Review of Cyrano De Bergerac

Introduction

The play was written in 1896 by Edmund Rostand and has been used as the basis of many versions of the Cyrano story including this one and Steve martin`s Roxanne. Jose Ferrer stars in this 1950 version with the addition of a large amount of nose which rivals Nicole Kidman`s in its ability to distract one from the plot. Perhaps the better known version is the 1990 Gerald Depardieu who probably didn`t need as much help with the nose.

Cyrano de Bergerac is a poet, swordsman and philosopher. He loves his cousin Roxanne but believes she will never see past his facial deformity and learn to love him. Then Roxanne reveals she is in love with Christian, a handsome young man. He shares her feelings but is unable to put his thoughts into words The self sacrificing Cyrano offers to help and pours his own feelings out in the knowledge that Roxanne must never know the truth.

Video

Made in black and white it could have looked good if it had been treated instead it is very shabby indeed. it really is very, very poor.

There are also noticeable gaps where the film seems to have been sello-taped back together. What a great shame.

Audio

Again the sound has an accompanying hiss which indicates the great age. The speeches are clear enough but it is woeful.

Features

There are short cast text biographies.

Conclusion

An appalling transfer cannot quite eliminate the the power of the performance which shines through in this moving and heartfelt rendition of Cyrano. Jose Ferrer pours out his heart and soul as he plays the would-be lover who truly believes his nose is an obstacle to true love. No one else can come close and as he occupies the screen for most of the time they don`t need to. This is a triumphant one man show which earned him an Oscar.

I`ve been trying to find out if this is the only version available and there seems to have been a laser disc version available which was much better quality. So there may be another version in another Region-the problem is you don`t know until you play it. Hopefully at some point someone will spend some money and make a decent version-this is not it.