The Mikado
Directed by Victor Schertzinger
Written by William S. Gilbert (libretto to the operetta)
1939/UK
Repeat viewing/ Streamed on Netflix Instant
[box] My object all sublime/ I shall achieve in time —/ To let the punishment fit the crime —/ The punishment fit the crime;/ And make each prisoner pent/ Unwillingly represent/ A source of innocent merriment!/ Of innocent merriment! — lyric by W.S. Gilbert[/box]
If you love Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, as I do, The Mikado as performed by their own company is not to be missed.
This is a send up of British Victorian manners disguised as a silly tale of happenings at the Japanese Imperial Court. The Mikado’s son, Nanki-Poo, has been sentenced to death for flirting. He is also in trouble for refusing to marry the elderly horror Katisha. He disguises himself as a Second Trombone and heads off to the town where his beloved Yum-Yum resides. She is engaged to marry her guardian Ko-Ko, who was recently named Lord High Executioner by the Mikado. Many, many complications and some very witty songs ensue.
Well, I could eat this up with a spoon. The only complaint I have is that some of the songs in the stage operetta have been truncated or cut entirely. The performances are spot on as could be expected from a production by The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. This was the first three-strip Technicolor picture distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was released by the Criterion Collection in a package set with Topsy-Turvy, the 1999 biopic about the creation of The Mikado, which I also highly recommend to G&S lovers.
“Trailer” for Criterion Collection edition – “Three Little Maids from School”
Bonus – Topsy-Turvy trailer
