Bannered with "Martin Scorsese Presents," Puccini's opera comes in an artfully photographed movie, shot on location in Tunisia (!), and starring American tenor Richard Troxell and newcomer sporano Ying Huang. Director Frederic Mitterand realizes a successful balance with artful locations and detailed interior sets, and establishes a unique lighting scheme that bridges natural and more tradition stage lighting. The result is a stage production that happens to be the size of a small seaside village.

Columbia's DVD offers a nice transfer, with a little subtle artifacting during a few fades, and a few solid backgrounds revealing the active sampling. The surround field is pretty much inactive, since the music and libretto are the main stars, although there are some rudimentary sound effects for obvious onscreen actions.

The only extra is a making-of featurette that focuses heavily on Ying Huang. Ending with a still of the CD soundtrack, the short feels more like an intro piece for a rising opera star, but there's some interesting behind-the-scenes material, involving rehearsals, studio recording, filming to playback, and shooting on location with Nature's looming elements.

© 2002 Mark R. Hasan