Cheap The Elephant Man [Region 2] (DVD) (David Lynch) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Elephant Man [Region 2]

Sad...beautiful..moving...well made..
This is probably David Lynch's most "normal" movie and maybe most mainstream and he did a remarkable job.This movie is sad and gets to me every time I watch it.For younger people it would seem boring to them because this isn't a horror movie and the movie does take its time,but that's the point.You get to know the characters and the only "monster" or "monsters" in this movie are the ones that mistreat and abuse John Merrick.Sometimes it's hard to watch only because this is a true story and all the abuse he went through.For the fact,he was this smart and beautiful human being underneath,but he had this horrible disease...Great acting all around.

One of the great film masterpieces, and the most moving thing I've ever seen
David Lynch is quite possibly the most underappreciated director in cinematic history. Time and time again he has crafted baffling, fascinatingly intricate works of art that time and time again have been shunned by critics too small-minded to appreciate the beauty of Lynch's films. Still, there is one that was universally acknowledged as the masterwork it is: THE ELEPHANT MAN, Lynch's finest work. In 1979, impressed by Lynch's horrifying debut ERASERHEAD, Mel Brooks hired Lynch to direct a cinematic telling of the tale of Joseph Merrick, frequently mistakenly referred to as "John", a mistake repeated in this film. With only one prior film under his belt, David Lynch crafted a masterpiece that ranks among the very finest films ever made, as well as the single most moving thing I have ever seen. <
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>Anthony Hopkins portrays Dr. Frederick Treves, a young and ambitious surgeon at the London Hospital who hears talk of a hideously deformed man being showcased at a local freakshow as "The Elephant Man". Recognizing a potential subject for fascinating research, Treves takes the man from his horridly-abusive "business partner" (Freddie Jones) and places him the London Hospital. Though the hospital staff is, naturally, initially opposed to the idea (do we not fear what we do not understand?), they gradually warm to the "Elephant Man" when Treves discovers, to everyone's immense shock, that the man is in fact a very intelligent and polite 21-year-old Englishman named John Merrick (John Hurt). Treves and Merrick become close friends while Treves studies Merrick's terrible disease, but though the public comes to see Merrick as a sort of hero, there are still those all too willing to treat him as a freak. <
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>THE ELEPHANT MAN is one of the few cinematic masterpieces with a story as captivating as the film itself. The story is very historially accurate, as is the makeup for John Merrick. No doubt this is a major reason of why THE ELEPHANT MAN is so profoundly tragic a film - it all happened. It's all real. Angry mobs did chase that poor, kind soul, and sleazy, utterly despicable rats of men did exploit his misfortune for their own profit. He was abused, and ridiculed, and yet through it all he remained upbeat, and a heartbreakingly intelligent and polite young man. Though his face is hidden beneath layer upon layer of makeup, John Hurt's performance as Merrick is excellent, and though "wonderful" would be a fitting adjective, it just doesn't seem right for this circumstance. <
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>Anthony Hopkins delivers what may the finest performance of his career, possibly surpassed only by his legendary performance as Hannibal Lecter in Demme's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. His character is admirably set on doing what's right and touchingly and sincerely caring for Mr. Merrick. In the scene in which Hopkins first encounters Merrick in a basement, he looks absolutely heartbroken and sheds one single, streaming tear; this may very well be one of the greatest scenes in movie history. <
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>Heading up the supporting cast is Anne Bancroft, playing a beautiful actress who immediately befriends Merrick. A testament to the movie's power is that we feel like we know these characters, particularly Bancroft. We do not root for her character; we appreciate and are grateful for her kind attitude toward Mr. Merrick. <
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>As wonderful as the actors are, this film could simply not exist without the masterful directing of David Lynch. Though this is one of his more linear works, it is still distinctly Lynchian, from the surreal opening sequence to the marvelously poetic finish. Those who were bold enough to endure ERASERHEAD may notice that THE ELEPHANT MAN feels like a sort of companion piece to that film. Both films were shot in a sort of nightmarish black-and-white, both films feature an enhanced soundtrack highlighting the sound of the wind whisping and mechanical clunks in the background, and both films highlight industrial settings and workers. Lynch's attention to every single detail, no matter how seemingly unimportant or simple, his appreciation for every little thing in life, is a perfect fit for this film. Though he may have made films more fascinating or deep, David Lynch never made one finer than THE ELEPHANT MAN, his own gothic, romantic tragedy. <
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>Another aspect that will remain in viewers' minds well after the film's end is Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings", one of the most provoking and sorrowfully beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard, which was similarly used six years later in Oliver Stone's PLATOON. "Adagio" is the song that plays through the film's final moments, and it is the ultimate opus for John Merrick. I guarantee that after seeing this film, your eyes will tear whenever "Adagio for Strings" is played. <
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>Though it will always be one of film's great tragedies that David Lynch never receives the praise he so rightly deserves, it is fitting that at least one of his films, Lynch's own handmade tragedy, received the attention it deserved. Although the film was (unsurprisingly) unrecognized in the 1981 Academy Awards, THE ELEPHANT MAN has come to be regarded as one of the finest films ever made. It is indeed one of the all-time great cinematic masterpieces, and Lynch's masterwork. I doubt that I will ever encounter anything that will move me so profoundly as Joseph Merrick and David Lynch's tale of THE ELEPHANT MAN.