The Medium (1946)

In 1950, Menotti returned to Italy to direct his first and only feature film. He took his Broadway hit, THE MEDIUM, expanded it, and turned it into what remains one of the few completely successful cinematic renderings of an opera. Rarely seen in the US since its original release, the movie now makes a spectacular and most welcome appearance on DVD. With this film, Menotti was able to "open up" his story beyond Madame Flora's dingy flat, taking her into the streets and alleys of a decaying postwar Rome. The gritty neo-Realistic look of the film, so typical of other Italian features of its era, lends a rawness no theatrical [presentation] could ever hope to achieve. Marie Powers [was] Madame Flora when the work was staged on Broadway, in tandem with THE TELEPHONE. This powerful contralto's performance is preserved here in all its terrifying intensity. Thomas Schippers, in what amounted to his recording debut, draws a vivid performance from the Symphony Orchestra of Rome Radio Italiana. It is remarkable that Menotti was able to take opera - one of the least realistic art forms - and charge it full of Rossellinian cinematic realism. The film is done in such a naturalistic fashion that one almost forgets its dialogue is being sung rather than spoken. This remains a remarkable achievement, as chillingly effectively today as it was more than 50 years ago.

Watch out boys, Baba's back in town. It's astonishing that this is the first time that "The Medium" has been [released] on CD. In Menotti's classic of dramatics, "The Medium" is pretty strong stuff and impossible to dislike. The first act is inhumanly close to musical and dramatic perfection. [And] the recording quality is vivid: Cedille and the Chicago Opera Theater have done an excellent job with this [performance].