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I recently saw "Deception" (1946) with Bette Davis and Claude Rains. Score by the great Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Fine noirish melodrama. Some great scenes in the world of classical music, such as the Cello Concerto rehearsal, played by Paul Heinreid and maniacally conducted by composer Rains. Davis at the piano, plays a Beethoven sonata at a party. I understand she actually asked to play the music herself, as she had some piano skills--but the part was dubbed by a professional. Very tastefully presented by WB.

I wonder what are some favorite films that people have--which dwell in the world of classical music.

Phillyrich wrote: I understand she actually asked to play the music herself, as she had some piano skills--but the part was dubbed by a professional.

Mary Astor deserved that part--then there'd have been no need for the professional; though I don't doubt Davis was superb in the role. Those pictures I've seen which pretended to portray the lives of famous composers, such as Schumann in Song of Love, were enriched with too much Hollywood hokem to take seriously...but maybe there are better ones I've missed.

I recently watched A SONG TO REMEMBER (1944), which was nominally about Chopin, played by Cornell Wilde, but was really a showcase for Paul Muni as Chopin's teacher. Lots of good Chopin pieces although they were cut to the bone to get to the "popular" parts (dubbed by Jose Iturbi). Merle Oberon was fine as George Sand and Technicolor helped to make it all eye-catching.

I think this is a rather small genre, maybe even just a sub-genre of musicals. I think the best I've seen is AMADEUS (1984) despite its length. There are probably more films about operatic careers than symphonic ones - Grace Moore in ONE NIGHT OF LOVE (1934), and the MacEddy MAYTIME (1937), to name two excellent examples.

bobfells wrote:I recently watched A SONG TO REMEMBER (1944), which was nominally about Chopin, played by Cornell Wilde, but was really a showcase for Paul Muni as Chopin's teacher. Lots of good Chopin pieces although they were cut to the bone to get to the "popular" parts (dubbed by Jose Iturbi). Merle Oberon was fine as George Sand and Technicolor helped to make it all eye-catching.

I think this is a rather small genre, maybe even just a sub-genre of musicals. I think the best I've seen is AMADEUS (1984) despite its length. There are probably more films about operatic careers than symphonic ones - Grace Moore in ONE NIGHT OF LOVE (1934), and the MacEddy MAYTIME (1937), to name two excellent examples.

Merle never fails to catch my eye in stone cold B&W; wish she'd played Clara Schumann in Song of Love...and I think she bears a closer resemblance to the real Clara than Hawk-Face.

One Night of Love is unquestionably the best "opera picture" I've ever seen--and one of my supreme favorites in any genre.

I really liked The Glass Mountain (1949) which is basically a love story set against a composer's struggle to create an opera. Michael Denison is fine as the composer who gets his inspiration from an Italian alpine village where he is wounded (during the war) and cared for by Valentina Cortese. He deserts his wife (Dulcie Gray) and composes his opera based on the alpine myth entitled "The Legend of the Glass Mountain." The film ends with this superb faux opera by Nino Rota, beautifully staged, and sung by Tito Gobbi and Elena Rizzieri.

I can't believe that I omitted MOONLIGHT SONATA (1937) in my previous post. A British film starring the legendary pianist Ignacy Paderewski (his only film I believe) - here's a fellow who really got around, finding time to be prime minister of Poland too. He plays himself and there are lengthy sequences of him performing. One scene is charming: he's at a benefit concert for an orphanage or something and the performer ducks out. A call goes out to the audience - does anybody know how to play the piano. Paderewski hesitantly volunteers. Nobody seems to recognize him and when shown the planned music, it turns out to be one of his own compositions. When asked if he thinks he can play it, he says he'll try. Wonderful stuff. Dame Marie Tempest is also in the film as well as Charles Farrell.

Max Ophuls, "Letter From An Unknown Woman," (1948) based on the novella by Stefan Zweig, is framed around the
romantic infatuation a growing young woman (Joan Fontaine) has for a classical pianist (Louis Jourdan) If you,ve never
seen this masterpiece, stop whatever you,re doing and watch it! Or better yet, look for a venue somewhere near you
where it,s scheduled to play in 35mm.

I have not seen The Other Love (1947), but I know that Barbara Stanwyck plays a concert pianist in it.

Well, it's not exactly old, but there's Amadeus, which I think is an amazing film and is easily one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I think the release version is better than the "Director's Cut" but the latter is all that's available on Blu-ray.

THE GREAT LIE, with Mary Astor as a concert pianist, competing with Bette Davis for the affections of George Brent.
I understand that Astor did all the piano playing in the film, which opens with Tchaikovski's Piano Concerto.

METROPOLITAN, with opera singer Lawrence Tibbett playing an opera singer. One of the highlights of this one is that virtually every song or aria is sung completely, not just snippets.

Humoresque, with John Garfield, Joan Crawford, and Oscar Levant.

I quite enjoyed the recently rescued from copyright limbo The Constant Nymph (1943), with Joan Fontaine as a teenager who falls for composer Charles Boyer, who winds up marrying her cousin instead. Complications ensue, and Peter Lorre shows up. Great score by Korngold adds to the proceedings.

s.w.a.c. wrote:I quite enjoyed the recently rescued from copyright limbo The Constant Nymph (1943), with Joan Fontaine as a teenager who falls for composer Charles Boyer, who winds up marrying her cousin instead. Complications ensue, and Peter Lorre shows up. Great score by Korngold adds to the proceedings.

And as excellent as the Joan Fontaine/Charles Boyer/Alexis Smith version is, you must also see the 1933 British version with Victoria Hopper, Brian Aherne, and Leonora Corbett.

One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) has Deanna Durbin trying to find work for her father and his fellow musicians. She finds Alice Brady's purse and convinces her to sponsor an orchestra for the musicians, but she thinks Deanna isn't being serious--when Deanna phones Alice and has Mischa Auer thank her, she's quite surprised and says something like "Well, I hope that child doesn't become a nuisance!" Finally Deanna sneaks into one of Leopold Stokowski's rehearsals and tries to interest him.

A lot of Joe Pasternak's films, especially the MGM ones, incorporate the world of classical music, sometimes with José Iturbi or Lauritz Melchior on hand to move the plots (such as they are) along.

They Shall Have Music (1939) features Gene Reynolds as an aspiring violinist from the slums who attends a music school--which Jascha Heifetz later raises funds for.

I've Always Loved You (1946), one of the few Republic pictures in Technicolor, is another classical-music movie.

-HA

SINCERELY YOURS (1955)

I've never seen The Great Waltz (1938), the Strauss II biopic, except for the priceless scene of Strauss riding through the Vienna woods as the surroundings magically provide the theme for his big hit, "Tales from the Vienna Woods."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuJOhgLCsM0

Alfred Hitchcock had made his Strauss film Waltzes from Vienna in 1934, a rather dreary affair. That same year, he had more success with The Man Who Knew Too Much for which Arthur Benjamin wrote "The Storm Clouds Cantata," also used in the 1956 remake.

UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (1948)

While I Live aka The Dream of Olwen