Hoffmann's tales

TCM did a spotlight on Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger late in 2024. One of their movies that I hadn't seen before was The Tales of Hoffmann. With that in mind, I made a point to record it so that I could eventually get around to watching it and doing a post on it. I did, and having enough movies in the queue, it's only been scheduled for now.

For those who don't know, The Tales of Hoffmann is based on three short stories by 19th century German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann that were turned into a play and then intended to be turned into an opera. Jacques Offenbach, German-born French composer, spent the last several years of his life working on the opera, although he didn't finish it before he died, with work being completed by others. This movie version is, from what I've read, not having seen a production of the opera, reasonably faithful to the opera's adaptation of the three short stories, although it looks like the second and third stories are told in the opposite order from the opera.

There's a prologue in which the writer Hoffmann himself, played by opera singer Robert Rounseville, goes to a ballet in Nuremberg where he sees the love of his life, Stella (Moira Shearer, who appears in all three acts although her singing is dubbed). During the intermission, Hoffman gets up and goes to a local tavern where the college students hang out. There, he tells the youngsters the stories of his three loves.

The first one is "Olympia", in which Olympia (played by Shearer) turns out to be an automaton, a mechanical doll much like the one in the ballet Coppelia, since they're both based on the same short story. Coppelia was also made into a movie with Walter Slezak with two versions, the original titled Dr. Coppelius and the later with an animated sequence added and re-titled The Mysterious House of Dr. C. which has shown up on TCM in the past. Obviously, this can't end well for poor Hoffmann.

Second, we get "Giulietta", which might be the best known of the stories because of the barcarolle that Offenbach wrote for it that I think is known outside of its use in the opera. Giulietta (not Shearer, but Ludmilla Tchérina) is a courtesan whom Hoffmann loves, although the feeling is not returned. She's only working for evil magician Dapertutto who wants Hoffmann's reflection for some reason.

Finally is "Antonio", about a doomed singer who is tricked into singing by an evil doctor, hastening her death.

I'm not the biggest fan of opera so this version of The Tales of Hoffmann is not exactly to my taste. I do have to say that in terms of the technical production values, it is, like Powell and Pressburger's earlier The Red Shoes, extremely well-made, with brilliant colors and fine choreography combining ballet and opera. But the movie also feels extremely slow at over two hours, and for some it may feel overly stylized.

However, I can certainly see why many people would like The Tales of Hoffmann and give it high praise. So if you're up for opera, certainly give The Tales of Hoffmann a try.