Intermezzo

I normally don't gravitate toward melodramas nor would I approve, frankly, of a film that centers around adultery. However, this film has such much going for it that I wound up loving this movie the first time I saw it, and still do six viewings later.

Off the cuff, here are seven reasons why:

1) There IS a good message here: that a married person having a fling with a pretty young woman might be an exciting prospect but in the end, "you reap what you sow" and if either of the two parties has a conscience, the illicit romance will be doomed, especially if there are kids involved.

2 ) For male viewers, Ingrid Bergman, making her English-speaking debut, is a real feast for the eyes. She was one of the more naturally gorgeous women to grace the silver screen, I think.

3) Gregg Toland's photography. To fully appreciate his work, get the DVD for this film. Toland was one of the best ever, and this is a beautifully shot piece of work.

4) At 70 minutes, the film flies by, which also makes it easier to watch and enjoy multiple times.

5) Leslie Howard and John Halliday also were excellent in here as the two male leads. I thought Halliday, in particular, had some great words of wisdom.

6) For those who appreciate how difficult it is to forgive people, this ending contained another nice message.

7) Classical music lovers will very much appreciate the soundtrack to this film.

For her first American film, David O. Selznick was taking no chances with his Swedish import Ingrid Bergman. Her debut film was to something she had previously done in Sweden, giving her a role she had already done and was comfortable while presumably she learned English. As we all know Ingrid Bergman learned it quite well indeed.

Intermezzo is the story of a world famous concert violinist played by Leslie Howard who comes home from a world tour with his piano accompanist John Halliday to wife Edna Best and children Ann Todd and Douglas Scott. By a stroke of coincidence Ann Todd's piano teacher Ingrid Bergman is also Halliday's pupil. At a party Bergman plays and Howard picks up the violin to accompany her.

That's it for him, the beautiful music they make together kindles a romance. She goes on tour with him and it's a romantic idyll. Except of course for Best and the kids.

This version of Intermezzo is a faithful remake of the original Swedish film and the reviews that Ingrid Bergman garnered insured her American stardom. This was a busy years for Leslie Howard and David O. Selznick with both of them also involved with Gone With The Wind.

The theme from Intermezzo is most often done as an instrumental, but words were actually written for it and Tony Martin made a hit record of it at the time film was out in theater.

Seen today Intermezzo and its romantic story hold up well today. Bergman and Best are at their best fighting for the same man and Leslie Howard's charm still comes through after almost 70 years. Intermezzo got two Oscar nominations for black and white cinematography and film editing, but this was the year of Gone With The Wind.

You didn't think David O. Selznick should have taken all the Oscars home from 1939. He grabbed enough of them that year as it was.

...from United Artists, David O. Selznick, and director Gregory Ratoff. Leslie Howard stars as Holger Brandt, a world-renowned concert violinist who is returning home after a lengthy tour. He's happy to be reunited with his wife (Edna Best) and his children, but things get complicated when Holger falls for Anita Hoffman (Ingrid Bergman), the piano teacher to his young daughter. Their love becomes all-encompassing, leading Holger to leave his family to be with Anita. But will the call of family prove too strong to ignore? Also featuring John Halliday, Cecil Kellaway, Enid Bennett, Douglas Scott, and Ann E. Todd as Ann Marie.

This was a remake of a 1936 Swedish film that had also starred Bergman. This was an important film to Howard, who took the role of Ashley in Selznick's Gone with the Wind in order to get this movie made. It's more than a little corny, and I found the score to be intrusive and manipulative to an almost laughable degree. I also liked the initial "love" scene between Howard and Bergman, when she plays piano accompaniment to his violin playing, the two in deep concentration, while his horrified family and friends look on as if the two musicians are literally having sex in front of them. It's amusing, but not in the way it was intended, I would think. The movie earned two Oscar nominations, for Best Cinematography and Best Score.

At 70 minutes, the movie doesn't even seem forced at all, it goes by pretty quickly. My main problem with the movie is that there is no chemistry between Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman. Since their relationship is the entire movie, it shouldn't work, but somehow i actually liked it in spite of that. At the start, Bergman is giving piano lessons to Leslie's daughter and when he finds out she's really talented herself, they begin to have an affair. Leslie is separated from his wife and he goes on tour with Bergman. His wife wants a divorce and when she is accepted into some music school, she doesn't want to leave him. Leslie Howard does a good job and Ingrid Bergman is gorgeous.

The familiar David O. Selznick gloss is all over this minor 1939 soap opera, most noteworthy as the American film debut of 24-year old Ingrid Bergman. She was brought over from Sweden by Selznick for this melodramatic remake of the 1936 film which brought her great acclaim in her homeland. Her fresh-faced beauty and natural manner are intoxicating as she plays Anita Hoffman, first a piano teacher to the young daughter of renowned violinist Holger Brandt and then his accompanist on a world tour. It's a brief movie, only seventy minutes long, directed by Gregory Ratoff (more famous as the ulcer-ridden producer Max in "All About Eve") focusing on the illicit affair that develops between Anita and Holger.

Much of the story has to do with the guilt they both experience in terms of the familial repercussions, and the ending reflects as much. A role away from his Ashley Wilkes in "Gone With the Wind", obviously the more important Selznick movie in production a the time, Leslie Howard plays Holger in his familiar erudite manner. Veteran character actor Cecil Kellaway (later the monsignor in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") plays the sage maestro who acts as the film's conscience. Scenes often seem strangely truncated to move the story briskly along. Beyond Bergman, the most accomplished aspects of the film are Gregg Toland's lush cinematography, Lyle Wheeler's art direction (making Monterey, California look very much like the Italian Riviera) and Max Steiner's romantic music (oddly uncredited). But the impossibly striking Bergman is the primary reason to see this predictably developed film. The 2004 DVD offers no extras.