Let's face it, at this late date no one develops a love for Gilbert & Sullivan. You either have an inner Victorian that appreciates creaky, nineteenth-century corn or you don't. I do, but this is some sort of low-water mark in terms of transferring a live hit (from N.Y. stage impresario Joseph Papp) to a filmed product. They've spent as little as possible on deliberately artificial sets. This material has cash-in written all over it. It's not a movie or a play. Somehow it's the worst of both worlds.
The material has the classic G & S problems. If you had a choice of a) listening to the whole recording or b) watching the same piece performed, there's really little difference. The librettos are talky to the point of offering nothing to visualize. The scene under the cliffs goes on for what seems like days, and jokes that weren't funny once are milked for the benefit of slow-witted, slackjawed Tories whose values haven't advanced an inch since this was written. So much of the humor in this revolves around puns and similar sounding words (Orphan = Often. Pirate = Pilot, guh). To describe it as droll would be kind. Watch it with your eyedrops ready or you'll dry them out from eyerolling. The cast of Americans was a mistake as no one has a British sense of humor or delivery that might sell this schlock.
What it does have going for it is a couple of nice melodies (Poor Wandering One, Sighly Softly to the River, Ah Leave me not to Pine). I don't recall if "Matter matter matter" the patter song from Rudigore made it in to the movie but that's fun. When I was a kid I liked With cat-like tread, Pirate King, & Modern Major General but I find them unbearable now. Likewise for the Keystone Cops, who should be lined up and shot with a single harpoon so as not to waste too many bullets.
The libretto and humor of the Mikado has aged less badly and the lopsided HMS Pinafore has less exhausted songs.
The material has the classic G & S problems. If you had a choice of a) listening to the whole recording or b) watching the same piece performed, there's really little difference. The librettos are talky to the point of offering nothing to visualize. The scene under the cliffs goes on for what seems like days, and jokes that weren't funny once are milked for the benefit of slow-witted, slackjawed Tories whose values haven't advanced an inch since this was written. So much of the humor in this revolves around puns and similar sounding words (Orphan = Often. Pirate = Pilot, guh). To describe it as droll would be kind. Watch it with your eyedrops ready or you'll dry them out from eyerolling. The cast of Americans was a mistake as no one has a British sense of humor or delivery that might sell this schlock.
What it does have going for it is a couple of nice melodies (Poor Wandering One, Sighly Softly to the River, Ah Leave me not to Pine). I don't recall if "Matter matter matter" the patter song from Rudigore made it in to the movie but that's fun. When I was a kid I liked With cat-like tread, Pirate King, & Modern Major General but I find them unbearable now. Likewise for the Keystone Cops, who should be lined up and shot with a single harpoon so as not to waste too many bullets.
The libretto and humor of the Mikado has aged less badly and the lopsided HMS Pinafore has less exhausted songs.