Sa dernière chance

... that is a retelling of 1932's The Man Who Played God, because of course Liberace is the perfect stand-in for the spry George Arliss(???), who was the star of the original film.

Anthony Warrin (Liberace) is a world-renowned concert pianist who is about to see his life's ambition fulfilled: playing at Carnegie Hall. Tragedy strikes when Anthony suddenly goes deaf due to a rare medical condition that can only be fixed with very risky surgery. Anthony decides to try life as a deaf person, learning to read lips, which allows him to eavesdrop on the lives of people in the park by his apartment. Anthony becomes a sort of guardian angel to some needy people, while also finding himself in an awkward love triangle between his loyal secretary Marion (Joanne Dru) and wealthy socialite Linda (Dorothy Malone).

A notorious flop intended to make master pianist Liberace into a matinee idol, this came recommended as a "so bad it's good" romp. It is silly, corny, schmaltzy, and filled with various unintended laughs. But the music is very good if one enjoys piano music, be it classical, contemporary or folk. The first part of the film is a very unbelievable romance, but when Liberace's character goes deaf, it suddenly morphs into a bizarre feel-good piece with Liberace playing the mysterious good Samaritan.

I enjoyed the awkwardness of it, including Liberace's performance, which ranges from creepily and jovially intense, to nervous amateurism (his hands are visibly shaking in some acting scenes). The supporting cast does what it can, and Dorothy Malone deserves some recognition for being on the receiving end of one of the screen's most uncomfortable looking kisses.

The music alone is worth the price of admission in this somewhat corny film, but with Liberace in the romantic lead who in their right mind would have expected anything more. The plot: famous pop/concert pianist, at the peak of his career, suffers a sudden loss of hearing threatening his career and his personal life. The personal life is portrayed in the lovely form of a doting and smitten fan played by Dorothy Malone who captures the heart of our leading man, all this transpiring under the watchful eyes of the musician's administrative assistant/girl Friday, played by Joanne Dru, who has been reluctant to tell him of her hidden love for him. While Liberace is no Barrymore, his performance is a credible one. He is complemented by a fine supporting cast, including trouper William Demerast as his manager, Lurene Tuttle as a sad mother of a snooty daughter, and Richard Eyer as a crippled boy longing to join the other kids on the football field. The latter two flesh out a subplot wherein the star learns to cope with new challenges in his own life by helping others to deal with problems in theirs. Once you get over the fact that Ms. Malone and Ms. Dru would be quite unlikely to give Liberace the amorous attentions in real life that they afford him in the movie, the film is actually quite entertaining. If you enjoy Liberace's musical style, this movie is worth watching--and listening to--for that reason alone. Watch it with an open mind and I am sure you will be entertained by this movie.

...You never for a moment forget that he's Liberace, self-invented camp icon, and accepting him in another role becomes impossible. (It's like an old New York magazine word competition, where you were supposed to follow a line of actual dialog with a typical viewer's reaction. A winning entry was, "Hello, I'm Dr. Lowenstein..." "Hello, I'm Barbra Streisand.") That odd-looking face tries to emote and a couple of times nearly succeeds, and he also sings a bit (a song of his own composing, based on Chopin, with a soupy Paul Francis Webster lyric) and tap dances. The mid-'50s melodramatics, as penned by no less than Irving Wallace, are fun, as is the plush production design, and it's one of the whitest movies ever made--what, were there no people of color in San Francisco or New York at the time? The sheer otherness of it by today's standards is arresting. But it's slow and self-congratulatory, and you know where all the plot strings are headed long before they get there. Still, it's worth seeing, if only in a seeing-is-believing way.

Would the radio ads of the day announced: '"LIBERACE: inSINCERELY YOURS" thus starting the thin edge of the wedge about his reputation? I wonder.....This film has a howling reputation in Australia. For some reason it is really well known with the over 45s who still today make jokes about it. There must have been one major TV moment in this Nation's history in about 1967 when the entire population - all ages - must have watched it on the same night . I did, all my school friends did, Granny, Mum and Dad all the Aunties and Uncles and even people from other TV stations did. Because the next week or so they made a big deal about showing 'the original' which is 1931 film THE MAN WHO PLAYED GOD with George Arliss and Bette Davis. and if we stayed up late on a Friday night and saw THAT we could compare the two. Somehow SINCERELY YOURS stained the nations psyche...and future film makers...just look at the demented campy musicals Australia has made in the last decade. One friend said once to me: "when I saw the apartment with those big rooms and that patio with the view, I thought this is what life was going to be like when we grew up." And it is true! we all did! It screened about the same time THE JERRY LEWIS SHOW made a debut on Oz TV. and of course weren't we all in for a disappointment when we grew up. I think SINCERELY YOURS should be reissued and made into an audience participation film like ROCKY HORROR or MOMMY DEAREST. Lush, camp and ridiculous. Great viewing. Almost all through as good as the fantastic scene in MIDNIGHT LACE when Doris Day goes mad on the stairs. She lets out some sort of wobbly primeval shudder and howl. Incredible! Well all of SINCERELY YOURS is like that except with Liberace leering and tinkling as well, and on a shag carpet, under a chandelier. Wow!

This is a fine film, with lots of entertaining piano playing from Liberace (1919-1987). I think Liberace's acting is more than adequate, and the musical items alone are enough to warrant the purchase or hire of this film. I found the story compelling and extremely moving.

Admittedly, I am a fan of Liberace, but not an apologist, and I do believe this film deserves to be