Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet) [VHS]
by Paul Czinner
![Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet) [VHS]](/images/Prokofiev-Romeo-and-Juliet-Royal-Ballet-VHS-6301118251-L.jpg)
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Product details
Actor: David Blair, Desmond Doyle, Julia Farron, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf NureyevDirector: Paul Czinner
Cinematographer: S.D. Onions
Producer: Paul Czinner
Editor: Philip Barnikel
Writer: Kenneth MacMillan
Writer: William Shakespeare
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Classical, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 124 minutes
Release Date: 1991-08-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Kultur Video
Studio: Kultur Video
VHS Movie Reviews of Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet) [VHS]
Movie Review: Rudi & Margot at their best!
Summary: 5 Stars
Now near enough to 40 years old, this production is still glorious. Nureyev is dazzling - check the balcony scene. And while Fonteyn was over 40 when she danced this part, she can still convince us that she is a young girl in love for the first time. And they can still make me cry at the end. Movie Review: This is THE definitive performance
Summary: 5 Stars
Having seen most of the available DVD versions of Romeo and Juliet, I still greatly prefer the more traditional MacMillan choreography, which sticks closely to Prokofiev's original conception in his scoring, to either Nureyev's idiosyncratic 1995 Paris National Opera, with Loudieres and Legris, or Grigorovich's radically revisionist 1988 Bolshoi, with Bessmertnova and Mukhamedov.
I'm not a dancer, and will leave appraisals of technique and skill to other reviewers. I always appreciate Ivy Lin's very perceptive and engaging discussions of many ballet performances, and several other reviewers have added helpful commentary here.
For those who are interested in the music of Prokofiev, conductor John Lanchbery's reading of this score is one of the best and most satisfying ever recorded on either film or CD; for reasons that I've never quite fathomed, Prokofiev often tends to be badly misunderstood by many Russian conductors. (And by all means avoid any Russian attempts at Stravinsky, which in my experience tend to be uniformly uncomprehending.)
Conducting for ballet is always a little tricky - do you adjust the meter and dynamics to suit the choreographer and ballet master, or do you make them adjust to your reading of the score? Here Lanchbery, choreographer Kenneth MacMillan and ballet director Frederick Ashton have worked together with each other and with film director Paul Czinner in perfect harmony to produce the best possible integrated performance of music, dance, acting, and film, of any ballet that I'm aware of.
Yes, acting. As Ms. Lin suggests, Nureyev's sensitivity as an actor is at least as accomplished as his skill as a dancer. Fonteyn magically sheds her years to become 14 years old again, entirely inhabiting rather than 'playing' the role of Juliet.
Pay particular attention to both David Blair as Mercutio and Desmond Doyle as Tybalt. Blair's teasing and mocking demeanor is wonderful throughout, the best on film. Doyle's cold haughty rage, in his every stance and expression, is a wonder to behold. His Tybalt has never been equaled or even approached in any other performance of this ballet. The choreography and the dancers' gestures, large and small, in the entire fight scene are a major highlight of this production and put all other versions to shame.
As many reviewers have suggested, Kultur Video has here (as with all of their releases) simply made a direct transfer to DVD not from Czinner's original film stock but instead from their unfortunately rather grainy VHS print, with no attempt having been made to remaster the video copy. I have no idea who owns the rights to this Embassy Pictures film, but a remastered edition of this irreplaceable performance taken from film stock is desperately needed.
For those viewers who care more about audiovisual clarity - you know who you are - than the quality of the performance itself, I recommend the 2000 Ferri/Corella/La Scala release over the 1984 Ferri/Eagling Royal Ballet, both of which use the traditional MacMillan choreography. The 1984 Royal Ballet is very nicely done; the 2000 La Scala is superb in all respects - dancing, acting, 'chemistry', sets and costumes, orchestral conducting and playing, and filming. But neither can hold a candle to this 1966 Fonteyn/Nureyev performance.
Movie Review: A common man's point of view.
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, having finally gotten a "round tuit" it is time to write a review on Romeo and Juliet, starring Margot Fonteyn and her understudy young Rudolf Nureyev. You see I am using her name first, when most everyone else puts his name first. She was here first and besides, she's a Lady, with a capital "L". I am not going to mention that she was forty-five when this ballet was filmed, and I don't want you to even think about her age. Just think of her as a ballerina dancing the part of a young girl, not quite ready to marry someone she doesn't even know, much less love.
Since this ballet was filmed in 1966, you might think this DVD would be of poor quality, but actually it is very good quality. I have seen ballets filmed in the 21st century which have much poorer quality. The resolution is good, the color is good and the sound is, the sound is, the sound is OK, but Mono. Most filmed versions are going to be in good focus, with good color, etc. It is the transfer to another medium which causes poor quality of reproduction. This IS a filmed version, done at Pinewood Studio, so you won't hear pointe shoes or applause, but you do hear sword play in the fight scenes. The running time is 130 minutes, with the complete score. There is a scene by scene synopsis, biographies of the principles and the composer, plus a history of the music. Oh by the way, they do add some "canned" applause at the end which is sort of tacky.
For once, Nureyev is not made up to be more beautiful than the leading Lady, like he was in their version of Swan Lake. This ballet is good enough to be your only version if you only want one. You certainly need something staring this famous couple, and preferably one in which the male part cannot outshine the female part. There are lots of good R&Js on the market, but none with better dancing, which is why we buy these ballets. This version is loaded with talent besides the principles, like a gorgeous Georgina Parkinson (now with American Ballet Theatre, and recently playing the Queen Mother in their Swan Lake) as Rosaline, Anthony Dowell, Monica Mason, Jennifer Penny ( A beautiful "Manon" with Anthony Dowell, her lover), and Gerd Larson, just to name a few. You won't go wrong, buying this ballet.........Richard.
Movie Review: Silly reviews
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been looking over the multiple silly reviews of this DVD. The fact is that Dame Margot and Nureyev were among the greatest dancers of the past century, they have both sinced passed away, and this so very moving performance of one of Prokofiev's most masterful and human scores is what we are left with. I saw them do it more than once at the Met (Royal Ballet visits) while I was a student at Juilliard, and it was a life changing event. Dame Margot seems a 14 year old in gesture despite the 40+ year old face. If that is hard to see, please look deeper.
So, forget that it is NOT the Chicago Symphony, it is NOT a modern videotaping. I don't focus on unimportant flaws while listening to Cortot play Schumann! Let us thank God for great Art...
Movie Review: Matchless!
Summary: 5 Stars
Fonteyn and Nureyev were terrific actors and matchless dancers. I am sure that there were and are better technicians in some steps, but no two people created the charged atmosphere and told a story better or more beautifully than they did. One can actually feel the joy in the balcony scene, the poignant parting in the bedroom scene (Nureyev's expression is priceless), and the tragic heartbreak in the last scene. Prokoviev's music is unsurpassed,
I do agree that this treasure needs to be digitally re-mastered for another edition. Otherwise, it doesn't get much better than this.
Summary of Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet (Royal Ballet) [VHS]
It's not a stretch to call Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn the most sublime of all dance partners and Sergei Prokofiev the most gifted 20th-century ballet composer. And so it goes without saying that the 1966 film version of the Royal Ballet production of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet featuring Nureyev and Fonteyn as the star-crossed lovers is an absolute must-have for anyone who cares a whit about the art. Director Paul Czinner has made all the right moves, alternating between full shots of the performers with long shots that accentuate how Kenneth MacMillan's fastidious choreography is inexorably linked to the characters, their story, the elaborate sets, and the viewer. Nicholas Georgiadis's costumes are sumptuous without being overdone, the supporting dancers and ensemble are as exquisite as the leads, and John Lanchbery conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with just the right mixture of joviality and tragedy that Prokofiev's classic score needs but doesn't always receive. --Kevin FilipskiClassical Music CDs
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