Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

texallennyc The Nutcracker (1977) ballet starred then 29 year old Michail Baryshnikov who, in 1977, could out do Michael Jordan and Disney's Peter Pan (1952) in the "flying effortlessly" department. Baryshikov and his 1977 dance partner and muse, Gelsey Kirkland, defied gravity when this classic ballet was produced on monster, empty, no-audience TV sound stages in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The camera didn't lie. Those two really did what viewers can still watch and admire, can still gasp at while smiling in delighted amazement.Ballet is all about human beings who can fly ......... defy gravity when all is said and done. The best ballet dancers (Baryshikov and Kirkland in the 1977 version of The Nutcracker ballet) do it better than others ...... fly higher, longer, and smoother.Not many ballet dancers (or people generally) can fly. That was true of the National Ballet Company of Canada supporting dancers who fill out the parts of this show when Baryshikov and Kirkland are not on stage, busy mesmerizing viewers.Baryshikov and his management staff produced The Nutcracker in Canada on the cheap for TV broadcast. They went over the USA border to Canada where union problems and costs which encumber producers in USA ballet cities (New York City and Los Angeles) were not present, and where a very large, detailed, and gaudy background stage setting could be built on one of Toronto Canada's then huge sound stages.The result was that Baryshinikov and Kirkland's amazing flying abilities were provided with a much more spacious venue than normal stages in the USA ever offer. The setting in the Nutcracker (1977) was spacious and wonderfully decorated, and the very space and stage decoration of this show became co-stars with the amazing flying dance abilities of the two major stars.Michail Baryshikov was 29 years old in 1977, and was at the height of his airborne talents.Baryshikov's choreography in the Arabian dance, Russian dance, Chinese dance segments of the presented ballet is absolutely unparalleled. The action slows down when Baryshikov and Kirkland are not dancing. National Ballet Of Canada dancers (probably not paid or rehearsed much for this thrifty dance show) perform for Michail Baryshikov and Gelsey Kirkland. They are adequate. They are not brilliant or memorable. Not at all as good as the two main stars.These secondary National Ballet Company Of Canada dancers perform by turns a Spanish dance, an Arabian dance, a Russian dance, a Chinese dance, each performed by a male and female duo. These secondary dancers are not gifted with the sort of precision and therefore the grace of the star dancers, and the contrast is noticeable.Not to worry, not to gripe. The chance to see Michail Baryshikov and Gelsey Kirkland dance (fly effortlessly) at the height of their dance careers and abilities is worth the price of admission and the time invested in watching their incredible performances. Never mind about less than ideal "fill in" parts of the show unavoidable because material resources (money!) was limited, and because spectacular dance talent is hard to find, manage, recruit. It's never cheap when it is presented, and the quest for "cheap" explains the shortcomings of this show."It's a waste of time to worry over things that they have not! Be thankful for ....................... the things they've got!" (There Is Nothing Like A Dame song from the broadway stage musical 1949 classic, South Pacific). -------------------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG/AFTRA actor and movie historian. More about Tex Allen and his 119 IMDb movie reviews (as of December 26, 2017) by visiting IMDb.Com and using Tex Allen as search terms. --------------------------------------

klasikvhs They rarely show this on TV anymore, but it is by far the best of them all! Misha is at the height of his airborne talents. and his choreography in the "arabian dance, Russian dance, Chinese dance, etc..." is absolutely unparalleled. it's become an obsession to see it every year at this time. i suppose they never air it on TV anymore is because it's just the best one there is out there and they want you to spend the money and rent it or buy it. but if you're a ballet fan, i'd say buy it. and if you're not a ballet fan... set your DVD and JUST WATCH THE SEQUENCE where the duo's of internationally ethnic dancers perform for Misha and Kelsey. there's a Spanish dance, an arabian dance, a Russian dance, a Chinese dance, a Russian dance and a milliton dance. each performed by a male and female duo.

carmi47-1 The problem with "The Nutcracker's" original staging is that the story falls apart in the second act. The first act consists of a reasonable sequence of events, but after Clara helps the Nutcracker defeat the Mouse King & he turns into a handsome prince, they depart for the Kingdom of Sweets & the story line evaporates. After the pair arrive in the kingdom, Clara sits out the entire second act watching a succession of sweet treats dance us into diabetes, while the prince deserts her for the Sugar Plum Fairy. Baryshnikov transforms this incoherent sequence of dream images into a tale that means something. But as witness Celia Franca's "it makes me want to vomit" rant, Misha's vision is often misunderstood. Clara is not having an affair with Drosselmeyer, nor does he desire her.Key to Baryshnikov's interpretation is the Mouse King. It is clear from the King's costume--a purple frock coat & short violet cape--that he is Clara's dream transformation of the drunken adult male party guest who wrenches off the Nutcracker's head. That guest is the only one wearing a frock coat; all other adult male guests wear tails except for an elderly general in uniform, & as the guests depart, the man who broke the Nutcracker ostentatiously swirls a violet cape onto his shoulders. The visual link between that guest & the Mouse King is unmistakable. In fact all the mice are Clara's dream transformations of adult male party guests, including the old general who re-appears as a mouse wearing the same uniform.Adult males are, then, threatening to Clara, which pretty much rules out any idea that she has a thing for Drosselmeyer. Her dream, Drosselmeyer's gift as Baryshnikov's prologue explains, gently allows her to discover womanly feelings with which her dawning womanhood endows her. At the party, Clara is a girl among children, playing with toys including the Nutcracker. Baryshnikov stresses differences between adult & child by contrasting the adults' & children's experiences of the party, unlike productions of the ballet that showcase the children. The children's undisciplined, boisterous carousing interrupts the adults' carefully measured dancing, neatly demonstrating the difference between the worlds of children & their elders. Baryshnikov emphasizes the adult world's menace to Clara by having an adult male break the Nutcracker, not Clara's young brother as is common in traditional productions of "The Nutcracker."Clara's tenderness for the Nutcracker, Drosselmeyer's gift, forecasts her feelings for the prince after she helps him defeat the Mouse King (who broke the toy at the party). Initially, however, her feelings are confused: note her efforts to run from the prince just after he has morphed from the Nutcracker, & the childlike way the pair skip along in the first act pas de deux. In the second act, Clara's feelings develop further. Baryshnikov banishes the Sugar Plum Fairy to make Clara the prince's partner in the second act. Their ecstatic solos & the second-act pas de deux reveal her growing ease with her feelings. But Drosselmeyer reappears to waken Clara: her transformation into womanhood must take place in the real world, not in a dream fantasy. (Drosselmeyer's face is often superimposed on a clock face: he is linked with the passage of time, which must really bring about Clara's transformation into womanhood. In the second act pas de deux, she is clearly hesitant when Drosselmeyer tries to hold her; in obvious contrast, she joyously leaps into the air when the prince embraces her.)Baryshnikov omitted the Arabian variation to keep the film within time limits for TV broadcast. This is tragic; one can only imagine what he and Kirkland might have done with it. Otherwise the score is intact; the familiar Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy survives with its celeste accompaniment, here danced by Clara. Note her exquisite foot-dragging, wonderfully hesitant yet ecstatic, which was foreshadowed in the first-act pas de deux & is restated in pendulum fashion during the second-act pas de deux whenever Drosselmeyer seeks to hold her (suggesting, again, his association with the passage of time).The production values in the film are high with the exception of the scenery, which could have been more literally rendered; it's often murky to the point of mystery. But uniformly outstanding dancing & excellent costumes go a long way to offset this minor liability.

Hermit C-2 As far as I'm concerned you can hardly see 'The Nutcracker' too many times. Here's your chance to see a couple of the greatest dancers of their time, Mikhail Baryshnikov and camera-shy Gelsey Kirkland, in one of the all-time classics. Plus the music of Tchaikovsky is glorious from beginning to end.