Rating: 
Summary: A Cinematic Masterpiece
Review: Luchino Visconti's film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella is visually, if not philosophically, faithful to its source (Britten's opera offers a more faithful reading of the Apollonian/Dionysian struggles which consume the aging writer). It is certainly one of the most gorgeous films ever made.In the Visconti version, the emphasis is more on the physical aspects of the story. Never has Venice looked more beautiful and alluring, more decadent and effete. If you've read the novella, it's like having the descriptions on its pages come to life. Dirk Bogarde gives an outstanding performance as Gustav von Aschenbach. Although he has very little dialogue, he conveys the bitterness, aroused passion and finally, pitiful yearning of Aschenbach through facial expressions alone. Bjorn Andresen, the actor who plays Tadzio, the beautiful young boy who is the object of Aschenbach's desire, was perfectly cast. He too plays the part with facial expressions and gestures. The Tadzio character is pivotal to the story, so any actor in this role must be worthy of inspiring passion and desire. Visconti, with his incredible eye for beauty, knew exactly what was he doing. And changing Ashenbach from a writer to a composer based on Gustav Mahler, and then using Mahler's music, especially the Adagietto from the 5th Symphony, was another brilliant stroke. Although I'd read the Mann story before the film, Mahler's music and Death in Venice will always be inextricably linked in my mind. As will the haunting images which appear throughout the film, especially that last one of Ashenbach dying on the beach as Tadzio walks slowly into the water. This films begs for DVD presentation in widescreen format with its soundtrack digitally enhanced. It also deserves to be restored to original full length. It may be slow moving with little action, but its rewards are many.
Rating:
Summary: Son-of-a-beachin' good flick
Review: The brilliant white glare of a turn-of-the-century summer's day. High society ladies with broad brimmed hats and dainty parasols. Visconti is the last of the great seashore Impressionists. Mahler is the first of the lavish film score composers. A must-see. A must-listen.
Rating: 
Summary: Question on aspect ratio
Review: The original film was shot in 2.35:1 aspect ratio but the DVD information I have seen just says widescreen. This implies the DVD is 1.75:1. Can anyone confirm the actual aspect ratio of the DVD?
Rating:
Summary: The Harshness and Beauty of Life
Review: The word masterpiece in my opinion has been so much overused these days to describe any film which does not bore us to death after ten minutes,and in the process it has lost its true meaning. For we have to go back in time, to the golden age of artistic and creative cinema, 60s to late 70s to re-appreciate what Masterpiece really means.It is directors and artists like Fellini, Kurosawa, Truffaut, Fassbinder,and others that have defined the term with their vision, style and sheer poetry to the eyes and mind,that no other director has come close in our time, the age of finances and lawyers over essence.
Artists like Visconti, with classics to his name (Rocco and his Brothers,The Leopard,),have enriched the cinema as an art form of the most sophisticated kind, an accessible intellectual platform to entertain and stimulate at the same time, which Death In Venice (1971) is an excellent example of.
Adapted from Thomas Mann's novel, and starring Dirk Bogarde in top form, Death In Venice is a film that is very much the product of its time.(I would find it impossible with today's jittery sensitivities and more skeptical studios that it can be re-adapted).It is a film that is very intense in its philosophical questions, yet captivating in its simplicity and serene and gorgeous cinematography.
An artist,composer/conductor,Gustav von Aschenbach, goes on a much needed vacation to Venice to recuperate after physical illness and mental exhaustion. There, his life will forever change when he sees a beautiful boy Tadzio (Bjorn Andresen).He admires the beauty of the young lad,at first with curiosity that soon turn into obsession, fueled by the boy's returned gazes, sometimes shyly, at others boldly and even indirectly intimidating. Tadzio intrigues Aschenbach, as he watches with increased interest the obvious and natural contradictions in the boy's youth between the 'virginal' innocence and the playful mischief.
Yet there is more..
Through flashbacks we know more about the artist's life: his deep grief after the death of his young daughter, the decline of his professional life and the public humiliation he endured, as well as his agony over the philosophical nature of beauty that he could not find an answer to.
Amidst all this, Tadzio's beauty triggered in him all these demons, failures and doubts and pushed him to the depth of despair.In a way the artist needed this beauty/fantasy to restore his mental physical and creative health.
We can also feel the artist's confusion when he says : What kind of road I have chosen? this illustrates the inevitable path to destruction he has taken, which deep down he knows is doomed from the start.
Fate plays a dirty hand with Aschenbach when a mixed up in luggage forces the artist to return to the hotel after finally deciding to leave. After initial anger, and in one of the most powerful scenes in the movie, we see him returning to Venice with a smile on his face, for destiny has pushed him back in the arms of the 'idealism' he found in the boy.
In another equally powerful scene, he sits on a bench at night, and say loudly : 'I Love You' ..this is a defining moment in the film , as we see all his defenses floundering and we feel that his end is nigh.
Tadzio remains an object of 'platonic' obsession for the musician, for in my opinion he sees in him, the image of his lost daughter (there are some resemblance), the answer to the age old riddle of beauty's meaning,(Perfection vs Mediocrity) and at the end, the power of life itself..When Aschenbach is dying on the beach from cholera and reaches out for the boy who walks away into the sea and only looks back when is far away, it is also a confirmation that indeed Tadzio is like life, cold, unresponsive,and finally giving up on the artist: Tadzio was the hope that Aschenbach clung to till the very last moment without success.
This makes Death in Venice a film that will force the viewer to think, yet soothes his eyes with breathtaking images, and with very serene scenes of family life at the beach side that in its domesticity and normalcy contradicts Aschenbach's own condition.
I will think twice before using the word Masterpiece from now on, and reserve it to the very few films that truly deserve it, and Death in Venice is certainly one of them.
Rating:
Summary: "AUTOPSY.....
Review: There are so many levels to this movie today and there wil be so many future levels. BASICALLY, composer on vacation [?], No, recovering from a traumatic domestic incident involving great personal loss find a sort of a 'retribution' in this exerience. Something along those lines, simple, but so effectively presented by VISCONTI [Master of the lonely soul], and portrayed with utter simplicity by erstwhile heart-throb Dirk Bogarde. It is a slow journey, moving with detailed precision to it's inevitable conclusion. Mr. Bogarde, a fine actor in the later years, stunned audiences with this raw performance and continued to stride from project to project, leaving us with a unique movie legacy. Brilliant fusion of image and sound thanks to the genius of Gustav Mahler - possibly a phantom inspiration of the novella. [Mildly parodied by Russell in "Mahler" this fine work deserves full widescreen DVD restoration as does all of Luchino Visconti's fine works.]
Rating:
Summary: incredible and unbelievable
Review: There is no need for me to exult to this movie, it is deservingly world famous. I do agree with one of the reviewes here that Mann's novella makes a different impression, although I would still hesitate to say that it's a swallower work of art. What I wanted to share is the feeling of before and after - if you see Venice first and then see the movie, and then come back to the city again, you will see it differenty. I do think that it's one of the most profoundly influential movies, and for everyone who liked it and appreciated the music there, Ludwig by Visconti is a must, too. Just to conclude, I did find it puzzling to find Death in Venice in the gay section in a video store; I think the movie is about the appreciation of beauty that goes beyond society-imposed limits and the individual's fright and astonishment when the power of beauty hits him. Enjoy this masterpiece!
Rating:
Summary: Moving, heartwrenching and yet tormenting
Review: There is nothing one can say regarding this masterpiece which would even begin to give this work the justice it deserves. The world must watch this.
Rating:
Summary: Thank you for the DVD
Review: This had been one of my favorite movies when I had seen it years ago in the theatre, but I was only able to get a VHS tape 6 months ago. Unfortunately it was a full screen version and while the movie was recognizeable, it lacked the impact that I remembered from the theatre. This dvd makes all the difference. The sets and camera work are largely what make this movie work and the pan and scan used with the tape just about destroyed it. Now with the DVD, I can see that virtually every shot, set-up I think it is called in the business, is a work of art of composition and color. This is a film from Italy, a nation with a preeminent tradition in the visual arts and Death In Venice shows this visual sense to perfection. I have never seen another movie as artistically shot as this. The plot and story line are very much underplayed and frankly many people I know don't get this film. The story developes, more than is told as in a conventional film. Rather than watching it, you live this movie. You watch it in delight at the what you are seeing and experiencing of being in Venice at the turn of the century. The story just sort of unfolds around around this visual experience, rather like real life. While the picture quality of the DVD is very much better than the VHS tape, the sound is only somewhat better. Nevertheless there is less wow and flutter than in the tape or than I remember from the theatre. Unfortunately the movie predates the general adoption of stereo sound, let alone Dolby surround. Given the extensive use of music, especially Mahler's 5'th symphony, one can only dream as to what this movie would be like with modern sound.
Rating:
Summary: Why bad choices matter
Review: This is a fascinating story of a very depressed and humiliated composter/conductor whose nervois collapse sends him on a trip to Venice to regain his health, mental and physical. It's obvious that the main character (Dirk Bogarde, a great actor) is inordinately attracted to the sensual and obviously budding young homosexual (one scene where he and another young boy cavort on the beach resolve that question, if you had one). As the story continues, our main character becomes more and more obsessed with posessing the beauty and sensuality of the flirtacious young male "beauty" who turns out to be Bogarde's undoing. He becomes so obsessed and enamored with this young boy, that his toughts and desires are so completely captivated that he ignores the dangerous fact that the city is among many being doomed by cholera and that the safest thing (according to the manager of the hotel) is to get out of Venice before he becomes a victim (you see them dying on the street and the city trying to pretend it's not s dangerous disease that will ruin the tourist trade if widely known. Well, he doesn'tleave. Instead, he goes to a hairstylest/make-up artist in an attempt to artificially restore his youth and good looks in order to attract the young boy on the beach. This young boy's mother is so busy enjoying herself on the beach with friends that's she's blinded by the terrible story unfolding under her nose, if only she'd look. The young boy is only having narcissistic pleasure torturing Bogarde and is unaware in the closing scene, that Bogarde, sitting on a beach chair watching the young adonis, is dying, his make-up running down his sick and fevered face and at last realizing his folly, dies quietly, bitterly laughing, recognizing that his choice to pursue a self-absorbed and sensual young boy (rather than fleeing a plague) has cost him his life. A cautionary tale with much to think about and the exquisite music of Gustav Mahler played hauntingly throughout the film is the perfect accompaniment for this tragedy. The cinematogaraphy is gorgeous; some of the comic performances of entertainers delicious, everyone perfectly cast in a truly fine and thoughtful film about the tragedy of pursuing things that have no eternal value. I loved it and the message it conveys. Think about it.
Rating:
Summary: Beware: English spoken
Review: This is Luchino Visconti at the peak of his power as a reggiseur. This film is like a beautiful simphony, with a superb cinematography. No doubt, a film for the eyes pleasure. Dirk Bogard plays the part of his career and Silvana Mangano is exquisit as Central Europe countess (Visconti's mother look a like). The adagietto, the discussion about art and beauty, the decadence of an entire way of living... this is certainly one of the most important works from an unique artist of the second half of the XX century. Sadly, it is an enormous mistake that this long waited DVD edition was not released in it's original Italian language. Cinema lovers should wait for the european release.
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