Don Giovanni

Sublime music and the filming on location in Vicenza -- Very well made adaptation of Mozart's masterwork. The settings create a visual feast to rival any operatic stage set. Although I did find Leporello a little dissapointing with its full comic potential not realised.

This is a wonderful film, the only non-stage performance I've ever seen of this incredible opera. I saw it a million years ago in college and have probably watched it a dozen times over the years. Raimondi is demonically compelling as the Don, wicked, handsome, sardonic, and Van Dam plays off him as Leporello just wonderfully, balancing humor and pathos. Riegel's Ottavio is just as he should be, a humorless square, and Te Kanawa soars as Elvira. My only casting complaint is with Moser as Anna; she sounds very shrill. I liked the hint that perhaps Anna was, despite appearances, actually quite attracted to the Don as well; her protestations to the lumpish Ottavio that she thought it was actually he who'd come to her bedroom didn't persuade (and frankly, I've always wondered why he was such a putz as to buy it). The settings are lush and lovely, including Palladio's Villa Rotonda. Of course some of the lip-syncing is off a bit, but that's to be expected. I also eagerly await a day when this film is available on DVD.

I don't think I can add to what has been said(and so well) already but I will try my best. This is my favourite version of Don Giovanni, both sumptuous and dramatic and does justice to a wonderful, complex opera that is quite possibly Mozart's most complex and dramatic.

The music is just wonderful. From the dark and dramatic overture, to the champagne aria to the duet between Giovanni and Donna Elvira and of course the final scene with the Commendatore which here was superbly done, it is a choc-a-block of some of the finest music in opera history.

Joseph Losey's direction is well handled and secure and isn't overwhelmed by the complexity of the story. And of course this version is sumptuously filmed, with exquisite costumes, settings and scenery, undoubtedly one of the most gorgeously filmed film operas to be put on film.

And the performances are excellent, with a superb Ruggero Raimondi, making Giovanni handsome, graceful and charming, yet sinister, devilish and seductive, and a genuinely imposing John Macurdy as the Commendatore. Jose Van Dam stays true to Mozart's concept of Leporello, Edda Mosser is a lovely Donna Anna, Kiri TeKanawa is a fiery Donna Elvira and Teresa Berganza is an adorable Zerlina.

Overall, wonderful, sumptuous, complex and dramatic. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I'm not usually a fan of cinematic adaptations of opera. They often resort to the lazy convenience of the photography and forget to include the heart and soul of the subject. Those elements are especially important with this dark and self-destructive tale of the womanising "Giovanni" (Ruggero Raimondi). Right from the start when he kills the father (John Macurdy) of one of his many lovers, though, Joseph Losey manages to interweave the sumptuous details of Venetian settings with intricate costumes and he manages to successfully ensure that the libretto is clearly and energetically heard as this ghostly tale of human frailty unfolds. To be honest, when you have Mozart at his most creative played out in the hands of Raimondi; Edda Moser as the daughter of the murdered man; Macurdy and the powerful soprano of Kiri Te Kanawa then it's hard to imagine how he could have gone wrong - and he doesn't. It's a lavish enterprise. You don't really need to know the story beforehand (though it does help) as I find it one of the more straightforward plots to follow. That said, it isn't a simple story and the characters offer plenty for us to get our teeth into and to wrap our ears around as we watch a real drama emerge from the torch-lit granite and marble, with powerful arias and duets delivered with emotion and oomph. If you can see it in one go on a big screen, then that does most justice to this stylishly crafted and orchestrated interpretation of a man's flirtation with love, lust and the fires of hell. Rousing stuff well worth your time, even if you're not an opera buff.

I enjoyed it very much. I'm fairly new to the whole wide world of opera but this was very entertaining. But what do I really comment on? Mozart's work, or the movie adaptation of it? Mozart of course is incredible. I love the opening scene, the closing scene and pretty much everything in between. My biggest problem, and I assume that this is true with opera in general is that once I passed the point that I had reached in familiarity from listening to a recording of it, the music was lost to me. I paid more attention to the words and what was going on in the plot than the music.

As for the movie adaptation, aside from it being very strange to watch and listen to an opera written more than 200 years ago on my modern television, I found it enjoyable. Yes, the preceding comment is true that the expressions were exaggerated and more fit for a stage but I don't feel they were inappropriate either. As far as sets and costumes and quality, I have very little basis of comparison, as I have not seen it on stage, or any opera for that matter.

In short, I found it to be very good, though I'm probably one of the very few sixteen year olds who would agree with that.