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Gilbert & Sullivan - Ruddigore / Michell, Price, Trevelyan, Opera World
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781569385388
Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 1569385386
Label: Acorn Media
Languages: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
MPN: DAMP5386D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: October 22, 2002
Running Time: 116 minutes
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: 1982
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Editorial Review:
Ruddigore, a pseudo-melodramatic ghost story, became most famous for the moment when the portraits of Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd's ancestors spring to life and demand that he uphold the family curse of performing a crime every day. Less flawlessly balanced between score and libretto than some of Gilbert and Sullivan's works, it's a pleasurable trifle set to gorgeous music. Since this is the only version widely available, we're lucky it's so good. Vincent Price is wonderfully typecast as Despard Murgatroyd, the brother who hands over the title and the curse when Ruthven gives up hiding from his evil fate. Price can't sing--and he has a good 15 years on Keith Michell, who plays his older brother--but it really doesn't matter. He carries off his performance with supreme deftness. Unlike many G&S productions, this one is admirably free of mugging; the actors don't condescend to their material. The staging is as beautifully absurd as the plot. The chorus of professional bridesmaids are an indistinguishable unit out of a fractured fairy tale, sleeping in one bed and showing up in the middle of other people's scenes; and during a lovely but dramatically static madrigal, the cast plays croquet. Part of the Opera World series of 12 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, produced in the early 1980s, Ruddigore is among the best in an uneven project. --David Olivenbaum
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - It's Price's show.
A-many years ago, with young and overly ambitious ideas of enlisting the late, great Vincent Price to play Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, I approached him after a talk he gave at Indiana University. His interested and gracious decline was almost as good as an acceptance. Imagine my astonished gratification to see him later as -- not Sir Roderic -- but Sir Despard.
Without Price, I would give this particular version of my favorite operetta about half a star. Act I is downright embarrassing, at least ... Read More
Rating:  - Spooky fun and Vincent Price, too
This is one of the 1982 series of G&S productions produced by the BBC.
It's a charming opera but largely overlooked and this is probably one of the only way most people will see it.
Shy young Robin is in love with sweet Rose Maybud, but can't bring himself to confess his feelings. Plus, he has a secret--he's really the rightful Baronet of Ruddigore, but faked his death to escape the title and its curse.
His younger brother, Despard (played with campy style by Vincent ... Read More
Rating:  - Totally Disappointing !
Having seen this on stage and enjoyed it so much, I was horrified at such a poor rendition. I do not even consider it worth putting on a DVD/video at all. Amateur performances on the whole and mediocre singing. It lacked the drama of a good stage performance but did not take advantage of the possibilities of film. The cartoon-like intervals were ridiculous and so not amusing, the ghosts so mundane....in fact the whole scene lacked the necessary "spooky" atmosphere. I couldn't even find the patience to ... Read More
Rating: - A Horribly Good Time
I have mixed feelings about this film. On the positive side, it was kind of fun to see this send-up of hammer films, complete with Vincent Price (who surprisingly holds his own in the G&S environment). In this respect, it is an amusing halloween treat that I admittedly enjoy watching every October. On the negative side, like so many other incomplete films in this "complete G&S" series, several favorite songs are missing and some of the attempts at horrific humor fall very flat. The chorus was rather ... Read More
Rating: - Ruddigore
The scenery is excellent, novel use of old fashioned bicycles.
Keith Mitchell and Vincent Price both take superb parts.
Bridesmaids are VERY athletic ! maybe a bit too much so (and maybe not quite irritating enough with 'Hail the Bridesmaid')
Worth adding to your library.
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