Madame Butterfly [VHS]
by Fr?d?ric Mitterrand
![Madame Butterfly [VHS]](/images/Madame-Butterfly-VHS-630442065X-L.jpg)
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Product details
Actor: Jing Ma Fan, Ning Liang, Richard Cowan, Richard Troxell, Ying HuangDirector: Fr?d?ric Mitterrand
Writer: Fr?d?ric Mitterrand
Producer: Ahmed Baha Attia
Producer: Daniel Toscan du Plantier
Producer: Karima Ladjimi
Producer: Pierre-Olivier Bardet
Writer: Giuseppe Giacosa
Writer: Luigi Illica
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Subtitled)
Format: Classical, Color, NTSC, Subtitled
Running Time: 134 minutes
Release Date: 1997-04-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Studio: Sony Pictures
VHS Movie Reviews of Madame Butterfly [VHS]
Movie Review: Huang and Troxell create a magical "Madame Butterfly"
Summary: 5 Stars
Martin Scorcese's production of "Madame Butterfly" is truly stunning. Once I saw it I had to own it. It is a DVD that you will want to watch over and over. Huang and Troxell are perfect for their parts both visually and vocally. They both turn in very believable performances. Both their acting and vocal renditions leave little more to be desired. The setting and background are lavishly colorful.Movie Review: Most excellent rendition
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen several versions of Madame Butterfly, both in person and on film. I can say that this is truly one of if not the best presentation. I was pleasantly surprised. The acting is top notch and the photography is crisp even on a 42" screen. The timing put you into the scene as if you are part of the play. The costumes are realistic and not stage egad rated or out of the time period.
The basic story is of an U.S. Lieutenant Pinkerton of the navy, stationed in Japan. He is used to a girl in every port. The 15-year-old girl in this port however gives up her home and religion to become his American wife. She is due for an unbelievable shock when Pinkerton returns to Japan after a sojourn to America.
Everyone looks the part and sings very well.
Ying Huang: Cio-Cio-San
Richard Troxell: Pinkerton
Ning Liang: Suzuki
Richard Cowan: Sharpless
Jing Ma Fan: Goro
Christopheren N?mura: Prince Yamadori
Constance Hauman: Kate Pinkerton
Directed by
Fr?d?ric Mitterrand
Writers
Libretto
Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica
Adaptation
Fr?d?ric Mitterrand
Original Music
Giacomo Puccini (music by)
Cinematographers
Philippe Welt
Editors
Luc Barnier
Casting Directors
Isabelle Partiot
Production Designers
Mich?le Abb?-Vannier
Ta?eb Jallouli?
Puccini - Madama Butterfly
Movie Review: A Worthy Butterfly On It's Own Terms
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't believe in comparing stage performances of operas with filmed versions and this Butterfly is a very good example why. Film allows so much more latitude for obvious reasons yet the amazing thing is, directors don't often take advantage of it. In this version, director, Ponelle, does.
He has used a "verismo" style that brings much credibility and power to the story. Wonderful realistic sets and settings with a truly Asian cast including a beautiful Asian (Chinese) girl to play the tragic Japanese "Cio Cio San" (Butterfly) starts the whole piece on a level way beyond any staged performance, yet it also takes nothing away from them either.
Vocally, it is powerful enough yet it is obvious that without the benefit of "filmed recorded sound track" the heroine would hardly have the vocal power necessary to carry the role in a stage presentation- yet in this, it works well- almost brilliantly. One could quibble about some small breaks in continuity here and there and some might find the "flying rellies" a bit of film latitude gone a step too far- but that is a minor point. Of far more significance to purists, might be the archival film footage of Tokyo that is shown during the Humming Chorus. It is interesting but a wrench away from what is traditionally a very moving few minutes in the opera.
That aside, this is definitely a Butterfly that belongs in any opera lover's collection- to sit right alongside one of the excellent staged presentations. In short, it stands clearly on its own and is easy to appreciate over and over again.
Movie Review: The lead singer looks Chinese not Japanese
Summary: 3 Stars
Puccini's opera may be the origin of the "Ugly American"?
The music sounds like familiar Italian opera in style
and some of the songs have had a lot of play in the last century.
The stagging and casting except for the lead singer are very good,
but the poor lead singer just looks very Chinese ( more than most western
singers look western?).
The levitating Japanese priest uncle was very strange for me:
I don't remember that being part of the opera. The Japanese could have shown this opera to get up spirit before a battle in WWII?
Since the history of the British Empire suggests that they were more involved in such double dealings as this,
why did Puccini choose an American in Japan?
Movie Review: Madama Butterfly
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an amzing production.
The leads have incredible chemistry and marvelous voices.
Don't miss this!
Summary of Madame Butterfly [VHS]
Like the finest of film scores with its fluid beauty and succession of intensely romantic tunes, Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly has a surprisingly cinematic feel. In 1995 director Frederic Mitterand exploited this quality of the story, exposing a young woman's disillusionment against a backdrop of cultural chasms. Shot on location, with Tunisia doubling convincingly as a turn-of-the-century Nagasaki, this Butterfly shines with fragile beauty. The house becomes a brilliantly used set, at once airy and full of the scent of flowers and at the same time a cage for the trapped woman. Archive footage of bygone Nagasaki is used skillfully to underline the distance between the 15-year-old bride and Pinkerton.Purists may prefer a more traditionally robust, stage-bound Butterfly, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more visually heartbreaking interpretation. Chinese soprano Ying Huang doesn't rock the rafters with her vocal power; hers is a tender, delicately observed performance. Tenor Richard Troxell's self-seeking Pinkerton is well sung. Overall, this is a haunting cinematic treatment of an enduringly popular opera. --Piers Ford
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