Comments on: The Magic Flute (2006, Kenneth Branagh) http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/ distinct . . . diverse . . . divisive . . . snobby. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:10:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Albert Sanchez Moreno http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/comment-page-1/#comment-10322 Albert Sanchez Moreno Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:07:18 +0000 http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/#comment-10322 "The Magic Flute" has dialogue because it's supposed to, even in the original German. It's a "singspiel", a type of 18th-century opera that pre-dates operetta. It's sort of like an eighteenth-century musical with operatic voices. There is a surprise revelation, and although I haven't seen this version, I have seen the Ingmar Bergman one, and I have a recording of the opera made in 1962, and if the Branagh film follows the story, the revelation comes at what is supposed to be the end of the first act - that is, about halfway through. It does change the way you look at the characters. However, people who see this film cold turkey probably should familiarize themselves with the story so that they will understand just what's going on. A hint that I can give, without giving away the whole plot, is that one "good person" is revealed to be bad, and vice versa.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10322','Albert Sanchez Moreno'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10322','Albert Sanchez Moreno','\"The Magic Flute\" has dialogue because it\'s supposed to, even in the original German. It\'s a \"singspiel\", a type of 18th-century opera that pre-dates operetta. It\'s sort of like an eighteenth-century musical with operatic voices.\r\n\r\nThere is a surprise revelation, and although I haven\'t seen this version, I have seen the Ingmar Bergman one, and I have a recording of the opera made in 1962, and if the Branagh film follows the story, the revelation comes at what is supposed to be the end of the first act - that is, about halfway through. It does change the way you look at the characters.\r\n\r\nHowever, people who see this film cold turkey probably should familiarize themselves with the story so that they will understand just what\'s going on. A hint that I can give, without giving away the whole plot, is that one \"good person\" is revealed to be bad, and vice versa.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> “The Magic Flute” has dialogue because it’s supposed to, even in the original German. It’s a “singspiel”, a type of 18th-century opera that pre-dates operetta. It’s sort of like an eighteenth-century musical with operatic voices.

There is a surprise revelation, and although I haven’t seen this version, I have seen the Ingmar Bergman one, and I have a recording of the opera made in 1962, and if the Branagh film follows the story, the revelation comes at what is supposed to be the end of the first act — that is, about halfway through. It does change the way you look at the characters.

However, people who see this film cold turkey probably should familiarize themselves with the story so that they will understand just what’s going on. A hint that I can give, without giving away the whole plot, is that one “good person” is revealed to be bad, and vice versa.

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]]> By: Rita Mathsen http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/comment-page-1/#comment-3006 Rita Mathsen Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:07:25 +0000 http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/#comment-3006 There are plenty of film adaptations of opera!! Otello (w/ Lawrence Fishburn as Otello and Ken Branagh as Iago), Carmen (w/Domingo) and many more!!! I think that because the Met is now broadcasting its operas in the theaters live, that somehow they got Branagh's Magic Flute from being shown in this country.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('3006','Rita Mathsen'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('3006','Rita Mathsen','There are plenty of film adaptations of opera!! Otello (w\/ Lawrence Fishburn as Otello and Ken Branagh as Iago), Carmen (w\/Domingo) and many more!!! I think that because the Met is now broadcasting its operas in the theaters live, that somehow they got Branagh\'s Magic Flute from being shown in this country.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> There are plenty of film adaptations of opera!! Otello (w/ Lawrence Fishburn as Otello and Ken Branagh as Iago), Carmen (w/Domingo) and many more!!! I think that because the Met is now broadcasting its operas in the theaters live, that somehow they got Branagh’s Magic Flute from being shown in this country.
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]]> By: uolevi.karrakoski http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/comment-page-1/#comment-2923 uolevi.karrakoski Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:34:18 +0000 http://www.thestopbutton.com/2008/12/02/magic-flute-2006/#comment-2923 You gave useful information concerning The Magic Flute. From the personal point of view, I would like to say that I have been planning to rent the DVD i n question. I think here in Finland nobody has paid attention to the film, which, as far as I know, has not been shown in the film theatres in this country. Generally speaking, people share the idea that a good opera film has not not yet beeen made .In my opinion Losey´s Don Giovanni is, however, a good one. I think the best is Michael Powll´s The Tales of Hoffmann. In this old film(1950) the music has been in a way bettered through certain additions as for example, by loans from Wagner+s Rhi negold. As for the spoken dialogues, the exchange of non-musical words is, after all, included in the the score and libretto of The Magic Flute. Among operas,there are also some other exceptions in this respect, as for instance, Berlioz´s Benedict and Beatrice, in which the so called resitative singing is substituted by spoken word. . Thank you very much for you interesting comments which certainly made one think of other opera films. The point is, however, that many of the DVDs that are not films but photograped live performances from different opera stages, clearly surpass the quality of essential opera films.On the whole, the cinematic effect is unfortunately partly missing in these documentations of opera performaces.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('2923','uolevi.karrakoski'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('2923','uolevi.karrakoski','You gave useful information concerning The Magic Flute. From the personal point of view, I would like to say that I have been planning to rent the DVD i n question. I think here in Finland nobody has paid attention to the film, which, as far as I know, has not been shown in the film theatres in this country. Generally speaking, people share the idea that a good opera film has not not yet beeen made .In my opinion Losey´s Don Giovanni is, however, a good one. I think the best is Michael Powll´s The Tales of Hoffmann. In this old film(1950) the music has been in a way bettered through certain additions as for example, by loans from Wagner+s Rhi negold.\r\nAs for the spoken dialogues, the exchange of non-musical words is, after all, included in the the score and libretto of The Magic Flute. Among operas,there are also some other exceptions in this respect, as for instance, Berlioz´s Benedict and Beatrice, in which the so called resitative singing is substituted by spoken word. . \r\nThank you very much for you interesting comments which certainly made one think of other opera films. The point is, however, that many of the DVDs that are not films but photograped live performances from different opera stages, clearly surpass the quality of essential opera films.On the whole, the cinematic effect is unfortunately partly missing in these documentations of opera performaces.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> You gave useful information concerning The Magic Flute. From the personal point of view, I would like to say that I have been planning to rent the DVD i n question. I think here in Finland nobody has paid attention to the film, which, as far as I know, has not been shown in the film theatres in this country. Generally speaking, people share the idea that a good opera film has not not yet beeen made .In my opinion Losey´s Don Giovanni is, however, a good one. I think the best is Michael Powll´s The Tales of Hoffmann. In this old film(1950) the music has been in a way bettered through certain additions as for example, by loans from Wagner+s Rhi negold.
As for the spoken dialogues, the exchange of non-musical words is, after all, included in the the score and libretto of The Magic Flute. Among operas,there are also some other exceptions in this respect, as for instance, Berlioz´s Benedict and Beatrice, in which the so called resitative singing is substituted by spoken word. .
Thank you very much for you interesting comments which certainly made one think of other opera films. The point is, however, that many of the DVDs that are not films but photograped live performances from different opera stages, clearly surpass the quality of essential opera films.On the whole, the cinematic effect is unfortunately partly missing in these documentations of opera performaces.
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