Gilbert & Sullivan - Princess Ida / Gorshin, Christie, Collins, Opera World [VHS]

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	Actor(s):	Frank Gorshin Neil Howlett Laurence Dale Bernard Dickerson Richard Jackson
	Video by:	Image Entertainment
	Sales Rank:	343477

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Product Details/Specifications

Actor(s):
Frank Gorshin
Neil Howlett
Laurence Dale
Bernard Dickerson
Richard Jackson

Creators:
Dave Heather (Cinematographer)
Derek Chason (Cinematographer)
George Walker (Producer)
William S. Gilbert (Writer)

Director(s):
Dave Heather

Recording label: Image Entertainment
EAN: 9781578900077
Binding: VHS Tape
ISBN: 1578900077
Format: Classical, Digital Sound, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC,
Release Date: 1997-01-01
Universal product code (UPC): 619439000736
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: NR (Not Rated)

Description
King Hildebrand and his son, Hilarion, are in their castle awaiting the arrival of King Gama and his daughter, Princess Ida. 20 years ago, Ida, at the tender age of one, was betrothed to Hilarion. When Gama arrives without her, he explains that she has renounced mankind and formed a women's university, from which men are strictly barred. While Gama is held hostage, Hilarion, with two friends, determines to storm the Princess' castle and woo her into submission.

Amazon.com
One of the more obscure Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, Princess Ida is a satire of higher education for women. Modern audiences may find this premise hard to stomach, but the mockery is more silly than harsh. If you can get over the predictable absurdities (hint: the man-hating heroine ends up marrying the tenor), it's lighthearted fun, with emphasis on the "light."

The action is set in a more or less Arthurian kingdom, where Prince Hilarion and Princess Ida have been betrothed since infancy. Now they are to marry, but the bride-to-be has established a university for women and disdains men. The score is delicious. From an evolution lesson that depicts a man as "only a monkey shaved" to a drunken song performed by one of Hilarion's friends in maidenly drag, it's a terrific surprise for those who know only G&S's more standard works.

This version is part of the Opera World series, which produced 12 G&S operettas for British television in the 1980s. The series is of uneven quality. Here the costumes are tacky and not all the actors are equal to Gilbert's mock-solemn script, written in iambic pentameter. But as the obnoxious King Gama ("I can tell a woman's age in half a minute--and I do"), Frank Gorshin gives a full-tilt vaudeville performance. And Anne Collins, a mainstay of this series as a procession of unloved older women, is delectable as Lady Blanche, with her precise contralto and her willingness to be the Margaret Dumont of Gilbert & Sullivan. --David Olivenbaum

Running time: 114 minutes