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DVD Humoresque
The greatness of John Garfield was that he was a tough guy who wasn't afraid to wear his sensitivity on his sleeve. What makes this such a great film is that director Jean Negulesco and his two writers (including Clifford Oddets) construct a complex web of ambiguity around Garfield's own torment. He's a violin virtuoso from the slums of New York who rises to the top with the assistance of socialite Joan Crawford (who was never better). There's a sexual intensity to his art that she wants to possess, and there's a vulnerability behind her lacerating façade that he wants to expose. They play each other like a couple of virtuosos, stripping each other's spirit away. What helps transcend this depression-era class struggle is its cool sophistication. It's a sublime noir about loneliness. Everyone knows his dream has hit a dead end, except Garfield. He refuses to give up, even after his soul is long gone. --Bill Desowitz
Warning for those on the wagon ... Smoking & Drinking
This is a wonderful film but I wanted to warn viewers who are not supposed to be drinking alcohol or smoking: Joan Crawford is smoking and drinking in each and every scene! She never puts her glass down and always has smoke coming out of her. I have been on the wagon for smoking for 16 months now and I would not watch it. It's not fair for someone else to be smoking when I can't. Just a simple warning and I do not mean to denigrate the movie. I think Joan looks her best in this film, she is ultra glamourous and is dressed to kill in every scene. John Garfield did his finest work and his role is very believable. The violin music is great, too. 5 stars but be warned, it makes one want a glass of bourbon and a Chesterfield filter tip in every scene.
Sublime Masterpiece of Film!
"Humoresque" is one of cinema's sublime masterpieces. It is the apex of what any art form can be. It has a rich, complex script; superb performances; gorgeous black and white photography; impeccable, beautifully drawn characters; believable emotion; glamour; and music -- music throughout that is close to heaven. The violin solos are played by Isaac Stern. Gritty Paul Borae (John Garfield - never better or sexier) overcomes his humble background in the slums of New York City (largely Eastern European then) to become a concert violinist, generously aided by his mercurial patron/love interest Mrs. Helen Wright (Joan Crawford). Every character is perfect, the script amazing, the dynamics between Garfield and Crawford complex and intense. And if you've never been a Crawford fan, this is the film that will leave no doubts as to why she was the star in MGM's galaxy for so many years. She is breathtakingly beautiful here and her performance is real and unaffected; it is in films like this at her peak that one sees why Crawford was Crawford. There are numerous dazzling close-ups where a range of emotion and story are conveyed on the faces without a single word. The exquisite ending reaches a crescendo as in the music. Unforgettable. Cinema at its most masterful.
Great On Many Levels
I've seen this movie at least a dozen times over the years and never tire of it. So rivetting is Garfield and Crawford's performances that even without the great music it would have still been a great tragic love story (and I'm not one who cares for this genre). The volatility between the two lovers is what makes this movie so great; perhaps because they're complete opposites, or perhaps because the relationship is illicit. No matter, the chemistry between Garfield and Crawford is difficult to deny.
Another point. As a violinist myself Garfield does the most believable job of ANY actor I've seen in ANY movie, and I've seen almost all, that actually appears to be playing, it's almost unbelievable.
Finally, Oscar Levant, who was a great pianist in his own right, especially as an interpreter of Gershwin, does a splendid job as the comic counterbalance to Garfield's brooding intensity, and thought he actually stole some of the scenes with his sarcastic wit.
This movie has it all: great music, great story, great acting. Truly one of my favorites from that era.
Fanny Skeffington, an incorrigible society flirt of the WWI era, was one of the meatiest roles and most exasperating women Bette Davis ever played. Flighty Fanny loves the attention of her male suitors, but marries the steadfast Jewish financier Job Skeffington (Claude Rains) for security; long after their wedding day, she still enjoys receiving gentlemen callers. Time catches up with Fanny, of course, and the bills are due by the time World War II rolls around.
Mr. Skeffington is a vintage Warner Bros. workout for Davis, who never shied away from playing unsympathetic or physically unappealing roles. (Her main worry here was looking pretty enough in the early reels to justify Fanny's reputation.) Her theatrical performance and Rains's impeccable work carry the handsomely... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Bette Davis - Claude Rains Director(s): Vincent Sherman DVD Release Date: Released the 14 June 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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"Come on, Oscar--let's you and me get drunk." This caustic Bette Davis line is not aimed at a co-star but at the Academy Award itself, which down-on-her-luck actress Margaret Elliot cradles bitterly at the beginning of an inebriated evening. As you can guess, Davis is at full-throttle in his ripe melodrama, which came a couple of years after All About Eve and serves as a kind of less-classy companion piece to that classic. As the movie begins, Margaret has lost her career and family because of her own demanding nature. Rescued by a roughhewn boatbuilder (Sterling Hayden) she once befriended, she confronts what's most important--being a star, or being a (ahem) woman.
