there a blacksmith? Where? I need to hear the sound of metal being struck. I must learn to forge metal." To which the lover responds, "I must learn to walk." They then walk along the beach, and she says, "Richard, your words, your ideas, they fill me with confusion...love!" He says with gravitas, "Yes, love." And she shrieks, "I give it to you freely!" all to the swelling strains of Lohengrin. I laughed out loud.
- The script is full of such purple prose, with people talking in a manner, and stringing words together, that is hard to take seriously. There's also a problem with Burton's delivery. It's like a theatre piece, as if he's on stage in some kind of Shakespearean drama. I just didn't buy it. It felt like I was watching an actor delivering a particularly bad script. It's as if he thought that every word uttered by Wagner was important, and that Wagner likewise must have thought that every word he uttered was important, even if he was just asking for toast and marmalade.
- Even when Wagner is quoting something that Wagner actually wrote, like his poem Siegfried, the extract is way too long. Okay, I guess the filmmaker wanted to establish just why it is that everyone in the scene is falling asleep or snoring, but do we really need that much to get it?
- Some of the scene progressions are unbelievably stupid and clichéd. Like Minna telling Wagner "I hate noise...bangs" just before an explosion signalling the start of revolution in Dresden. To which she responds by dramatically turning her head and saying "My God. It has begun." Really?
- Some scenes and relationships with individuals are poorly set up and explained, like the love affair with Jessie Laussot. We're left with no explanation as to how this relationship came about (save for the ridiculous scene on the beach mentioned above), or what motivated Wagner other than a desire to get his rocks off.
- There's an awful sex scene, that includes a close-up, full-frontal (and totally unnecessary) shot of a woman's vagina, in the same art house style, replete with bushy, matted, curly orange pubic hair. Honestly.
- The film has a narrator. That's fine - the narrator is used to disclose elements of Wagner's story, and to explain some of the inter-relationships, but the tone is often the kind of tone that is used to tell bedtime stories to children. I found it cloying and annoying.
- Burton is way too old for the earlier scenes. I know, he was a great actor - yaddah yaddah - but it just doesn't work. It'd be like watching my grandfather trying to play me at 40. The problem is that we have an actor of advanced years trying to play a middle-aged Wagner.
- Some of the longer scenes start with music in the background, then the music suddenly cuts out when there is a shot change within the same scene. It's jarring and completely unexplained. I can only assume that when it was edited for television, the scene was broken up with an ad?
- Solti's conducting is a disappointment. Or maybe the sound just doesn't cut it these days? I was underwhelmed in any event.
Okay, I'll stop there. I think you get the picture. I rarely cannot watch something through to the end, but this qualifies for that distinction. Maybe in another era, as a television mini series, this might have worked. But not today.
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