Posted 17 April 2011 - 08:54 PM
I thought it was quite charming. Naturally, there was narration. Unfortunately, the narrators also recited occasional poems over the music, and, worse yet, sang some lyrics, too. I suppose there's nothing that remains uncorrupted once the film industry gets involved. But I thought there was more than enough to compensate, especially Claudia Corday's delightful heroine. (I was astonished that she could perform such beautiful fouettés while wearing an enormous bouffant.) I'm not at all sold on giving Coppelius a (young!) love interest, but someone must have thought that Walter Slezak couldn't come away empty handed. Personally, I never feel much sympathy for Coppelius, though I know that many people feel that the youngin's are too hard on him.
The choreography is credited entirely to Jo Anna Kneeland, though Alicia Markova is listed as an artistic consultant. Much of the ballet was rechoreographed, so I think that's fair. Like the orchestra, the ballet company came from the Liceu, and it was most agreeable to see real ballet dancers on the screen. So often what had passed for ballet in old musicals was beyond cringe-inducing. Here the dancing was presented pretty much straight. The film was shot on 70mm film, and the widescreen picture is spectacular.
So, in the U.S. the film was followed by Tales of Hoffmann. In Canada it was followed by Invitation to the Dance. Hooray! That's a lot more ballet than I've seen on TV in a very long time.
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