Verdi

each biographic movie is a challenge. for entire artistic team. and for viewer. Verdi is not an exception. and more important than the accuracy of events, music or costumes, landscapes and performances of actors is the atmosphere. far to be a masterpiece, it is a honest good series about the life, the fights, the work, the success and the search of the best musical phrase by one of the essentials Italian composers. a film who not ignores romanticism and old recipes for conquer the public but it preserves and presents the air of a period, the force of characters and a Giuseppe Verdi who is more than a decent sketch. and that details are basis for an admirable job. because the drama and the music and the lights and the landscapes are keys for a beautiful universe episode by episode.

THE LIFE OF VERDI is a stunning, beautiful and virtually exhaustive (at about 10 hours) chronicle of the life of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Formerly available on the controversial Kultur label, this new DVD release by Acorn Media is a dream come true for people who appreciate composer biographies, historical epics and, especially, this particular film, which was the last film by Italian director/writer Renato Castellani. The transfer is excellent, whereas the previously available print was mediocre at best. This new release looks crisp and does justice to the film's visual artistry--it looks very much like a series of paintings.

Verdi lived a long, rich life and his output was truly amazing, mostly operas--and most of his operas were masterpieces. There are generous allotments of Verdi's glorious music throughout this film and the period detail is lushly evocative of Verdi's life and times. Ronald Pickup is perfect as Verdi. He is probably the only "name" and face that will be familiar to at least some outside of Europe. Pickup has been in countless films and television programs, including several other composer biographies, though here, finally, he plays the title role. Speaking of names, when THE LIFE OF VERDI was shown on PBS way back in the early eighties, Burt Lancaster was the on camera narrator. I recall this very clearly because I remember being enthralled by the series even back then. In this version--perhaps for the better--Lancaster is not seen on camera (his star power was a bit distracting, if I recall). He does, however, continue to narrate in voice-over. Lancaster was a big fan of opera and his enthusiasm bubbles through in his voice, despite some mispronunciations that some will find distracting.

That's a minor observance compared to the beauty and lovingly re-created world that director/writer Castellani presents. Castellani will not be entirely unfamiliar to North American audiences, though your tastes might have to be a bit specialized to recognize his name and style of film making. One of his first films, from 1954, was a version of Romeo & Juliet starring Laurence Harvey and is a gorgeous evocation of Shakespeare's play, if a bit slowly paced. It even has John Gielgud as the Chorus! It took another Italian, Franco Zeffirelli, to bring Italy and Shakespeare to life for a contemporary audience back in 1968.

A few years before making THE LIFE OF VERDI, Castellani turned his attention to another great Italian, Leonardo Da Vinci, in a five part television film that I recall with great fondness, for it really brought Leonardo to life and gave me a deeper appreciation of his incredible achievements.

But back to THE LIFE OF VERDI. Thank you to the distributors of this magnificent film! The time you invest in watching it will pay dividends, for like any great work of art, it will stay with you long afterwards.

Ronald Pickup brings opera composer Verdi to life.

It's only fitting that the two greatest (arguably) opera composers of the nineteenth century have duelling, operatic biopics.

Okay, age-ists, crawl out if your caves and surrender! In "Wagner" Richard Burton gives the performance of his life. He was born to play Wagner and he's supported by some great English actors who were marquee names of stage and screen. "Wagner" also has a fantasy feel, as if Wagner were one of his own heroes. Perhaps, in his mind, he was.

While Ronald Pickup is equally well-chosen to play Verdi, his name lacks Burton's across-the-pond resonance. I'd seen lots of movies with the guy and never noticed him until this miniseries highlighted him for me.

"Verdi" is more down to Earth than "Wagner." It doesn't have that ethereal feel the other biopic gives the German. And since Verdi is an Italian hero the series is filled with Italian actors who are dubbed for us Englush speakers, which makes their lips look a bit rubbery and unnatural.

Both "Wagner" and "Verdi" have narration to help the novice understand what's going on. Most of us aren't Verdi experts, after all. Even the shorter, story-driven "Amadeus" had narration. While narration in "Wagner" is subtly done by a minor character who may not be altogether trustworthy, "Verdi" in its English incarnation has no-bones-about-it narration by American actor Burt Lancaster, and he's just fine.

'Verdi" isn't an Oscar-worthy flick; nor is it an operatic fantasy. It's a straightforward retelling of the life of Verdi (so far as I know) for those of us who appreciate the background material.

But whether "Wagner" or "Verdi" what's most important is the music.

The life of someone who created visuals, drama, sounds, cannot be conveyed in a book. Picked this up second hand, and glad I did. This is a remarkable telling of the story of Verdi, his music, his place in history. It has no dragons, and shows well what passed for special effects in the 19th century. (Millennials beware, you have to think) It is intelligent, and contains both much information but also conveys a very different time, and does require an attention span. The audio and video quality is pure 1982, but thankfully, this wonderful series has been preserved and is available. A creative genius whose work resonates today.

High quality biography! A fantastic, historical, well researched super production. Castellani did a very good job on biography and cinematographic art. The casting is excellent and Ronald Pickup is perfect as Verdi. The musical selection is also superior, and the performance of the interpreters are first class. Very good and famous voices are singing its preferred parts. The operatic performances are well cut. A rich scenario and also a nice review of the theatrical background technology at Verdi's time could be seen on the sunrise in "I Lombardi", the waves and the storms in "Otello", and in waterfalls. They are superb. For Verdi lovers it's a must, but also for non initiates it will be delightful. May be Giuseppina is a little to subservient and a bit away from a real woman. Also the final scenes are a little to long. By the way, the name of the opera is Rigoletto and not Rigaletto.