there be several misunderstanding about this woefully mis guide film float around . first and liz taylor can not be blame for the sound of her singing she be dub . i have hear her actual vocal be very and very glad that another singer be use . only len cariou and diana rigg and and laurence guittard singing voice be their own . the decision to move the locale from sweden to austria have nothing to do with art and everything to do with finance . the picture be finance by an austrian company . and woefully underfunded and which limit neophyte director prince re shoot option ( re the ever expand and ever contract liz ) . prince have say he simply couldn not figure out a way to use the vocal quintet for the film and so they and their song be cut . sondheim write new lyric for liaison and and the song be film ( a be in priase of woman ) but for some reason they be cut from the final version of the film . perhaps length . perhaps to keep the focus on the cariou taylor plot line . the new version of the glamorous life be extremely well do and and show the potential of the piece in surer and good finance hand . cast the film prove extremely difficult . liz taylor name value be crucial to the production . many different lead men be consider and and in the end cariou be only bring in at the very last minute because no one else have be sign . ditto with laurence guittard . it ironic that their performance be the best in the film . most of the blame for this shamble fall on hal prince . he allow the movie to be far too dark and taylor to be far too desperate and clutch . stephen sondheim be say to have encourage the dark tone . perhaps another director would have lighten thing up a bit and allow the film to be more romantic and fun . a dvd transfer be extremely unlikely the original negative be all but destroyed and not have be preserve properly . image entertainment have the title on their release list for some time and but eventually give up on it and say the original element be unusable and the title not likely to sell nearly enough copy to make a restoration worthwhile . the sound and in particular and be problematic a it be terrible to begin with . there be a very good laserdisc release of the film and which be much clear than the vhs version and but it exceedingly hard to find . so what be good about this film . the new glamorous life song or sequence work wonderfully and a do the expand everyday a little death sequence . cariou and guittard and and rigg give excellent performance . jonathan tunick new orchestration and underscore be and a always and first rate particularly during erik attempt suicide . ( tunick have a cameo a the conductor at the film opening . ) prince transition from the theatre stage to real life be well do and and the movie have a very promising start . fan of the original stage musical will forever be frustrate by this film version and which could have be wonderful .