Description

The Name of the Rose is a gothic medieval mystery thriller set in a 14th-century Italian monastery. Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and a young novice (Christian Slater) arrive for a conference to find that several monks have been murdered in mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his wit and intelligence. ... Read more

Reviews (66)

Interesting Medieval Movie
Sean Connery plays William of Baskerville, a 14th cenutry Franciscan Monk who comes to an abbey high in the Italian Alps and investigates a series of murders that surround a mysterious book.

A young Christian Slater plays his companion/student. Connery is similar to a Sherlock Holmes, using very modern methods of investigation during this dark ages period.

The Monastery is home to all sorts of creepy monks including Ron Perlman playing a hunched backed simpleton. William find himself the target of heresy charges by a vengeful cardinal portrayed by the villian F. Murray Abraham.

The movie is somewhat slow but not in a bad way. It's a dark but thought provoking movie with religious overtones. Throughout is an on-going battle between William and some of the older monks. It seems the older Monks want the book supressed because it's a comedy and comedy is thought to be the work of the devil.

I've heard that the movie doesn't hold a candle to the book, but since I've never read it I have nothing to compare it to.

The film shows Connery's richest & diverse acting talents !
From the opening scenes you are mesmerized at the story and characters throughout this movie. The setting takes place in an old Italian Monastery where several Monks have died in mysterious ways and Connery, as a fellow Monk of the Order, is called in to investigate what is behind it. I was especially enlightened to this movie when on a trip to Europe I took a Rhine River Cruise and had actually visited the German Monastery where the movie was shot. The props created for the altar scenes are still there for visitors to see. As this movie unfolds the plot thickens testing your wits as to what is really going on in this remote monestary, heightened by the intervention of the Grand Inquisitor because the movie takes place during the period of the Inquisition in Europe. The acting is superb because the casting was excellent. The movie has enough historical fact and content that the viewer will learn something about medieval history as well as being entertained. If you are a Connery fan you will enjoy this movie for its content and story line. As with any GOOD actor you know Connery will not become involved in a bad script, you will not be disappointed with this Monk that he portrays. See it, rent it, buy it for your home library, you will watch it over - and - over again !!!

A Winner in Every Way
I have seen this fine film 5 or 6 times and each time I see something new and fascinating in it. Umberto Eco's novel was a complex story to adapt to a major film, and this was done with skill and intelligence by Andrew Birkin, Gérard Brach, Howard Franklin & Alain Godard. The idea of such a tragic murder solved with only the tools of the time is nothing short of brilliant. I am wondering how much the BBC television series "Cadfael" with Derek Jacobi is based on this motion picture. Both are superb in their own way.

If you enjoy a film with mystery, brilliant performances, gothic photography and magnificent art direction, you will enjoy this masterpiece. Be warned, however... you will require an attention span. This is not a film kids will understand.

Excellent adaptation.
How do you take a long and very dense book, and turn it into a cohesive and quickly-paced film? The makers of THE NAME OF THE ROSE answered that riddle.

All around, this film has everything going for it. The performances are compelling and right on--no one acts like a 20th Century actor trying to act 14th century. The setting is gorgeous, although the squalor of the less fortunate is vividly conveyed. The intricate almost Escher-like quality of the labyrinth within the monastery is an amazing feat of set design and engineering.

Most of all, it's the script and direction that carry the day. Given how much information had to be siphoned and sifted from Umberto Eco's novel, the screenwriters and director Jean-Jacques Annaud masterfully created a taut and convincing murder mystery without getting bogged down in the details. The only time I thought it did was during the dragged out Inquisition scenes. However, these scenes did represent what was at risk for these characters. All in all, this is a marvelous film which murder mystery fans or fans of period pieces will want to have in their collections.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of THE FIVE POINTS.

Dark Rose
1986's The Name Of The Rose is a dark, deep mystery set in the unusual setting of a medieval Italian abbey and is based on Umberto Eco's bestseller. Sean Connery stars as William of Baskerville, an English monk who is sent to the secluded abbey to investigate a murder. Along with his apprentice Adson von Melk (a young Christian Slater in just his third film), they dive into the case in which more dead bodies start turning up. F. Murray Abraham (in his first film after winning the Oscar for Amadeus) plays Bernardo Gui, an icy inquisitor who gets involved in the case, but whose motives are questionable. William struggles to solve the case against the intense religious fervor of the time and the film tries to show the conflicts between religion and justice. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud captures the dark and dank feeling of medieval times and captures the period well. The cast gives strong performances, especially Mr. Abraham in yet another menacing role. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Since the demise of the International Tournées of Animation and the regular Spike and Mike shows, independent animated shorts have become increasingly difficult to see in the U.S. It's commendable that King of the Hill creator Mike Judge and Oscar-nominated director Don Hertzfeldt put together this collection (with slightly different content than the theatrical release), but it's regrettable that most of the films aren't better. Koji Yamamura's Mt. Head and The Rocksby Chris Stenner and Heidi Wittlinger present off-beat, personal visions. The Cathedral by Tomek Baginski boasts dramatic imagery, but a clichéd storyline; Jeremy Solterbeck's brooding ballet méchanique, Moving Illustrations of Machines, doesn't really go anywhere. Adam Elliot's Brother, Cousin, and Uncle and Corky Quackenbush's The Adventures of Ricardo combine crude stop-motion animation with mean-spirited narratives. Ultimately, The Animation Show remains less than the sum of its parts. (Unrated, suitable for ages 16 and older: grotesque imagery, nudity, sexual situations, tobacco use) --Charles Solomon ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Not as good as the theatrical release, but still worth it
As everyone has pointed out, this DVD's content differs from the original theatrical release. That in itself isn't really a problem except that 3 films left out of the DVD happen to be 3 of the best entries in the original lineup. I already own "Rejected" on DVD, but I was very disappointed by the absence of "Mars and Beyond" and "Vincent." (If you really, *really* want them, they can be found on "Walt Disney Treasures - Tomorrowland" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" respectively.)

Still, it's worth getting this DVD if only for Don Hertzfeldt's 3 new shorts + the old favorite "Billy's Balloon" (which was an unannounced surprise in the theatrical release and *is* included in the DVD). Mike Judge's oldies are gut-splittingly funny as well, especially the classic "Office Space." The others are mostly hit-or-miss though, and probably should belong to Spike & Mike's Classic/Sick & Twisted festivals instead.

Remarkable. A must own.
Simply put: the Animation Show has something for nearly everyone.

It has the insane, twisted and often incoherent humor of Don Hertzfeldt in his 1998 work Billy's Balloon along with three shorter pieces written explictly for the animation show. Add to that three Corky Quackenbush Ricardo shorts and some wacked out Mike Judge experiments including the original Office Space short and you have enough to satisfy those who love sick animation.

It has incredible works of artistic mastery. Moving Illustrations of Machines is an incredible hand-drawn labor of love made by one man over the course of four years (to the earlier reviewer who did not think that it told a story, I reccomend doing some research on the piece). It has La Course A L'Abime which melds art, animation and music into a perfect crescendo in the final scene. It has Katedra, which is a CG masterpiece, but unfortunately looks poorly compressed on this DVD (the only film to disappoint technically).

It has great stories. Brother/Cousin/Uncle weaves interesting and detailed character sketches in mere minutes. Das Rad is a wonderful little piece that will make you smile.

When you tell people that they should watch the Animation Show, they instantly think that they are being told to watch silly Warner Bros. style cartoons (they will be when Parking comes on), but what you will really be suggesting is taking a trip into a world where an amazing form of storytelling can get some fresh air - the world of the short film.

Buy the DVD. It is the purchase of the year (and a bargain at twice the price) and you will help to support this independent film scene continue to produce works of art that make us laugh, make us think and make us enjoy life.

wonderful!
I've just previewed an advance screener of this DVD and can say with no exaggeration that it's very easily the best animation compilation yet. Kudos to Judge and Hertzfeldt for stepping up and investing so much personal care and quality into this series - Their basic love of the form really comes through on this release.

Most of the animation festivals I've reviewed in the last 25 years would be lucky to feature just a handful of these films, let alone all of them. Funny, poignant, eye-popping, there's not a single bad apple in the lot.

The DVD also comes with about a dozen "extras" from almost all of the cartoonists involved - not just filler and fluff but substantial features, something else I've never seen done so well before on an animation collection.

While some of the short films may not be suitable for very young children ("50 Percent Grey" contains gunplay and "Aria" has a scene of dolls making love), there is nothing to be found here to cause concern beyond a PG-13 rating.

Very impressive and highly recommended. I can't wait for v.2

UPDATE: In reply to the reviewer asking about the omission of the short film, "Rejected", Mr Hertzfeldt has stated that it was left off this DVD in order to make room for the work of other artists. "Rejected" is readily available on DVD from the Bitter Films website.

It is also important to note that this collection indeed is slightly different than the theatrical collection, which I believe is the stated central point of the Animation Show: to continue to put the spotlight on new and exciting films and to convince people to go to the theater to see the truly rare stuff.

Case in point, the restored "Mars" film from the Animation Show theatrical program is owned by Disney which means you'll never see it on a non-Disney DVD.

Buy the Animation Show DVDs but be sure to check them out in your local theater too if you want to see the very best of this program!

Something for every taste (includes tasteless)
Stunning outworldly landscapes, freakish clay people, and insane bad acid trips. Yep, you'll get everything you can think of and more. ;)

This film is an arrangement of several international animation shorts, and you're bound to find at least one you like. Being international, it does mean some of these films are foreign, and you'll have to squint to read the subtitles in "Mt. Head." (You'd think after that Goldmemeber parody the guys who make those subtitles would get the idea) Some films have no dialouge, so that's easier on the eyes.

The emotional qualities of these films range wildly from overwhelming awe (the Cathedral) to extremely bitter humor (Billy's Ballon), and if you want your kids to grow up emotionally disturbed and confused, this is your film. (of course, I saw "Heavy Metal" at age 5 and I didn't remember it because I had no idea what was going on and still don't)

Some of these films are family-quality entertainment, like Tim Burton's "Vincent", very similar to "Nightmare Before Christmas". Then there's Don Hertzfeldt's Intro, Intermission, and Ending that will make anyone over 13 laugh uncontrollably and make anyone under 13 disillusioned. It's possible it could be the other way around, though.

You might be thinking "Oh, it's animation, it'll be like Disney," and you are absolutely wrong. There are styles of animation in here I've never seen before, in mediums I'm not sure I'll ever see again. They go from impossibly professional to laughably amaturish. Also, maybe you're thinking "If it's like Disney, then it's good for kids." Again, false; some of this is great material for children, some of it is definitely not. Watch this movie yourself first, then watch it with your kids to filter out what they don't need to watch. I don't like censoring children myself, but anything like "Rejected" has stuff that most kids won't be able to understand.

If you're just looking for high-quality entertainment, this is designed to satisify. You'll most likely see things that you've never seen before, and maybe never will. This is a million miles away from the mainstream, and hopefully "Animation Show: Volume 2" will have even more faraway tales done with moving pictures that no one at Toon Disney can even comprehend.

UPDATE (5/10/04): Turns out the DVD version is different from the theatre version. A few films were taken out from the theatre version and some new ones added for the DVD version. The new ones are suprisingly tender (the Adom Elliot trilogy), some were... well, lame (like Illustrastions of Moving Machines or something similar to that title. It should be a standard rule that the films should try to tell some kind of story, but oh well, that's just me). I'm dissapointed that some films like "Rejected" and "Vincent" were left out of the final cut, they were my favorite films and I can't find them anywhere else! They better be on Volume Two!

Although I still like the final product (Mike, Don, next year, throw in a few interviews, I don't care if they're foreign), if you expected the theatre version on DVD, it's not the exact same product. A word of warning. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Not bad...
Well I saw this movie in the previews section of $LA$HER$ and thought i would check it out...

I'm gonna keep it short and say that this movie was not that bad. It had a cool and original killer, a few good plot twists, and good characters. the only thing that made it not that enjoyable was the german. Now I am all for films in diffrent langauges, I don't mind ready subtitles. But the subs here [are bad]. I put them on cause I heard the dubbing was bad, but the subs are worse. First off they are always late. Like 10 seconds after someone says something the sub comes on. And by then someone else is prolly allready talking so it gets very confusing. So about half way through the movie I gave up and switched it to dubbs, wich wasn't that bad acctualy. Although the voice acting isn't that good the are better than the subs.

So besides the [bad] subs and dubbs this movie is good. A few scary parts, good acting, and cool killer. I recomend.

TERRIBLE
I spent most of the time laughing at the sheer ridiculousness and predictability of this movie (who on Earth would say that this movie had unexpected plot twists?). Yeah, the dubbing was awful, but it only added on to what was already a bad, bad movie. Even my roommate, who normally hates watching scary movies because she thinks they're too scary, laughed all the way through this one. And, uh, what kind of police officer would discuss a rape with people OTHER than the immediate family? <-- Just one of the many truly stupid scenes in the movie. C'mon, skip this one--unless you're looking for something for "bad movie night" (as in my case; I thought it looked stupid from the packaging--"grizzly" instead of "grisly"? please...), and then this one takes the cake.

The most atmospheric slasher since "Halloween"
A German TV movie trying to compete with Hollywood genre movies? Sounds audacious, doesn't it? But SURPRISE: it is the most atmospheric slasher since "Halloween." An advice to everyone who has problems with the English dubbing: the DVD contains the original German language version with English subtitles and leaves a completely different impression of the quality of the performances and the actual impact of the film's subtext violence. Highly recommended.

*It was pretty decent!*
Okay, so I'm a movie buff. I'm trying to get into the production side of film making and I have to say this film would have probably been like a stepping stone for me or a gateway into the major horror films. It wasn't bad at all. Except for a few annoying things:

I agreed with some of the others, the dubbing did get on my nerves at first but then I just stopped paying attention to the actors' lips. The acting could have used a bit more work on some of the characters but they were better than most American actors today, so I didn't mind that too much. And yeah the opening scene could have been written a lot better and with more originality (it did seem like the opening for SCREAM.)

But all in all the movie had a good twist at the end which surprised me and I must say the soundtrack was pretty good!

I think the Germans are getting the idea of what makes a good scary movie. . . surprises and a good track!!

A terrifying german TV - Thriller !
I think the people shouldn't give a bad mark for this movie, because it's just a german TV-Horrormovie, but goog for that.
A few actors of this chilling movie are german soap-stars. Of course this movie followed the concept of "Scream" and "Urban Legend" and it has a good and scary atmosphere. This movie for example isn't the only german scary movie (OK, one year later a bad sequel was made, it was called "Boarding school for girls - no one can hear you scream"). There are a few movie, which are normaly untypical for a country like Germany. In 2000 the most favourite german scary movie was "Anatomy", in the same year "Flashback - Murderous Holidays" was made, the most chilling product of the german movie-industry. In 2001 "Swimming Pool-The death celebrates with you" was a product of a german director with a cast of americans,germans and actors from England. But it was a big flop in all cinemas. I'm from Germany, I can garanty for it. But "School's out" is very good for a TV- movie. ... Read more