3/5 Great performance,bad filming and sound
  by Beatriz S. Wronski (Michigan USA)
Having been lucky enough to have seeen Plisetskaia in Carmen (in Buenos Aires), I was so looking forward to this DVD.Pity the filming and sound are so bad, plus the fact that the cameraman kept showing faces of the audience during critical passages; the "tempo"of the first and 3rd.acts way too fast. But you can still see her splendid Odette/Odile.I can only imagine what it would have been if had been filmed as it should. Anybody who has seen The Red Shoes (filmed in the40"I believe)knows what good ballet filming is.

5/5 The Swan Lake I come back to again and again
  by S. Fox (N. California)
Yes, it has all sorts of irritating cuts to the audience, but after many viewings I became interested in what people looked like all dressed up in the late 50's in Moscow. I began to imagine what it must have been like to go to that theater and see these dancers and to see Maya. They say that Stalin went to secretly watch Maya dance the Swan Lake and the next day he died. So it seems that her dancing had the magic to slay the dragon.

I am so glad that I bought this; I wish that it wasn't butchered but it is and I still savor it any chance I get. It is the best Swan Lake I have ever watched despite all the flaws so well described in the other reviews.

1/5 Frustrated
  by Llosas Pablo (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
I did not receive the item. Please inform me the status of the same and estimated delivery date,
Hernàn Llosas

4/5 Amazing Maya
  by Georgios Xenias (Greece)
I have to agree with Ivy Lin on most counts, -I usually find her reviews objective and helpful,- I'd just like to add a few comments of my own. First, about the sound. Either the orchestra was playing off-key, or there is a great deal of distorion on the soundtrack. (Perhaps both.) The picture is typical of a 1950s movie and would have been ok, if it were of uniform quality. Unfortunately, portions of the film used for the transfer are worn and others have been "burned" (exposed to too much light). I don't complain, though. This is a historical document and I'm glad to own it in any shape.
Of course, what makes this dvd worth having, is the presence of Maya Plisetskaya. Her Odile is unforgetable, -I don't think I'll ever fully enjoy another ballerina in the part, after having seen this demonic seductress she brings to life! But, -and here I have to disagree with Ms Lin,- I also found her Odette superb. Unusual, yes. Unique, definitely. This is not the gentle, delicate princess we expect to see in the Swan Lake. Plisetskaya's Odette is a tormented, frightened, tragic being. To watch her is shocking, but also wonderful. Seeing her here, gave me an idea of how 1950s' audiences must have felt when they heard Maria Callas turn those famous bird-like coloratura roles into dramatic parts. I'm not saying that this is how Odette should be performed from now on (and how could it, after all, unless another Plisetskaya came along?) But I can not put her down because she does not conform to our preconceptions of the role. Her interpretation is unconventional, but quite valid (Odette IS tortured and frightened and anguished,) and I think it's great that she chose to use these emotions, which are often brushed aside in favor of superficial gracefulness, as a basis for her portrayal. It's been two days since I first saw her and I still can not break the spell.

5/5 The Dazzling Plisetskaya
  by V. Stasov
Historic performances must be evaluated utilizing entirely different criteria from those applied to contemporary works. To judge a recorded performance from the past using modern audio-visual standards is to entirely miss the point of historic art preservation. Even precious snippets of performances, however poor the quality, enable us to time travel back to an earlier era in which artistic practices were markedly different from today's. These differences, however, in no way diminish the gifts and genius of earlier talents.

These older and sometimes extremely rare artifacts are a spectacular opportunity for those of us who appreciate having these otherwise lost cultural treasures salvaged and preserved.

In this case, we have the legendary Maya Plisetskaya - youthful, beautiful, and phenomenally flexible, charismatic and dramatic, in the quintessentially Russian Swan Lake.

The sound and picture quality are by no means inadequate. It is a stunning experience just to be able to see Plisetskaya in her milieu at the Bolshoi, creating two completely different characters - one vulnerable, magical, the other seductively evil and predatory. Her gracefulness, her almost supernatural ability to incarnate the soul of a bird, make the cuts and audience shots irrelevent.

In fact, for those who truly appreciate history - cultural and political as well as artistic - this video is priceless. We see the Soviets at their propagandistic best. It's as if we're seeing two videos - one an historic ballet performance starring one of the 20th century's immortal artists, the other an adroitly executed and subtle propaganda film - in which the well-groomed, appreciative audience from all classes in this classless society is as much a part of the performance as the dance.

Besides Plisetskaya, the other stars of this film are the audience and the stage crew: beautiful young intellectuals mingle with sturdy loyal Party members. The less elegant but apparently no less artistically informed workers, both in the audience and behind the curtain, seem to appreciate ballet as much as the intelligentsia in the boxes. We even see Maya, behind the scenes, relieved and gratified to receive the loving approval of the woman who helps her change her costume. After all, in this vast Marxist experiment, all comrades are equal....

The conducting of the Bolshoi orchestra is excellent. The dancing is consistently superb. The jester has the outstanding athleticism and power we associate with the Russian school. The Rothbart plays out his death scene with such dramatic potency that the audience explodes with spontaneous applause.

Yes, there are cuts; yes the film quality is not Hollywood. But to have the opportunity to view Plisetskaya at the Bolshoi, in her youth, in the stellar role of her career is priceless. I highly recommend her autobiography "I, Maya Plisetskaya" which candidly and passionately tells the story of the grinding struggles even artists at the highest levels were forced to survive in the Soviet Union.