$2.00 | VUDU
Released: 1949
The court jester Rigoletto, whose only weapon (and source of income) is his sharp tounge, adds insult to injury by mocking the humiliated husbands and fathers of the women whom the libertine Duke has seduced. The events of the opera demonstrate the jester's dilemma: Having as it were, sold his soul to the devil he has also tempted fate by fetching his beautiful daughter, Gilda, who has just come of age, to Mantua- a city where no woman is safe from the predations of the ruling Duke. In bid to have their revenge on Rigoletto for his verbal mockery and the privileged position he enjoys with the Duke, the courtiers kidnap Gilda, believing her to be the jester's lover and little realizing that she in fact his carefully guarded daughter. Their "booty" is presented to the Duke as a present, but Gilda has already fallen in love with Duca without knowing who he is. Rigoletto seeks vengeance - and also cannot understand that his daughter continues to have feelings for the Duke even when she has recognized him for who he is. Finally, Gilda thwarts her father's plan to have the Duke murdered by sacrificing herself instead.