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Cyrano De Bergerac

Cyrano De Bergerac

List Price: $6.98
Your Price: $6.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BLUNT BLADE
Review: THIS DVD IS JUNK... I SUGGEST YOU TRY ANOTHER COMPANY'S VERSION OF CYRANO.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEST OF THE CYRANOS
Review: This Hal Roach Studios production from Image Entertainment is the best of the best. Flawlessly transferred from original 35mm camera negative and finegrain material, it features a brilliant soundtrack as well as the original theatrical trailer. This is the real deal--not a backyard dupe offered in a quickie transfer (probably to analogue) for el cheapo prices. If you want CYRANO, this class act version is the one to buy. SPECIAL NOTE: The specification notes indicated on the Amazon site are WRONG--this disc is encoded "Region Zero" not "Region One" as is stated. It will play on any DVD player anywhere in the world. So, what are you waiting for?? (Review refers to Hal Roach Studios DVD version released by Image Entertainment.)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Movie needs restoration
Review: This is one of my favorite films. The quality of the print shows it's age. It would really benefit from a clean up.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I don't care WHAT the translation is--
Review: This is the best play-book-poetry every written. I sat down, started reading, and didn't get up until I was finished, which was quite a while since when I got to the end I was crying so hard I could barely read. Anyone who doesn't understand Cyrano isn't a poet or an author, OR a dreamer. This is the classic tale of one who finds himself unworthy, but who will settle for NO LESS than true love-- that, and many, many other things it would take hours to expound upon. Truly, the greatest work of all time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: poetry in action,comedy,and true love
Review: this movie has it all. it's an action, drama, comedy, love story. who could ask for anything more. ferrer is the perfect cyrano. he delivers long, poetic dialogue perfectly, without cutting the scene. the fighting scenes are surprisingly well done, and the story is brilliant.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great film but, alas, a poor DVD
Review: This review is based on the Apha Video DVD. That's the cheaper one with the close up of Cyrano's face on the cover. The picture jumps so badly, I got a headache. There are also several split-second gaps in the footage, causing snatches of spoken lines to be obliterated. Worst of all, the actors sound as though their heads are being held underwater and the violins on the soundtrack are similarly submerged.

This is lovely, literate film, with several average performances and one astonishing, Academy-Award-winning performance by Jose Ferrer. His portrayal of Cyrano might well be the greatest of all time, even when it sounds like it is spoken from inside my fish tank. The story itself, rich and romantic, and almost Shakespearean in its sense of tragic romance, may cause you to cry as much as the horrible quality of the DVD. The closing scene, in the courtyard of a convent during a light-falling snow, has been etched in my memory ever since I first saw it as a kid.

This film was nominated as one of AFI's best love stories of all time.

I am going to order the more expensive version distributed by Image Entertainment and will update my review based on that.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The movie is just perfect
Review: This was the first Cirano de Bergerac experience for me. I liked it so much I read the book (in Turkish and in French) and I also saw the newer movie version with Gerard de Pardieu as Cirano. Unfortunately the latter didn't bring the same enchantment as the first one did to me. I recommend the movie to any play lovers. I still remember the lines of the very clever and funny "Nose Balade".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Eh, it's okay...
Review: Well, I gotta get something published for my English class, and being that we read this play in class I thought I might as well write a review of it. First off, the play is very well written. We had just finished off reading Shakespeare in class and reading Cyrano De Begerac was a wonderful relief. The writing is very easy to understand, and the actors lines are mostly short. The character, Cyrano, is also a very well-made character. It makes the book a lot more exciting with a character like Cyrano. However, the story cannot apply at all with real life. I am not going to give away the plot, but it has nothing to do with real life. So if you are thinking about reading this play to learn some good moral lessons, don't bother. Otherwise, give it a shot. You might like it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: one of the most thrilling dramas of all time
Review: When I was a kid, back in the days before even those excruciatingly edifying Afterschool Specials began to plague daytime TV and the talk shows were Mike Douglas and Dinah Shore rather than Jerry Springer and Oprah, there was a terrific series of Animated Classics that were broadcast in the afternoons. They were, as far as I can recall, pretty faithful to the original stories, though obviously abridged and edited. I remember two in particular, The Count of Monte Cristo and Cyrano de Bergerac. The appeal of these two, despite their French provenance, is obvious--what more can a kid ask for than a great swashbuckler? Then, as if this cartoon version wasn't enough, I saw the 1950 Jose Ferrer film version of Cyrano and was hooked on the story for life.

Rostand's is just one of several fictions to be based on the life of the historical Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-55). Set in the reign of Louis XIII, the play, of course. tells the story of the fiercely independent swordsmen, poet, playwright and political pamphleteer with the prodigious proboscis, of his unspoken love for his cousin Roxanne and of his intercession on behalf of his beautiful fellow guardsman Christian de Neuvillette, on whose behalf he surreptitiously woos her.

Now when you're a kid, you can hardly see past the dueling and brawling. I mean, obviously the point is that the guy is lovable despite his beak, but c'mon, the love parts are yucky anyway. But returning to the story as an adult, Rostand's other themes emerge, particularly Cyrano's insistence on meeting life on his own terms. If his failure to realize Roxanne's love remains tragic, his Quixotic nature, his enduring political independence and personal integrity, serve to make him one of the great heroes in all of literature.

Blending swordplay, comedy, tragedy and romance in equal measure, this is truly one of the most thrilling dramas of all time. If you can find the cartoon version, by all means watch it. In the meantime, instead of renting Lethal Weapon # 8, next time you're at the video store look for Jose Ferrer as Cyrano or buy a copy from Amazon for 7 bucks. It's well worth the price of two rentals; I guarantee you watch it more than once.

GRADE: A+


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