The Tales of Hoffmann

1951

Action / Fantasy / Music / Musical / Romance

11
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 84% · 31 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 70% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 7.1/10 10 3914 3.9K

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Plot summary

A young poet named Hoffman broods over his failed romances. First, his affair with the beautiful Olympia is shattered when he realizes that she is really a mechanical woman designed by a scientist. Next, he believes that a striking prostitute loves him, only to find out she was hired to fake her affections by the dastardly Dapertutto. Lastly, a magic spell claims the life of his final lover.


Uploaded by: OTTO
May 11, 2015 at 11:50 PM

Director

Top cast

Robert Helpmann as Lindorf / Coppelius / Dapertutto / Dr Miracle
Moira Shearer as Stella / Olympia
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
875.36 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
2 hr 8 min
Seeds ...
1.95 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
2 hr 8 min
Seeds 3

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by blanche-2 8 / 10

Imagine this being made today

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger filmed the opera "Tales of Hoffmann" in 1951, to stunning effect. Offenbach's opera is the story of three loves of the poet Hoffmann (Robert Rounsville) and epitomizes the struggle between art and love, as he is transformed as a poet by each failed romance.

The story begins in Nuremberg as Hoffmann watches the object of his affections, Stella (Moira Shearer) dance a ballet. During the intermission, he goes into a tavern and tells the customers about his three major affairs.

Opera singers, with two exceptions, dub the stars, who are mostly from the ballet world; several will be familiar from The Red Shoes: Moira Shearer, Ludmilla Tcherina, Robert Helpmann, Léonide Massine, and Frederick Ashton. Only Hoffmann, Robert Rounsville, and Antonia, Anne Ayars, do their own singing. The rest of the vocals are provided by Dorothy Bond, Margherita Grandi, Monica Sinclair, Joan Alexander, Grahame Clifford, Bruce Dargavel, Murray Dickie, Owen Brannigan, Fisher Morgan, and Rene Soames.

Both the singing and dancing are absolutely magnificent, the beautiful Shearer dancing much better than she did in The Red Shoes several years earlier, and Powell and Pressburger fill the opera with fantastic effects and colors. My favorite is Shearer's doll ballet sequence, with the glorious coloratura singing of the Doll Aria by Dorothy Bond, a discovery of Sir Thomas Beecham, who conducts the orchestra. Tragically she was killed in a car accident the next year; she deserved to be one of the most famous sopranos who ever lived.

There are a couple of problems with this incredible piece. It's done in English, which due to the tamber of the high soprano voice, can make it difficult to understand. So people who know the opera would probably enjoy it the most. Secondly, it's not paced very well - there are some very draggy sections; some of the chorus work could have been cut.

The overall effect for the eyes and ears is fabulous, but "The Tales of Hoffmann" leaves one depressed for how far we've fallen culturally in this world. Imagine mounting this film today. How many people would attend? Five?

Reviewed by Doylenf 6 / 10

A worthy follow-up to "The Red Shoes" with a dazzling Moira Shearer...

Certainly THE TALES OF HOFFMANN is not a film for everyone. It's done as pure opera with singing throughout and performed as a ballet with lavish set designs and breathtaking use of Technicolor. It won Oscar nominations for Set Decoration and Color and is produced in the tasteful style of all Powell and Pressburger films.

But the drawback is that only the tale of Olympia, the mechanical doll, and the ill-fated love affair with the young Hoffmann (played in all three segments by tenor Robert Rounseville) is up to the top standards the film strives to achieve. The other tales of Hoffmann's follies are less interesting, not as easy to understand and not as entertaining or melodious as the Olympia segment.

The final tale of Antonia suffers from the high notes forced upon screeching soprano (Anne Ayars) and the demands of the score which is clearly more tedious than melodious at this point.

Robert Helpmann as the villain in all three tales is excellent and Robert Rounseville as Hoffmann is the only cast member who does his own singing in a strong tenor voice. You may remember him as Mr. Snow in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" with Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones.

But there's no denying the magic of all the visual images on screen which includes the use of puppets and a good mixture of cinema and stage techniques. Opera lovers will find fault with some of the singers but it's hard to see any fault in the dancing which looked magnificent to me.

None of the stories are as involving as "The Red Shoes" and this is one of the weaknesses of the film. The first story is far better than the rest of the tales which makes for an uneven blend of storytelling.

A brilliant use of color and classical music makes it a "must see" for most film buffs.

Reviewed by TheLittleSongbird 10 / 10

Another masterpiece from Powell and Pressburger

I do love A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus and A Canterbury Tale as well. However, there is something about The Tales of Hoffmann that is very special to me. Not just the dancing, the production values but also the opera Tales of Hoffmann itself. The music by Offenbach is outstanding with not a single weak link. As always from Powell and Pressburger it is a visually stunning production, with dazzling effects, beautiful costumes and sets and some of the most gorgeous Technicolour I have ever seen on film. The opera's music is lushly performed by the orchestra and Sir Thomas Beecham's, who I know best from his Delius and his La Boheme recording(with Bjorling, DeLos Angeles and Merrill), conducting never feels as though it's rushing or dragging. There are some changes to the story such as Lindorf being silent in the prologue, Stella turned as a ballet dancer, Nicklausse's(other than the villains of the opera the character who ties the opera's story together) role is abridged and Act 3(or Antonia's Tale) is shortened.

Despite these changes, the film still maintains the spirit and essence of the story and opera. The dancing is just as dazzling as the film's visuals, Robert Helpmann is wonderful in all four roles particularly good as Dappertutto, but it was Moira Shearer's Olympia that really impressed. The singing is every bit as good, Robert Rounsville has a strong tenor voice as Hoffmann, Bruce Dargavel sings Coppelius, Dappertutto and Dr Miracle with just the right character and velvety evilness and Margharita Grandi(with Ludmilla Tcherina on film) striking as courtesan Giulietta, contrasting very well in the beautiful Barcarolle with the firm and very intelligently sung Nicklausse of Monica Sinclair. Dorothy Bond sings with clear, agile colouratura. Less successful is Ann Ayers as the consumptive and very downbeat Antonia, fine on screen but vocally at times she is a little shrill for my liking.

Overall though, just another masterpiece from Powell and Pressburger that is will always be special to me. 10/10 Bethany Cox

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