Metamorphoses

Its wonderful blend of brooding animation, coupled with a dizzying array of memorable disco music, makes this movie an instant classic and childhood favorite (of mine). The voice-acting, though a bit grating on the nerves, is tolerable. And the stories are told in a gripping and beautiful fashion, breathing new life into classical mythology. I was unaware, for a long time, that the movie was Japanese in origin; much like it's now esoteric successors (The Last Unicorn, for example), it's strange blend of artistic aesthetics seem at once universal, and nonspecific to any particular place or time. Definitely worthy of seeking out, if you can find a copy.

This film/feature length music video before the days of music videos is a defiant gem! The music and lyrics, written & performed by disco producer/artist Alec R. Costandinos (Of "Romeo & Juliet", "Thank God It's Friday" & "I Found Love Now That I Found You" fame) fit every image in this great film. They are several short stories in great Japanese animation told about Greek myths..all with a point behind them to make you think. I would say this is a great film for the wide minded ages 13 - Adult. The narration helps along the story with the music. To give a good comparing, it's kinda like how Pink Floyd's "The Wall" tells its story through the music and video. This is a must have for any Alec R Costandinos fan or any Japanese animation collector. Unfortunately, like every other decent piece of film or music, the film and its album that went with it are long out of print. Used VHS copies can be found around the net sometimes as well as vinyl copies of the album.

I actualy discovered this movie because of one of my favorite music artists Alec R Costandinos. Crazy tracking this movie down. I have the album and also I am a DJ who spins retro underground disco and the 18 min "Winds Of Change" instrumental track is the track to put in the mix from this LP. When I found the video and got it I was amazed by the way Costandinos' tracks were put to this animated music video. Also, some of the animation resembles alot of Alec's LP cover photos. I can see why Costandinos got involved with this project. If you are not a Costandinos fan or a lover of 70's underground disco music, this film may still be enjoyable to you if you are into animation and myths. I just think that this film should be released again and mixed into stereo. Another film I yet to track down is "Trocadero Bleu Citron" which is another Costandinos music film that I have the LP for. Anyway, thats a bit off the subject. To me, this is an Alec R Costandinos animated music video, solid and recomended if you can track it down, the LP is more rough to track down.

DJ Jimmy M

The film was first released and exhibited theatrically in the USA in 1976 under the METAMORPHOSIS title.

Although the animation was impressive (especially a scene obviously inspired by animator Bill Tytla's work of the huge demon in the "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence of Disney's FANTASIA), there originally was no narration or dialog to explain any of the film's story, nor was Ovid mentioned in any of the advertising for the film, and so bewildered audiences had no idea what was going on in the film plot-wise.

The original soundtrack was also odd in that it had a pop-rock score compiled from unreleased throw-away tracks from such artists as the Pointer Sisters and even The Rolling Stones, which made no sense to the film's story, either, and was merely trying to capitalize on the musical artist's names to hype the film.

After the film failed to find its audience from its first American release, a whole new soundtrack was created with new music, Peter Ustinov's narration, an explanatory opening credit about Ovid, and the WINDS OF CHANGE title change to try and save the film, which still did not do well in its second American theatrical release in 1978.

Even now, the film is sometimes hard to follow, and seeing the film is still helped if you're made familiar with the details of the original Ovid stories ahead of time.

Sold to American cable TV in 1979, and randomly cable-cast for the next few years, the film started to find its cult audience, which grew when the film was released to VHS video a few years later, but has yet to see any official release on non-bootleg DVD or Blu-Ray.

I saw "Winds Of Change" when it was first called "Metamorphosis". The biggest difference was the total lack of dialogue. This original version did not feature the Peter Ustinov narration, standing alone on the musical score and the imagery.

Comparing the two, the earlier version fares better. I enjoy Ustinov's wit, but it wasn't necessary here (except in the minds of some narrow minded distributors, perhaps, who forced the narration on Takashi).It's like "The Thief And the Cobbler". I love Johnathan Winters, but there was no need for his ad-libbing.

Unfortunately, it is another great work of animation sentenced to moritorium hell, like many of Takashi's fellow pioneers of Anime. Just try to find "Gulliver's Travels Beyond The Moon" ("Gariba no uchu ryoko"), "Alakazam the Great" ("Saiyu-ki") or even Nelvana's "Rock & Rule".