Customer Rating: Summary: An amazing movie! Comment: "The Dead" is one of the best movies ever made. It is definitely a must see. Still waiting for it to be on DVD. Customer Rating: Summary: Greatest movie I've ever seen Comment: Having read a lot of James Joyce in high school and college, I went to this movie the same year it came out on the arthouse tour. I had always prided myself on my "poker face" and my ability to hide my emotions. On the other hand, I had idolized Joyce and plowed through Ulysses like a school boy in heat. I can honestly say I barely moved a muscle throughout this movie. I was transfixed by the wonderful characters and the ways in which Huston fleshed them out into real people. When the final scene upwrapped and played itself out, with that final great shot of the snow falling and covering everything, the marvelous narration barely above a whisper, I found myself unable to hold back the tears, and I sat in my seat with my friends rustling around me preparing to leave, heaving with uncontrollable sobs and at the same time making only a feeble attempt to hide what I was feeling. This movie tears your heart out and then puts it back in again. No other movie has done this to me. I go back to this great film about once a year, and with every viewing my admiration grows for what has to be my favorite film. Customer Rating: Summary: Don't Overlook Frank Patterson's Role! Comment: The tenor evoking the memory of Michael Furey (the dead) for the wife,as he sings during the dinner party, assumes a more significant role when heard in a film score, than when left to a reader's imagination. John Huston had the keen sense to find the best - Irish tenor Frank Patterson, who died in 2000. According to CD notes for a Patterson collection including this song, he was originally going to be hired merely as the voice, but was then cast to act and sing.
While I admire the acting and directing as noted by so many others, it's the power of Patterson's marvelously wistful singing, so clear and pure, that most illuminates what little plot there is,and lingers with me. Hearing the song as he sings it, allows me to enter the wife's mind and interpret how she lamented her long-lost lover.
Since Joyce's "The Dead" is regarded as among the finest short stories in English, it's all the more remarkable that a film version may be regarded in the same league, and possibly offer even more. Customer Rating: Summary: Perfect movie Comment: I find it really a disgrace that it isn't available on DVD region 1 along with the making of documentary.The first time I saw it, I found it to be amazing and beautiful.Although it is slow moving, it is really worth the effort to sit thru it and enjoy. There are some departures from the novella, but they only enhance the film. I recommend reading the short story after the movie like I did. Customer Rating: Summary: Slow movie with a perfect ending. Comment: The last scene of "The Dead" includes a voice over by Donal McCann and just may be one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen. In retrospect it was the perfect way for John Huston to finish his long career. But before this scene, I found the movie challenging to sit through. The acting was superb but much like Huston's "Under the Volcano", the story seemed to meander along at a slow pace and and I lost my interest, hoping something would happen soon. My patience was rewarded in the last scene, but I think the movie would have been better as a short feature film (featurette) of perhaps 45 minutes. As it is, I can't give it more than 3 stars, but I'm still glad I saw it, and it should be on DVD.
Update: the movie is available on a PAL region 2 DVD in the UK. It's for sale at amazon.co.uk
