- published: 09 Jun 2011
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Mignon is an opéra comique (or opera in its second version) in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's The Dead, (Dubliners). Thomas's goddaughter Mignon Nevada was named after the main character.
The first performance was at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 17 November 1866. The piece proved popular: more than 100 performances took place by the following July, the 1,000th was given there on 13 May 1894, and the 1,500th on 25 May 1919.
The opera was also adapted and translated into German for performance in Berlin with Madame Lucca as Mignon. Lucca was well received, but the German critics were unhappy with the opera's alterations to the Goethe original, so Thomas composed a shorter finale with a tragic ending, in which Mignon falls dead in the arms of Wilhelm. This ending was an attempt to make the story of the opera somewhat more similar in tone to the tragic outcome of Goethe's. (The original version of Mignon for the Opéra-Comique had to have a happy ending, since at that time in Paris tragic operas in French were exclusively reserved for the Opéra.) Unsurprisingly, this "Version allemande" still failed to satisfy the German critics and proved to be a futile endeavor. As Henry Edward Krehbiel describes it, the "Mignon of Carré and Barbier bears little more than an external resemblance to the Mignon of Goethe, and to kill her is wanton cruelty."
Actors: Ann Magnuson (actress), Joan Scheckel (miscellaneous crew), Peter Sarsgaard (actor), Joan Scheckel (miscellaneous crew), Joan Scheckel (miscellaneous crew), Billy 'Sly' Williams (actor), Art Bonilla (actor), Angeline Ball (actress), Liz Stauber (actress), Oualid Mouaness (producer), Oualid Mouaness (editor), Scott Ryan Whinery (actor), Audrey Ellis Fox (actress), Darryl Taja (producer), Roseanne Fiedler (costume designer),
Genres: Thriller,Actors: Assumpta Serna (actress), Émile Zola (writer), Antonello Fassari (actor), Bernard Giraudeau (actor), Günther Maria Halmer (actor), Sebastian Koch (actor), Sergio Donati (writer), Natalia Wörner (actress), Alberto Molinari (actor), Jacques Perrin (actor), Ennio Morricone (composer), Alberto Negrin (writer), Alberto Negrin (director), Emilio Bonucci (actor), Marco Landolfi (miscellaneous crew),
Plot: After a film of "Nana" is shown in 1914, the young cinema owner BORDENAVE # nephew of the former owner of the disreputable "Théâtre des Variétés" # asks an OLD LADY to tell him all about the legendary NANA. She begins to tell him the true story of Nana's life (unjustly altered by Zola). 1867-70: the young Nana, a street harlot, celebrates her acting debut at the "Théâtre des Variétés". She has average talent, but her incredible femininity and the magical attractions of her body soon gain her power over ministers, aristocrats, and numerous gentlemen in the respectable upper echelons of society, all of whom shower her with valuable gifts # even a villa of her own. The upper classes are not prepared to treat Nana as an equal, however # whereupon Nana promptly ends her liaison with COUNT MUFFAT. After her next relationship with the brutal, violent and alcoholic actor FONTAN, who takes her back onto the streets, Nana's heart is broken. Using her body as a weapon, she decides on a campaign of revenge. Falling for her yet again, Muffat buys her a lead role in the theater. Nana, the femme fatale, becomes a symbol of social success, and many aristocrats pay a small fortune to conquer her, even if only for one night. Anyone who comes into contact with her goes crazy about her and ends up destroyed (jail, suicide). When the winning horse in a race bears Nana's name, and all the most influential men in Parisian society throng around Nana, she revels in her social triumph. She then leaves Paris, only returning to take care of her sick girlfriend SATIN until her death. 1914: the old lady now informs young Bordenave that she is actually Nana. She tells the astonished young man that she bought a phony death certificate, and spent many happy years far away from Paris with Count Muffat until his death.
Keywords: based-on-novel, foreign-language-adaptation, paris-franceActors: Stefania Sandrelli (actress), Micheline Presle (actress), Massimo Dapporto (actor), Alfredo Muschietti (editor), Valentina Cervi (actress), Francesca Archibugi (director), Francesca Archibugi (writer), Francesca Archibugi (actress), Leo Pescarolo (producer), Paola Marchesin (costume designer), Monique Annaud (producer), Francesca Antonelli (actress), Guido De Laurentiis (producer), Daniela Morelli (actress), Gloria Malatesta (writer),
Genres: Drama,Actors: Geoff Freeman (miscellaneous crew), Murray Melvin (actor), Vanessa Redgrave (actress), Gemma Jones (actress), Ken Russell (producer), Ann Skinner (miscellaneous crew), Ken Russell (writer), Oliver Reed (actor), Ken Russell (director), Dudley Sutton (actor), John Woodvine (actor), Kenneth Colley (actor), Michael Bradsell (editor), Brian Murphy (actor), Andrew Faulds (actor),
Plot: Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry entourage seek to take control of seventeenth-century France, but need to destroy Father Grandier - the priest who runs the fortified town that prevents them from exerting total control. So they seek to destroy him by setting him up as a warlock in control of a devil-possessed nunnery, the mother superior of which is sexually obsessed by him. A mad witch-hunter is brought in to gather evidence against the priest, ready for the big trial.
Keywords: 1630s, 17th-century, abbess, absolute-monarchy, absurd-humor, banned-film, based-on-play, based-on-true-story, bastard-son, black-and-white-segment-in-color-filmActors: Paul Amiot (actor), Franck Maurice (actor), Jacques Castelot (actor), Nerio Bernardi (actor), Marcel Loche (actor), Walter Chiari (actor), André Dalibert (actor), Jean Debucourt (actor), Daniel Ceccaldi (actor), Paul Frankeur (actor), Marcel Charvey (actor), Charles Boyer (actor), Charles Lemontier (actor), Pierre Leproux (actor), Daniel Mendaille (actor),
Genres: Drama, Romance,Actors: André Alerme (actor), Robert Le Vigan (actor), André Lefaur (actor), René Lefèvre (actor), Sinoël (actor), Marie Glory (actress), André Berthomieu (writer), Georges Van Parys (composer), André Berthomieu (director), Marcel Cravenne (editor), Arlette Marchal (actress), André Siméon (actor), Schiaparelli (costume designer), Paul Marthès (actor), Henry Prestat (actor),
Plot: Grégoire Vachette is a bashful librarian, forced to listen to the daily boasting of his colleague Courgéan, a great seducer according to what he says. But when, while on holiday, Grégoire meets beautiful Madeleine, the shy young man becomes fired up. Back to his place of work, he can't help communicating his enthusiasm for Madeleine, so much so that he too is taken for a Don Juan. But Madeleine is not for him. Nevertheless, his unexpected change of attitude will have helped him to conquer the heart of Denise, a typist who loved him in secret.
Keywords: based-on-novelActors: Roger Lion (writer), Roger Lion (writer), Colette Darfeuil (actress), Jean Angelo (actor), Roger Vincent (actor), Madeleine Guitty (actress), Piero Pastore (actor), Eddy Debray (actor), Max Maxudian (actor), Pierre Juvenet (actor), Sinoël (actor), Alexandre Mihalesco (actor), Charles Lemontier (actor), Roger Lion (director), Roger Lion (writer),
Plot: Open and shut case: Maxime Dartois, the painter, is found dead in his penthouse with three bullets in his body, but the pistol that killed him is still being held by the (fainted) young lady by his side. A detective will find a few odd notes, and the plot thickens when plenty of people are interviewed, and more than one could have the will, and the opportunity, to be the killer, and it is not clear what the relationship of the girl was with the deceased.
Genres: Crime, Music, Mystery, Romance,Actors: Willis Goldbeck (writer), Maurice de Canonge (actor), Neil Hamilton (actor), Adolph Zukor (miscellaneous crew), Ernest Torrence (actor), Herbert Brenon (producer), Katherine Lee (actress), Anna Q. Nilsson (actress), Jesse L. Lasky (miscellaneous crew), Herbert Brenon (director), Louise Lagrange (actress), Effie Shannon (actress), William J. Locke (writer), William Ricciardi (actor), Julie Herne (writer),
Genres: Drama,Actors: Milton Ross (actor), Theodore von Eltz (actor), Walt Whitman (actor), Ora Carew (actress), Fred Becker (director), Gloria Joy (actress), Sherwood MacDonald (writer), Charles Spere (actor), Verna Brooks (actress), E.G. Davidson (actor),
Genres: ,Actors: Olga Svendsen (actress), Jørgen Lund (actor), Jon Iversen (actor), Aage Brandt (actor), Carl Petersen (actor), Knud Rassow (actor), Holger Reenberg (actor), Schiøler Linck (actor), Knud Lumbye (writer), Knud Lumbye (actor), Knud Lumbye (director), Alfred Arnbak (actor), Vera Brechling (actress), Emma Christiansen (actress), Alma Lagoni (actress),
Genres: Drama,