pekinman I hadn't seen Tony Palmer's epic film 'Wagner' since 1985 when it was screened in the original 9 hour version at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco as part of its production of Wagner's 'Ring' cycle. I recall the film being a seemingly endless, excruciating experience and I don't remember if I made it back after the 2nd meal break to see the end.Over the years I have wondered if my memory did justice to this film and so have wanted to see it again. Finally I found a copy of the 9 hour version at a fairly reasonable price and have just sat through a seemingly endless, excruciating experience.I happen to love Wagner's music and wanted to like this movie enough that I was able to pry out the few good aspects of it. There are two, count 'em, two excellent performances out of a cast of many; Gemma Craven is very touching and visceral as Minna Wagner, Richard's first much put-upon wife. The other fine acting comes from Richard Pasco as Otto Wesendonck, husband of Mathilde, Wagner's most important mistress. For the rest, the usual suspects show up in the roster, notably the ubiquitous, though always entertaining, trio of John Gielgund,Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, doing an upper crust Three Stooges routine. They at least offer some comic respite from the heavy-handed, galumphing script that sinks the rest of the cast; a cast that is by and large horribly MIS-cast. Richard Burton was too old, tired and infirm to bring any energy at all to the title role. He seems comatose most of the time and is an utter bore. At the time he mentioned this as the worst film he'd ever made. Vanessa Redgrave hasn't a clue as to Cosima Wagner's nature and consequently turns in one of her petulant-rebel performances that is more suitable to 'Isadora' or 'Blow Up' than to a 19th century Baroness. Redgrave is further in a scene involving her and the great Wagnerian soprano Gwyneth Jones, who acts far more expertly and believably than her famous co-star.Some vapid Hungarian puppy plays King Ludwig II and is ghastly. By the way, Palmer buys into the incorrect notion that King Ludwig II drowned himself after murdering the psycho-analyst who had him imprisoned in one of the castles. In point of fact, when an autopsy was performed on Ludwig's body they found no water in his lungs. His death remains an unsolved mystery. But details don't concern Tony Palmer. I often found myself wondering if he bothered to direct his all-at-sea cast. The editing is sloppy and the terrible cutting of the musical score is jarring and carelessly done. Some of the acting is horrendously bad, especially when they are trying to conduct an orchestra or play a piano. The actor playing Hans von Bulow is especially bad in this regard. All in all a typically shallow Tony Palmer production full of "powerful" visions, like burning horses galloping out of a fiery barn, and dripping, severed limbs during the battle of Dresen. The usual Palmer attempt to wrench gasps from his glazed-eyed audiences.Wagner was a fascinating person, the kind of creature that happens once every 150 years or so and deserves a first class bio-pic. This isn't it. By all means rent this if you are a die-hard Wagnerian, otherwise skip it, and by no means buy the dvds.One thing I would like to know is the name of the very beautiful choral composition that accompanies the credits.

crawfo Beautifully visualised, acted and scripted - whoever said "boring script" must set Terminator or Rambo as his ideal. My chief criticism: the death of King Ludwig was oddly placed (too early making that part of the film disjointed). Perhaps too long but the subject merited it; I saw it in a club showing, but would have preferred to spread it over 2 days.

fxphreak I quickly bought the 300 minute version listed here when it first came available. Although I love Wagner and his music I almost couldn't get through the tapes. Terrible stuff. How could they do this? Then I found the answer.The original mini-series was 9 hours long. They cut FOUR HOURS out of the story. I've seen the whole series and now I can say -- GREAT STUFF. Well, if your a Wagner fan to begin with, that is. It really is MUCH better than the edited version.I hope I never get an enemy so evil I want to give them my 300 minute Wagner tape set. I hope I find a real friend who will buy me the 9 hour version as a gift!

DeeDee-10 With a stupendous cast headed by Richard Burton, this film takes on the life of Wagner and seems to raise the same complaints his audience had regarding his operas: long bacchanals of passion and excess. Art imitates life? You bet! Burton's monologues are brilliant as usual (I'm a long-time Burton fan) full of emotion and brilliantly performed. As to why everyone including royalty continued to support and love his music, chosing to ignore for the most part his despicible life in which he treated everyone shabbily including his wife, lovers, patrons, etc. . . .is it any different today? Don't we love our music/film icons ignoring their dark side? This film also made me want to rush to history books to read more about the era, especially about the young king of Bavaria. Take two nights to watch the video.