Adam - Giselle / Carla Fracci, Erik Bruhn, John Lanchbery, American Ballet Theatre

I detest this film. What should have been a glorious opportunity to capture Fracci and Bruhn in their signature partnership is ruined by the meddlesome and ignorant direction of Hugo Niebeling and David Blair. Giselle is a ballet; ballet is about dance; dance should be the focus of attention. We should have unobstructed views of the dancers dancing. Instead, we get shots through villagers eating and talking, shots from above, shots from the side, shots through machinery, shots reflected in pools, and so on - absolutely infuriating, unartistic, and puerile. What a shame and a sham! What a colossal misunderstanding of art!

Im not a ballet fan by any means - this is the 2nd one Ive watched. So I speak for the naive.

Absolutely fabulous! It must be one of best versions of Giselle! Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn were both sensational dancers, I guess thats the reason for this filmed Giselle.

This is a good video. The dancing is great! My only problem with it is that since it is made for video, the director gets a little artsy and takes away a bit from the dancing with his creative touches. I was also disappointed that the credits are very limited. The only dancers credited at all were the principals and soloists. Still worth the purchase.

Its a fabulous perf...and so what the producer is a bit too far into puddle reflections and sech...we would be much the poorer had this film never been made, and I would have been much the poorer for never having seen it...and Fracci radiates...plus the conducting is first rate....

Ive watched a lot of movies over the past 50 years, and I think Im in a position to say that its very likely that the director of this movie never got a job as director of a movie again. Thats how badly he directed this version of Giselle. I also have watched some excellent ballet DVDs in the past year, so I knew that this ballet had to have been performed better. I bought the Giselle by the La Scala ballet company with Alessandra Ferri as Giselle, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD, not only as a past dancer, but I was very fortunate to see Carla Fracci dance with ABT in my youth. A truly great performance and a DVD that should be in everyons collection who appreciates ballet.

I reviewed this yesterday and am only writing this because that was not quite correct. This is a movie which I hadn’t realized when I ordered it. The scenery, costumes are so elaborate they take aware from the gorgeous impact that actual ballet has had on me so many times. The filming of it is totally different than seeing it in person...

We just bought this DVD. Images are beautiful and sound quality is excellent. Carla Fraccis dancing is superb. At times, the filming adds value e.g. by including snapshots of forests and lakes. At times, the rapid-cut editing and the close-ups are a bit disturbing. In spite of those minor grudges, we warmly recommend buying this beautiful DVD.

Excellent for any ballet lovers collection. This is a collectable item. Beautiful. Also excellent condition and handled in timely manner by seller. Thumbs UP!