The Magic Flute (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Love the improved audio and video on the Blu-ray. Also, the bonus interviews are wonderful!

Some opera purists will not like Bergman’s Magic Flute for reasons that are perplexing. This is an amazing flute because it is so much more intimate created with infectious joy. In 1975 it was deemed by Peter Cowie and Roger Ebert as the greatest film adaptation of an opera ever. I would place it in the top 5 since there are now some excellent film adaptations especially by Ponnelle. Do not get bothered that the opera is sung in Swedish, is about an hour shorter than stage performances, and that Bergman added minor libretto and changed the plot a little. Who cares? This is his interpretation and his Joyous creation. The new 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray is superb. I chose to set my amplifier to expanded stereo to play through all speakers.The extras are excellent allowing us to understand Bergman’s creative process: The Interview with director Ingmar Bergman recorded in 1974 for Swedish television, the interview with film scholar Peter Cowie, Tystnad! Tagning! Trollflöjten! (1975), a feature-length documentary produced for Swedish television about the making of the film, An essay by author Alexander Chee. I would also recommend the esssys at the Criterion website as well as Roger Ebert’s 4 star review at IMDb website. ENJOY!

I've finally found this DVD. Saw this production years ago and just loved it. Mozart operas are wonderful anyway and Bergman brings out all its delightful best

For its age and the fact it was a TV production, the film transfer is every bit as good as one expects from a Criterion release. As for the merits of the film itself, I cannot say it better than the many other reviews you see below. The single demerit lies in the sound: the volume levels are on the low side and for some reason my stereo interprets the soundtrack as mono instead of stereo.

Liked film

There is a disc which feautues magic flute opera in Covent Grden. However, that may be an ordinary opera. The film recorded on this disc was made for swedish TV. I saw it on TV long ago, and I remember it's fantastic. This is it. I admire Bergman's talent. Picture is beautifu. Sound is somehow not so good though.

Nothing more needs to be said. If you love Mozart and Bergman---this is well worth viewing.

The discs received had an unusable regional coding. Unknown which.Will not work with my tribal EU-region.I have older discs from the same supplier with the same content that work properly.Neither on the AZ web or on the disc package there were any mention of region.Naturally I am very much dissatisfied.

Beautifully done. Singers/actors are amazing. All Swedish with English subtitles. Just loved it.

Great for Ingmar Bergman fans but not universally loved by opera lovers.