July 1950 at Shepperton Studios in Shepperton, Surrey, UK. Critical reception Following the film's world premiere in New York City, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: Reportedly, Cecil B. DeMille sent a letter to Powell and Pressburger saying: "For the first time in my life, I was treated to Grand Opera where the beauty, power and scope of the music was equally matched by the visual presentation." For the 2002 Sight & Sound poll, George A. Romero called it his "favourite film of all time; the movie that made me want to make movies." Three years earlier, Romero had introduced the film as part of the "Dialogues: Talking with Pictures" programme at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. Romero later taped an interview for the Criterion Collection edition, discussing his love of the film and its influence on his career. Martin Scorsese, an ardent fan of Powell and Pressburger, provides an audio commentary track on the Criterion edition. In a book on the British cinema, André Bazin is quoted as saying: Accolades At the 24th Academy Awards, The Tales of Hoffmann received two nominations, both for Hein Heckroth, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color and Best Costume Design, Color; the awards in both cases went to the crew of An American in Paris. Powell and Pressburger were nominated for the Grand Prize of the 1951 Cannes Film Festival and won the Exceptional Prize. They also won the Silver Bear award for best musical at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival. Soundtrack The soundtrack was recorded at Shepperton Studios between May and September 1950, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Decca obtained permission from London Films to release the soundtrack album. In response, Beecham sued, as he had not approved the release because the soundtrack did not truly represent his interpretation of the opera because of the changes made for the film. On 20 March 1951, he failed to obtain a high court injunction to prevent the release but received assurances that the album would be clearly labelled as having been taken from the soundtrack. 2015 rerelease In March 2015, the 4K restoration of the film, produced by Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation, the British Film Institute and Studiocanal, was released in the U.S. by Rialto Pictures. The restored version runs 136 minutes, including a final -credits sequence of all the performers and singers not seen in any previous releases.