Romeo and Juliet

According to the screen credits, this was made for film. Thankfully it does not go off on some filmitization experiment. Actually they might have been too conservative for everyone's liking since it looks exactly like a stage production, only with film like camera work. A greater number of people can comment on the ballet itself since it has been on VHS for some time. I will confine my comments mostly to issues with its reproduction.I agree with the Chicago person's comment that the quality of the transfer is not the best, and will go much further. Despite my criticisms, I hope everyone will keep in mind that I would recommend this as a great DVD to own.Unfortunately this DVD was not transferred from the film, but from a video of the film. This means that you will see scan lines and other video artefacts. Either because of this or poor DVD compression, the picture sharpness is muddy, and trails of movement are visible as on the Swan Lake DVD. Other problems that would be easy to restore are inconsistencies between exposures on the frames and frame shake (revealed by static objects appearing to vibrate). Hopefully, the next release will be digitally remastered directly from film with better quality compression, and digital remastering of the audio track to DTS. A plus would be if they restored the film print by removing the dust and scratches.DVD features were not entirely ignored, but could be significantly improved:"Chapter" Indexing: 18 points in the ballet can be accessed. This is much too few. Not just the scenes, but each particular dance should be indexed as with Kultur's Swan Lake DVD.Music History, Ballet Synopsis and Biographies of Nureyev, Fonteyn and Prokofiev have about 10 pages each, in text easily read from a television.There are no language features. At bare minimum, the synopsis for each act should be translated into the typical European languages as well as those of other ballet loving markets such as Chinese. Going further, a ballet commentary as a separate audio track would be especially welcome. Such commentaries are common on great films by Hitchcock or Bergman and could be done cheaply. Commentaries enrich the experience of audiences who are interested in gathering a fuller appreciation of this art form, and both features would pay the producers back since it would extend their market into larger audiences.Credits:Other Dancers: Margo Fonteyn, David Blair, Desmond Doyle, Julia Farrow, Michael Somes, Anthony Dowell, Gerd Larsen, Leslie Edwards, Christopher Newton, Ronald Hynd, Georgina Parkinson, Betty Kavanagh, Derek Rencher and artists of the Royal Ballet under the supervision of John HartChoreography by Kenneth MacMillan, not NureyevScenery and Constumes: Nicholas GeorgiadisMusic by Royal Opera House Covent GardenConducted by John LanchberyProduced and Directed by Paul Czinner

Having seen most of the available DVD versions of Romeo and Juliet, I still greatly prefer the more traditional MacMillan choreography, which sticks closely to Prokofiev's original conception in his scoring, to either Nureyev's idiosyncratic 1995 Paris National Opera, with Loudieres and Legris, or Grigorovich's radically revisionist 1988 Bolshoi, with Bessmertnova and Mukhamedov.I'm not a dancer, and will leave appraisals of technique and skill to other reviewers. I always appreciate Ivy Lin's very perceptive and engaging discussions of many ballet performances, and several other reviewers have added helpful commentary here.For those who are interested in the music of Prokofiev, conductor John Lanchbery's reading of this score is one of the best and most satisfying ever recorded on either film or CD; for reasons that I've never quite fathomed, Prokofiev often tends to be badly misunderstood by many Russian conductors. (And by all means avoid any Russian attempts at Stravinsky, which in my experience tend to be uniformly uncomprehending.)Conducting for ballet is always a little tricky - do you adjust the meter and dynamics to suit the choreographer and ballet master, or do you make them adjust to your reading of the score? Here Lanchbery, choreographer Kenneth MacMillan and ballet director Frederick Ashton have worked together with each other and with film director Paul Czinner in perfect harmony to produce the best possible integrated performance of music, dance, acting, and film, of any ballet that I'm aware of.Yes, acting. As Ms. Lin suggests, Nureyev's sensitivity as an actor is at least as accomplished as his skill as a dancer. Fonteyn magically sheds her years to become 14 years old again, entirely inhabiting rather than 'playing' the role of Juliet.Pay particular attention to both David Blair as Mercutio and Desmond Doyle as Tybalt. Blair's teasing and mocking demeanor is wonderful throughout, the best on film. Doyle's cold haughty rage, in his every stance and expression, is a wonder to behold. His Tybalt has never been equaled or even approached in any other performance of this ballet. The choreography and the dancers' gestures, large and small, in the entire fight scene are a major highlight of this production and put all other versions to shame.As many reviewers have suggested, Kultur Video has here (as with all of their releases) simply made a direct transfer to DVD not from Czinner's original film stock but instead from their unfortunately rather grainy VHS print, with no attempt having been made to remaster the video copy. I have no idea who owns the rights to this Embassy Pictures film, but a remastered edition of this irreplaceable performance taken from film stock is desperately needed.For those viewers who care more about audiovisual clarity - you know who you are - than the quality of the performance itself, I recommend the 2000 Ferri/Corella/La Scala release over the 1984 Ferri/Eagling Royal Ballet, both of which use the traditional MacMillan choreography. The 1984 Royal Ballet is very nicely done; the 2000 La Scala is superb in all respects - dancing, acting, 'chemistry', sets and costumes, orchestral conducting and playing, and filming. But neither can hold a candle to this 1966 Fonteyn/Nureyev performance.

マーゴ、ヌレエフの表現が豊かで素敵古いので画像が粗い鮮明な映像で観てみたいです

マーゴ＆ヌレエフの二人がとても好きです。二人が踊る時　わたくしは　何か不思議な感情を抱かずにはいられなくなります。それらは踊りが上手とかいう次元ではないのです。バルコニーのシーンと最後のシーンは何度観ても涙が溢れてきます。マーゴの所作は本当に美しい・・・　美しいものを観られたことに感動です。

ロミオトジュリエットは私の一番大好きなバレエの演目で、色々なダンサー、版を見ましたが、これはその中でも一、二を争う素晴らしい物でした。確かに映像は古く暗い感じで、音もよくは無いですが、これがまたクラシックな雰囲気を醸し出していて私的には好きでした。フェリとボッカのロミオが一番と今まで思っていたのですが、ヌレエフとフォンティーンの演技力には参りました。技術的に言えばフェリのしなやかな体、アラベスクの美しさは他に類を見ないものだと思いますが、フォンティーン独特のエレガンス、気品あふれるダンスはまた違った意味で素晴らしく、甲乙つけ難いです。ヌレエフの感情あふれる表情や動きも必見ポイントですが中でも目を見張ったのはナースが手紙を持ってくるシーンで見せた超高速回転のシェネです。すごい！この二人出演の白鳥を持っているのですが、白鳥は内に秘めるタイプの表現方法で、この作品のように感情爆発！という感じではないので、二人の新たな魅力発見という感じでした。個人的にはヌレエフ版よりマクミラン版の方がストレートにメッセージが伝わる感じで好きです。特にヌレエフ版のバルコニーのシーンはあまり好きではないので・・・。これは完全に好みの問題ですね。とにかくこのDVDはまさにロミオとジュリエットの王道という感じがしました。色々な作品を見比べたいと言う方には是非購入して欲しいDVDです。

The most convincing portrayal of Romeo & Juliet in any form of theatre , including stage, opera and ballet. Nureyev portrays the perfect youthful Romeo ...... a star by virtue of his looks and his supreme dancing. Margot Fonteyn's Juliet is superbly convincing despite her years. It would be easy to watch the whole ballet, or any part of the ballet, many times over.A true collector's item.

Arrived within timelimit stated. Good condition although not the best reproduction - but it was a 1966 production so quality would not be as good as digital recording.