The Tales of Hoffmann
1951·United Kingdom·133 min.
Available on
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This a film version of the opera "The Tales of Hoffmann", however it is NOT just a film of a staged performance. 'Michael Powell' & Emeric Pressburger (and the rest of "The Archers") work their usual magic here. The opera dramatises the three great romances in the life of the poet-hero presented in a series of flashbacks. Hoffmann's tales depict the struggle between human love and the artist's dedication to his work. Hoffmann loses each of the women he loves but gains instead poetic inspiration -- the ability to transform painful experiences into art.
MusicJacques Offenbach
CinematographyChristopher Challis
CastMoira Shearer·Leonid Massine·Robert Helpmann·Robert Rounseville·Anne Ayars·Pamela Brown·Frederick Ashton·Lionel Harris·Mogens Wieth
Original titleThe Tales of Hoffmann