Title from sell sheet. Originally released as a motion picture in 1951. Full screen (1.37:1). Special features: audio commentary from 1992 by filmmaker Martin Scorsese and critic Bruce Eder, newly updated by Eder; interview with filmmaker George A. Romero from 2005; The sorcerer's apprentice (1956), a short musical film based on the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe story and directed by Michael Powell; collection of production designer Hein Heckroth's design sketches and paintings; gallery of production and publicity photographs; trailer. Moira Shearer, Robert Rounseville, Robert Helpmann.
Summary:
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger create a phantasmagoric marriage of cinema and opera in this one-of-a-kind take on a classic story. In Jacques Offenbach's fantasy opera, a poet dreams of three women a mechanical performing doll, a bejeweled siren, and the consumptive daughter of a famous composer all of whom break his heart in different ways. Powell and Pressburger's feverishly romantic adaptation is a feast of music, dance, and visual effects, and one of the most exhilarating opera films ever produced.
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