Rating: 
Summary: The Don Giovanni to buy!
Review: There are countless recordings and videos of Mozart's masterpiece but this one surpasses each and every one of them! First of all there is the PERFECT cast: Ruggero Raimondi spoiled me for all other Don Giovannis, including Brownlee, Siepi, Hampson, Allen etc. etc. His seductive bass-baritone not only can sound as smooth as silk (E.G. in the sexy "La ci darem la mano") but also sound furious, excited, noble and incredibly HOT. No wonder Elvira is wax in his hands as he acts as if he were in love with her again. And being very tall and extremely good looking (Not in the boyish way but MASCULINE and SEXY) he fits the bill. At times he looks like a handsome demon. His acting is absolutely incredible, for his facial expressions alone were Oscar-worthy! Two thumbs up! Then there is Edda Moser, the best Donna Anna ever! Not a dumb, neurotic canary but a strikingly passionate and vivid woman who is obviously aroused by the Don (Hey, who wouldn't be?). She acts this conflict to perfection, her voice has the hotness of lava! Glorious, fiery coloratura and a WONDERFUL actress. Kiri te Kanawa gives her best performance as the loving Elvira who's torn between revenge and the love for her treasure. (She calls him that!) Her meltingly beautiful soprano fits Elvira to a T, her noble and heartbreaking acting are even more +++++++++++ for her. Teresa Berganza spoiled me for all those stupid lyric coloratura Zerlinas. Her lyric mezzo is seductive and beautiful, her chemistry with Raimondi is astonishing. The only weak point was the Don Ottavio who lacked a full middle. The Massetto and Commendatore were fabulous. Losey's direction is brilliant, the costumes lavish and gorgeous. Maazel conducts the score to perfection. This is the best DG ever!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece viewed through a broken window
Review: This cast and production are a once in a century (if that) event; there is no better performance available, period. Raimondi is at the height of his career and the finest Don Juan in anyone's memory, Kanawa is brutally on target as Elvira, Edda Moser has only one better Donna Anna performance (but there is no better person to play her), van Dam is stupendously played (almost too well)... one can go on and on. Losey, and everyone else was involved in this project really know their performance history of Don Giovanni and the Don Juan legacy in general. This literary myth has a life of its own over the past few hundred years and this project created huge ripples throughout the European opera community. Casts like this almost never see the transfer to video. The actual production conditions were authentically grueling and difficult, much like a live stage performance.This movie suffers from technical flaws in the filming, sound production, DVD transfer, etc. There is even an encoding mistake in the DVD that overlaps for about 5 seconds of audio at one point, though overall the audio and video are cleaned up from the previous VHS/PAL releases. What I can say without hesitation is that it is akin to viewing Michelangelo's David, through a broken and slightly hazy window. Once you forget about the lens, you will never see anything to compare to what you are seeing. And the clarity of the window does not in any way reflect on the actual miracle.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite a fine production
Review: This Don Giovanni is not the worst, and it's not the best. But it's about as close as one can get to the top of the list without actually being there. Ruggero Raimondi is a great baritone and too often overlooked (his signature role is Scarpia). His Don Giovanni is given both a fantastic voice, full of expression, and a fantastic actor to back it up. The "Donnas" both shine, and their performance alone is worth the price of this DVD.
The sound is difficult to deal with--the balance between singers, etc.
The filming aspects--cinematography, lighting, sets (oh, the sets!) are all very well done, and the work is as much a success as an opera as it is as a film.
My only beef is with Malcolm King's Masetto, which is horribly overdone (and, at least for me, the character whose lip-synching was the most obvious, as everyone else seemed to disguise it well).
My advice: buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: STAY AWAY FROM THIS DVD!!!
Review: this dvd only gets one star for the singing (maybe 1 and a half) but because the audio is so horrible you can't hear anything. everything is jumble up...on top of that...either opera-star can't lipsync or the guy managing the audio did not know how to do his job because often times, the singers' mouth does not move with the music! VERY DISTRACTING! the background is beautiful BUT THE FILM IS JUST PLAIN UGLY! TAKE MY ADVICE AND BUY ANOTHER DON GIOVANNI --- STAY AWAY FROM THIS DISC.
Rating:
Summary: A feast for the senses
Review: This emotionally gripping story is bound to engage one's senses, as one feels & hears the pain, anguish and sometimes excitement at different times, in the various women who are the subject of Don Giovanni's attentions. He is at once charming, a fun guy, deceitful & wicked, then dismissive, keeping one on a rollercoaster of emotions, best displayed by Donna Elvira. While I relish every moment of this movie, I am relieved to see the end of it. The scenery is romantic and soothing, by itself alone making the movie worth seeing. It allows some of the scenes which are unnaturally constrained on an opera stage to look a lot more realistic. I love this movie for it's artistic beauty. Should be required viewing for every young woman.
Rating:
Summary: the beautiful production and the beastly sound
Review: This is a "movie opera", and I am not a fan of them, because I find some of the passion is filtered out when the singing is separated from the acting, and though this film is well done, it has a lot of that "lip-synch" look, which dims the dramatic impact. I would rather watch a filmed live performance, with less gloss, and more feeling.
The lavish production is stunning to look at, with great art direction (by Alexandre Tauner) and cinematography (by Gerry Fischer), a very attractive cast, and of course, Mozart's score, which I think is his most sublime masterpiece. The singers are excellent: Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira, and Edda Moser as Donna Anna really shine above all, both so lovely and graceful, and vocally wonderful. Moser especially manages to be emotionally expressive. Ruggero Raimondi is a fine Don Giovanni, Jose Van Dam a rather elegent Leporello, with John Macurdy as Il Commendatore, Kenneth Riegel as Ottavio, Teresa Berganza as Zerlina, and Malcolm King as Masetto rounding out the cast well. The sound: The volume fluctuates depending on where the singer is placed in the scene, fading out as they walk away for instance, which is dramatically appropriate, but a musical disaster. There is a quartet that is bizarre in its balance, since two of the singers are in the background. Lorin Maazel conducts the Paris Opera, which in this, and other recordings I have heard, does not have the richest and fullest sound in the world, and may be adding to the problems.
The Don's demise however, starting with the Commendatore's "Don Giovanni a cenar teco" is marvelous, and despite the camera inexplicably lingering on the servant boy instead of the action at times, it is a riveting scene, with some of the most superb music ever written.
Though well worth viewing, I would put this film into the "rent not buy" category, unless one is an inveterate opera collector.
Rating: 
Summary: The music is good but the film loses the feel of the opera
Review: This is an opera that has been recorded and then acted out with the singers lip synchronising to the music. The action is not set in Renaissance Spain as is the norm but in late 18th Century Italy. The actors perform in the standard dress of the day of Haydn and Mozart. In addition to the settings the way the opera is performed is very much as a serious tragedy. The original was meant to be comic. The figure of a page has also been added to the action. The part is a non-speaking (or signing part) and a young man dressed in black follows the Don around at all times. This is presumably symbolic of something that is rather lost. In reality it is hard to think of a film which is so much at odds with the spirit of the subject matter it portrays. One hears music that is full of life, vigour and comic invention. As one hears it one sees on the screen actors portraying a dull lifeless work more like the tedious opening two or three hours of Eisenstien?s Ivan the Terrible. The female leads are also dressed weirdly. Kiri Te Kanawa is dressed in a wig that makes her look like Ronald McDonald. The Don Giovanni portrayed by Mozart is a person who is full of the spirit of life. On screen (as opposed to the musical portrayal) Raimondi portrays him as if he was a low level public servant without a sense of humour. Whilst the music is good the film is to be avoided.
Rating:
Summary: A high quality movie with the opera intact !
Review: This is NOT one of those boring performances on a stage,
it IS a high quality movie filmed on location in Venice.
IT HAS HOLLIWOOD STYLE SPECIAL EFFECTS !-- like lightning,
controlled weather, and even a real statue (colossus) chase
after Don Giovanni. Like ALL movies employing special effects,
there are scenes were the singing is pre-recorded and the
acting done seperately-- but this lip-sinking is infrequent.
The only time it is evident is when the statue is animated.
Actually, the statue's frozen face adds to the effect that it
is POSSESSED, and NOT an actor !
THE FILM IS SO EXCELLENT THAT IT WOULD EVEN BE GOOD IF IT WAS
JUST A PLAIN MOVIE-- AS AN OPERA IS IS SOMETHING SENSATIONAL !!!
The Dolby surround sound has great singing; nevertheless, like
some Dolby recordings the volume seems too low--this is the
only bad thing about it. The staging even adds to the story,
for example: who is the "vampire-boy" following people around?
(He actually seems to be an angel,or demon, judging the scene.) The nude girls represent tragic abuse of inocence. Are those places real? Is the lightning the wrath of God? -- (actually, it is).
THIS IS REALLY TOO GREAT A OPERA/MOVIE TO MISS !!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Mozart miracle!
Review: This is possibly the most beautiful opera video ever produced. It was not filmed on stage, but on location in Vicenza, Italy, with absolutely stunning setting. It features excellent performances, including Ruggero Raimondi (the perfect Don) and Kiri Te Kanawa (the perfect Donna Elvira). Of the 5 or 6 greatest operas ever written (all Mozart's, in my opinion), some say Don Giovanni stands out as the most perfect achievement. Whatever your opinion may be, by getting this video you will be getting the very finest rendition of this masterwork I have ever seen. It is sung in the original Italian, with English subtitles. Incidentally, one reviewer complained of the poor quality of the sound. This is unfortunately true (shame on Kultur Videos!) but don't let this stop you from purchasing this excellent video - you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: The best Mozart opera by the best cast
Review: This is wonderful interpretation of Mozart's best opera. Kiri Te Kanawa, Jose Van Dam, John McCurdy, Ruggerio Raimondi---absolutely wonderful! And this is a movie version---so it's not done on a stage. The scenery is lovely!
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