The Mikado (The Criterion Collection)

Bottom Line First: Overall this is a fair production. It represent a sincere effort to bring an old and tradition limited production into the world of film. Important songs are missing, or cut short. The finished product seems more earnest than entertaining. I recommend this more as a piece of theater and movie history. The Mikado is in amateur productions all over this country and all have the immediate advantages of live theater by dedicated Savoyards. This is not the place to start if you are beginning your life as a Savoyard.Over 100 years before the first Harry Potter fans lined up to pass judgement of the legitimacy of the first Harry Potter movie, there were the traditions that grew up around the productions of anything Gilbert and Sullivan. In part this may have been a reaction to the wide spread problem of the lack of any copy right protections between national borders but more likely because of the personality of the original writer and lyricist, Sir William Gilbert and Sir Author Sullivan. AKA Gilbert and Sullivan.A Gilbert and Sullivan production, when enacted by the Original Company, the D’oyly Carte Opera Company was expect to do things certain ways. Diction was always exacting, historically this would be Gilbert’s doing. There would be encores. There are specific requirements in the limited choreography and many of the major directions. Only limited amount of improvisation, and that limited to one song. One character, the older failed male romantic lead would be allowed some impish clowning. An audience to a D’oyly Carte production expects, as part of the fun the see each production as exactly reproduces as if by mechanical means. Rather like we expect a movie to always re-run as we saw it the first time.I have had the pleasure to see several Gilbert and Sullivan operetta performed by the original D’oyly Carte Company 3 in as many weeks during their American Tour in 1976 and I think once when I was very young. The original company disbanded in 1982 have been formed in 1871. A new company was re-formed in 1988. This new company tends to go dark every now and then but they still maintain a website and have been known to co-produce with local companies. Amateur companies exist all over the world and annually compete for the chance to go on stage in London. Side note: the G and S operetta built the Savoy Theater in London and since then fans and performers are referred to as Savoyards.There is a long history of complaint that the entire plot of Mikado is “yellow face”. That is it consists of broad and ignorant stereotyping of the Japanese people. The criticism is unfair and at the detail level ignorant of the original intent. The basics of the plot is that the Mikado of Japan has decreed that flirting, except by married couples is a crime and to be punished by execution. The Operetta was written in England in 1885. Japan was an exotic, unknown land, thought of only in terms of images painted on “Jars and Doors on Screen and Fans” and image that is expressly disavowed in the opening number, “If you want to know who we are”. In England in 1881 Queen Victoria was on the throne and she was famously narrow minded by things related to public shows of affection., Tradition has it tht she understood that the Mikado was a lampoon aimed at her and because of it she denied Author Gilbert his knighthood for many years after Sullivan got his.End of background. This Mikado DVD is from a Hollywood Technicolor movie filmed in 1939. It was made with both the participation of and close guidance from The Company. Most of the performers were in the Company and while set designs and costumes are original to this version the intention was to make a D’oyly Carte movie. Any change in a D’oyly Carte production is by definition a major change. This said changes were made as part of a conscious decision to make the production fit the time constraints of a movie and to use the ability of a camera to move every viewer direct onto the stage.Keeping in mind that the original Mikado typically ran over 2 hours, this DVD times at 91 minutes, including some commentary. The movie includes an introduction that replaces at last one song and many other songs are either cut out or cut short. The famous List song (all G and S Operetta’s have list songs), one of my favorites was cut allegedly because it had a direct visual reference to Adolph Hitler and a line that used the N-word. I do not believe this explanation. By 1939 Nazi German was getting a lot of appropriately negative coverage in Hollywood and there was zero notion that the occasional racist expression was not part of polite theater.On the positive side the use of Technicolor and taking advantage of the camera’s view many of the sets and costumes are wonderfully detailed and dreamy in their effect. Unlike traditional crowds in the stage direction by The Company, Here the crows tend to act more naturally, scattered about and engaged in movie versions of what village crowds do.The basic plot. The action all takes place in the Town of Titipoo. A wondering minstrel, specifically a 2nd trombonist Nankipoo arrives in town seeking to marry his beloved, Yum-Yum ward of town tailor turned Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko. We know from the introduction that Nankipoo, despite bravado, is the only son of the Mikado and as such he is sought in matrimony by Katisha, an elderly lady of the court. Meantime, the Mikado notices a sudden lack of executions performed in Titipoo and brings his entourage, including Katisha, his daughter in law elect, to determine if the town of Titipoo should be demoted to the rank of a village. Believe it or not things get sillier from here.Specific to the movie. The lead roles of Nanki Poo and Yum-Yum are not original Company Cast members. They are Kenny Barker and Jean Colin a lovely young American couple, each well known to the audiences of the day. They have the voices and look good together. Not much else is required of them. The main comedic performances are by veteran D’oyly Carte performed Martyn Green as the traditional spritely , failed romantic lead, Ko-Ko ,the Lord High Executioner and Sydney Granville the basso clown-profundo, Pooh-Bag, the Lord High Everything Else. Of the two much of Ko-Ko’s clowning about works but there are a few too many drum reinforced falls on his backside and the toe bit is an outright fail. Granville is exactly the desired overly stayed, palm out officious, official, “I can’t help it I was born sneering”. Often the role of the Mikado is secondary to the point of being incidental John Barkly enlivens the roll with one of the best, evil villain laughs this side of Vincent Price and Barkly combines an oily creepy sense of threat with just enough of a wink at the audience. This is an actor having fun.

The Martyn Green 1939 Mikado film is a valuable historical document, and in the end enjoyable, but still not without certain defects. The foremost of these is the huge number of cuts, listed here in chronological order:* Much of the Overture (understandable, as it wasn't even written by Sullivan)* Some of the opening chorus I think, but half of it is run over the opening credits anyway* Both of Nanki-Poo's recitatives (some of the words of the first one are place in his dialogue with Pish-Tush)* 2nd verse of Pish-Tush's song, "Our great Mikado"* Pooh-Bah's song, "Young man despair"* The list song, "As some day it may happen"* All but the coda of "Comes a train of little ladies"* "So please you sir, we much regret" and much of the dialogue preceding it* "With aspect stern and gloomy stride" (the orchestral part is altered in order to skip from the introduction to Pooh-Bah singing "To ask you what you mean to do we punctually appear")* 2nd verse of "The threatn'd cloud has passed away"* "Oh fool that flee-est my Hallow'd joys"* "The hour of gladness is dead and gone"* Katisha's first solo lines in the conclusion of the Act I Finale ("Ye torrents roar"), allowing for the chorus to continue on after they interrupt Katisha.* Pitti-Sing's solo and the reprise of the main verse in "Braid the raven hair"* 2nd verse of "The sun whose rays are all ablaze." Sadly, Yum-Yum's small speech preceding it, which I never fail to enjoy, is also omitted* 2nd verse of the madrigal, "Brightly dawns our wedding day" (this cut is also made in the 1966 film)* 2nd verse of "From ev'ry kind of man obedience I expect" (the daughter-in-law elect thing)* 1st verse of "A more humane Mikado"* "See how the fates their gifts allot" and the dialogue concerning Katisha's complexion* "Alone and yet alive" (including "Hearts do not break")* "There is beauty in the bellow of the blast" and all of the preceding dialogue* "For he's gone and married Yum-Yum" (They skip straight to "The threatn'd cloud has passed away" after Ko-Ko explains himself, and very well too)* The orchestral reprise of "There is beauty in the bellow of the blast"No doubt I have missed something as I have only watched the movie once (I have made no effort to include all of the dialogue cuts)Regardless, these are the consequences of the various deletions: Katisha's role is cut down to nothing, singing-wise, though she still retains enough dialogue to get her personality across. And Pitti-Sing's part is chopped down to "For he's going to marry Yum-Yum" and her part in "The criminal cried." Peep-Bo almost doesn't exist. Nanki-Poo and Ko-Ko are the main characters, though they have a few cuts to their roles as well. The part of the Mikado is trimmed down too, but has the privilege to appear before Act 2 in the "Prologue" added to the beginning. This prologue is okay, but I really don't see how it shortens the length of the opera much. Precious time is wasted showing Nanki-Poo walking around Ko-Ko's house, singing nothing but (at one point) "The sun whose rays are all ablaze" as a love song to Yum-Yum, who watches from her window. This seems counterproductive, but there really isn't much one can do about it except skip it. The movie has a distinct Hollywood flavor during the first bit, but once Ko-Ko enters, things begin to seem more Gilbert & Sullivan.Some complain about the "encores," saying they should not have been allowed in the program so as the grant space for fewer deletions. One must keep in mind, however, that only three minutes are added due to encores (one for "Here's a how-de-do" and one for "The flowers that bloom in the spring") and they add greatly to this fascinating historical document. As another reviewer noted, this is one of the few recordings (the only one?) in which the special orchestration of "The flowers that bloom in the spring" and Nanki-Poo's cadenza are heard.As for the performance, it is very good to have Martyn Green's Ko-Ko preserved on video. He does wonderfully, with many comic touches that are endearing rather than annoying (I like his last fan). Granville as Pooh-Bah does similarly well, and makes his character's personality come across well. The way he uses his costume almost as a turtle shell is delightful. Kenny Baker is a decent Nanki-Poo. His voice isn't as operatic as it should be, though he certainly can hold his breath for a long time (take a gander at the encore to "The flowers that bloom in the spring"). Jean Colin as Yum-Yum is good but not memorable as far as singing goes. John Barclay's Mikado is pretty good, and gives so much more character to the part than, say, his Brent Walker counterpart.The sound limits all of the singers a bit, but isn't too bad for 1939.Overall, this is something to watch once or twice, but not own unless you really take a liking to it. Trying it via interlibrary loan is probably a good idea. Martyn Green is a wonderful Ko-Ko, but with the defects in this recording (primarily the cuts) it probably can't compete with modern versions as a recording of The Mikado. Rather, it is a recording of what the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was like in 1939 (to a certain extent). If you want to see Green in action, this is the only place for it, otherwise, I recommend the more complete 1966 version or even The Brent Walker version (which has issues all its own).July 2010 EDIT: Since 2007, I have managed to pick up a DVD copy of this wonderful film. I don't remember laughing so much the first time around! Also: the DVD has restored part of the prologue that the VHS copy cuts. The color and film quality in general are also cleaned up a fair bit on the DVD.Anyway, the 1938 Mikado ended up being so much more enjoyable than I remember it that I'm upping my rating from four stars to five. Amazing stuff this.

We own 4 versions of The Mikado now. This is part of the classic collection for Mikado lovers. Each of our collection has wide interpretations of the characters. This is an early Hollywood production ment to introduce more of the American public to this classic English Musical Theater Comedy. There is quite a bit of mixing done with the play than the straight musical done on stage. We love the historical information added to the film and got a kick out of how this type of operatic musical comedy theater got Americanized in such broad ways when first introduced in America especially with no copywrite laws.

With the exception of (the excellent) Kenny Baker,who was American;this Mikado is a pure D'Oyly Carte (cast) delight.The filming is in very early Technicolor,and the soft pastel hues suit The Mikado down to the ground.The other big reason to buy this is to see undoubtedly the greatest Ko~Ko of all time in Martyn Green.Before you think of buying any other version of The Mikado get this first,because every other version has to stand up to this one.Given that this is often selling at a bargain price,what other reason do you need?I could give you more reasons,as "I've got a little list",but I think the ones above are enough."Well here's a how de do!"

I had always wanted to see this film, as it's the only chance to see Martyn Green in one of the parts he played for D'Oyly Carte. He and Sidney Granville are very good. The whole film is rather bitty, however, with an odd prologue explaining how Nanki Poo flees the court to escape from Katisha. An interesting oddity, although I never like what Geoffery Toye, the conductor, does to G and S operas in the way of cutting and reordering. (Ruddigore suffered at his hands for many years).

Love G&S but this can not compare with the newer BLACK AND WHITE MIKADO set in the 1920s that is pure genius but this is somewhat over staged as if the producer was trying to turn it into Grand Opera which it is not! It is very dated and the wonder of G&S is, like Shakespeare ... it is fit for any time!!

The best DVD of Gilbert and Sullivan. Being filmed added to the scope- more room to move than a stage. Singing, acting and choreography first class.

Enjoyable although not the full McCoy but taking into account that it was adapted for a film, it was reasonably true to the original and makes an interesting, historical counterpoint to other productions