The Mikado
(DVD) 

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1939.

Program notes by Geoffrey O'Brien ([20] p. : ports.) inserted in container.

Synopsis partially derived from the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive.

Special features: New video interviews with Topsy-turvy director Mike Leigh and Mikado scholars Josephine Lee and Ralph MacPhail, Jr.; short silent film promoting the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's 1926 stage performance of the Mikado; deleted scene with Ko-Ko's "I've got a little list" song; excerpts from 1939 radio broadcasts of the stage productions The swing Mikado and The hot Mikado.

Decor, Vertès ; cinematographer, William V. Skall ; cameraman, Bernard Knowles ; editors, Philip Charlot, Gene Milford.

Kenny Baker, Martyn Green, Sydney Granville, John Barclay, Gregory Stroud, Jean Colin, Constance Willis, Elizabeth Paynter, Kathleen Naylor; London Symphony Orchestra; the Chorus of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

The legendary Gilbert and Sullivan troupe, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, joined forces with Hollywood for this 1939 Technicolor version of the fabled comic opera, the first complete work by the famed duo to be adapted for the screen, directed by musician and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Victor Schertzinger. The result is a lavish cinematic retelling of the British political satire set in exotic Japan. Nanki-Poo, son of the Mikado of Japan, fled his father's imperial court to escape marriage with Katisha, an elderly lady. Now, disguised as a traveling musician, he meets and falls in love with Yum-Yum, the young ward of Ko-Ko, a cheap tailor in the town of Titipu. Yum-Yum, however, is already betrothed to her guardian, and Nanki-Poo is in despair.

DVD; NTSC, fullscreen (1.33:1 aspect ratio); Dolby digital mono.

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

DVD