Madama Butterfly (opera) (Savonlinna 2009)

Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly (IT 1904). Savonlinna Opera Festival, 2009. Edyta Kulczak (Suzuki), Dolore (n.c.) and Hiromi Omura (Cio-Cio-San, Madama Butterfly). Photo Timo Seppäläinen.

Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Tragedia giapponese in due atti. IT 1904. Libretto Giuseppe Giacosa e Luigi Illica (da John L. Long e David Belasco).

Seen in the Olavinlinna Castle, at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, 20 July 2009. Sung in Italian, with e-surtitles in Finnish and English.

Conductor: Stefan Soltesz
Stage Director: Henry Akina
Stage Design: Dean Shibuya
Costumes: Anne Namba
Lighting Designer: Ilkka Paloniemi
Make-up: Pekka Helynen
Chorus Master: Matti Hyökki

Cio-Cio-San, Madama Butterfly: Hiromi Omura
Suzuki: Edyta Kulczak
Kate Pinkerton: Tiina-Maija Koskela
F. B. Pinkerton: Marian Talaba
Sharpless: Heikki Kilpeläinen
Goro: Dan Karlström
Yamadori: Andrey Bondarenko
Bonzo: Mikhail Kolelishvili

An excellent interpretation of Puccini's tragic opera. Seen in the Olavinlinna castle, built in the 15th century. The castle can be great for epic subjects, but it works also with Madama Butterfly, an intimate chamber piece, where everything takes place in the same setting.

Film-relevant: the drama was formed by David Belasco, many of whose works were important in the formation of the feature film in America (Famous Players in Famous Plays, Paramount, the young Cecil B. DeMille).

There are many film adaptations of Madama Butterfly, but only the Japanese silhouette animation version Ocho fujin no genso (The Fantasy of Madame Butterfly, Kazugoro Arai, Nakaya Tobiishi, JP 1940), 12 min, can be called a masterpiece. Some of the other most memorable examples include:

Harakiri (Fritz Lang, DE 1919) with Mia May
The Toll of the Sea (D: Chester Franklin, SC: Frances Marion, US 1922) with Anna May Wong, in two colour Technicolor

Ladies of Leisure

Frank Capra: Ladies of Leisure (US 1930) with Barbara Stanwyck (Kay Arnold), Ralph Graves (Jerry Strong) and Lowell Sherman (Bill Standish).

[The film was never released in Finland]. US 1930. D: Frank Capra. From the play Ladies of the Evening di David Belasco e Milton Herbert Gropper; SC: Jo Swerling; DP: Joseph Walker; ED: Maurice Wright; DP: Harrison Wiley; M: Mischa Bakaleinikoff; S: John P. Livadary, Harry Blanchard; CAST: Barbara Stanwyck (Kay Arnold), Ralph Graves (Jerry Strong), Lowell Sherman (Bill Standish), Marie Prevost (Dot Lamar), Nance O’Neill (Mrs. Strong), George Fawcett (Mr. Strange), Juliette Compton (Claire Collins), Johnnie Walker (Charlie), Charles Butterworth; P: Frank Capra per Columbia Pictures; 35 mm. 99’. B&w. From: Sony Columbia. - E-subtitles in Italian (Sub-Ti). Viewed at Cinema Arlecchino, Bologna, 1 July 2009. - A brilliant print. - Essential Capra. - Barbara Stanwyck brings her special presence to one of her first starring roles and to her first Frank Capra film of five (Ladies of Leisure, Miracle Woman, Forbidden, The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Meet John Doe). - Jo Swerling is the screenwriter, also he in one of his first films and in his first Frank Capra film of seven. - Lots of wisecracking, tough surfaces barely hiding a great vulnerability. - "Look through the ceiling". "The ceiling seems to be your limit". "You give up too easily". - I had to go in the middle of the film, but this picture would be worthy to revisit.