Kenneth Branagh's 'Magic Flute' deserves to be seen

ON JAN. 1, 1975, Swedes huddled around their television sets. The overture of "The Magic Flute" began, and the camera panned across the audience of a Baroque theater, finally landing on a child. Hundreds of thousands of hearts were warmed on that cold Nordic night as the camera periodically returned to the little girl documenting her involvement in Mozart's opera. Since then, countless more hearts have been warmed by Ingmar Bergman's "The Magic Flute," commonly considered the greatest opera film of all time.

Kenneth Branagh's version of "The Magic Flute," which he filmed 30 years later as a wacky World War I drama, has not had a similar fate. It was made in 2006 as part of an extensive international celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday. That spring, just as the Salzburg Festival was gearing up to stage every one of Mozart's 22 operas and when no civilized city with an opera house was without Mozart, Branagh's film was shown at Cannes, out of competition but with hopes of attracting distribution. It didn't succeed.

Shown at the Toronto and Venice film festivals four months later, Branagh's "Flute" was not disliked, but it failed to generate much enthusiasm. Since then the film has had limited release in parts of Europe, Asia and South America and has been moderately well received. French and British DVD versions have been released. But the film has never been shown in the United States, and there is no word about a domestic DVD.

On a trip to Amsterdam this summer, I spotted in a record-store window a supposedly special three-disc Dutch edition of the film in cheesy packaging being sold at a bargain-basement price. This was not a good sign. But I purchased it.

Now, I am at a loss to understand why this film has been marginalized. Branagh's "Flute" is a joy.

Nothing about the production, which had a $27-million budget, is marginal. Branagh may not be the hottest name in Hollywood, but he is hardly unknown or without respect. His Shakespeare films are, for me, among the liveliest and certainly the most musical representations of the Bard on the big screen. In his most recent feature, he provides fresh insight into Anthony Shaffer's 1970 play "Sleuth," with a sophisticated screenplay by Harold Pinter and pitch-perfect performances by Michael Caine and Jude Law. That film came out a year after the "Flute" and was not neglected. Indeed, the DVD was popular enough that I needed more than one trip to Blockbuster to find a copy.