Carla Fracci Movies

Opus Arte and the BBC present Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Vespri Siciliani, performed at the Teatro Alla Scala under conductor Riccardo Muti, with a cast that includes Cheryl Studer and Chris Merrit. Internationally renowned dancers Wayne Eagling and Carla Fracci appear in the not often seen third act ballet, which is performed in its entirety here. ~ Dana Rowader, All Movie Guide

This lavish, 10-hour European miniseries plots the life and times of the famous composer Giuseppe Verdi. Filmed on-location, the series also provides stellar interpretations of Verdi's work by Maria Callas and Luciano Pavarotti. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

In the original story of Camille by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. La Dame aux Camelias, a beautiful Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Gautier, (called "Camille" because of her love for camelias) is supported by a series of aristocratic lovers, but does not fall in love until she meets Armand Duval. Armand's father lets it be known that Camille would ruin Armand because of her "low" past, and she leaves to save his reputation, saying she does not love him anymore. She soon contracts tuberculosis, and Armand hears that she is dying. He rushes to her side, finds out she has loved him all along, and she dies knowing he has always loved her. The True Story of Camille uses the ploy of Alexandre Dumas, Jr. doing his version of "Camille" at the turn of the 20th century, as a means of introducing a flashback to the "real" story behind the "real" Camille, Alphonsine Plessis. In the film, Alphonsine (Isabelle Huppert) - a country girl - was sold by her father to a wealthy neighbor, which starts her off on a round of living in expansive palaces and keeping company with wealthy aristocrats and eventually, Alexandre Dumas, Jr. himself. But that trajectory did not happen all at once. Alphonsine first survives, barely, as a seamstress in Paris. Then she becomes a prostitute, after which a Count Peregaunts (Bruno Ganz) marries her, then more or less disappears, leaving her to become a high-class courtesan. As she makes her way from one handsome, aristocratic client to the next, a noble protector, Count Stechelberg (Fernando Rey) keeps her out of harm's way. By the time she and Dumas meet, she has become infected with tuberculosis - and she has created the inspiration for Dumas' story of Camille. Her father comes along at this point, however, ready to trounce Dumas for romanticizing his daughter's wretched life - the same father that sold her off in the first place. If the viewer can remember that the characters of Marguerite Gautier (Carla Fracci) and Armand Duval from Dumas' story of Camille have been given their "real" personas as Alphonsine Plessis and Dumas in this film, then the story within a story make more sense. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

In this 1973 performance-themed documentary, originally screened on the RAI television network in Italy, Carla Fracci - one of the preeminent ballet dancers at La Scala - performs excerpts from such productions as Profokiev's Romeo & Juliet, Offenbach's Cancan and Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. Numerous additional ballet dancers turn up to lend added support, including Ellen Kessler, Franca Valeri, James Urbain and Jacqueline de Min. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The French-born music critic and composer Adolphe Adam authored the ballet Giselle, mounted in 1969 by the American Ballet Theater. German filmmaker Hugo Niebling shot this filmed version based on the '69 stage production, adapting it slightly for the screen; he kept the two leads, acclaimed dance partners Carla Fracci (as Giselle) and Erik Bruhn (as Albrecht), and maintained David Blair's choreography, but used the Orchestra of the German Opera, Berlin for musical accompaniment. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This compilation brings into a single release the most compelling clips of ballet dancers from the classical music television program The Voice of Firestone, which ran on NBC from September 1949 through June 1954, and ABC (intermittently) from June 1954 through June 1963. Highlights include the American broadcast debut of Rudolf Nureyev; a pas-de-deux between Melissa Hayden and Jacques d'Amboise; a performance by Maria Tallchief; and much more. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide