Adam - Giselle / Carla Fracci, Erik Bruhn, John Lanchbery, American Ballet Theatre

Note that this 2005 Deutsche Grammophon release of the 1968 ABT Fracci/Bruhn Giselle conducted by John Lanchbery is the identical production previously available on the now-withdrawn Polygram issue. Amazon reviews shown at either entry pertain equally to both releases. There is no need to pay an inflated price for an out-of-print copy of the earlier Polygram release.

THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO RECORDED GISELLE I HAS SEEN SO FAR. EXCELLENT! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED IF YOU LOVE THE GISELLE BALLET LIKE I DO.

I was much looking forward to this release as I had never seen this, one of the most notable ballet films ever done.

Carla Fracci was magnificent as Giselle and Bruhn a very good partner.

Excellent for any ballet lovers collection. This is a collectable item. Beautiful. Also excellent condition and handled in timely manner by seller. Thumbs UP!

I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD, not only as a past dancer, but I was very fortunate to see Carla Fracci dance with ABT in my youth. A truly great performance and a DVD that should be in everyons collection who appreciates ballet.

Had the priviledge of seeing Fracci dance Giselle, live, and left me in tears. I can understand the criticisms of the odd camera shots but the DVD is superb. The dancing is sublime. The quality of the picture is unbelievable given when it was done.

Excellent! This is a great example of why I like the American Ballet better than the Bolshoi. When the Bolshoi makes a movie, they just set up a camera or three in front of the stage, and you get no more than the audience gets. And you listen to the audience applause every so often, to let you know you should admire that particular bit. The American Ballet -- and the British -- make a movie of it, with different camera angles, including close-ups, and sets that could not be contained on a theater stage, and even a few special effects. Theyre still telling a story in music and dance, but they take advantage of what film can do. Also, the costumes are so much better. Again, they tend to go beyond what would be effective on a stage.

I reviewed this yesterday and am only writing this because that was not quite correct. This is a movie which I hadn’t realized when I ordered it. The scenery, costumes are so elaborate they take aware from the gorgeous impact that actual ballet has had on me so many times. The filming of it is totally different than seeing it in person...

Ive watched a lot of movies over the past 50 years, and I think Im in a position to say that its very likely that the director of this movie never got a job as director of a movie again. Thats how badly he directed this version of Giselle. I also have watched some excellent ballet DVDs in the past year, so I knew that this ballet had to have been performed better. I bought the Giselle by the La Scala ballet company with Alessandra Ferri as Giselle, and thoroughly enjoyed it.