Informal Commentary on Theatre & Films - REVIEW - "ELVIRA MADIGAN"

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Ezra

A series of informal film and theatre reflections evaluates classic and contemporary movie productions with critical, sometimes sarcastic commentary. It argues that “Elvira Madigan” fails emotionally through weak character development and poor cinematic framing, citing audience reactions and technical shortcomings. The text then expands into unpopular opinions on film industry practices, projection quality, experimental cinema, and how presentation choices affect audience comprehension and impact. It also describes a distinctive “Romeo and Juliet” staging approach, emphasizing mood and tragedy through a funeral-procession flashback.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

REVIEW: "ELVIRA MADIGAN" (Cinema V)

MINORITY REPORT SECTION (Unpopular Opinions About Movies Old and New)

"ROMEO AND JULIET" (The New York Shakespeare Festival)

回AUDIENCE回 # Informal Commentary on Theatre &Films FILMS ## REVIEW:"ELVIRA MADIGAN"(Cinema V) It¹s pro bably too late to save you from spendingmoney on Bo Widerberg's"EIvira Madigan,"but in caseyou haven't succumbed to the high-pressure ad campaignfor this Swedish color film,listen:it's a bore. The legendary romance of a soldier and a circus per=former is presented with so little personality deline-ation that it becomes 1mpossible to accept the trag10(supposedly)starvation and suicide of the lovers. Would a cavalry officer really refuse to seek workto keep himself and his lover from dying of malnutr1- tion?Maybe so,given the era and his social back- ground,but the film should give at leaat a minimal indication of the psycholog1cal states involved. "EIvira Madigan"doesn't even try:color and closeupaof amorous faces are presumably enough to reduce us totears of pity for these two young people. We've heard it works at some soreenings,but when we saw it the audience left the theatre with dry eyes and the expressions of people who have been had. "The most beautiful film ever made,"sigh the erit-ics.Nonsense。Long lenses and location shooting in pretty surroundings do not automatically make cinemat- ic montage out of straightforward reportage…The cameraman and director,to use Paui simon8.Mords, have "just been fakinit,not really makin'1t."And the music cueing is s1mple-minded and amateurish in the extreme,no matter what the papers say. If your idea of the romantic filmis healthy-lookingyoungsters tenderly vomiting,go ahead and see "EIviraMadigan."You've been warned.口 ## MINORITY REPORT SECTION(Unpopular Opinions About Movies 01d and New,Randomly Noted) Does anyone give John Huston credit for his many in-novations in color?"Moulin Rouge,""Moby Dick"and"Reflections in a Golden Eye"were noble,fascinatingexperiments in chromatic adventure,all quite advancedoptically.Performances and acripts got all the atten-tion,praise or condemnation.Mr。H.and his cameramenmust be mighty discouraged....Prior to "2001,"thefinest last reel of a movie ever made was "The Incred-1ble Shrinking Man."Don't let the title throw you:ifyou get a chance to see 1t in rev1val,do so.You won¹tbe sorry. :HoW about a Powell and Pressburger re-yival series?"stairway to Heaven,""The Red Shoes,"cut,please:yes,they were flops,but some people'sfailures outclass many so-called successes)。□ tortion quite obvious to thecustomers)。How does one com-municate this to an induatrywi1ling to entrust million-dollar productions to thecareless Vagaries of most Walked out on an animated f1lmbeing shown through a Cine-mascope lens for which it wasnot shot,unable to convincethe projectionist or theatre Multiple screes,colorreplacement and substitution,11ve action with film,"ex-panded cinema"…arent allthese experiments a littlepremature?We st1ll can'tgo downtown to the B1JouThestre(2 B1g Hits 2 WithSelected Shorts)and see aplain old black-and-whitemovie properly. The sloppiness of much"professional"f11m proJec-tion is depressing.Inneighborhood theatres,wheremost of us see our movies,reel changes are frequentiycareless,either treatingus to leader and blank screenor overlapping whole scenes.Mistrusting silence,localexhibitors slam trailers(or opening credits of thecond feature)onto thescreen barely a split-secondafter one movie has ended.And how many managers careabout mood?Having seen"Bonnie匠Clyde"twice --once with a brief s1lent1nterm1s81on after it andBgain with the second feat-ure instantly screened --wecan testify to a noticeableloss of effectiveness in the1atter case. Bven whenthere 1s an intermission,it's all too often precededby a raucous popcorn com-mercial. Paying "hard-ticket"prices for a film 1s noassurance,either,thatyou'11 see or hear 1t clear-iy."2001,"Kubrick's grand,tightly structured(more onthat in the next issue),tech-nically advanced wonder isbeing shown,in Manhattan,ona Cinerama screen so misalign=ed that bright sc

FAQs

Why does the author criticize “Elvira Madigan”?

The author says the film lacks personality delineation and fails to make the lovers’ tragedy believable and emotionally persuasive. It also points to shallow reliance on color and close-ups rather than psychological indication.

What is the “Minority Report” section focused on?

It presents unpopular opinions about older and newer movies, including views on color innovations, film titles, and recurring industry habits that shape audience experience.

How does the theatre staging of “Romeo and Juliet” described in the text affect the audience?

The production begins with a chilling preface using masked figures and a funeral procession flashback, creating an atmosphere of inevitable tragedy and reinforcing the theme of star-crossed doom.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Ezra