This film will get a lot of comparison's to the aforementioned film because of the time it was released. Crawford was coming off a triumph with Pierce and they thought...why not throw another Melodrama with Crawford in it out there and see how well it does.
I think the main issue this film isn't on the scale of Mildred Pierce is the content. It's a bit dry. I mean if they could have put a different type of music into this film then it would have really had some heart. As it stands, putting a classical violinist who lives and breathes violin is just plain boring to me. Would have been nice to see maybe a jazz type of feel to it or even big band but it was almost like "Chamber Music" in the film. The story itself is fine it's just....I dunno....there's something missing.
The story goes, poor kid who grows up playing the Violin catches the eye of a "Benefactor" at a party and she gets his name out there in classical concert circles. All the while she falls in love with him...as he with her. The problem is nothing in his life is first except the Violin. In her life it's booze and an uncertainty in her own mind about herself. She's very insecure. With this we get a lot of posturing about who runs the relationship and such. Who's in charge...or...who comes first.
I personally really liked this film. Garfield and Crawford really do a great job in this one but the one who steals the show is Oscar Levant. Without his wisecracks and injections of reality to the characters in this film, it would just be another Melodrama with Joan Crawford in it. He's an absolute scene stealer. His piano playing is really quite stunning (he was actually a classical trained pianist before he was an actor).
A really good film with great performances all around but just a little dry. It doesn't have the kick that Mildred Pierce did but it really is worth seeing. Think along the lines of Daisy Kenyon (another fine film). Just to see how beautiful Joan Crawford was at 40 is worth the price of admission.
I think the main issue this film isn't on the scale of Mildred Pierce is the content. It's a bit dry. I mean if they could have put a different type of music into this film then it would have really had some heart. As it stands, putting a classical violinist who lives and breathes violin is just plain boring to me. Would have been nice to see maybe a jazz type of feel to it or even big band but it was almost like "Chamber Music" in the film. The story itself is fine it's just....I dunno....there's something missing.
The story goes, poor kid who grows up playing the Violin catches the eye of a "Benefactor" at a party and she gets his name out there in classical concert circles. All the while she falls in love with him...as he with her. The problem is nothing in his life is first except the Violin. In her life it's booze and an uncertainty in her own mind about herself. She's very insecure. With this we get a lot of posturing about who runs the relationship and such. Who's in charge...or...who comes first.
I personally really liked this film. Garfield and Crawford really do a great job in this one but the one who steals the show is Oscar Levant. Without his wisecracks and injections of reality to the characters in this film, it would just be another Melodrama with Joan Crawford in it. He's an absolute scene stealer. His piano playing is really quite stunning (he was actually a classical trained pianist before he was an actor).
A really good film with great performances all around but just a little dry. It doesn't have the kick that Mildred Pierce did but it really is worth seeing. Think along the lines of Daisy Kenyon (another fine film). Just to see how beautiful Joan Crawford was at 40 is worth the price of admission.