Customer Reviews

Carnegie Hall

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Edgar Ulmer was the king of B-movie directors, and this one was definitely one of his best. The story, for those who don't know it, is about a lady named Nora (played by the brilliant and versatile Marsha Hunt) and her son Tony. Tony's father dies when he's an infant and Nora raises Tony to be a distinguished pianist. Tony chooses another musical path - that of more popular music, much to Nora's disdain. Nora, meanwhile, has developed a society at Carnegie Hall for promising young musicians to study classical music. Tony goes on the road but comes back to Carnegie Hall for a concert, and wins back his mother's approval. Marsha Hunt is my colleague - and at the time I'm writing this, she's 90 years old and still going very strong. She agrees that the story was quite corny but the music made it all worthwhile. She shared a brief scene with Heifetz, and she said that Heifetz was terribly nervous about the whole thing...except for when he was playing, of course. She also said that Heifetz played solos for her during the rehearsal time. This was not Heifetz's acting debut, though - he had a similar part in "They Shall Have Music" 10 years earlier. Still, for all of us "J.H." connoisseurs who know the man and his art and philosophy, seeing him acting in a film is a REAL treat.

The music is the blood of the film - the story is pretty secondary. Very cool to see Damrosch, Reiner, and Stokowski, AND the famed New York critic Olin Downes. One curiosity is the camera zooming in on various billboards for the Carnegie Hall concerts - there's a billboard there for Kreisler. Too bad that Kreisler was not part of the film, but by 1947, he wasn't performing much anymore and eventually he lost interest in violin playing.

An aside - this film didn't do well. Good though the music was, and pleasant though the story was, "Carnegie Hall" became a nightmare. It did far less well at the box office than was expected. But there were many other problems. Heifetz, for one, received $10,000 for his appearance in the film and although he was not given first billing in the credits, he was included as one of the film's shareholders. Meaning, that if the film did well, he'd receive royalties for the rest of his life. The cost of production was around $250,000 (peanuts, even in those days.) The production company, Federal Films, Inc. didn't come close to breaking even and the budget was entirely of borrowed money, which the bank sued them to repay, despite the box office failure. As a result, all of those who had a share in the film were hounded by the bank. Ultimately, the money was not paid back in full; the bank sued and became the new owners of the film. Despite this, it is rather fitting that, over 60 years later, the magic of Carnegie is still very much there, and the music in this film attests to the greatness of "The Hall".

This DVD - well, the transfer isn't great. Obviously the original print was not restored. The liner notes from the Bel Canto Society (which evidently restored the film to include all of the music that was originally filmed, because many versions cut out large chunks), so that's reason enough to buy this particular DVD.

This film features a host of historic singers and instrumentalists in performance in Carnegie Hall, held together by a reasonably flimsy plot about a young pianist whose well-meaning but somewhat domineering mother tries to talk him out of pursuing a career in popular music. See it for the incomparable artistry of Heifetz, Rubinstein, Piatigorsky, Jan Peerce, Ezio Pinza, Stokowski, Reiner, Bruno Walter (who turns in a stunning performance of Wagner's Meistersinger Prelude), and others. While this is the complete version (includes the Rachmaninoff Vocalise sung by Lily Pons, who also sings the Bell Song from Lakme), the picture quality and sound are inferior to the release by Kino Video, which can also be purchased on Amazon.com.Carnegie Hall

First off, there are a couple versions of this DVD. The producers of this version made a special effort to gather all of the material that was recorded for the original movie. No other version has all of this material. I have not listened to both versions, but I would expect the sound quality on this one to be at least as high.

Now the movie itself: I bought this DVD only to watch the many phenomenal musicians listed. Indeed, there are many incredible performances on this DVD which can not be found anywhere else. And that makes this DVD invaluable. What surprised me though, was that I actually enjoyed the movie (The structure is that of a drama in which the main characters go to Carnegie Hall frequently to watch the performances) as well. Certainly the performances are the highlight of the DVD, but don't automatically expect that you'll be fast-forwarding through this to get to them.

In summary: You will not regret this purchase :)

I bought this because I am enamored of Lilly Pons. She is so awesome. But she is not available on much anymore. The concept of using the wee Irish girl as envelope is fun. Hearing and seeing the stars of the past, now, was worth the price many times over. And many of them also participated in the envelope. Too bad they didn't get Benny Goodman's appearance as focus of popular music at Carnegie. But buy it for Lilly Pons and the other stars of the period..

Coloratura soprano LILY PONS was a friend of mine for over 30
years. She was a delightful, vivacious and funny artist. Offstage,
she was totally as "down-to-earth" as one could imagine. I have
a copy of this DVD in the VHS mode and, before that becomes history, wanted to replace it with the up-dated DVD version. Onstage, no artist could come near her physical beauty, glorious
coloratura vocal acrobatics. She reigned as the "World's Most
Famous Coloratura Soprano for years. It is a distinct pleasure to
recommend "Carnegie Hall" to those interested in the artistry of
Miss Lily Pons. The brillliant mezzo-soprano Rise Stevens also adds
a great deal with her beautiful singing.
Richard Kendall, Hollywood Hills, CA

The only reason I have not given this movie 5 points is the plot. However, the plot is a very minor component in this movie... This 1947 feature, shot inside Carnegie Hall is about a mother whose only dream is that her only son will become a famous concert pianist. As he grows up, he's fortunate enough to see the greatest names performing right across his home, at Carnegie Hall. The first 40 minutes focus on the plot and there's hardly any music in them. But then the direction changes - the plot moves to the backround while the focus is on Jascha Heifetz (1st movement from Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto), Artur Rubinstein (Chopin and De Falla), Jan Peerce, Rise Stevens and more. It's a unique chance to see these great names performing live! The picture and sound are, I guess, what can be expected from a movie made in the 40s not by a big Hollywood studio; nevertheless, if the artists and music in general are the focus, it's a treasure.

I bought this to have the Heifetz shortened version of the 1st movement of the Tschaikovsky Violin Concerto in my collection. Remember when in 1980 Perlman interrupted his concert to say to the audience "Today is the birthday of the greatest violinist who ever lived?" He was referring to Heifetz and his comment took in a lot of territory as no one alive had ever heard, for example, Paganini. Well I feel the same way about Heifetz. So get this one to hear Heifetz at his best. Forget the rest.