Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great entertainment & footage of Stokowski in his prime, 14 Aug 2004
This film was very influential, in that it showed classical musicians as quite likeable, and classical music (in small enough extracts) to be palatable to a mass audience. Certainly it worked on my father, who saw it when it came out around 1937. He had been completely uninterested in classical music, but immediately started buying classical 78's (mostly Stokowski's) on the strength of the performances in this film. Although we have footage of Stokowski later in his career taken from actual concerts, these early scenes of him (admittedly conducting a play-back) give us some idea of how charismatic he must have been. He's also a good actor, delivering his dialogue in a pleasant, natural voice, almost like a documentary in tone. This contrasts with the other actors, who are obviously trying very hard to act their roles (perhaps a little too much!).The depiction of the class divide in the States is interesting. The wealthly industrialist is only interested in betting $100 a time on silly things, or in playing practical jokes on his so-called friends. He won't even think of supporting an orchestra - until someone points out the free publicity for his business! His scatter-brained wife holds lavish parties for her friends (sycophants, hangers-on), and is empty-headed and shallow. The poor unemployed musicians are at the other end of the spectrum, struggling to make ends meet in the supposed land of opportunity, with its 'classless' society. On an even deeper level, we can see Stokowski as bridging this gap with his music. Classical music is the compensation that the poor receive to make their daily struggle for existence more bearable. It has a redemptive character bestowed by Stokowski on rich and poor alike. I hadn't seen this film for 30 years myself, and found it still very enjoyable, although the trite plot and slightly mannered performances have dated a little. On the other hand, it is valuable for the reasons I've tried to outline. I recommend it highly.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Depression daydream, 25 Jan 2005
Lovely Deanna Durbin is the young girl whose father, the ever-touching Adolphe Menjou, is a trombone player out of a job, and in order to make her dream of a whole symphony orchestra consisting of unemployed musicians come true, Durbin has to enlist the services of famous maestro Leopold Stokowski in order to get financial backing. But how does she go about it?A delightful, sweet movie, the ultimate Depression daydream, and you will need your Kleenex for the wrap-up. God knows, Frank Capra did the same stuff with a lot more style, but 'One Hundred Men and a Girl' has enthusiasm, guts and is very well, albeit conventionally made and edited. It must have given a lot of people of lot of, admittedly, pretty phoney hope.
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