grade Movie Reviews

• Reviewed by Lolly2222 grade 10 / 10

  Music, Cinematography, Beautiful People, Great Actors, well cast

  If you like to watch actors who are skilled, have on screen chemistry to die for (and they do) and enjoy cinematography that might make you want to take a stroll in Central Park, then rent, buy, borrow this CD and sit back and watch it over and over and over again. This is a well adapted screen play that moves through a life, tells the story well and makes this love story very believable and of course tragic. Watch the life of an extraordinary talent and sit back and enjoy. Tyrone Power never disappoints and if you can capture his voice and keep it in a bottle, you would And Kim Novak is stunning, sweeping and is well cast. As Marjorie Oelrich she couldn't be more perfect. Also, besides being an exceptional beauty, she, too, has a lovely voice. In a very understated way, you want her to go on and on and on. James Whitmore always delivers. All cast members are charming. You'll love the actor who plays Lou Reisman, the orchestra leader at the Central Park Casino. Enjoy folks. This one is a keeper. OHHHHHHHHHHH, you'll be amazed at how well Tyrone Power plays the piano, or seemingly appears to be playing. The music!!!! Oh, the music.Now to the truth. There are many changes to the real story of Eddy Duchin. Peter Duchin was raised by Marie (he called Ma) and Averell Harriman. Peter's mother, Marjorie Oelrichs, died in July. Not as depicted in the film after Eddy Duchin's radio show from the Central Park Casino in the Winter, Christmas. The Harriman's are portrayed as the Wadsworth's. Why? I don't know why but if you read Peter Duchin's book "A Ghost of a Chance", you will get more of the inside scoop. Still a wonderful film. I don't believe the young actor Rex Thompson was even close to Peter Duchin's persona. But that's my story.

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• Reviewed by Nazi_Fighter_David grade 8 / 10

  Predictable... handsome... and sentimental!

  With the help of Marjorie Oelrichs (Kim Novak), a charming socialite he has met at New York's Central Park Casino, Eddy Duchin was part of the two piano team featured by Leo Reisman (Larry Keating) Orchestra in the late 1920's..Duchin's distinctive playing wins him rapid fame... His measured weight of fingering ensured a balance between poetry and purpose... Every sound conceivable was possible in his artistic palette... He played wonderful music... His piano tone itself was gorgeous and versatile... He amazed audiences with his immense vigor, virtuosity and daring technique... He was soon a darling of Marjorie and high society...His love affair with Marjorie culminates in marriage... but the perfect happiness is short-lived as Marjorie fades away in child-birth on Christmas Eve...Heartbroken, Duchin declines to accept his baby blaming him for Marjorie's death and turns him over to Marjorie's uncle and aunt to be cared and raised, and embarks an overseas concert tour with his friend & manager, Lou Sherwood (James Whitmore).During World War II, while serving as Naval Lieutenant Commander in the Pacific, Duchin realizes the futility of his attitude about his son, now ten, but his attempts to reconcile with him failed because of the boy's resentment...With the help of Chiquita (Victoria Shaw) Peter's pretty nanny, he finally wins his son over and with his ability to charm as well as to thrill audiences, he proves himself as the pianist of sentiment par excellence... Nothing equaled the lightness & sweetness of his preluding on the piano...But tragedy once again overtakes Duchin's daisy fingers as he learns he is suffering from leukemia and has only a short time to live... Duchin's passing from the scene playing a "little double piano" with Peter is a duo-handkerchief climax...Tyrone Power won the hearts of the audience playing the pianist and bandleader Eddy Duchin... He does not interpret music, he exudes it, breathes it, compelling showmanship with great freedom, taste and intelligence...With a stupendous distribution of Duchin's fine piano, the film is predictable, handsome & sentimental...

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• Reviewed by blanche-2 grade 8 / 10

  enjoyable tearjerker

  This was one of my favorite movies as a kid - not only does it have great musical sequences, but it is a real tearjerker. I read recently that this movie just about ruined the life of Peter Duchin, Eddy's son. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a character in such a popular film that shows up on AMC just before you play your next gig. George Sidney did a beautiful job of directing, and no expense was spared for this Technicolor movie filmed on location in New York. There are so many great shots of the city -- if you're familiar with New York, watching the movie is all that much more enjoyable. The film appears to follow the structure of Duchin's actual life but how much is fact and how much is fiction is hard to say. What is fact is that Carmen Cavallero does a divine job dubbing the piano, and Tyrone Power's fingerings are excellent. He apparently worked at them night and day, and the result was worth it.There are some wonderful scenes in the film, one of the best being when Duchin talks about his love for Marjorie to Chiquita, who is about to become his new wife. It's such a beautiful monologue about how you can be young and love someone the way he did Marjorie only once, watch your parents age only once etc. - needless to say, hearing that little speech today means more to me now than it did when I was 14. Another great scene is Eddy and a little boy playing chopsticks on a rickety piano in wartime; and, of course, Eddy talking to his son at the playground toward the end of the film.Tyrone Power knew Eddy Duchin personally as he knew just about everyone, and his portrayal is masterful. In the beginning, however, he's the young Eddy and it's obvious that he's way too old to be fresh out of college. Power was 41 at the time of the filming, and it wasn't the 41 of 2006 - it was a 1950s, three-pack-a-day, party all night, I fought in World War II 41 - hello. You would have thought that the lighting man and cameramen would have worked just a tad harder - we're talking about Tyrone Power here, not some nobody. A little star treatment, please. Instead, Power ends up looking younger in the second half of the film. Ridiculous. There are lots of posts about Kim Novak, who is very beautiful though vapid as Marjorie, but not much mention of the beautiful Australian actress, Victoria Shaw, who played Chiquita. Like Power and Duchin, she died young. She does an excellent job in the movie. One of the comments suggested the character of Chiquita is fictional; in fact, Duchin's widow was indeed Chiquita Wynn Duchin, and in 1947, Peter Duchin left the Harrimans to live with his father and his stepmother. Rex Thompson plays the young Peter Duchin and though he makes a game try at hiding his British accent, he sounds British. As a young adult, Thompson was a handsome and fine actor - he worked into his twenties, and then faded from view. In real life, Peter Duchin went on to marry Margaret Sullavan's daughter, Brooke Hayward. It's hard to hold back the tears during "The Eddy Duchin Story," so don't try. Enjoy the romance and be enveloped in a more gentile world where people had some class, and listen to that great music.

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