-
By Instrumentation
Books on Music
-
-
-
Accessories
|
|
|
|
| 
 enlarge | Director: Harold Prince
Actors: Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Rigg, Len Cariou, Lesley-anne Down, Hermione Gingold
Studio: Henstooth Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $18.07
You Save: $6.88 (28%)
New (26) Used (6) from $18.07
Avg. Customer Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 32727
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 120
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: HEND4108D
UPC: 759731410823
EAN: 0759731410823
ASIN: B00003CWT3
Theatrical Release Date: March 8, 1978
Release Date: June 5, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed items direct from the Studios. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Quick International Airmail!
|
| Customer Reviews:
Could Have Been Worse But I Don't Know How April 20, 2004
10 out of 21 found this review helpful
I saw this in the theater in 1978 after having seen it on stage in its national tour. What a disappointment! When the line "If she'd only been fat" was sung, the audience laughed. Liz was pretty plump, and she couldn't sing. She slaughtered "Send In the Clowns". Hal Prince elmininated the quintet and all of their wonderful songs. What was he thinking? I did enjoy the rewrite of "The Glamourous Life" and some new lyrics for "Weekend In the Country". All in all, though, the best part of the evening was when it ended.
 such a disappointment February 22, 2004
7 out of 17 found this review helpful
I knew the score, but had never seen A Little Night Music, when I discovered this video at my library. I was so disappointed with the majority of the film. There is somewhere a filmed stage version of a New York City Opera production that is much much MUCH better. I was bored with the movie, and sometimes I wondered why I was even bothering to watch it. It is terrible.
 Some of Sondheim's best music... July 25, 2003
25 out of 30 found this review helpful
No Sondheim fan should be without this video. I know the arrows have been sent Elizabeth Taylor's way for this performance (And Singing!) but she's good in this role. Her singing voice is not supposed to be great as the role was written for Glynis Johns [Mrs Banks in Mary Poppins] Maybe a little unbelievable but certainly not bad. All of the acting appears a little more "stagey" than most movies should be but you're seeing a lot of legendary performances. Diana Rigg is excellent as is Lesley-Anne Down [both at the top of the beauty curve in this film]... and to miss the greats like Hermione Gingold and several others from the original Broadway cast (including the original Sweeney Todd, Len Cariou) would be a sin! All of the music is written in variations of 3/4 time so if you love a waltz, you'll love this movie.
P.S. If the PBS version is ever released, get that too. It is the closest thing to the Broadway version so you can get an idea of what it's supposed to look like on stage. That particular version is a little heavier on singing ability than acting ability
ONE OF THE WORST MOVIE MUSICALS EVER MADE! March 24, 2002
40 out of 64 found this review helpful
Based on Ingmar Bergman's great sex comedy, Smiles of a Summer Night, the stage version of A Little Night Music remains one of the greatest musicals ever written by the genius Stephen Sondheim. The production broadcast live from Lincoln Center in the 80s starring Sally Ann Howes was lovely, if somewhat overwrought. What everyone seems to forget about this, due largely to its beautifully lilting operetta score, is that the story is really about sex under the birch trees.On film, the story is a complete disaster. To begin with, the setting has been moved from Sweden, the land of the Midnight Sun, to Vienna to coincide with its operetta styling.
The whole theme, similar to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, is negated. The screenplay further cuts the role of the Grandmother, an aged coutesan wise in the ways of love, played so deliciously by Hermoine Gingold, to almost nothing, and takes away the card game which sets up so much of the background material. A lot of talent is wasted in this film, and as lovely as Elizabeth Taylor is as Desiree Armfeldt, she should have been dubbed, because she positively ruins "Send in the Clowns." (Listen to Barbara Cook sing it on her Carnegie Hall album). Because Harold Prince is so dreadful a filmmaker (in spite of his theatre and opera success) he destroys the final scene, in which the summer night smiles three times, the third time on Gingold as the old who knows too much. A long shot takes away the visual sequence in which we learn that she's died. What a pity that such a beautiful show should make so dreadful a movie musical. Do yourself a favor: get the delightful Ingmar Bergman comedy instead!
 "CLOWNPLAY" February 27, 2002
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
BASED on Ingmar Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" [according to rumor Sondheim wanted 'Ring Round the Moon' couldn't get permission] - this is the merry mix-up [the musical is lighter than the original movie] of a mis-matched May/December marriage, a semi-suicidal son, a best friend's 'duel-obsessive' husband, a beautiful actress, a young love child .... and an elderly Grand dame who seems to know all!!! ADD a 'week-end' in the Country - and you're there.It's a well-spirited movie, but doesn't quite leave it's mark except for Dame Diana Rigg ["Every Day A Little Death"] as Miss Taylor's Best Friend! Stellar performance. The rest plods.
Excellent Art direction and costumes though.
|
|
|
| |
