Tickets to this screening include admission to the Nitrate Shorts II program immediately preceding.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, UK 1951
Print source: Library of Congress
Running time: 113 minutes
About the print
Received in 1951, this print was deposited with Library of Congress by British Lion Film Corporation Ltd. Produced during the changeover from nitrate to acetate, this original release print includes both, with all stock produced in 1951. Showing very little scratching, the print does have some perf and edge damage, along with some warping. This is the American release of the film. Shrinkage: 1.05%
About the film
“One of the most artistically produced, photographed, and startlingly beautiful films ever made. From the opening shot, with whirling weather vanes silhouetted against peaked rooftops and a cobalt blue sky, to the final scene in which Sir Thomas Beecham lays down his baton and closes the score with precision, the footage consists of one stunning scene after another, photographed in colors which vary from the melting to the molten, designed with consistent skill and frequently breathtaking loveliness.”
– Mae Tinee, Chicago Daily Tribune, April 18, 1951
“London Films and the camera have done more for Jacques Offenbach’s fantastic opera, Tales of Hoffmann, than the opera house ever could. They have kept the musical integrity of the work, but at the same time, they have given the story such a free rein of imagination and choreographic motion that it has become a dazzling spectacle.”
– Cyrus Durgin, Daily Boston Globe, April 11, 1951
“By far the most glowingly ambitious and swanky attempt ever made to recreate classical opera upon the motion-picture screen. . . . [Moira Shearer] dances one stunning ballet number in the prologue, a dashing, shimmering thing about a dragonfly, created by Frederick Ashton especially for this film. . . . [Her dance numbers] are cinematic gems, combining a rare and thrilling fusion of pantomime, music and dance.”
– Bosley Crowther, New York Times, April 5, 1951