Other Sellers on Amazon
95% positive over last 12 months
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- Sorry, this item is not available in
- Image not available
- To view this video download Flash Player
The Master and Margarita
Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Purchase options and add-ons
Format | NTSC, Color, Dolby |
Contributor | Oleg Basilashvili, Aleksandr Adabashyan , Roman Kartsev , Aleksandr Abdulov, Gennadi Bogachyov , Vano Miranyan, Vladimir Bortko See more |
Language | Russian |
Runtime | 450 minutes |
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may ship from close to you
- The Master and Margarita: 50th-Anniversary Edition (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)PaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Sunday, Mar 24
- The Master and MargaritaPaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Sunday, Mar 24
- The Master and MargaritaPaperbackFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Sunday, Mar 24
- Idiot [4 DVD] Screen Version of Fyodor Dostoevsky`s NovelEvgeny MironovDVD$3.99 shippingGet it Mar 28 - Apr 3
- BRATYA KARAMAZOVY / THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV 12 EPISODES 2 DVD NTSC БРАТЬЯDVD-R$3.99 shippingGet it Mar 28 - Apr 2Only 2 left in stock - order soon.
- The Master and Margarita: Introduction by Simon Franklin (Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series)Michail BulgakovHardcoverFREE Shipping on orders over $35 shipped by AmazonGet it as soon as Sunday, Mar 24
Product Description
SOUNDTRACK (AUDIO): RUSSIAN DOLBY DIGITAL 2.0 / ENGLISH SUBTITLES. SYNOPSIS: Vladimir Bortko has become the first Russian film director to start shooting of renowned Bulgakov's novel and not to stop half-way. All the others Russian directors once engaged in the production of "Master and Margaret" have actually turned out to be unable to finalize their projects. The rumors say, it is due to some mysticism... The "Master and Margaret" begins with two story lines: the Devil and his retinue show up to make mischief in 1930's Moscow while Matthew the Evangelist attempts to uncover the truth about Pontius Pilate and the Crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem in A. D. 33. Halfway through the novel, Bulgakov unveils a third story line set in Moscow, in which the love-stricken Margarita bargains with the Devil to be reunited with her lover, the Master, a tormented writer-hero who pines away in an insane asylum. Bulgakov gradually weaves the three scenarios together, all the while exercising devilish lampoonery and wit to satirize Soviet life under Stalin. Because public discussions of religion and critiques of the government had long been punishable by a trip to the gulag, the themes addressed in "Master and Margaret" very rarely surfaced in the Soviet Union: many Soviet citizens read the Gospel story for the first time in Bulgakov's narrative.
Product details
- Package Dimensions : 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches; 0.01 ounces
- Director : Vladimir Bortko
- Media Format : NTSC, Color, Dolby
- Run time : 450 minutes
- Actors : Aleksandr Abdulov, Oleg Basilashvili, Vano Miranyan, Roman Kartsev , Gennadi Bogachyov
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : Unqualified (Dolby Digital 2.0)
- Studio : CP Digital
- ASIN : B000EANSXM
- Number of discs : 3
- Best Sellers Rank: #8,599 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #4,609 in DVD
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
And, because of its pacing, when the moments of horror or action appear, they're all the more unexpected, with all the more impact. The stellar performances (in my order): Woland, Margarita, Koroviev, Bezdomy--who visibly matures through the film--and the paired Pilate and Yeshua. One can watch and listen to Woland--especially in the post-Ball interchange with Margarita--and be struck with pity, and sympathy, and simultaneously a touch of ice to the heart.
Is it perfect? No, it's not, it can't be, but the use of a miniseries allows full exploration of the book. And the special effects are on the scale of the book, not on what we've come to expect in the post-Star Wars era. And Behemoth could be a bit better, I suppose. At least, everyone else complains about him, but I didn't mind.
The actors' voices and general sound are so vital to the feel that I would resist dubbing English over the top. BUT......oh...the English subtitles...quelle horreur! Do the Russians so despise the English-speaking world that they would marr a masterpiece in spite? If only someone had said "use Michael Glenny's dialogue for the subtitles". So get familiar with the book, if you're not already (yes, I'm a Michael Glenny translation fan since 1968), then you only need glance at subtitles to know what is being said. That way, you won't get distracted by the legion of solecisms and klutzed translations.
However, the DVD suffers from a few defects, namely:
- The translation into English for subtitles is at times extermely amateurish, which means that a non-Russian-speaker like myself often has to halt mentally and try to figure out which meaning was intended. This breaks up the narrative.
- The subtitles often appear too late, i.e. are displayed halfway through the sentence or even while the next sentence is spoken. This also breaks up the narrative.
- Only the dialogue is translated, not for example signs. For example, there is a long scene in front of the gate of the writers' club, and the sign is in plain view which implies that the director intends the audience to know where the scene takes place. But if you can't read Russian this doesn't help much...
- Episode names, cast list etc aren't translated either.
- The division of chapters into scenes is done for each DVD as a whole, not by chapter, so the DVD player's display doesn't show "Chapter 4, scene 3" or some such, but rather "Episode 1, Scene 43". This also means that you cannot see episode length or remaining time.
So: Content 100%, implementation not so great...
To conclude, delivery was very prompt (even speedier than the estimate).
Top reviews from other countries
Checking IMDB.com I find that it has been filmed several times. I saw the Italian version in the mid 70's, and the best thing that can be said about it is that it appears to have disappeared. This was not one Ugo Tognazzi's better films, in fact I wouldn't be surprised to know he was ashaned of it. If not, he should be.
There was a reference to the 1994 version, reputedly the best one ever made. Well, the into was a bit aqmbigous, it seems to imply that thie was the 2005 version. Well it isn't, it is the 1994 version.
I had seen parts of it Youtube, but none of it was subtitled, or only parts of it. I fell in love with that version, and low and behold, this is the version on Youtube.
What is the storyline? Prof. Wolen comes to Mosgow, and has a meeting with 2 writers. Only this is not some history proffesor, but Satan incarnate.
So, the story comes in 3 part, bathetically. One part involves Satan, a hilarous trouble maker and large, walking talking cat. The adventures of the cat, Behemoth and jokestar, Koroview make up the funniest parts of the film. It was in fact the role of Koroviev that attracted me to the film, the actor is plainly enjoying himself.
The love story is about the Master, and his lover, Margarita. The 2nd half of the film revolves around Margarita and her attempts to get the Master back.
What connects these 2 stories? the most improbable you could imagine: Pontius Pilate and Jesus. The Master wrote a novel about Pilate; Satan tells the story of the trial to Berlioz and a poet; and at the end we realise that the story is the one that the Master wrote.
Highlights to watch for: the black magic performance of Woland and crew at the Variety theatre; Maragarita's night ride through Mosgow; The qalk through hell.
I won't tell you how it ends, that part of the fun.
1. Only the dialogue is translated into the subtitles. The credits remain in Russian, though they are unusually large, and do not scroll quickly, so if you know a bit of the Gregorian alphabet you can unpick a lot.
2. The subtitles are rather large so the bottom line gets occluded at the bottom of the screen. It may be that it's my tv, which is very old. I am told this may be overcome by altering the screen aspect ratio.
The film itself is extremely good as a rendering of the book, which I am reading at the same time. A classic, the translation in the film to 1930’s Moscow and Roman Jerusalem is very authentic, especially Moscow. And three DVD’s of this quality for about £15 is very good.