Viajante Reviews

House of Ricordi (1954)

A WONDERFUL TOUR THROUGH 19TH CENTURY ITALIAN OPERA

[24 May 2002]

Being an "oriundo", that is, of Italian ascendance, I was taken as a boy to watch this movie by my parents who were extremely fond of any kind of music -- and of Italian music most of all. I thought that the movie was beautiful but not so interesting, at least for a child of 9 or 10 as I was then. However, I had the good fortune of watching this movie again as a grown-up at a special showing, and what a revelation it was! What seemed only beautiful back then was now not only quite interesting too but, on top of that, also a very delightful way of being introduced to (or renewing your contact with) the endless magic of the world of opera. The movie tells us in rich detail how in 1807, in Milano, Giovanni Ricordi made a deal with the Teatro La Scala to print all the music sheet for them, in exchange for the handwritten works of whichever composer and musician hired by the Theater.

Lovingly directed by Carmine Gallone, who was originally an opera director, the movie shows us how the musical dynasty of the Casa Ricordi Publishers was born, and the amazing quantity of talent this organization worked with: Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, and so on. The best moment for me is the staging of the "La Calunnia" aria with the great Tito Gobbi as the playback singer, where Gallone combines both operatic and movie effects to convey the idea that "slandering is a little wind that builds up to a terrible storm to destroy lives and reputations".

It is worth mentioning as well that art director Mario Garbuglia and cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno managed to create a real feast for the eyes with their work in this movie. I've been trying to get a copy of it to no avail for decades now. When is it going to be released on DVD? It is imperative that it comes with subtitles in Italian so we opera lovers can best appreciate all the flavor of the original lyrics, please. It's about time someone gives us this neglected gem on DVD...

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960)

AN UNDESERVEDLY FORGOTTEN STUDY ON HUMAN BEINGS

[9 April 2000]

I've only seen this film two times. The first one was when I was a teenager, in the early 60s, and the other one was on TV, not so long ago. As it had happened in the first time, viewing "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" again gave me the same feeling: in spite of being a very American movie in all its aspects, it has a strong and universal appeal because it deals with people with flesh and blood, not puppets or flat characters. But what I consider appalling is the callousness of movie distributors who haven't so far given us the chance to see and buy this little gem either in VHS or DVD. According to the reliable Halliwell's Film Guide, this was produced by Warner Bros. Why don't they release it now in either of these formats, or, better still, in both? Maybe they lack what this movie is plentifully supplied with, that is, "a real feeling for the people and the place", in Halliwell's words.

Twins of Evil (1971)

A not unpleasant mix of sex and horror

[16 October 1999]

I quite agree with other people who said here that this is not a great vampire movie, but I think it still has some charms. What I like most about old Hammer movies in general is that they are not so filled with special effects or too much gore (compared to most of the titles in this genre nowadays). Also, they have a reasonable feeling for the period, and the actors, even if they don´t have a good script, manage to please us horror fans. And, in the case of "Twins of Evil", the idea of casting two real-life twins as the two so different sisters in the story was really effective.

The odd thing about recommending this movie is that it has proven practically impossible to find. Is there a way we can convince anybody to release not only "Twins of Evil" but also other classic Hammer flicks in video?

Vampire Circus (1972)

Still one of the best vampire movies of an era

[16 October 1999]

I was glad to see that other people here remember this Hammer production (one of its best, to be sure). The producers were quite right in their unusual approach and managed to bring then a new life to an already tired genre.

I haven't seen this movie for years, but I still remember how chilling some of its scenes were, thanks to the ingenuous combination of circus life and some really different bloodsuckers' adventures on the side.

I second Celine in asking for this title to be released on video as soon as possible, together with other flicks of that time, like "Twins of Evil" and "Vampire Lovers".

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

This is what "fatal attraction" is really about...

[16 October 1999]

I managed to get recently a VHS copy of this movie thanks to a friend who owns it in LD. I was quite surprised to see that it still managed to give me some good frights -- which is all we expect from this kind of flick. With this film Hammer managed to tell us again the same old story of Sheridan Le Fanu's blood-chilling creation in quite a different way. To compare with it I only remember "Blood and Roses", made in France in the early 60's (quite easy to find, but with its running time unbelievably shortened from 85 to 74 minutes... Who can explain that?).

I hope we can soon find "Vampire Lovers" re-released on video, but with its original running time, of course, so we can see again what indeed it means to be drawn to a "fatal attraction"...