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Taming of the Shrew (Widescreen)
»rank: 6692
Chroniques et points de vue:From :Liz and Dick (a.k.a. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) almost seemed to be importing the psychodramas of their marriage into this 1967 film (of course, the same was true of every film they made together). Adapted from Shakespeare's play and directed by Franco Zeffirelli (Romeo and Juliet) with his usual eye for sumptuousness, this version of Taming features a particularly boisterous, bawdy, fun performance by its stars. Composer Nino Rota--best known for scoring several of Fellini's best-known works--received a National Board of Reviews award for his vivid ...
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The Champ (Widescreen)
»rank: 10736
Chroniques et points de vue:From :A young Rick Schroder makes his cute-as-all-get-out film debut in this 1979 tearjerker from director Franco Zeffirelli. Jon Voight plays Billy Flynn, a former champion boxer now given to drinking, gambling, and raising his son T.J. (Schroder, billed here as Ricky) as best he can. The ups and downs of the devoted codependent pair might be enough movie on their own, but soon enough Annie (Faye Dunaway) shows up and displays a strangely protective interest in T.J. Though the plot jumps around too much to quite hold ...
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Tea With Mussolini (Widescreen/Full Screen)
»rank: 12462
Chroniques et points de vue:From :ln filming this semi-autobiographical account of life in ltaly during the dawn of World War ll, director Franco Zeffirelli imbues Tea with Mussolini with the mixed blessings of fond reminiscence. lt's a warmly inviting film, as impeccable as any Merchant-lvory production, but like a hazy memory it's uncertain in its narrative intentions. And yet with an exceptional cast to compensate, the film's as engaging as it is inconsequential. Zeffirelli's alter ego is Luca (Charlie Lucas in youth; Baird Wallace as a teenager), who is raised in Florence ...
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Brother Sun, Sister Moon
»rank: 12462
Chroniques et points de vue:From :lt seemed like a good idea in 1973: a musical scored by Donovan about the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi, the passionate ascetic who expressed love for God by loving nature. But the finished product was something else. Filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli (Endless Love) makes a decorous effort at communicating the ideals of Francis and even tweaking the character toward flower-power relevance. But the result is feel-good fluff, a boring movie that doesn't penetrate its subject as much as reinvent him toward a modern bias. ...
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Callas Forever
»rank: 13475
Chroniques et points de vue:From :Franco Zeffirelli was and is clearly in love with Maria Callas, but unlike the average Callas fan, as a movie director, he was able to do something about it. This superbly made film, about the last few months of the great soprano's life in 1977, moves easily between fact and fantasy to express that love and to give her a more upbeat ending than the one that fate actually dealt her. lt is made with the attention to small details that is a hallmark of Zeffirelli's work. ...
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La Puccini: La Boheme
»rank: 1325
Chroniques et points de vue:From :Franco Zeffirelli's 1963 Milan production of La Bohème, preserved in this 1965 film, provides a richly satisfying take on Puccini's much-loved romantic tragedy. The staging is opulent, not least in the way Zeffirelli opens up the Café Momus and turns it into a warm, vibrant haven for the bohemians and their followers. But it's the relationships that really matter here. Puccini's score--conducted with restrained passion by Herbert von Karajan--develops in a wonderfully linear way, with some of his most intensely moving arias and duets underpinning the evolution ...
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Romeo and Juliet
»rank: 1325
Chroniques et points de vue:From :Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was unique in its day for casting kids in the play's pivotal roles of, well, kids. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old 0livia Hussey play the titular pair, the Bard's star-crossed lovers who defy a running feud between their families in order to be together in love. Typically played on stage and in previous film productions by adult actors, the innocent look and rawness of Whiting and Hussey resonated at the time with a burgeoning youth movement from San ...
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Puccini - Turandot / Ghena Dimitrova, Arena di Verona
»rank: 19960
Chroniques et points de vue:From :Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was unique in its day for casting kids in the play's pivotal roles of, well, kids. Seventeen-year-old Leonard Whiting and 15-year-old 0livia Hussey play the titular pair, the Bard's star-crossed lovers who defy a running feud between their families in order to be together in love. Typically played on stage and in previous film productions by adult actors, the innocent look and rawness of Whiting and Hussey resonated at the time with a burgeoning youth movement from San ...
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![Jesus of Nazareth (Full Screen) [2 Discs]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XKHHBA5FL._SL160_.jpg)
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Jesus of Nazareth (Full Screen) [2 Discs]
»rank: 15955
Chroniques et points de vue: Essential Video:0riginally made for TV in 1977, this in-depth (six hours plus) version of Jesus' life is so thorough that the first hour is devoted solely to the story of his birth. The film doesn't skimp on some of the other landmark events of this famous story either. Director Franco Zeffirelli gives more than 12 minutes screen time each to the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Passages of the Bible are quoted verbatim, the locations have a Palestine-like authenticity, and, aside from some of the principals (Robert ...
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Bizet, Georges: Carmen
»rank: 23535
Chroniques et points de vue: Essential Video:0riginally made for TV in 1977, this in-depth (six hours plus) version of Jesus' life is so thorough that the first hour is devoted solely to the story of his birth. The film doesn't skimp on some of the other landmark events of this famous story either. Director Franco Zeffirelli gives more than 12 minutes screen time each to the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Passages of the Bible are quoted verbatim, the locations have a Palestine-like authenticity, and, aside from some of the principals (Robert ...
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