THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (1951)

I am not a fan of opera or ballet but I am a fan of the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and this is one of the few of their films I had avoided over the years because it's an opera made up of linked stories with balletic elements. But on a fine fall afternoon, I girded my loins and popped this DVD in the player. In the opening, the prima ballerina Stella (Moira Shearer) is performing in a ballet about a dragonfly. The poet Hoffmann (Robert Rounseville) waits for a note from Stella suggesting a meeting place after the show, but the note is waylaid by his rival Lindorf (Robert Helpmann, who plays all the villainous characters in all the stories). At intermission, Hoffmann goes to a nearby student tavern and regales the drinking lads with stories of three of his past romances gone wrong. The first involves Olympia (Shearer), an automaton built by the inventor Spalanzani (Helpmann); as long as Hoffman is wearing the magic glasses of Coppelius (also Helpmann), he sees her as fully human. In a disturbing but effective scene, Olympia is pulled apart, limb by limb, leaving just her head on the floor. The second, set in Venice, is centered on the courtesan Giulietta (dancer and choreographer Ludmilla Tcherina) whose Satanic-looking master wants her to steal Hoffmann's reflection. In the last story, Antonia (Ann Ayars) is a singer suffering from a debilitating illness (it seems like consumption) who has been forbidden to sing lest the attempt kill her, though the vampiric-looking villain Dr. Miracle encourages her to sing, perhaps just so Hoffmann can't have her. In the end, Stella shows up at the tavern just as Hoffmann passes out from drink and storytelling exertion.

I don't know what to make of this all in terms of plot, though having read some of Hoffmann's somewhat Gothic fairy tales, I feel like the tone of the proceedings is faithful to his work. But as a work of cinema art, this is a sumptuous feast of color, with beautiful sets and costumes. Though most assuredly not simply a filmed opera, it does remain deliberately artificial and theatrical throughout, a sign perhaps that narrative is not its main concern. My attention would occasionally drift, but beautiful visuals or interesting special effects brought me back into the movie. Rounseville and Helpmann give fairly strong actorly performances, and though I'm not the best judge of the opera and ballet arts, the singing and dancing seemed fine. For a modern audience, one casting choice stands out. Pamela Brown plays Hoffmann's buddy Nicklaus. Dressed in men's clothing and wearing a short haircut, she doesn't sing but she is visible frequently, his/her face shown reacting to various actions of Hoffmann's, and once or twice, even seeming to look with longing at Hoffmann. I don't know how deliberate this was—apparently it was common onstage for the singing part in the opera to be played by a woman—but it added a nice extra frisson for my viewing enjoyment. Quite gorgeous, if a little empty in terms of plot and emotion. There were times when I felt like I was watching a movie-length version of the Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse "Broadway Rhythm" number from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. [DVD]