Ruggero Raimondi Movies

This rendition of Pizzetti's opera, based on a novel by T.S. Eliot, tells the story of Thomas Becket's murder. Ruggero Raimondi takes the lead role. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Fiorenza Cedolins, Marcelo Alvarez and Ruggero Raimondi headline this lavish 2006 production of Giacomo Puccini's 1900 opera Tosca, mounted and performed by the Arena di Verona and directed for the stage by Hugo de Ana. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Arena di Verona, under the baton of Daniel Oren, lend added musical support. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Pier Luigi Pizzi directed a stage production of composer Jacques Offenbach's ballet The Tales of Hoffman (AKA Les Contes de Hoffman), with accompaniment by the Macerata Opera, which was filmed and has been issued in this home release. Vincenzo La Scola stars as Hoffmann, Desiree Rancatore as Olympia, Sara Allegretta as Giulietta, Annalisa Raspaglioli as Antonia, and Elsa Maurus as Niklausse. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The tragedy of Puccini's heartbreaking romance comes to life on stage in this production starring Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, and Ruggero Raimondi and directed by Beniot Jacquot. The Royal Opera House - Covent Garden performs Puccini's timeless score as Antonio Pappano conducts. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This is a highly adapted cinematic rendition of the great Russian opera Boris Godunov (1874), originally composed by Modest Mussorgsky (and later modified by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dmitri Shostakovich and others). The opera is based on a play by the great Russian dramatist Alexander Pushkin. It tells a story of tragic proportions about a 16th century Czar of Russia. With so many culture heroes involved in one monolithic musical masterpiece (it is quite long), it is little wonder that any attempt to adapt it to the screen or change the focus of the original is likely to provoke howls of outrage from devotees of the original opera. That is precisely what happened with this well-intentioned international production. In addition to cutting over an hour out of the original production, it spends a great deal of time on the bedroom exploits of the various characters in the story. There is also some anachronistic material included that is intended to heighten the political commentary that is already present in the original opera. In the story, which is too long and involved to do more than summarize here, the tumultuous reign of the capable but ruthless Russian Czar Boris Godunov is narrated from the time he accepts the crown to his death. The Czar's brief reign (1598-1605) is characterized by intrigues, plots, betrayals, attempted coups, murders, and nearly every kind of calamity that can befall a leader. His only comfort is that he can bequeath his unruly empire to his son on his deathbed. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This legendary 1971 performance of Donizetti's tragic opera La Favorita features the accompaniment of the NHK Symphony Orchestra, with Fiorenza Cossotto in the lead role of Leonora and Alfredo Kraus in the role of Fernando. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

Luciano Pavarotti: Ernani features the celebrated tenor performing Verdi's classic opera. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

This French sex farce is translated in English as The Trout. Joseph Losey directed and co-wrote the film, which stars Isabelle Huppert as Frederique, a young woman living on her family's rural trout farm. Frederique is trapped in a dull marriage to a rube. She decides to leave him and the trout farm for the city; she wants to make her living in the financial sector. She ends up in a cutthroat corporate world and meets up with the sophisticated Lou (the legendary Jeanne Moreau). Frederique finds herself trading sexual favors for corporate advancement and becoming more deeply involved in a complicated series of business dealings. Eventually, she longs for a return to her simpler life on the trout farm. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

With Life is a Bed of Roses, filmmaker Alain Resnais wanted to create a lighthearted tribute to three important French directors, each of whom defined a particular era in his country's cinema Melies (the first French filmmaker to use narrative--his most famous film is A Trip to the Moon), the impressionist L'Herbier (most famous for his inspirational avant garde work during the '20s) and Rohmer (most famed for his sextet of "Moral Tales" during the '60s). To present his chronicle of the human quest for a utopia of personal happiness and fulfillment, Resnais created two distinct narratives representing the past and present, and then interspliced them with a third more fantastical tale to provide contrast. Representing the past, the first tale centers on a monied eccentric who creates a "temple of happiness' in his chateau. There, guests are given a special potion, laid inside enormous cribs and surrounded by pleasant sensations to help them return to the blissful state of infancy. The second story takes place in the same chateau where a symposium on the techniques and philosophies of the eccentric are hotly debated and elaborated upon. Weaving its way between the two tales is the third, which represents the medieval fantasies of children in a forest who imagine the struggle between a wicked king and a brave good-hearted warrior. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of the Mozart opera Don Giovanni adheres faithfully to the original Lorenzo Da Ponte libretto, with rakish Don Giovanni (Ruggero Raimondi) putting the make on the aristocratic Dona Anna (Edda Moser). Giovanni's enemies warn him that he'll suffer mightily for his amorous escapades. And when the gates of hell open up on cue in the last act, and Don Giovanni is dragged screaming into perdition, it turns out those enemies were right. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi