Madama Butterfly

Neither movie nor opera is this. This is just a film explaining about a queer story in Japan, which was dreamed out for an opera by a foreigner but no Japanese thinks is true. Kaoru Yachigusa, playing a part of Madame Butterfly, is very pretty and Japanese-like. She may be the only profit you can get from this poor film.

I love the opera, while the story is not always plausible it is nevertheless moving and the music is gorgeous as is typical of Puccini. This 1954 film, despite some of the cutting of the score, is lovely, and as fond I am of the 1983 production and the 1975 Jean Pierre-Ponnelle film this Madame Butterfly is one of favourites. The scenery is magnificent, the costumes are stunning and the photography is simply beautiful, so visually this Madame Butterfly is a feast. The gorgeous music is played and conducted with pathos and commitment and the dubbed singing is beguiling. Kaoru Yachigusa is perfect in the title role, and Nicola Filacuridi's Pinkerton is an ideal match for her. Suzuki and Sharpless are excellent as well. Overall, a truly lovely Madame Butterfly. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is one of the most beautiful films ever made of an opera. Everyone knows the story of Cio Cio San, the Japanese geisha who braves social rejection to marry American naval officer B. F. Pinkerton, only to be abandoned and rejected by him. After he returns with his "real" American wife to claim the child, the devastated girl chooses suicide to save her honor. Giacomo Puccini's score is always moving, but this production really looks right and shines beautifully especially when seen in an original IB Technicolor print. I remember first seeing it as a teenager and being turned on to opera as a result. Cio Cio San looks thoroughly convincing as played by Kaoru Yachigusa. Her singing is dubbed by Orietta Moscucci. Pinkerton is played by Nicola Filacuridi and sung by Giovanni Campora. The chorus and orchestra of the Rome Opera are led by Oliviero de Fabritiis. It is a version of the opera that should be much more widely seen today. I believe the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California owns a 35mm print, perhaps the only copy in America.

This film is a rare gem. It deserves to be reissued and be made more readily available on DVD. The filming is beautifully done, with soft colourings and stylised settings that while never offending the purists, take nothing away from the familiar story. The casting seems almost ideal with the Cio Cio San, a diminutive and beautiful Japanese actress capably lip syncing to a pre-recorded soundtrack recorded in Italy. The rest of the cast also seem ideally cast and they quickly elicit all the emotions out of the well known story as if for the first time...no matter how many times you have seen the opera previously. Puccini's score has been somewhat cut and while this is a great pity, the film still stands as one of the most beautiful opera presentations ever presented on film. Like a previous commentator, it was this film that made an opera fan of me when I was only five years old. I would love to own a copy.

I saw this movie in Honolulu in 1956. What sets it apart from all other versions is that the heroine was sang and played by a Japanese artist (rather than the clownish effect caused by a caucasion artist being disguised as oriental ) and the magnificent scenery...it was shot on location in Japan. The lead male singer, Filacuridi, and supporting cast, delivered a superb presentation. Another reviewer stated; "...no Japanese believes it is true..."...well, most great operas were based on myth and fantasy, as witnessed by Wagner's, The Ring, in my opinion, the greatest of them all.