Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

carnivalofsouls The most unusual entry in the AFT series was no doubt one of the least successful. Though it attempted to make the source material more cinematic through the use of flashy visuals and edits (think a somnambulistic Ken Russell circa Tommy and Listzomania), this only helped to date a production that, considering the music at its centre, had no right to be dated. Jacques Brel was a brilliant French songwriter and while his music found its way into the English and American pop charts thanks to various bastardizations (stand up Rod McKuen and Terry Jacks), his acerbic lyrical style and gallows humour were always lost in the translation. The intention of the off-Broadway musical was to no doubt make amends for this and to introduce an English-speaking audience to some of the finest songs ever written, yet the power of the songs, no matter how great they are, are reliant on the three performers, who, at least in this incarnation, are simply not up to scratch. While Elly Stone's shrill voice does not help matters, the worst culprit is Mort Shuman.Shuman, a legendary Brill Building songwriter, was responsible for the English translation of Brel's songs and many will know that these translations were scattered across Scott Walker's astonishing first four solo albums of the late sixties. And herein lays Shuman's greatest misstep, as he, coincidentally or not, takes on the task of covering the same songs as Walker. Yet not only does Shuman lack Walker's powerful voice, he also manages to deliver the tunes in a misguided and frequently irritating fashion. Compare his pitiful rendition of Mathilde to the version on Walker's debut, and one will see how crucial the delivery of Brel's songs are to their power, Walker brilliantly straddles an intense line between ecstasy and despair, as compared to Shuman, who lifelessly pouts his way through the song.Only Joe Masiell's voice seems suited to the material and though many of his scenes are highlights, the undoubted triumph is Brel's haunted, French rendition of If You Go Away, where in a single, deeply moving take, the great man himself, approaching his death in 1978, tears a hole in the film that it has no chance of recovering from. If there is a single reason to view the film, it is for this, otherwise one is recommended to save your cash and purchase Brel's own recordings or the compilation Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel.

TxMike Almost 40 years ago, when I was a student in Indiana, a group of us drove to Chicago for a day, just to get away from campus. It was spring break 1968, and part of our day was spent in a small theater seeing the live production, "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris." I remember it well, it was my first up-close live stage production. We had a table right at the front of the room, and we were looking upwards as the performers sang the songs, loosely connected by a vague story line. It wasn't the story we enjoyed, it was the live singing, and really good singing.Last week I found the DVD of this title at my public library. Eagerly I put it into my DVD player, let it spin, while the surround system was plugged in, much like Michael J Fox did in the opening scene of 'Back to the Future.' I was very disappointed.My biggest disappointment was the singing. Some of it is so bad that I simply couldn't listen to the whole song. Second, it has a definite 60s and 70s feel to it which, in this case, was not good.I cannot recommend the DVD. It will be a disappointment for most Jacques Brel fans. This version has no real flow to it, and the singing is not first-rate.

whist69 As a big Brel fan, I saw this today and was intrigued and so bought it. It may have been the show that claims to have introduced non-French speaking audiences to his music but it is the most painfully awful thing that I have every seen and heard. It is so dated and clichéd 70's awful acting. The "performers" none of them appear to be able to sing in the slightest – they just seem to screech through the awful "translations" of his songs. I cringed watching is – it is just so awful. It not only is a travesty of Brel's music, it is also so badly acted and sung. The translations and "interpretations" of his songs are just so bad. Brel himself makes cameo appearances in this production but for the life of me I cannot fathom why he did and allowed them to murder his music like this. This really is the worst of American 70's theatre productions. I sincerely wish I'd saved my money and spend it on another original Brel recording – or almost on anything else than this. I cannot emphasise enough to people not to waste their money on this. Even as a piece of Brel memorabilia it is the kind of thing that I'd want to hide behind some books and not own up to possessing. The original French of his songs are deeply poetic and touch the deepest of emotions – all this production does is make you cringe and think "it can not possibly get any worse" – and unfortunately it does go on and prove you wrong – it does just get worse and worse. Save your money and stick to the original songs sung by him in French and not put yourself and Brel's music through this torture! All I can hope to recover from this is that I am able to dissuade anyone else from making the same mistake as me and buying it!!!!

cbe0525 I saw this film in 1975 as part of the AFI series at UCLA. Walking into the theatre, I had no idea what to expect and had never heard of Jacques Brel before. I became a huge Jacques Brel fan that evening and have enjoyed his music for the last 27 years. This film is a delightful cabaret of music video before it even existed. Ellie Stone's torch singing performance, in particular, made me a fan for life. The rest of the cast was equally dynamic; I can still hear "Next" being sung inside my head. Brel's work is touching, political, brilliant. This film was available on video for a very short time in the early 80's. How I wish I had purchased it then as it is no longer available. I would love to see this film over and over again.