Review of Offenbach: Orpheus In The Underworld

Introduction

Orpheus in the Underworld is a filmed adaptation of Jacques Offenbach`s operetta. A bawdy comedy based on Greek tragedy, the plot involves Orpheus as he journeys to the Hades to rescue his wife Eurydice from the gods of the Underworld.

Video

The picture is a pretty poor affair with flaws created during the poor shooting of the operetta for TV being carried forward onto the DVD. The picture is soft with visible grain and a disappointingly low level of detail.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in DD 2.0, which conveys the range of the vocals to an adequate level. Unfortunately, like the picture, it seems Metrodome hasn`t done any restoration work so the audio only gets an average mark.

Features

The extras consist of biographies of Jacques Offenbach, and of three of the actors, including Honor Blackman, of `The Avengers` fame.

Conclusion

Released by Metrodome under the `Ovation` range of titles, which is seemingly aimed at expanding the world of theatre into the wider audience, this adaptation unfortunately has pretty corny set design and comes off as more `pantomime` than `opera`. The DVD is also a comedy affair of sorts, as poor quality video presentation is coupled with mediocre audio performance (especially disappointing for an operetta) and sparse extras.