I loved this book and I love Shostakovich's filmscore from the movie.
You'll have to read the book to get the gist of the movie because it is NOT SUBTITLED in English, (or in any other language), being rendered in Russian. Still, I already knew what they were saying, having practically memorized the book, so I watched the entire movie, comprehended it perfectly, and enjoyed it highly.
The film is very true to the book so this is quite helpful if you don't speak Russian. The DVD, if you can find one!) WILL play on all DVD players, and that too is helpful to know as well. There are occasional "film scratch lines" moreso in some scenes than in others, and the color is pretty faded, going mostly to reds, but I can live with that.
The acting is tremendous and I particularly loved the filmscore which is played DIFFERENTLY from the Shostakovich CD version -- it was interesting to hear the ACTUAL, ORIGINAL filmscore, played on somewhat different instruments, (even classical guitar at one point!), by a different orchestra, probably by a different conductor.
Now, I confess to being a little nutzo over this story/film so if you are casually looking for just any nice film to watch, this one is probably not a good selection for you; however, if you are a student of film, or, if you read "The Gadfly" and loved it, you'll no doubt savor the film version. It will be really nice when the subtitled version emerges (if ever), but I'm very happy with the one I received (I got mine from a Russian guy on e-Bay).
The locations, the Italian mountain regions and the regal old buildings, are second to none -- very impressive. I hope you enjoy "The Gadfly" as much as I did.
You'll have to read the book to get the gist of the movie because it is NOT SUBTITLED in English, (or in any other language), being rendered in Russian. Still, I already knew what they were saying, having practically memorized the book, so I watched the entire movie, comprehended it perfectly, and enjoyed it highly.
The film is very true to the book so this is quite helpful if you don't speak Russian. The DVD, if you can find one!) WILL play on all DVD players, and that too is helpful to know as well. There are occasional "film scratch lines" moreso in some scenes than in others, and the color is pretty faded, going mostly to reds, but I can live with that.
The acting is tremendous and I particularly loved the filmscore which is played DIFFERENTLY from the Shostakovich CD version -- it was interesting to hear the ACTUAL, ORIGINAL filmscore, played on somewhat different instruments, (even classical guitar at one point!), by a different orchestra, probably by a different conductor.
Now, I confess to being a little nutzo over this story/film so if you are casually looking for just any nice film to watch, this one is probably not a good selection for you; however, if you are a student of film, or, if you read "The Gadfly" and loved it, you'll no doubt savor the film version. It will be really nice when the subtitled version emerges (if ever), but I'm very happy with the one I received (I got mine from a Russian guy on e-Bay).
The locations, the Italian mountain regions and the regal old buildings, are second to none -- very impressive. I hope you enjoy "The Gadfly" as much as I did.