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La Ronde | 
 enlarge | Director: Max Ophuls
Actors: Simone Signoret, Anton Walbrook, Simone Simon, Garard Philipe
Studio: Criterion Collection
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $28.27
You Save: $11.68 (29%)
New (34) Used (7) from $24.59
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 24167
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Hifi Sound, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Thx, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 93
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 1765
UPC: 715515031424
EAN: 0715515031424
ASIN: B001BEK8BK
Theatrical Release Date: 1950
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED!
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Amazon.com essential video
The exquisite circularity of the roundelay has always been an attractive cinematic device, but never has it been used with more delicacy and canny insight than in La Ronde, Max Ophüls's adaptation of the Arthur Schnitzler play Reigen. The camera glides, swirls, and delicately dances around fleeting moments between lovers, from chance meetings and secret trysts, to the sincere but hopeless courtship by a besotted admirer, to the relaxed banter of cuckolding married couples. Ophüls's wry glimpses behind closed doors and pulled curtains are both cynical and sweet, generous of character but suspect of motive. As one scene ends, we waltz along as the characters change partners and dance again and again; we follow streetwalkers and soldiers, courtesans and counts, until we come full circle. Returning to the superb metaphor of the carousel, where dapper Anton Walbrook wanders about as host and commentator (a sort of literary ringmaster, like Peter Ustinov in Lola Montes), Ophüls plays at the game of love with a cocked grim and a sly jab, though he never belittles or judges. What could easily have descended into farce is lifted into loving satire by Ophüls's elegant touch and sparkling wit. A huge success in Europe, its continental attitude wasn't embraced by American audiences at the time. But it has come to be regarded one of Ophüls's finest and most beautifully visualized films. Everyone is somebody's fool, and isn't it wonderful? --Sean Axmaker
Product Description
Simone Signoret, Anton Walbrook, and Simone Simon lead a roundelay of French stars in Max Ophuls's delightful, acerbic adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's controversial turn-of-thecentury play La ronde. Soldiers, chambermaids, poets, and aristocrats, all are on equal footing in this multicharacter merry-go-round of love and infidelity, directed with a sweeping gaiety as knowingly frivolous as it is enchanting and shot with Ophuls's trademark intricate cinematography. SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES: New, restored high-definition digital transfer, Audio commentary featuring film scholar Susan White, author of The Cinema of Max Ophuls, Interview with Max Ophuls's son, the Academy Award winning filmmaker Marcel Ophuls
Interview with actor Daniel Gelin (Napoleon, Testament of Orpheus)
Interview with film scholar Alan Williams, Selected correspondence between Sir Laurence Olivier and Heinrich Schnitzler (the playwright's son), illustrating the controversy surrounding the source play
New and improved English subtitle translation. PLUS: A new essay by film critic Terrence Raffert
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 A confection of naughtiness November 1, 2008
A chocolate confection of a movie.
Set in Vienna circa 1900, based on a play by Viennese playwrite Arthur Schnitzler, it's a series of vignettes more about lust than love. The vignettes flow together by having one person appearing in the next -- generally being the seducer in one, the victim in the other.
As I understand it, Ophuls moderated the promiscuous tone of Schnitzler's play. There is definitely a sense of regret and loss over these random flings despite their inevitableness.
Still, the tone is mostly light, almost flighty at times. There's a master of ceremonies (Anton Walbrook) holding the entire thing together, as well as a pretty melody by Oscar Stauss. There are even the daring intrusions of moviemaking -- a clapboard, a filmstrip with the presumed sex scene being cut out -- and, one time, a hugely amusing bit of symbolism with the merry-go-round.
As with LE PLAISIR, many fine French actors appear. Sometimes, the same ones. Danielle Darrieux (at her most beautiful). Simone Simon. Daniel Gélin. Jean-Louie Barrault (a little over-the-top). Simone Signoret. Gérard Philipe (a beautifully nuanced performance).
Similar to LE PLAISIR -- but different. And about equal in quality and enjoyment.
The Criterion DVD's transfer seems pristine. It's extras include a fine film commentary by an Ophuls expert, Susan White. Also an informative presentation by writer Allan Williams, and interviews with Daniel Gélin (1989) and son of Max, Marcel Ophuls (2008).
 What goes around comes around October 21, 2008
Having seen the movie when it was first released, I was thrilled to find it available as a DVD. It is elegant, witty, but a little passe: Movies have come a long way since in "letting it all hang out". Some of the episodes are not fully developed and look more like first drafts. Still, watching skilled actors at work, especially Anton Walbrook as the master of ceremonies, is a delight.
Controversial and very entertaining October 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
La Ronde based on Arthur Schnitzler's controversial play, Reigen, is one of Max Ophüls best known films. It is based on a 1897 play that was derided as obscene by critics. The story has lost its raciness over the decades as standards have changed and the film had few problems, if any, with the censors.
The story is about people and having love affairs with each other. A soldier meets a woman at a dance ball and has a relationship with her and she in turn, later has an affair with another man who then sees another woman, and so on.
The DVD has some great special features also. They are
An interview with director Max Ophüls' son, Marcel, actor Daniel Gélin, and film scholar Alan Williams. Also included is the text of letters between Laurence Olivier and Arthur Schnitzler's son, Heinrich about the controversy surrounding the play, and audio commentary by the author of a book on Ophüls' films, Susan White.
This is an entertaining film that many will enjoy.
An Alltime Favorite On DVD At Last. October 11, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This 1950 film was considered quite scandalous in its day especially in America. The essential premise of characters having sex without marriage shocked conservative moviegoers even though it was done with wit and style and doesn't show you anything improper. It was based on an 1897 play by Viennese doctor turned playwright Arthur Schnitzler called REIGEN which created even more of an uproar back then. Adolf Hitler considered it absolute filth.
I first saw this film back during my college days and dreamed of playing on stage the narrator who is interactive throughout the story. Imagine my surprise when I obtained an English copy of the play and discovered there was no narrator in it! The filmmaker had created the character to enhance the film and indeed he does. As played by Anton Walbrook (the impresario of THE RED SHOES), he is the epitome of Old World grace and charm and has the best lines as well. No wonder as he is supposed to be the alter ego of the director himself.
The title REIGEN (ring or circular movement) refers to the nature of the play where one character has sex with another who then has sex with someone else and so on until, coming full circle, it ends with a final character having sex with the first one. All of the encounters take place off camera and there are even amusing attempts by the narrator (who introduces each character) to occasionally censor the action. The symbol of this "circle of love" which occurs throughout the film is a carousel or merry-go-round.
The film was made by Max Ophuls, a German filmmaker who wound up in France by way of the United States. His films are famous for his continually moving camera and interesting visual compositions. He was reportedly Stanley Kubrick's favorite director. Aside from the Austrian born Walbrook, the film features the top French acting talent of the day including Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Louis Barrault, and just starting her career, Simone Signoret. The celebrated music, including the LA RONDE theme, was composed by Oscar Straus (no relation to Johann).
I could go on and on about this film but I'll restrain myself. The simplest thing for you to do is to go out and rent it to see for yourselves and I wouldn't be surprised if you wind up buying it. Of course it is "old-fashioned' filmmaking. It's in black and white, has elegant tracking shots, and is full of characters who have something to say (even if it's in French) which means its appeal will unfortunately be limited to those who prefer more "upscale" fare. Yet if you take the time to sit back and take it in (and that's important), then you'll be amply rewarded. It's a film you may find yourself returning to again and again. This Criterion edition is beyond reproach.
La Ronde is a wonderful mixture of anticipation, pleasure and rue. It might even make you think wisdom could be involved October 11, 2008
"What is still missing for love to start its rounds? A waltz...and here it is. The waltz turns. The carousel turns...and the merry-go-round of love can begin turning, too."
If Le Plaisir is a clever study in how pleasure can lead to despair, hopelessness and, fortunately, more pleasure, and if Madame D... is a masterpiece of love's elegant sadness, perhaps La Ronde can be seen as a carousel of pleasure, where men and women's most natural instinct is celebrated with joy and infidelity.
Max Ophuls' La Ronde is a wonderful mixture of anticipation, pleasure and rue. It might even make you think wisdom could be involved. We're now in Vienna in 1900, a world of waltz, where lovers change lovers until we come back full circle. This delightful waltz includes counts, maids, actresses, soldiers, poets, prostitutes and married couples. Thanks to our host and escort, played by Anton Walbrook, we are not simply observers. We're complicit. "I am you," he tells us, "the personification of your desire to know everything."
On this carousel of pleasure, amusingly disguised for some as love, we can savor both the situations and the actors that Max Ophuls has given us. Ophuls is the master chef, but it is the likes of Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Louis Barrault, Simone Simon, Simone Signoret, Gerard Philipe and all the rest who keep this soufflé from falling. And speaking of falling, one of the most amusing and endearing episodes is our host encountering a momentary breakdown of the carousel, then fixing it in time for Daniel Gelin to continue with his waltz in the arms of Madame Breitkopf (Darrieux).
"True love is possible only where there is truth and purity" says Madame Breitkopf's husband to her in bed one evening, a few hours after her meeting with the young man played by Gelin. The next evening he'll meet the young girl he will make his mistress. Thank goodness truth and purity have little to do with pleasure, which needs only desire, a bit of self-delusion and a willingness not to learn from experience,
It's difficult to watch Madame D... without wanting to weep. It's difficult to watch La Ronde without wanting to smile. This is a movie to take delight in just as it is, without too much earnest analysis. Not the least of its charms is the recurring waltz, "Der Reigen" by Oscar Straus, which our lovers dance to in each other's arms.
The Criterion DVD looks just fine. The disc contains several extras, including an amusing interview with Daniel Gelin and a commentary with Ophuls specialist Susan White. By all means also buy the two other great Ophuls films Criterion has released: Earrings of Madame de... and Le Plaisir, and search out Lola Montes and The Reckless Moment (The Blank Wall) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ].
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