Carnegie Hall

Marsha Hunt stars as the wife of a pianist whose son studies classical piano with hopes of playing at Carnegie Hall. She works at the performance hall and, over the years, becomes a fixture there. The story of her life, and the life of her son, is interspersed with Carnegie Hall performances of some great musicians and vocalists.

In fact, the performances are the best part of the film They are wonderful snapshots of contemporary talents. They are so great that they overshadow the dramatic narrative, but a music lover will forgive this imbalance because the final result is so rewarding.

Marsh Hunt deserves credit for her performance, which spans the years and requires her to display some real emotions, which complement the emotional content of the musical numbers. Lovers of music will find much to enjoy, whether it's the rousing performance of Jascha Heifetz or Jan Peerce's "O sole mio."

"Carnegie Hall" really deserves a 20 out of 10 stars simply because it is such a brilliant record of some of the greatest musical performers from about 1890 to about 1950.

Most people reading this comment will not have had any other opportunity to see or hear in live performance such giants as Jan Peerce or Jascha Heifetz or, especially, the likes of Walter ("Good morning, my dear children") Damrosch.

It would be easy to fill several paragraphs just listing and raving about those giants, those icons of great music, including Harry James and Vaughn Monroe, but I urge you to look at each name, follow the IMDb link and then Google each to learn about them.

I must, though, mention the marvelous Marsha Hunt. For some function I don't remember, I was in her home when she was the Honorary Mayor of Sherman Oaks, around 1980, and have been an idolatrous fan ever since.

She is recognized as a fine actress, but she deserved even more. She was also a beautiful woman, and probably never looked lovelier than in "Carnegie Hall." As her character ages, she goes gray, and her step slows and she dodders just a bit, just enough.

It is, in short, a spell-binding characterization, a magnificent performance.

I try not to be envious of people with more ability (which is most people) or more luck (which is nearly everyone) but I do envy Marsha Hunt for her opportunity, in this role, to interact with such musical heroes as Ezio Pinza and Artur Rodzinski.

By the way, look for a very young Leonard Rose, who went on to well-deserved fame as one of the world's greatest cellists.

One final note: The story was by the magnificent Seena Owen, probably best known for her role in "Intolerance." Maybe I shouldn't admit it, but I will: I applauded and cheered and, yes, cried at the beauty of this film, at the glory of it.

I urge, strenuously urge you not to miss this "Carnegie Hall."

Added 19 June 2015: "Carnegie Hall" is available at YouTube.com: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruvljAjzscg

Enjoyed this film from the very beginning to the end with great artists performing in Carnegie Hall and a great story revolving around a woman named Nora Ryan, (Marsha Hunt) and her son named Tony Salerno, Jr., (William Prince) who wants her son to become a great concert pianist. Nora works in Carnegie Hall as a cleaning lady polishing brass rails and works hard to support her son who she loves very much. Tony grows up in Carnegie Hall and gets to meet all the famous conductors, singers and famous musicians. However, Tony wants to cut the apron strings of his mother and branches off to the modern dance bands and meets up with a very attractive gal which sort of breaks his mother's heart. If you like Classical Music and enjoy the great talents of super star talents from the past, this is the film for you. By the way, Marsha Hunt is approaching the age of 90 years and contributed a great deal of her acting ability to the Hollywood Silver Screen. Great film, don't miss it. Enjoy.

"Carnegie Hall" was made in 1947 and actually filmed in the newly refurbished Carnegie Hall. It's the story of a cleaner at the Hall named Nora (Marsha Hunt) who marries a pianist. He dies some time after they're married, and she's left to raise their son.

Nora exposes him, by taking him to Carnegie Hall, to all of the great music and musicians, and he studies piano. The plan is for him to grow up to be a concert pianist.

But he has other plans, and some of them include the pretty Ruth (Martha O'Driscoll), who sings with Vaughn Monroe. William Prince plays the adult son, and Frank McHugh plays an employee of the Hall who is a friend of Nora's.

This is one long movie with tons of beautiful music done by some of the great artists of the time: Leopold Stokowski conducting Tchaikovsky's "Symphony in E Minor," Artur Rubenstein (whom I saw play in concert while I was in high school) doing Chopin's "Polonaise" and "The Ritual Fire Dance" at the piano keyboard, Jascha Heifetz and his nimble fingers on the violin for Tchaikovsky's "Concerto for Violin" - to name only a few.

Singers include Ezio Pinza singing parts of Don Giovanni, Rise Stevens singing "Pres des Ramparts de Sevilla" from Carmen, and Lily Pons, in an exquisite gown, doing the Bell Song from Lakme, her signature piece. Jan Peerce sings "O Solo Mio."

It's all wonderful, and a real feast for classic music lovers, but it isn't very cinematic, and the script is non-existent. It is great to have the musical performances preserved, however.

Marsha Hunt is still with us as of this writing, and she was a lovely actress, physically a cross between Jennifer Jones and Barbara Rush. She gets the usual Hollywood aging of gray hair, white powder and half a line on her face.

I suggest putting this on your DVR and fast-forwarding to the performances.

I disagree with those here who said the story that frames this showcase for classical musicians is mediocre or worse. Though it's a variation on "the Jazz Singer", I thought the script especially well written, and believably and very likably acted by Marsha Hunt. The scene where her character's adult son finally asserts his independence was so passionately acted by William Prince that I was startled. I didn't suspect that the son was, in real life, older than his "mother"; Marsha Hunt did a fine job playing an older woman.

For me, many of the classical music performances were boring, despite the talented and famous cast of musicians. Mostly this was because the un-enhanced 1947 audio did such a poor job of reproducing the music (TCM 2013 showing). I did enjoy seeing Stowkowski conduct in his graceful flamboyant manner (and I suspect that some of the footage may have been rotoscoped for one of the classic Bugs Bunny cartoons, where "Leopold" is the revered symphony conductor). As a musical theater buff, it was interesting seeing Enzio Pinza, near the time when he starred in "South Pacific". He was more charismatic and energetic than in some early 1950's TV footage that was my only visual impression of him.