Moments in Music

In the 1820s, young Frederic Chopin plays the piano in a small Polish village near Warsaw. Narrator Carey Wilson explains how we can experience great music at the movies. We begin with pianist Jose Iturbi's million-selling take on Chopin's "Polonaise in A Flat" (1945). Other musical interludes proceed from "boogie woogie" to opera, pop and jazz. Leopold Stokowski notes Tchaikovsky. Bing Crosby, then the biggest recording star in the world, appears from his "Road to Rio" (1947). After several additional musical stars appear, "Ziegfeld Girl" (1941) Judy Garland is used for the closing. Chopin could not have imagined what he started. "The music in our films offers entertainment to all ages, all tastes (and) all hearts," according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, so they want you to, "Go to the movies!"

*** Moments in Music (11/13/50) Carey Wilson ~ Jose Iturbi, Leopold Stokowski, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland

Moments in Music (1950)

** (out of 4)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science produced this documentary, which is pretty much just a short promo piece. The music informs people, as if they didn't already know, that they can find all sorts of music types by going to the movies. We see clips from various movies including Judy Garland in ZIEGFELD GIRL, Danny Kaye in UP IN ARMS, Bing Crosby in ROAD TO RIO and Lily Pons in CARNEGIE HALL. Needless to say, this thing only runs around six-minutes and naturally most movie fans are going to want to see the actual films. The clips selected here appear to be taken from the theatrical trailers, which might have been a cheap way for them to get around paying any rights. Do the clips make one want to rush out and see the movies? Not really, which is the biggest disappointment of this short.

This short subject begins with Frédéric Chopin, continues with José Iturbi playing Chopin-inspired piano playing, and then some other songs and music from the silver screen. It's a promotional video showing a goodly selection of musical talent, classical, operatic, orchestral and popular songs by talents such as Yehudi Menuhin, Bing Crosby, Harry James.... well, the list goes on and on, with a good third of the named talent requiring accents and diacritical marks.

And Danny Kaye singing one of his tongue-twister songs. This was 1950, after all, and the movies had been in a downtown caused by the rise of television. That's why it ends with the offer that "All this music is yours at your neighborhood theater when you go to the movies."

Hardly a memorable short from the Academy, with brief snippets of various musical talent on display for a few seconds of screen time. At least there's variety in the musical style, but how sad to see the songs cut off at moments when the peak is not yet reached--such as the very short segment of Lily Pons singing "The Bell Song". This makes the musical segments that are strung together seem pointless and hardly satisfying.

Among those on display: Jose Iturbi playing a Chopin piece and a boogie woogie number (from "Three Daring Daughters"); Lily Pons in a clip from "Carnegie Hall"; Betty Hutton belting out "Doctor, Lawyer and Indian Chief", probably from "Star Spangled Rhythm"; Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald doing a nice job on "Wanting You" from "New Moon"; Red Skelton and Betty Garret in a fleeting rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside"; Leopold Stowkowski conducting; Xavier Cugat and his band; Rise Stevens; Bing Crosby; Yehudi Menunim and his violin; Harry James; Danny Kaye in a tongue-twisting routine from "Up in Arms"; and finally, Judy Garland in a lavish moment from "Ziegfeld Girl".

All of the segments are in B&W which is an added disappointment since many of these films were in color.

Summing up: A trifle of moments easily skipped, even for music lovers.