#559: SCHERTZINGER, Victor: The Mikado (1939)

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SCHERTZINGER, Victor (United States)
The Mikado [1939]
Spine #559
Blu-ray


The legendary Gilbert and Sullivan troupe the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company joined forces with Hollywood for this 1939 Technicolor version of the beloved comic opera The Mikado, the first work by the famed duo to be adapted for the screen. Directed by musician and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Victor Schertzinger, it is a lavish cinematic retelling of the British political satire set in exotic Japan, with such enduringly popular numbers as "A Wand'ring Minstrel I" and "Three Little Maids from School," and featuring American singer Kenny Baker as well as a host of renowned D'Oyly Cart performers, such as Martyn Green and Sydney Granville.

91 minutes
Color
Monaural
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2011
Director/Writers


Based upon the opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.
Adapted by Geoffrey Toye.
Victor Schertzinger was 51 when he directed The Mikado.

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien.

Commentary

None.

Video interviews

With Topsy-Turvy (1999) [Spine #558] director Mike Leigh and Mikado scholars Josephine Lee and Ralph MacPhail Jr.
Short silent film

Promoting the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company’s 1926 stage performance of The Mikado.
Deleted scene

With Ko-Ko’s I’ve Got a Little List song.
Excerpts

From 1939 radio broadcasts of the stage productions The Swing Mikado and The Hot Mikado.
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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