Gilbert and Sullivan musicals.. err.. operas are not high art. They're not supposed to be. Somebody writing a masters thesis about G&S might tell you about how a G&S work like The Mikado was actually a critique of the Victorian bureaucracy or what have you, but for today's viewer, G&S provides nothing more than a pleasant way to spend an hour or two.<br /><br />This 1982/3 "Pirates of Penazance" is basically the filming of some upmarket theater production. The theater troupe does a good job, but really all you get here is G&S without either the spark of live theater or that "something extra" of a film such s Topsy-Turvy. Indeed, since your intellectual mind will not be any the poorer if you put off watching Penzance, give this movie a miss until your child or neighbor's kid puts on "Penzance" at the local high school. You'll get better entertainment.<br /><br />I want to emphasize that there's nothing wrong with the cast of this "movie", per se. They did a wonderful job- for theater. But this is not really a movie. The lighting is horrible, and the good theater quality sets end up just looking like cheap movie sets. This movie is dated and need not be seen unless you have particular interest in studying musical..err.. opera staging from the 1980s for some reason... or there is no high school within 100 miles of you.