Cyrano de Bergerac

1950
U
1h 53m

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

4.8K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer1:48

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88 Photos

Swashbuckler Adventure Drama Romance

The charismatic swordsman-poet and provocateur in 1640s Paris helps a young guardsman woo the woman he loves, complicated by the politics of the nobility and the war with Spain.The charismatic swordsman-poet and provocateur in 1640s Paris helps a young guardsman woo the woman he loves, complicated by the politics of the nobility and the war with Spain.The charismatic swordsman-poet and provocateur in 1640s Paris helps a young guardsman woo the woman he loves, complicated by the politics of the nobility and the war with Spain.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.4/10

4.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 7 wins & 4 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 1:48

Cyrano De Bergerac

Photos88

+ 80

User reviews66

7.44.8K

Featured reviews

9bkoganbing

If Only Plastic Surgery Had Been Available.

Back years ago in high school studying Cyrano de Bergerac, with a textbook having pictures from this film, one of the other students asked simply why didn't he just get a nose job? It got a lot of amusement when the teacher told her that that procedure just wasn't available in Cardinal Richelieu's France.

I'm afraid that that might be the feeling of a lot of readers of the play and viewers of the film. Rostand, who wrote the play in the 19th century about the 17th century might as well have been writing about people on Mars.

If they take that tack then folks will be losing out on appreciating a great play and role essayed by a man who possessed one of the great speaking voices of the century. Jose Ferrer puts everyone else in the cast to shame with his performance of Cyrano.

To be sure Cyrano de Bergerac is a one man play. All the other characters Rostand gave absolutely no depth to. Roxanne is a sweet young girl looking for romance, Christian is a handsome dunce, Comte de Guiche is a Snidely Whiplash villain. But Cyrano, you have to be a real actor to play that one.

Cyrano is a soldier, writer, swordsman even a gourmet of sorts. But that proboscis fills him with doubt when the opposite sex is concerned. He's a tortured soul and Ferrer gives THE interpretation of Cyrano. It will be so a hundred years from now. He's a swashbuckler to be sure, but you certainly couldn't cast any of the normal movie swashbucklers in that part.

I don't know if the MTV generation will feel like my classmate of years ago, but if they turn away from music videos and watch this, they will be treated to a once in a lifetime acting performance.

notstudyinglaw

Will someone remaster this, please!

This remains one of my all-time favorite movies. Ferrer is simply brilliant. But, as others have rightly pointed out, the production values are poor (to say the least), and the problem is only exacerbated by the poor quality of most video tapes currently available.

But don't be scared, go rent this, the French version, and for fun, Steve Martin's Roxanne, and have a great time with this classic story.

And for even more fun, check out the biography of the real Cyrano. His life was almost as fascinating as the play! Along with being a brilliant thinker, he is often credited as the first science-fiction writer.

10gcwyatt

My Personal Favorite

A remarkable achievement in directing, acting, and writing. Jose Ferrer delivers the performance of a lifetime that strikes deep into the heart. Anyone who has even been mocked, scored, or ridiculed, or simply felt unworthy of the affections of another will sympathize with Cyrano, and Ferrer brings the character to life as no one has ever been able to do, before or since. The movie is exceptionally smart, humorous, and tragic all at the same time. A perfect film.

historyrepeating

Absolutely brilliant.

Cyrano has always been one of my favorite stage plays. I always felt I could very much relate to the feelings of being different. When I finally saw the film version, it took my breath away. What a spectacular piece of acting by Jose Ferrer. It was everything that the swashbucklers from the 30s and 40s were supposed to be!

I have always thought, however, in this version, that Cyrano should have ignored that ingrate Roxanne and run off with the Orange Girl (Elena Verdugo). Yowza!

raypaquin

What a sadly neglected actor !

This movie is worth seeing for Jose Ferrer's performance alone. The other actors are just okay. My primary language is French and I have also seen Depardieu's version, which is great. But *nothing* can approach Ferrer's. This film is a must-see for drama-students. Where, Oh where !, has American cinema gone ?

Storyline

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Trivia
The false nose that José Ferrer wore as Cyrano was reported to have cost United Artists $1,500.

Goofs
During the balcony scene, Cyrano's white plume is dark.

Quotes
Vicomte de Valvert: Monsieur, your nose... your nose is rather large.
Cyrano de Bergerac: Rather?
Vicomte de Valvert: Oh, well...
Cyrano de Bergerac: Is that all?
Vicomte de Valvert: Well of course...
Cyrano de Bergerac: Oh, no, young sir. You are too simple. Why, you might have said a great many things. Why waste your opportunity? For example, thus: AGGRESSIVE: I, sir, if that nose were mine, I'd have it amputated on the spot. PRACTICAL: How do you drink with such a nose? You must have had a cup made especially. DESCRIPTIVE: 'Tis a rock, a crag, a cape! A cape? Say rather, a peninsula! INQUISITIVE: What is that receptacle? A razor case or a portfolio? KINDLY: Ah, do you love the little birds so much that when they come to see you, you give them this to perch on. CAUTIOUS: Take care! A weight like that might make you top-heavy. ELOQUENT: When it blows, the typhoon howls, and the clouds darken! DRAMATIC: When it bleeds, the Red Sea. SIMPLE: When do they unveil the monument? MILITARY: Beware, a secret weapon. ENTERPRISING: What a sign for some perfumer! RESPECTFUL: Sir, I recognize in you a man of parts. A man of... prominence! Or, LITERARY: Was this the nose that launched a thousand ships? These, my dear sir, are things you might have said, had you some tinge of letters or of wit to color your discourse. But wit? Not so, you never had an atom. And of letters, you need but three to write you down: A, S, S. Ass!
Vicomte de Valvert: Insolent puppy, dolt, bunpkin, fool!
Cyrano de Bergerac: How do you do? And I, Cyrano Savinien Hercule de Bergerac.
Antoine Comte de Guiche: Vicomte, come.
Vicomte de Valvert: Such arrogance, this scarecrow. Look at him! No ribbons, no lace, not even gloves!
Cyrano de Bergerac: True! I carry my adornments only on my soul, decked with deeds instead of ribbons. Manful in my good name, and crowned with the white plume of freedom.
Vicomte de Valvert: But...
Cyrano de Bergerac: But, I have no gloves. A pity too. I had one - the last of an old pair - and lost that. Very careless of me. A gentleman offered me an impertinence. I left it - in his face.
Vicomte de Valvert: [Drawing his rapier] So be it!
Cyrano de Bergerac: You shall die exquisitely!
Vicomte de Valvert: Oh, a poet?
Cyrano de Bergerac: Oh, yes, a poet. So, while we fight, I'll improvise a ballade for you, and as I end the refrain, thrust home.
Vicomte de Valvert: Will you?
Cyrano de Bergerac: I will. Ballade of the duel at the Theatre of the Burgoyne, between de Bergerac and... a barbarian.
Vicomte de Valvert: What do you mean by that?
Cyrano de Bergerac: Oh, that? The title.