the magic flute ( 1975 film )
mozart / bergman,' trollflöjten', 1975 [ en. subtitles,' the magic flute' ]
he remained popular throughout the 1970s, celebrating his love of musical theatre in 1975 in his film of mozart' s magic flute .
mozart / bergman,' trollflöjten', 1975 [ en. subtitles,' the magic flute' ] - youtube
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing the magic flute (1975) near you .
donya feuer on the set of the magic flute. sweden. 1975. directed by ingmar bergman. 135 min. courtesy of mark franko
the intelligence and clarity of bergman' s the magic flute is a marvel .
john updike, a children' s book based on the magic flute, 1962 .
. he finally got the opportunity in 1975, when he staged the opera for swedish television .
is there a more crowd - pleasing opera than the magic flute, asks sameer rahim .
arctic magic flute is an english - language adaptation of the opera, set in rural alaska .
ingmar bergman' s the magic flute (1975 -... is in my opinion, one of the best productions of' the magic flute'. , with subtitles in english. the whole production is truly' magic' and the watcher is held under it' s spell for the whole programme. the dvd is also good value. thank you .
ingmar bergman' s' the magic flute' (1975 - a. k. a. trollflöjten) all region dvd (region 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…
mozart' s brilliantly melodic
magic flute
given richly entertaining & poignant cinematic life by ingmar bergman .
eduardo paolozzi, a screenprint illustrating the arrival of “queen of the night″ in act ii, magic flute ii, 1994 .
there is a film antecedent, of course, to this magic flute, one that goes deep into characterization: ingmar bergman’s 1975 take with a young håkan hagegård as birdman papageno. that version was all about close - ups that peer into motives and emotion .
anita grede’s tapestry the magic flute on fårö, the only decoration inside the cinema, depicting a mix of mythological and local landscape .
yoshitaka amano, mateki: the magic flute, an adaptation of the opera illustrated by himself and retold using classic japanese elements .
the nijinsky films: a life and requiem for a dancer. 1975. sweden. 55 min. courtesy of mark franko
as seen in 2013, los angeles opera’s presentation of the production of mozart’s “the magic flute” currently at the academy of music in philadelphia .
the conductor bruno walter once suggested that “the magic flute, ” rather than the unfinished “requiem, ” was mozart’s true valedictory work. while there have been many great recordings of “the magic flute, ” wilhelm furtwangler’s famous performance stands out for its pronounced mysticism, which justifies walter’s claim .
ingmar bergman' s' the magic flute' (1975 - a. k. a. trollflöjten) all region dvd (region 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 compatible) starring josef köstlinger, irma urrila, ulrik cold ...
pioneering guitarist and composer fernando sor transcribed
six airs from the magic flute
, op. 19, for solo guitar around 1820–1821 .
pamina devi is the cambodian classical dance adaptation of the magic flute. however, it is not entirely based on the same plot and includes elements foreign to the original .
the magic flute is kenneth branagh' s english - language film version of wolfgang amadeus mozart' s singspiel die zauberflöte. the film is a co - production between france & the uk, produced by idéale audience and in association with uk' s the peter moores foundation .
the magic flute # 71 bergman' s film on mozart' s opera is a delight to watch. even though he films the opera on stage, he films it in such a way you… | pinteres…
oon january 1, 1975, swedes huddled around their television sets. the overture of
the magic flute
began, and the camera panned across the audience of a baroque theater, finally landing on a child. hundreds of thousands of hearts were warmed on that cold nordic night as the camera periodically returned to the little girl documenting her involvement in mozart' s opera. since then, countless more hearts have been warmed by ingmar bergman' s
the magic flute ,
commonly considered the greatest opera film of all time .
what bergman does is to convey the actual magic of theater at its best .
the queen of the night offers her daughter pamina to tamino, but he has to bring her back from her father and priest sarastro. she gives a magic flute to tamino and magic bells to the bird... see full summary »
the film has mostly received unusually good reviews in europe for a branagh film – his films generally receive better reviews in the us .
. set in the middle ages, the movie focuses on a court jester who discovers a magic flute that, when played, makes the townspeople dance uncontrollably. sounds innocent enough - - until a thief snatches away the flute and uses its powers to rob people of their gold. it' s not quite the same adventure as in mozart' s opera, but it' s a magic flute nonetheless !
. set in the middle ages, the movie’s central character is a court jester who discovers a magic flute whose music makes the townspeople dance uncontrollably. innocent enough, until a thief snatches away the flute, intending to use its powers to rob people of their gold. it may not be exactly the same adventure as in mozart' s opera, but it' s a magic flute all the same ...
chailley, jacques (1992) the magic flute unveiled: esoteric symbolism in mozart' s masonic opera, an analysis of masonic and esoteric symbolism of the opera .
twenty - five years after its first appearance, bergman’s film of the magic flute remains the finest screen version of an opera ever produced. shot in sumptuous color by sven nykvist, and featuring some of the finest nordic singers of the day, the fi
he wrote his biography, the magic lantern in 1988, and a book of memoirs, images: my life in film, in 1993 .
this weekend, the gold town nickelodeon in juneau, alaska, will be showing one of ingmar bergman’s most fascinating films, the magic flute. in the film, which is an exquisite reimagining of mozart’s 1791 opera of the same title, bergman adeptly m…
bergman uses a scene from
the magic flute
in his film
the hour of the wolf
that starts right around 5: 30 in this youtube clip. it has a nice little explanation of at least one interpretation of the scene. urltoken
now, i am at a loss to understand why this film has been marginalized. branagh' s
flute
is a joy .
ingmar bergman' s' the magic flute' 1975 - a. k. a. trollflöjten all region dvd region 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 compatible starring josef köstlinger, irma urrila, ulrik cold... : urltoken josef köstlinger, irma urrila, ulrik cold: dvd & blu - ray
( 1984), mozart (tom hulce) dismisses “the magic flute” as vaudeville. the jealous but perceptive salieri corrects mozart: “it is sublime. ” although “the marriage of figaro” and “don giovanni” represent mozart’s greatest achievements in opera, “the magic flute” is nearly an equal masterpiece that transcends its “vaudeville” genre. as with audio - only recorded performances, there have been numerous excellent filmed performances. both david mcvicar’s imaginative, yet traditional “flute” for the covent garden and
all requests to license audio or video footage produced by moma should be addressed to scala archives at firenze @ urltoken. motion picture film stills or motion picture footage from films in moma' s film collection cannot be licensed by moma / scala. for licensing motion picture film footage it is advised to apply directly to the copyright holders. for access to motion picture film stills please contact the film study center. more information is also available about the film collection and the circulating film and video library .
i don’t think it’s possible to overstate the influence of ingmar bergman’s magic flute on just about every flute incarnation that’s appeared since. it’s arguably the most famous screen version of an opera ever made, though of course it has stiff competition from rosi’s carmen and zeffirelli’s traviata. when i overview the various non - stage adaptations of flute that i know of (film, ballet, novel, comic book, etc .), they all seem to be based just as much on the bergman film as on the original libretto .
letting his hair down never came easily. in his only operatic film, a 1975 version of mozart’s magic flute staged in a studio mock - up of stockholm’s drottningholm palace, the true theme (music’s power to soothe the soul) was subordinated to a dramatically irrelevant survey of the war between the sexes, with sarastro and the queen of the night as “old flames”, bickering over their love - child, pamina — something mozart and his librettist, schikaneder, scarcely envisaged .
this article is licensed under the gnu free documentation license. it uses material from the wikipedia article
the _ magic _ flute
. allthough most wikipedia articles provide accurate information accuracy cannot be guaranteed .
bergman has given life to the magic flute at the same time as presenting a theatre performance, yet since he is so at one with the theatre, the atmosphere is not broken but intensified. [... ]
ingmar bergman' s version of mozart' s the magic flute isn' t his most cinematic work - it' s a film version of an opera and was originally shown on swedish tv. nonetheless, there are elements here which echo his other films .
in this film, mozart' s opera the magic flute is brought to the screen. sung in swedish, the libretto remains as ever: a gentle parody of the initiation ceremonies of the masons, offered as an other - worldly fantasy involving a kidnapped princess, a vengeful queen of the night, and a carefree wanderer .
s john boorman once said, the making of a film turns money into light .
the greatest trick ingmar bergman pulls off is starting this off as an obviously stage bound opera and then slowly using all of his filmic gifts to turn
the magic flute
into pure cinema without the audience ever noticing .
the goethe institute and lieder alive! were delighted to screen ingmar bergman’s famous 1975 film adaptation of mozart’s the magic flute as part of the goethe lnstitut film and exhibition series. hailed by many as the ‘finest screen version of an opera ever produced, ’ ingmar bergman puts his indelible stamp on mozart’s exquisite opera in this sublime rendering of one of the composer' s best - loved works: a celebration of love, forgiveness, and the brotherhood of man. swedish baritone håkan hagegård, who was catapulted to world renown playing papageno in this bergman film, was present for an onstage interview with ruth felt, founder and president of san francisco performances, prior to the screening .
the queen of the night offers her daughter pamina to tamino, but he has to bring her back from her father and priest sarastro. she gives a magic flute to tamino and magic bells to the bird hunter papageno, who follows tamino and wants to find a wife. the duo travels in a journey of love and knowledge .
the magic flute became my companion through life. [... ] sometime later i went to the malmö city theater. on the main stage, at least two operas were produced each season, and i voted ardently for us to stage the magic flute. i was eager to direct it myself. that could probably hava happened, had the therater not contracted with a german opera director of the old school for a whole year. he was around sixty years old and had directed during his legthy career most operas in existence. it was natural that he direct the magic flute, a monumental mastodon of a performance with heavy sets. for me, the disappointment was twofold .
hello! yes, you' re right about bergman' s great version, which was a made - for - television film. what we should have said was the branagh' s
magic flute
is the first time a film version of the opera was made specifically for the big screen. we' ll re - word our blog post to reflect this - - thanks so much for the feedback !
future learning and skills – giving everyone the opportunity to build a lifelong relationship with film .
kenneth branagh' s movie of the magic flute will outrage mozart purists by recasting the opera as an extravagant spiritual adventure set against a backdrop of the first world war. peter conrad, the first journalist on the set, reports on myth, mortar fire and coloratura
' s music that has been referenced in film and tv over the years. several movies, for example, have featured plot lines involving magical flutes - - like the 1976 animated film
the magic flute: arguably mozart' s most famous opera, and a wondrous explosion of sound and feeling. who better to bring it to the screen than the filmmaker who understands human emotion and psychology better than any other: ingmar bergman .
without attempting to replicate exactly the theatre style of the day, bergman has brought the 18th century to life so effectively that it becomes the present, and the opera relevant to our own lives. with the magic flute he gives us a glimpse of eternal human concerns and emotional richness .
bergman’s decision to abandon film - making was taken after completing fanny and alexander .
the film, with a soundtrack performed by the chamber orchestra of europe conducted by james conlon, is the first motion picture version of the opera specifically intended for cinemas. ingmar bergman' s 1975 film version was made for swedish television and only later released to theatres. branagh' s version was shot in super 35 and released in anamorphic widescreen, while bergman' s was filmed in academy ratio for television sets of the 1970s .
cameron dokey, sunlight and shadow, (part of the once upon a time series), 2004, a retelling of the magic flute for teen readers; dokey' s novel also states that sarastro is pamina' s father .
papageno appears with pamina, following the distant sound of tamino' s flute. the two are suddenly captured by monostatos and his slaves. papageno then works an enchantment on the slaves using his magic bells, and they dance, mesmerised by the music of the bells, off the stage .
my enjoyment of the magic flute was much enhanced by watching ingmar bergman’s marvellous film adaptation. made for swedish television in 1975 and filmed as though in a theatre, the whole performance is imbued bergman' s delight in all aspects of mozart’s opera. as the overture plays the camera focuses on the reactions of different audience members. some are thoughtful, some smiling and others in tears – perfectly in keeping with the music’s nervous energy, oscillating between sadness and joy. we keep returning to one cherubic girl, whose features resemble that of the child mozart: she becomes an emblem of our inner child .
played the toronto international film festival, but there’s no u. s. edition of the dvd yet. you
bergman clearly felt an uncontrollable lust for each mode of expression and also tried his hand at composing a number of times. one of his hero' s was mozart and a longstanding passion project of his was to stage a rendition of mozart' s most famous opera the magic flute. bergman attacked this project with a gusto and enthusiasm that i have not seen in any of his movies. his joy and desire at finally given the chance to film a dream project for swedish tv shines through all of bergman' s edition of the magic flute .
his
magic flute
is directed with a cheerful relish for its fairy - tale adventures, its young lovers and sinister sorcerers and improbable special effects. to film it, he decided to stay in the period, to approach the work head on and in its own spirit as a sort of spooky, funny bedtime story .
theatre and film offered an escape from a home life where personal feelings were suppressed .
in mozart, there’s often this sense that the rules are for everyone else. in the composer’s most popular opera, the music seems to go where it wants when it wants, laws of man and nature be damned. it’s not for nothing that it’s called the magic flute .
production country: sweden swedish distributor (35 mm): svensk filmindustri, svenska filminstitutet laboratory: filmteknik ab production company: cinematograph ab, tv2, sveriges radio ab. ljudradion original work: die zauberflöte (opera) aspect ratio: 1, 37: 1 colour system: eastman color sound system: magnetisk stereo original length (minutes): 135 censorship: 114. 973 date: 1975 - 09 - 26 age limit: 11 years and over length: 3705 metres censorship: 115. 104 date: 1975 - 10 - 30 age limit: general length: 3705 metres release date: 1975 - 10 - 04 röda kvarn, stockholm, sweden, 135 minutes
one of history’s great composers meets one of history’s great directors as ingmar bergman presents wolfgang amadeus mozart’s the magic flute, where brave tamino (josef köstlinger) and foolhardy papageno (håken hagegård) face three divine trials for love armed with their magical musical instruments. colourful and taken from a comical opera, this is some steps away from the monochromatic and joyless world that bergman is unfairly labelled with and provides a thorough and definitive take on the magic flute, albeit in bergman’s swedish rather than the native german .
sorry, but i must take issue with the statement
in 2006, kenneth branagh brought the magic flute to movie theater screens for the first time
i remember very well my first introduction to this opera, bergman' s
trollflöjten
. (see: urltoken
this film is the only time in animation that johan appears with dotted eyes, which is based on his comic book appearance. the hanna - barbara cartoon series released several years after the film depicted him with larger eyes .
due to the liberties it takes with the score and text, i wouldn’t call trollflöjten an ideal introduction to the magic flute, but it’s definitely a must - see for lovers of mozart’s final masterpiece. its creativity, richly varying atmosphere, and perfect combination of fairy - tale charm and genuine depth make it worthy of its status as possibly the world’s most revered opera film .
marion zimmer bradley, night' s daughter, a novel based on the magic flute, 1985. it sets the story in an atlantis - like world with human - animal hybrid creatures. bradley enthusiastically agrees with bergman that sarastro is pamina' s father .
the sense of place is as pervasive as a character in “moss, ” a film by daniel peddle .
shown at the toronto and venice film festivals four months later, branagh' s
flute
was not disliked, but it failed to generate much enthusiasm. since then the film has had limited release in parts of europe, asia and south america and has been moderately well received. french and british dvd versions have been released. but the film has never been shown in the united states, and there is no word about a domestic dvd .
the concerns, as in the previous cases, turned out to be unfounded. through sales to several foreign tv networks, tv2 made a tidy profit from the magic flute – a couple of million. also internationally, the film garnered acclaim. and as recently as during the 250th anniversary of mozart' s birth in 2006, bergman' s interpretation was one the most frequently named and requested' mozart works' .
mozart' s magic flute is one of the world' s best loved operas. the first ever performance took place on 30 september 1791 at the theater auf der wieden in vienna, where librettist emanuel schikaneder was the theatre manager. the first performance in sweden took place on 30 march 1812 at the royal opera in stockholm .
the star, though, is the animation. the magic flute can withstand great manipulation and still come through with its spirit intact. this one does that much, and often much more. if it’s the mozart you come for, though, put on a recording, and just sit still. the music does the rest .
it might just be because i don' t like musicals but this film just doesn' t do anything for me. bergman was very fond of this film but i am not .
, directing a new version of mozart' s opera the magic flute, has just begun turning money - exactly £15. 4m of it, supplied by the peter moores foundation - into both light and sound. during a dank winter, the draughty hangars at shepperton studios resounded with the music of spheres: the high - pitched hysteria of a soprano and the patriarchal rumbling of a bass, the consoling lilt of the flute and the inane tinkling of the glockenspiel. heaven had bumped down to earth on the ragged outskirts of london .
because the film has not played in los angeles yet, it still has not qualified for any academy awards .
this hungarian film is a careful, compassionate and beautifully acted character drama with a social conscience .
the movies enjoyed by my father, ingmar bergman, every day at three o’clock in his private cinema on the island of fårö were often old black - and - white classics, well - remembered ones as well as forgotten ones. stepping through the rust - coloured door of the barn – leaving the blinding fårö light for the embracing gloom of the cinema – is a special experience. at first, the darkness seems compact. you grope your way to your seat, sit down and let your eyes adjust to the sparse light. now the huge tapestry depicting the magic flute on fårö slowly emerges. one august evening in 1974, beneath a full moon, ingmar’s opera film the magic flute had its very first screening in the old barn, whose transformation into a cinema had just been completed .
every director has problems with the symbolism at the end of
the magic flute ,
especially with making the trials by water and fire feel meaningful. branagh offers nice touches. the couple are caught in a battlefield and flood. but opera is opera, and branagh knows better than to artificially tie up all loose ends .
any novices expecting a witty romantic comedy in the vein of the mozart - da ponte collaborations like le nozze di figaro or cosi fan tutte will be surprised. the plot of the magic flute is more akin to a fairy tale: a noble prince is ordered by the mysterious queen of the night to rescue a beautiful princess who has been kidnapped .
revolver entertainment is giving the film a theatrical release in the united states in june 2013, seven years after its premiere in europe .
there is another line that merges with my love for the magic flute. as a boy i loved roam around. one october day i set out fot drottningholm (in stockholm) to see its unique court theater from the eighteenth century. for some reason the stage door was unlocked. i walked inside and saw for the first time the carefully restored baroque theater. i remember distinctly what a bewitching experience it was: the effect of chiaroscuro, the silence, the stage. in my imagination i have always seen the magic flute living inside that old theater, in that keenly acoustical wooden box, with its slanted stage floor, its backdrops and wings. here lies the noble, magical illusion of theater. nothing is; everything represents. the moment the curtain is raised, an agreement between stage and audience manifest itself. and now, together, we' ll create! in other words, it is obvious that the drama of the magic flute should unfold in a baroque theater .
, who saw the film at the venice film festival, gave it a mixed review. however, he confused the characters sarastro (the wise and kindly enemy of the queen of the night) and monostatos (his lecherous henchman, who tries to rape pamina and eventually defects to the queen' s side) .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
ingmar bergman puts his indelible stamp on mozart’s exquisite opera in this sublime rendering of one of the composer’s best - loved works: a celebration of love, forgiveness, and the brotherhood of man. the magic flute (trollflöjten) stars josef köstlinger as tamino, the young man determined to rescue a beautiful princess from the clutches of parental evil .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are. see what’s now showing
the program included martha graham at 100: a personal birthday message from donya feuer (1994); ett spel om f örem ål och m änniskor (a play for objects and chorus) (1967); and the nijinsky films: a life and requiem for a dancer (1975) .
on 11 june 2013, seven years after its premiere, the film was finally released on a region 1 dvd in the united states .
criticised elley and others for apparently not informing themselves more about the original opera before they began to write their reviews of the branagh film .
another sjöström film – his first hollywood production – was the last film i watched in the cinema with ingmar, at easter in 2006. he who gets slapped (1924), starring the wonderful lon chaney, is set in the world of the circus. this was mgm’s first production, and the roaring, ravenous circus lion doesn’t just appear in the film, but also makes its debut in mgm’s famous production logo. it’s a film with connections to [ bergman’s own ] sawdust and tinsel (gycklarnas afton, 1953). shame and humiliation, the pain of the white clown, the tension between bourgeois life and the life of the artist, the clown and the rage – it’s all there in this masterful silent film, made by the director most dear to ingmar .
opera is hard to present as a movie, particularly an opera like the magic flute where the mixture of fairy - tale fantasy, serious concept risk at lesser hands to present a hodgepodge with no real idea what the director has in mind. alternatively, others may strive to stress the imagery to the detriment of the substance. losey' s don giovanni is a case in point, where the sheer beauty of the surroundings averted attention from the music. there can be no better magic flute than bergman' s. the gradual movement of the story from the initial sight of the obviously fake scenery to the sublime ending where we are really transposed in the realm of sarastro is incredible. the occasional pictures of members of the audience listening raptly is a marvelous touch. no words can do justice to this masterpiece. watch it .
this film was not produced by hanna - barbera, the makers of the 1980s saturday morning tv series the smurfs (1981). it was originally made in belgium (the native country of
smurfs
creator peyo) by the animation studio belvision in 1975. the film was brought to the united states by stuart r. ross, and his company first performance pictures. ross acquired the north american rights to the film for us $ 1 million, and produced the dubbed english language version for the us market, with a non - union voice cast who frequently worked on english dubs for japanese animation. (there was an earlier english dubbed version of this film done for release in the uk, dubbed by british actors .) the rights were then sold to three different american companies: atlantic releasing (for the us theatrical release), tribune entertainment (for television), and vestron video (for home video) .
this film was not produced by hanna - barbera, the makers of the 1980s saturday morning tv series the smurfs (1981). it was originally made in belgium (the native country of
smurfs
creator peyo) by the animation studio belvision in 1975. the film was brought to the united states by stuart r. ross, and his company first performance pictures. ross acquired the north american rights to the film for us $ 1 million, and produced the dubbed english language version for the us market, with a non - union voice cast who frequently worked on english dubs for japanese animation. (there was an earlier english dubbed version of this film done for release in the uk, dubbed by british actors .) the rights were then sold to three different american companies: atlantic releasing (for the us theatrical release), tribune entertainment (for television), and vestron video (for home video) .
the reason that smurfette does not appear in this film adaptation is that the original comic book story this film was based upon was published several years before she made her debut (
la schtroumpfette
/
the smurfette
) in 1966. similarly, the evil sorcerer gargamel (along with his pet cat azrael) does not appear in this film, because he made his debut in an early story (
le voleur de schtroumpfs
/
the smurfnapper
) in the smurfs' own comic series in 1959, a year after
the smurfs and the magic flute
( although he did appear in some of t. v. a. dupuis' b & w; animated tv shorts from the early 60s) .
i was twelve years old when i saw the magic flute for the first time at the royal opera house in stockholm. [... ] i already had my puppet theater. i mainly performed whatever stories i could find in the collections of children' s fairy tales. there were four of us about the same age who were involved with the theater. [... ] we made everything ourselves: the puppets, the costumes for each puppet, the scenary, and the lights. we had a revolving stage, a set that could be lowered, and a curved panoramic backdrop. we become increasingly sophisticated in our choice of plays. more and more, i began to look for plays that required complicated lighting and frequent changes of scenary. therefore, it seemed rather natural that the magic flute began to occupy a large place in the imagination of the head of this theater. one evening the director saw the magic flute performed and decided to do a production of the play. unfortunately, the project fell through because it was too expensive for us to purchase a complete recording of the opera .
his parents’ courtship and early life together formed the subject of the film the best intentions, which bille august directed in 1992 from a script by ingmar bergman .
with production design by henny normak (who also assisted karen erskine in costume design) and sets by anna lee - hansen and emilio moliner, bergman solves most of the problems with filmed opera. he emphasizes “the magic flute”‘s artificiality, wittily elevating us past the banality of hyperrealism. by utilizing the malleability of film as a medium, bergman avoids the traps of limited action in the opera’s “real time, ” employing inviting close - ups which, for once, are not gimmicky .
the magic flute, with its mixture of solemn ritual and nonsensical pantomime, usually takes place in an exotic fantasyland. when ingmar bergman filmed the opera in 1975, he surrendered to the artifice by setting it in a theatre, with an audience of enraptured, unquestioning children. branagh, who is writing the screenplay himself, wants his version to be tougher, harsher; he is also keen to give mozart' s story about two courting couples an epic breadth, so he set the opera in a combat zone during the first world war. the queen of the night, mozart' s villain, enters astride a tank, and sarastro, the humane conscience of the story, shelters refugees in a field hospital .
as a moviegoer, ingmar was practically childish. and a professional. and excited. he didn’t indulge in intellectual analysis or the reflections of a cineaste. the greatest praise that could be bestowed on a film was: “the best flick of the summer – a real fårö film. ”
the film has also been released on dvd in the netherlands (in a three - disc set), finland, argentina, and japan .
in film after film, bergman put the knife into matrimony, culminating in the harrowing scenes from a marriage (1973), shot originally for television but subsequently condensed into a shorter (but still exceptionally long) 168 - minute version for cinemas .
* ken wlaschin is author of
opera on screen
and several other books on opera and film .
next week i' ll be looking at the film that (at last) brings together the talents of bergman and david carradine, the serpent' s egg .
the queen of the night (birgit nordin) offers his daughter pamina (irma urrila) to tamino (josef köstlinger), but he has to bring her back from her father and priest sarastro (ulrik cold). she gives a magic flute to tamino and magic bells to the bird hunter papageno (håkan hagegård), who follows tamino and wants to find a wife. the duo travels in a journey of love and knowledge. ingmar bergman' s adaptation of the last opera of mozart to the cinema is a homage of the master to the opera and theater. sang in swedish and divided in three parts, bergman shows faces of the audience in the overture (i particularly did not like this part); the first act; the intermission, showing the backstage; and the second and last act. the cast in general is very beautiful, highlighting the singer irma urrila. my vote is seven. title (brazil) :
a flauta mágica
(
the magic flute
)
productions are dominated by just one of these qualities – which one depends on the director, set designer, etc. – but this film, like mozart’s music, contains them all. in my opinion this multilayered atmosphere is what makes the film outstanding .
as i have not seen the original production of the magic flute i cannot comment on what bergman has changed, but what he presents. the film follows prince tamino (josef kostlinger) and his bumbling friend papageno (hakan hagegard) as they journey to save the life of pamina (irma urrila). they are given this task shortly after prince tamino' s life is saved by the rather voluptuous three ladies (britt - marie aruhn, birgitta smiding, kirsten vaupel) who are under the employ of the queen of the night (birgit nordin). prince tamino and papageno are given a magical flute, some bells, and are sent off on their merry quest .
he became director of the helsingborg city theatre in 1944, the same year that saw his first film script, frenzy, brought to the big screen by alf sjoberg .
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
an oddity. feels like a pet project as when burton made' charlie & the chocolate factory' or jackson' king kong'. of course,' the magic flute' is not risible like those two wrong - headed indulgences, but the enthusiasm belongs to bergman to be glimpsed by the audience. this giddiness however makes it the only truly * * cute * * bergman film i' ve ever seen! it' s pretty darling. švankmajer went further with' faust', though .
in 1920 cambridge philosopher goldsworthy lowes dickinson wrote a literary epilogue to the magic flute which oddly anticipates branagh' s scenario. in the aftermath of the first world war, dickinson sends the hero, tamino, on a search for faith, during which he experiments with christianity and buddhism. we are now living in the new age, so for branagh the spiritual quest has become a matter of personal growth. as the producer pierre - olivier bardet told me:' it is a film about becoming an adult, becoming a true human.'
barbara trapido, temples of delight, 1990. a novel which, though set in contemporary england, takes its structure very loosely from the magic flute. characters in the novel are analogous to pamina, tamino, papageno and sarastro although the novel strays heavily from the original plot with the' pamina' character ultimately rejecting' tamino' in favour of a romantic relationship with' sarastro' .
bergman was the archetypal auteur — a phrase reserved for film - makers who stamped their own personality on their work both through the script and in the way their movies looked .
the comedy in the magic flute is retained faithfully in the film. as in the opera, the beautiful young papagena pretends to be an old woman as part of one of the tests that papageno must undergo before winning her and, again as in the original work, the film audience sees her only as an old woman until near the end (except in a two - paged spread that papageno reads). however, because this is possible on film, the old papagena is played by a genuine elderly woman (liz smith in a non - singing role), not by soprano silvia moi, who plays the young papagena, while in stage versions of the opera, both characters are always played by the same singer, who, as the old woman, either covers her face and speaks with a cackle, or dons an
old woman
mask which she conveniently throws off when she turns into the young version of herself .
despite negative reviews, this film was a major success at the box - office, grossing us $ 11 million from 432 theaters. at the time, this was the highest on record for a non - disney film, only to be surpassed by the care bears movie (1985) in 1985. this film was also among atlantic releasing' s all - time top five movies at the box office, and upon its success, atlantic established their new (but short - lived) children' s film label, clubhouse pictures, to release more animated features .
back to le clézio: “film is always now. ” though, in fact, everything is over – the actors are somewhere else. or, as ingmar often exclaimed while watching an old film, “to think that everyone we see is dead! ”
feuer’s collection stamps a paramount moment for dance on film that encouraged curiosity and provoked deep contemplation about captured movement. this series at moma allows us to peek into the marriage of dance and film that is expressive, archival, experimental, and visually captivating .
even so, branagh' s final image - to be filled in by computer graphics - will hark back to the rational 18th century, when music symbolised harmony and promised to restore paradise. as the last chords die away, the flute twirls weightlessly in mid - air, turned to radiant gold by the sun. it may be too late for mozart to save our hell - bent world. even so, it' s pleasing to think that, thanks to voyager, the magic flute may one day entertain the angels, or convert extra - terrestrials to opera .
peter cowie is the author of ingmar bergman: a critical biography (limelight), and the editor of the annual international film guide. he is international publishing director of variety .
greatest example of opera on film. rather than present this most stagy and fantastical of operas as “real, ” bergman frames the film as a stage performance at sweden’s historic drottningholm court theatre, from the viewpoint of a little girl in the audience to whom the camera constantly returns. throughout act i the opera’s pastel - colored fairy - tale setting
that set the story during world war i, with the german libretto translated to english by stephen fry, and music conducted by james conlon. branagh' s film is the first time
, setting the story during world war i, with the german libretto translated to english by stephen fry, and music conducted by james conlon. branagh' s film is the first time
this has the unfortunate effect of shattering the illusion from both ends. film, for the most part, requires a greater degree of realism and suspension of disbelief from the audience in order for it to function properly. the stage is a place for big emotion and can get away with a larger degree of artificiality that just doesn' t work in film (see dogville for a good reason about why stage ideas just don' t always translate well to film) .
bergman used to help a local projectionist with film screenings, and went on to train as an actor and director at the university of stockholm .
the cinematic version, cut down from a five - hour long tv mini - series, earned a third best foreign film oscar in 1982 .
with lengths of film purchased from a local photography shop, he began splicing together his own short dramas from “found” material .
everyone else is mental! giving this film such high ratings. i am a fan of mozart and i have a high tolerance for lengthy foreign films and musicals, bu this was near unbearable. i usual enjoy the songs from this opera, but they are now banned for a year, because of the bad memories from this film. it' s so long and for some reason the camera pans to members of the audience for the first four minutes of the film. and throughout the opera at random points the camera pans to some little girl in the audience watching the opera. i mean wtf? ? i thought i was watching the opera. do not rent this film! ! it
s so boring !
the critics shared bergman' s enthusiasm .
an absolutely dazzling film entertainment, so full of beauty, intelligence, wit and fun ,
raved vincent canby of the
3 - parsifal - wagner dir. hans - jürgen syberberg, 1982 not just a film of the opera but a meditation on the tragic german history that followed it .
he entered the swedish film industry in 1941, initially as a script doctor, and in 1944 he was asked to write the screenplay for alf sjöberg’s film frenzy. a tale of teenage angst, it starred the young mai zetterling and became a big international hit, paving the way for bergman to graduate to direction in 1946 with crisis .
is an odd mix of romantic fantasy and promotion of freemasonry, of which mozart was a member. but there' s no need to support masonic ideals to enjoy both the sprightly story and the lilting melodies. the queen of the night asks the knight tamino to rescue her daughter pamina from the priest sarastro. in exchange, she offers tamino pamina' s hand in marriage. to help tamino in his quest, she gives him a magic flute. the bird hunter papageno, who is looking for a wife, goes with tamino, and the queen gives him magic bells. but once they arrive at sarastro' s temple, they find that the situation is not what the queen has described .
one of the taglines on the original us release poster says ,
it' s the smurfs' one and only full - length motion picture... ever !
in actuality, it was preceded in belgium by the 1965 b & w; animated compilation film, the adventures of the smurfs (1965) (which was forgotten and rarely seen since then, having been overshadowed by this film' s success in belgium), and was later followed by the 2011 live - action film, the smurfs (2011), produced by sony pictures animation .
' s classic arias that have been referenced on screens big and small over the years. several movies have had plot lines involving magical flutes - - like the 1976 animated film
told from the perspective of two children who suffer when their mother remarries a clergyman, the film is more warm - hearted and sentimental than bergman' s austere earlier work .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
the film, currently back in cinemas to celebrate its 50th anniversary, was said to echo modern fears of a nuclear holocaust and became an arthouse classic .
he saw the films made by most of his younger colleagues. i was struck by the generosity of his comments. he was often genuinely sad and hurt if you didn’t like the film on offer .
to mark the occasion, the swedish film institute set up a prize in his name to be awarded annually for distinction in film - making. bergman’s last two films were from the life of the marionettes (1980) and fanny and alexander (1982), the nostalgic and life - affirming evocation of his childhood days, which was universally acknowledged as a consummate swan - song .
i first saw ingmar bergman' s version of w. a. mozart' s (1756 - 1791) die zauberflote on betamax way back in the 90' s. i really fell in love with mozart' s works after that. this terrific 1975 rendition is magical and stays true to what mozart probably intended it to be. a great opera singspiel .
what sets this film aside from bergman' s many other productions is the aforementioned attempt at capturing the joy of multiple forms of performance art. from the first frame we see that bergman is intending this film to showcase his love of music, theater and film all in one go. the opening shots consist of crowd members young and old, male and female, of many races simply sitting in rapt attention of the overture that wafts through the theater. bergman constantly reminds us that this is a theatrical production by cutting back to the crowd and showing the myriad of set changes that take place throughout the show .
in syndicated televised versions of the movie, the smurfs' party sequence, which originally took place after the completion of the flute and just before sir johan and peewit return back to homnibus, was shifted to the beginning of the movie, right after the jousting tournament and peewit' s song of friendship, with some narration added .
at a time when filmmakers are being invited into the opera house in record numbers and when the metropolitan opera and other companies can sell out hd broadcasts to movie theaters, taking a chance on the
flute
hardly seems like taking a chance. lots of movies don' t do well. they' re junk, and everybody knows it from the start. this
flute ,
on the other hand, could be a surprise modest success.
the magic flute ( swedish : trollflöjten ) is ingmar bergman 's 1975 film version of mozart 's opera die zauberflöte . it was intended as a television production and was first shown on swedish television on 1 january 1975 , but was followed by a cinema release later that year . the work is widely viewed as one of the most successful films of an opera ever made , and as an unusual item in the director 's oeuvre . 
the magic flute (swedish: trollflöjten) is ingmar bergman's 1975 film version of mozart's opera die zauberflöte. it was intended as a television production and was first shown on swedish television on 1 january 1975, but was followed by a cinema release later that year. the work is widely viewed as one of the most successful films of an opera ever made, and as an unusual item in the director's oeuvre.
the magic flute (swedish: trollflöjten) is ingmar bergman's 1975 film version of mozart's opera die zauberflöte. it was intended as a television production and was first shown on swedish television on 1 january 1975, but was followed by a cinema release later that year. the work is widely viewed as one of the most successful films of an opera ever made, and as an unusual item in the director's oeuvre.