Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A ROMANCE TO DIE FOR..., 2 Dec 2002
This is a superb melodrama about a young man, Paul Boray, from the wrong side of the tracks, who plays a mean violin, and the unhappily married society matron, Helen Wright, who becomes his patron and then his lover. John Garfield is well cast as Paul Boray, the ambitious violinist. Joan Crawford does a star turn as the glamorous and beautiful patron of the arts, who underwrites Boray's big break and ends up falling passionately in love with him. Theirs is a turbulent relationship. He is singularly devoted to his music, and she is an alcoholic, plagued by self-doubt. They are star crossed lovers whose romance is destined to end tragically.The film has a magnificent musical score courtesy of violinist virtuoso Isaac Stern. Pianist Oscar Levant is a double threat in this movie, as he, too, does a star turn as Boray's best friend, acting as a comedic foil. He also dazzles on the ivories, playing away so that the viewer wonders why he, too, does not have some society dame underwriting a show for him, such is his talent. All in all, a well cast and well acted film. Fans of Joan Crawford and all those with an appreciation of classical music will especially enjoy this well made film.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hollywood Goes Highbrow in Style, 27 Jul 2005
At last, HUMORESQUE is on DVD in a fairly decent print! This film, made during the mid 1940s classical music craze that gripped Hollywood contemporaneous examples include A SONG TO REMEMBER, DECEPTION [with Bette Davis, actually shot on adjoining stages at Warners!], SONG OF LOVE and RHAPSODY IN BLUE) is one of the best and most elaborate. It is hard to imagine a film like this being made today, with huge tranches of classsical works taking up screen time and being rendered so wonderfully. Crawford is at her most maudlin and overacts sublimely. The real outstanding performance however is John Garfield who, in spite of looking like a hoodlum, convinces as a violin prodigy. The unintentionally funny lines (penned by Clifford Odets, no less, mining his play GOLDEN BOY into the bargain!) come thick and fast e.g. "Bad Manners! The infallible sign of genius" or "Martinis are an acquired taste...like Ravel!".A grand Warner cast of stalwarts lends support and Franz Waxman adapts and arranges some marvellous music, played exquisitely by Isaac Stern. Oscar Levant contributes his usual laconic humour and also some terrific pianism. Once again, Ernest Haller works miracles with his extraordinary photography [check the anazing shot of Garfield through a Brandy glass at the party scene near the beginning - it took a day to light it]. Jean Negulesco directs with some flair, effortlessly conjuring up 1940s New York making you wish it was as hip and sophisticated today ~ and the final knockout sequence where Crawford walks into the sea (a la A STAR IS BORN) to the strains of Wagner's Liebestod in a superb arrangement for violin, piano & orchestra by Waxman, is so over the top, you can't help but love it. Superbly photographed and edited, it is almost orgasmic! No matter that Crawford's radio would have needed speakers the size of Carnegie Hall for her to be able to hear the music on the beach...that's Hollywood ! The DVD looks pretty good but the print used has clearly suffered with age. No digital restoration was possible as the original camera negative has not survived. Nice featurette on the music and a typically lavish, overblown trailer are the welcome extras. I wish there had been a commentary track as there is so much I wanted to know - for instance, was any of it shot on location and if so, where? All in all however, it's a one-of-a-kind movie and should be in every buff's collection. 5 STARS!
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