Gilbert et Sullivan

My copy of this long wished for treasure arrived today and it looks fantastic. The new Blu-Ray from Network is stunning and does full justice to this beautifully made tribute to G&S. This is a "must have" for anyone who loves their operettas. There are lots of excerpts from their work and I sang along throughout. Robert Morley is on top form as Gilbert and Maurice Evans does sterling work as Sullivan. The sets and costumes are beautiful and this restored Technicolor print looks ravishing. Buy it and enjoy!

I have a poor copy that was probably made off the air. Despite the technical shortcomings, the film is a delight to watch. The staging of the various operetta's was done with taste and love. I watch it at least once a year and enjoy it each time. I only wish I could find a reasonable copy. It seems to have vanished.

Much was made of "Topsy Turvy" when it came out, but if it's G&S music you're interested in, there's no comparison. The Great G&S wins hands down. Wonderful Maurice Evans, even better Robert Morley, and plenty of operetta excerpts. Wish the film's color quality had held up better with time, and of course today's sound would be better, but this is still a joy to watch and listen to. Wish they had included Princess Ida and Utopia, Ltd., but you can't have everything.

Biography documenting the fraught and creatively tense relationship between master opera collaborators William S.Gilbert (played with aplomb by the portly Morley) and Arthur Sullivan (Evans). The film documents their collaboration from their first operetta in 1871, through to Sullivan's premature death at just 58, and Gilbert's subsequent knighthood early in the 20th century. Sullivan's growing reluctance to compose the light opera demanded of him serves as a constant bane upon which the collaboration with Gilbert (the lyricist) is often strained. When the pair eventually agree to part ways, those around them manage to cajole the pair together to resurrect their fragile partnership time and time again.

While the subject matter obviates the need for plenty of musical numbers, also present are colourful sets and vibrant exteriors of the Thames and English countryside, wry dialogue that depicts their egos humorously, and an attractive supporting cast that includes Peter Finch as the talent agent who masterminds the pairing, while stalwarts Dinah Sheridan and Wilfrid Hyde-White also feature prominently.

Rotund and expressive, the presence of Morley ensures that the tone is mostly comedic, and while it's a lavish production, the momentum is often lacking pace and I found the biopic sometimes tedious. Nevertheless, if you're a fan, there's ample excerpts of "Pirates of Penzance" or "The Mikado" (among others) to enjoy and perhaps discover more about the eccentric relationship 'endured' by the famed duo.

Every scene propels the film through the collaboration of Gilbert and Sullivan, hitting most of the high points and portraying the lows with the sympathy and understanding that creative geniuses deserve. I was predisposed to liking it, because I was a fanatical G&S enthusiast first, but it was a relief to discover that this film was a worthy tribute to their legacy. Providence deserves the credit for forcing friends to acquaint me with the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, when I was dead set against them (for no apparent reason). Later, Providence rewarded my open mind by delivering into my hands (from out of the blue) a 35mm Technicolor print of the film. My reason for mentioning it is that the print had an intermission at about the one hour point. It seemed silly at first, but I later discovered that the print had been shown "double system," with separate hour-long reels of 35mm magnetic sound tracks. This was confirmed by an article in the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, which stated that The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan had been one of the earliest films presented with magnetic stereo sound (before the composite magnetic prints of Cinemascope). I never found the magnetic stereo tracks, but the print also had the usual monaural optical track, of very good quality. My print eventually decomposed from vinegar syndrome, but I was able to buy a VHS tape from a G&S society in England, which apparently owns the rights. I wonder whether they own the stereo tracks, or will ever release a DVD. Are there not enough G&S fans in the world to make it hugely profitable?