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The Tales of Hoffmann
1951 Romance / Fantasy / Musical
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Credits
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Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
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Script: E.T.A. Hoffmann, Jules Barbier, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Dennis Arundell
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Photo: Christopher Challis
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Music: Jacques Offenbach
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Cast: Moira Shearer (Stella / Olympia),
Ludmilla Tchérina (Giulietta),
Anne Ayars (Antonia),
Robert Rounseville (Hoffmann),
Pamela Brown (Nicklaus),
Léonide Massine (Spalanzani / Schlemil / Franz),
Robert Helpmann (Lindorf / Coppelius / Dapertutto / Dr Miracle),
Frederick Ashton (Kleinsach / Cochenille),
Mogens Wieth (Crespel),
Lionel Harris (Pitichinaccio),
Philip Leaver (Andreas),
Meinhart Maur (Luther)
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Country: UK
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Language: English
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Runtime: 138 min
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Summary
In Nuremberg, the poet Hoffmann becomes enchanted by the beautiful prima
donna, Stella. Whilst awaiting her reply to a letter he sent her,
he recounts three tales of his former lost loves. He was a young
man living in Paris when he met his first love, the dancer
Olympia. She turned out to be nothing more than a mechanical doll
created by the inventor Coppelius. Then he fell for a bejewelled
Venetian courtesan, only to learn that she was the bait of the evil
magician Dapertutto who delights in stealing men’s souls. Lastly,
on a remote Greek island, Hoffmann lost his heart to the delicate
Antonia, a musician’s daughter who will die if she attempts to sing...
Review
The most audacious and inspired film to come out of the extraordinary
partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is this
mesmerising adaptation of Jacques Offenbach’s unfinished 1880 fantasy
opera. Although ill-received when it was first released in 1951,
the film is now regarded as one of the Archers’ finest achievements,
the most perfect marriage of opera, ballet and cinema.
This exceptional work is quite different to most other film operas in
that the soundtrack was recorded first, in its entirety, and the images
were then shot and edited together to fit the soundtrack (the reverse
to how a film is usually composed). The result is breathtaking: a
piece of cinematic art of unparalleled charm and beauty.
Although stylistically The Tales of
Hoffmann is markedly different from other Powell-Pressburger
productions, it contains themes which we encounter in their other
films. Hoffmann’s hopeless search for the perfect love mirrors
that of Clive Candy’s amorous adventures in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
(1943), whilst the tragic conflict between life and art that we see in
Hoffmann’s third tale is echoed in
The Red Shoes
(1948). Significantly, the star of that latter
film also has a strong presence in The
Tales of Hoffmann - the renowned dancer-actress Moira Shearer.
It may not be as widely appreciated as the Archers’ other great films,
but there is no denying that The
Tales of Hoffmann has an opulence and grandeur that is rarely
achieved in cinema. Every shot is staged with meticulous
precision, the design is sumptuous without ever appearing kitsch, and
the colour photography has a richness and allure that virtually no
other film possesses. This is a work of sublime genius, a unique
composition of visual and musical poetry that is simply
magical.
© James Travers 2008
For World Cinema on DVD...
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