Romeo and Juliet

Filmed at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden in 1966, this Royal Ballet production of Prokofiev's famed ballet, based on the Bard's tale of star-crossed lovers, features a top-of-his-prime Rudolf Nureyev and Dame Margot Fonteyn (19 years Nureyev's senior, and nearing the end of her career here, but still able to infuse the role of Juliet with girlish pluck) as the respective Montague and Capulet whose family feud leads to a romantically tragic end. Paul Czinner's able direction, Nicholas Georgeiadis' handsome staging, and noted choreographer Kenneth MacMillan's challenging sequences (particularly for Nureyev) have never looked better thanks to a reasonably crisp (given the age of the source film) and brightly colorful DVD transfer. Extras include scene synopses, a bit of history about the ballet, and biographies, but the real treasure here is the historical pairing of two of the 20th century's greatest dancers. While this won't make much of a dent with the modern audience that embraces Baz Luhrmann's modernized Romeo + Juliet, those who own monogrammed lorgnette will eat this up with a silver spoon. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)