The most beautiful and emphatic cinematic article that still [slightly] bored me by the end. I feel bad just admitting that.

It took me a bit to get into the mood (opera is kinda goofy, admittedly), but once I did, I had a blast. Each act is compelling in its own right - imaginative love stories dosed with an appropriate amount of humor - and the stylistic aspects of the film are jaw-dropping, with stellar Technicolor photography and knockout set designs. The singing is enjoyable enough that by the end of the film I hardly realized I wasn't listening to spoken dialogue. Some of the most fun I've had with a movie.

Fantastical. Powell & Pressburger take an idea flirted with in The Red Shoes, and explore to its limits. The sets, the costumes, the choreography, the Technicolor; have you ever seen such opulent production design? It's certainly not a film for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

Visual marvel, but you have to be willing to accept that it's a literal opera, which means dialogue where musical intonation is more important than clarity and a story whose originality lies only in moments as the overall arcs are nothing new. Even with my reservations about the operatic aspects I did enjoy it, but I could never fully get into it and the luster of the visuals was starting to wear off towards the end.

For all the spectacle, it is more abstract than involving and the film never pumps with the blood of romantic passion that flows through so many Powell movies.

# 837

One of the few less than brilliant Powell/Pressburger films. George A. Romero and Martin Scorsese, my two favorite filmmakers, love this movie, but I think it's just "eh". There's something that's just so deeply wrong about that

Incredible set design, mouth-watering Technicolor, and a goodie bag full of dazzling technical tricks. The cinematography rivals Cardiff's work on Red Shoes in terms of sheer gorgeousness. And I enjoyed the German influence. Most of the stuff going on here is astonishing, and part of me desperately wants to love this film. And yet, I can't stomach opera and I find ballet very silly. Just not my cup of tea, I'm afraid.

Overwhelming combination of opera, ballet, and rich production design, an indigestible hodgepodge with flashes of superior talent.

811