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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Glory of the Kirov (1996)

The Glory of the Kirov (1996)

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Released 19-Mar-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Ballet Booklet
Web Links
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1996
Running Time 91:27
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding 2,3,4,5,6 Directed By None Given
Studio
Distributor
Warner Vision 		Starring None Given
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $39.95 Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

    The Glory of the Kirov is a compilation of footage of some of the greats of Russian ballet of the 20th Century. It contains no narrative but is a series of 19 clips of archival footage from 1920 to the mid 1970s. The chapters vary between two minutes and 15 minutes in length and feature many famous Russian dancers. One or two of the dancers are featured in each chapter. Each piece of footage is of the dancers performing various famous ballets such as Swan Lake, Spartacus, and Romeo & Juliet.

    Each chapter has listed the name of the piece being danced to, the composer, the dancers featured and year recorded. They are as follows:

  1. Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky - Natalia Dudinskaya & Konstantin Sergeyev 1953
  2. Exercises - Tamara Karsavina 1920
  3. Raymonda - Glazunov - Irina Kolpakova & Vladilen Semenov 1969
  4. Viennese Waltz - R. Strauss - Ninel Kurgapkina & Boris Bregvadze 1960
  5. Reflection - Tchaikovsky - Alla Osipenko & Anatoli Nisnevich 1960
  6. Le Corsaire - Drigo - Alla Sizova & Rudolf Nureyev 1958
  7. Laurencia - Krein - Ninel Kurgapkina & Rudolf Nureyev 1959
  8. The Tale of Serf Nikish - Kamilov - Yelena Yevteyeva & Mikhail Baryshnikov 1960
  9. The Dying Swan - Saint-Saens - Natalia Makarova 1964
  10. Pas de Quatre - Pugni - Yelena Yevteyeva, Gabriella Komleva &  Lubov Galinskaya, Ludmilla Kovaleva 1968
  11. Syrinx - Debussy - Alla Osipenko 1971
  12. Spartacus - Khachaturian - Olga Moiseyeva 1972
  13. Spartacus - Khachaturian - Irina Zubkovskaya & ASkold Makarov 1967

  14. Nikita Dolgushin 1968

  15. The Ice Maiden - Greig - Alla Osipenko & John Markovski 1974
  16. Les Sylphides - Chopin - Gabriela Komleva & Sergei Vikulov 1969
  17. Le Corsaire - Drigo - Ninel Kurgapkina & Vadim Budarin 1974
  18. Swan Lake - Tchaikovsky - Galina Ulanova & Konstantin Sergeyev 1940
  19. The Dying Swan - Saint-Saens - Olga Moiseyeva 1972

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Transfer Quality

Video

    

    Generally speaking, this transfer to DVD has few problems but the source material has many problems, with film artefacts being prevalent throughout.

    All 19 chapters are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (Full Frame) and are not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is of average sharpness. Blacks often lack saturation, but the overall poor quality of the video can only be expected considering the age and condition of the film stock used. Low level noise, while prevalent, was not too much of a problem for the transfer and did not overly detract from the presentation.

    All except Chapters 1 and 9 are in black and white. The colours in the aforementioned Chapters were muted but exhibited no real problems.

    There were no problems with the transfer to DVD. MPEG artefacts were absent and pixelization was not a problem. With all chapters being sourced from old film stock, film artefacts of all descriptions were the dominant problem with the video quality of this DVD. Some of the footage is very old and has obviously deteriorated with the passage of time.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    In all cases, the audio was dual channel mono, which if properly encoded will come through the centre speaker. Substantial surface noise exists alongside the film artefacts. In most cases, the audio sounded thin and often distorted. Dropouts were found throughout Chapters 4, 5, 10 and 13. Significant distortion could be found during Track 6 and major surface noise on Tracks 11, 12 and 13. This can only be expected given the source material.

    There was no bass nor surround usage of any type found in these early recordings.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menu

    The first menu is for the language option for the main menu. The second Menu allows direct chapter access, access to a web link and a cast/crew list. Menus are not animated, scored or 16x9 enhanced.

Booklet

    A booklet in French, English, German, Spanish and Italian which gives the complete casting and an in-depth synopsis of the story with black and white photos.

Synopsis

Listing-Cast & Crew

Web Links

    A DVD-ROM web link to the distributor's website.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This is a Region 2-6 PAL DVD designed to play in all those regions. I am not aware of this production being available in Region 1.

Summary

    For those interested in early footage of some of the great dancers of one of the most recognized ballet companies, this obviously is your disc. For the casual observer, you can see modern productions in their full length with better audio and video quality elsewhere if you wish to. This DVD is for historical interest only.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Gavin Womersley (read my bio)
Tuesday, October 02, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba 2109, using Component output
DisplayToshiba 117cm widescreen rear projection TV. Calibrated with AVIA Guide To Home Theatre. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderRotel RSP-985 THX Ultra certified surround pre-amp.
AmplificationParasound HCA-2003 3x300w THX certified power amp, NAD 208THX 2x300w power amp.
SpeakersVelodyne HGS-18 1250w 18” servo-driven subwoofer, Celestion A3 front speakers, A2 rear speaker (full range) and A4c center channel speaker.
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