El violín mágico

1st watched 4/22/2000 - 4 out of 10 (Dir-Bernard Knowles): Slow-moving romanticized story of classic violinist named Paganini. The movie seems to want to woo the women and share the man's story but doesn't do either very well.

Bernard Knowles was not alone in being a far better cinematographer than he was a director and was eventually banished to the small screen.

This romanticised biopic of genius Nicolo Paganini from dear old Gainborough Pictures begins very well and has some nice comic touches. One of the most delightful scenes involves the Paganini of Stewart Granger playing by sight an almost impossible piece by the Fazzini of Felix Aylmer and being given a Stradivarius as a reward. Granger utters the immortal line "I played that last phrase atrociously." Somewhere along the line alas the film goes horribly wrong and becomes, to use the current patois, 'clunky'.

The weak link I fear is Phyllis Calvert. She is not entirely to blame as she has been lumbered with playing yet another 'nice' person. She herself said that it is more difficult to play 'good' than 'bad' and in this she does not succeed. Stewart Granger admitted in his autobiography that he and Miss Calvert managed to hide on screen the fact that they simply did not get on. Their lack of chemistry in the farewell scene of this film is all too obvious. Her scenes with Dennis Price also fail to convince. He is simply too 'camp' and is as miscast as an officer of Napoleon as he was to be as 'Bad Lord Byron'. Cecil Parker as Paganini's roguish manager Germi (fictional) effortlessly steals all of his scenes. One of the few non-fictional characters is Antonia Bianchi who is not a very good singer but has other attributes. Jean Kent is delightful in the role. As for Mr. Granger he does extremely well given the material whilst his stance, bowing and fingering are excellent following three months of tutoring. He has star quality in spades.

Paganini's music and that of Beethoven and Tartini, is played by Yehudi Menuhin. Ironically, many years later, one of his devotees said "Oh, maestro, you play just like Paganini." To which Menuhin replied "Have you ever heard Paganini?"

There are some good scenes but the film's weaknesses outweigh its strengths. It is simply too 'English' for its own good and lacks passion.

Regarding the passion, subsequent films have gone to the other extreme and shown Paganini to be as much a virtuoso in the boudoir as on the violin. How well cross-over violinist David Garrett or egomaniacal Klaus Kinski have served the genius of Paganini is a moot point. Let us just be grateful that he escaped the clutches of Ken Russell!

This movie is pretty a good costume drama from the Gainsborough stable about famous Italian violinist Nicolo Paganini, set in the 17th century around the time of Napoleon. The Film on a basic level, is a rags to riches tale and also includes a love story, various complications amount as a result. On a technical level I was really impressed with how Stuart Granger did all the violin finger movements and bow strokes himself, all seemingly in synchronization with all the musical selections played in the film. No double or close up shots here, ala Hurmoresque with John Garfield. He's quite convincing as the 17th century violinist. The music in the film is great and a real treat for anyone who likes the violin, (though I'm no expert here, just very pleasing to the ear). The title might be seen as a little misleading, as the bow isn't really magic at all, though I suppose some might beg to differ when talking about a Strativarious. This is definitely one of the better Gainsborough costume pictures. All in all a great film with good performances all around, and I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Just one postscript, if anyone is after a good read I can wholeheartedly recommend Stuart Granger's autobiography "Sparks Fly Upwards". His real life was as much of a drama and adventure as it was in any of his movies.

Stewart Granger stars as Niccolo Paganini in this biopic of the great violinist.

Usually in these reviews, I will go over the outline of the subject's real life. Here, however, there are so many lies and misapprehensions to make it a romance -- this is a Gainsborough Picture, after all -- that it seems to be 99 and forty-four one hundredths per cent made up. The one detail that that rings true is that the Jean Kent character traveled with Paganini on his tours and bore him a son. Otherwise, it's all piffle, although Cecil Parker, as the violinist's manager, makes the most of his part, being humorous, hard-working, and a thoroughly decent chap. Some respect must be given to Granger, who worked hard under David McCallum Sr. To look like he was actually producing the notes from the violin. The violin on the soundtrack was played by Yehudi Menuhin, and the choices of music, particularly in the first third of the movie, seem calculated to astonish the audience for their difficulty rather than their musicality.

Other than that, it's a typical Gainsborough picture, notable for costuming and a cast that includes Dennis Price, Felix Aylmer, Frank Cellier, Phyllis Calvert, and Marie Lohr.

Considering Leonard Maltin's brief review that the music overshadowed the story, it should be noted that the violin tracks were played by Yehudi Menuhin, and arranged into an exceptional introduction to that instrument for impressionable minds like my own at the time.