Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor (1953) User Reviews

Decent nine minutes of classical music

[theowinthrop · 6/10 · 8 November 2006]

An early short to demonstrate the new movie process of Cinemascope, this short is nicely shot in Technicolor, and the orchestra is shown with some discrimination. Obviously the person who shot it concentrated on what to photograph at different points. They are playing Otto Nicolai's overture for THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (a nice piece of music, from a forgotten opera - Verdi and Boito's later opera FALSTAFF is more frequently revived). The music is very familiar, as one of the pieces of classical repertory that was used again and again in films (including cartoons) like Von Suppe's Light Cavalry Overture. Turner Classic films showed it as a "One Reel Wonder" tonight about 7:40 - 7:50 P.M.

If one studies it, besides some nice shots of Johnny Green conducting the opera, look at close ups of the players who are momentarily at the center of the score. For example the first oboist about halfway through it, or the cymbalist towards the end. Those shots are why I think the person shooting this short was studying the orchestra while it rehearsed, to note who to concentrate the camera on momentarily.

Whatever the original reason, it is a pleasant concert piece - worth watching or listening to at least once.

CinemaScope is great for filming orchestral works.

[Art-22 · 6/10 · 19 March 1999]

MGM was heralding the CinemaScope process with this short Oscar-winning film. It is ideal for filming symphony orchestras, since a low angle shot can capture the entire orchestra. One impressive shot showed all 8 bass violins lined up in a row, in a relative closeup. The music was good too, but secondary to the purpose of the film.

Not worth a seven, but it does have curiosity value!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 5 July 2017]

Johnny Green conducts the M-G-M Studio Orchestra in a rendition of the overture to the 1849 opera, "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Otto Nicolai (music) and Hermann von Mesnethal (lyrics) — based on the 1602 play by William Shakespeare. Photographed in CinemaScope and Technicolor. Perspecta Stereophonic Sound. Producer: Johnny Green.

Copyright 22 December 1953 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. U.S. release: December 1953. U.K. release: August 1954. 9 minutes. Won the 1953 Academy Award for Best One-Reel Short Subject, defeating "Christ Among the Primitives", "Herring Hunt", "Joy of Living", and "Wee Water Wonders".

COMMENT: Despite its Academy Award, this M-G-M orchestra recital is much the same as its 20th Century-Fox counterparts. The CinemaScope screen proves an ideal shape to present the full orchestra in reasonable close-up, whilst the stereophonic sound is fully utilized to give not only depth and direction, but the occasional startling effect. Aside from these aspects, however, in my opinion, the film has only a middling entertainment value. The camera-work is static, the playing (whilst certainly vigorous), I would describe as indifferent.

Impressive MGM short

[Michael_Elliott · 3 August 2009]

Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor (1953)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-winning short from MGM was one of their earliest examples of showing off their Symphony Orchestra led by the talented Johnny Green. Otto Nicolai's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" has the one-hundred plus piece orchestra doing some of their best work as the unknown director sits back and delivers one of the best looking visual shorts out there. This short was shot in Cinemascope and goes to about 2.55:1 and is a real treat on the eye. Green calmly leads the group and the camera goes in, out and side to side as it tries to capture the beauty of all the instruments. The music itself is great and Green perfectly handles everything and delivers a fine performance of the song. This is the fourth or fifth short I've seen featuring him and he's been impressive each time out. The beautiful visuals and wonderful music make it easy to understand why this thing walked away with an Oscar.

Typical film of a symphony orchestra

[jpeek · 6/10 · 27 March 2001]

Nicely filmed short of the MGM Symphony Orchestra on a simple set. It's a typical film of an orchestra: some close-up shots and some showing bigger groups.

The music is pleasant but unremarkable. It's the overture to Otto Nicolai's one-act opera "Merry Wives of Windsor" (which I haven't seen; I got this info by searching the Web).

When I was little, I inherited a "Warriors of the World" set from my grandpa . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 12 February 2020]

. . . and the little vintage plastic fighter I liked best was the Apache. When I heard the pastoral opening of OVERTURE TO THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, I was reminded of the peaceful final resting place of Native American War Heroes like him on the sacred Monument Hill of the TOBONO O'ODHAM Nation amid Organ Pipe Cactus National Park. Fittingly, as this musical number's finale dissolves into the dissonant cacophony of clanging cymbals and booming bass drums, it calls to mind the perfidious burial ground desecration ordered by Red Commie KGB Kremlin puppet-master Vladimir P., and his Oval Orifice stooge (who doomed our current U.S. Service Families to remain cooped up in Base Housing contaminated with Black Mold so that their repair money could be used to destroy our National Heritage forever with a pernicious 12th Century Wall!). You see, the Russians always have envied Apache Warriors, due to their own sordid history of sniveling surf boy musket bearers allowing first the French, and then the Prussians to penetrate hundreds of miles into their ill-defended homeland, hoping that Winter could kill them. Red with envy, the livid Vladimir ordered his burnt orange bozo to join the Taliban (who destroyed huge Buddha statues), ISIS (who vandalized the Grecian columns of Palmyra in Syria) and Der Fuhrer (who used Jewish tombstones to build Holocaust Ovens) as History's leading Defilers of Culture. If you listen closely, you can get a feel for these atrocities as a poignant motif running through OVERTURE TO THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

Nothing but music in this film, but it's not about the music at all

[eeeeeeeee · 5/10 · 20 February 2006]

A most bizarre short. It's nothing more than a filmed performance of the attractive but very lightweight overture to the opera "Merry Wives of Windsor" by the romantic German composer, Otto Nicolai. The performance is OK, nothing special. But what makes this bizarre is that the short has no credits, NONE, nada, zilch -- neither orchestra nor conductor are ever identified, and the music itself is named only at the end as a kind of afterthought.

From the POV of MGM apparently the only thing that mattered about this short was that it is in CINEMASCOPE, and that in fact is the only information about the film that is provided. Clearly the audience is supposed to pay more attention to the shape and size of the screen than to anything that is taking place on the screen. Half a century later, when the technology of cinemascope is, while still impressive, pretty old hat, the audience is likely to watch this short and wonder what the hell is going on.

Credits

[bluebird1111 · 8/10 · 19 December 2008]

"Author: eeeeeeeee from United States But what makes this bizarre is that the short has no credits, NONE, nada, zilch -- neither orchestra nor conductor are ever identified, and the music itself is named only at the end as a kind of afterthought."

As with the other shorts produced with the MGM Symphony Orchestra the credits are spoken at the start of the film. See also "Poet and Peasant Overture," "MGM Jubilee Overture," and "Strauss Fantasy." The purpose of these short films was to show off stereophonic sound and the new Widescreen and CinemaScope processes. They would be seen, along with trailers, cartoons, and newsreels, before and/or after the main feature.