Incantesimo

The "Eddy Duchin Story" was one of the nicest movies to ever come out of Hollywood. I remember my father taking my mother to see it at least half dozen times. Reason? The music.

For a number of years we had the old soundtrack LP around and if anyone knows where I can get a copy of this on either CD or cassette, I would be eternally grateful for the information.

If I were a critic (and I have yet to have anyone adequately tell me how one goes about becoming one), I would not be so cavalier in dispatching this movie as a contrivance. If you do, you miss the point - the music.

Lights!

In the late 20's, the talkative newly graduated in pharmacy and aspirant piano player Eddy Duchin (Tyrone Power) comes from Boston to New York expecting to play with the orchestra of Leo Reisman (Larry Keating) at fancy New York's Central Park Casino. However he had misunderstood the invitation of the maestro and while leaving the place, he meets the wealthy socialite Marjorie Oelrichs (Kim Novak) that asks Leo Reisman to give a chance to Eddy. He plays in the intermission and becomes a successful piano showman. Two years later, Marjorie and Eddy get married and in the Christmas, Marjorie has a baby, Peter, but she dies after the delivery. Eddy rejects Peter blaming him for the death of Marjorie and only five years later he meets his son. With the World War II, Eddy Duchin breaks up his band and enlists to fight in the war. With the end of the war, Eddy returns to New York with the intention of getting closer to Peter but he sees the boy connected to his friend Chiquita (Victoria Shaw). When Eddy discovers that he has a terminal disease, he proposes Chiquita and they get married.

When we see the biography of a personality by Hollywood, we are never sure that it is a true story or a fairy tale created by the cinema industry. Despite of that, the melodramatic "The Eddy Duchin Story" is a nice story of a man's life surrounded by music, beautiful ladies and tragedies. The forty-two year-old Tyrone Power has good performance and he really seems to be playing the piano, but it is funny to see him in the role of a newly graduated man. Kim Novak shines with her beauty, elegance and her sweet voice. Victoria Shaw is also gorgeous. The cinematography and the music score are awesome and deserved the nomination to the Oscar. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Melodia Immortal" ("Immortal Melody")

If you like to watch actors who are skilled, have on screen chemistry to die for (and they do) and enjoy cinematography that might make you want to take a stroll in Central Park, then rent, buy, borrow this CD and sit back and watch it over and over and over again. This is a well adapted screen play that moves through a life, tells the story well and makes this love story very believable and of course tragic. Watch the life of an extraordinary talent and sit back and enjoy. Tyrone Power never disappoints and if you can capture his voice and keep it in a bottle, you would And Kim Novak is stunning, sweeping and is well cast. As Marjorie Oelrich she couldn't be more perfect. Also, besides being an exceptional beauty, she, too, has a lovely voice. In a very understated way, you want her to go on and on and on. James Whitmore always delivers. All cast members are charming. You'll love the actor who plays Lou Reisman, the orchestra leader at the Central Park Casino. Enjoy folks. This one is a keeper. OHHHHHHHHHHH, you'll be amazed at how well Tyrone Power plays the piano, or seemingly appears to be playing. The music!!!! Oh, the music.

Now to the truth. There are many changes to the real story of Eddy Duchin. Peter Duchin was raised by Marie (he called Ma) and Averell Harriman. Peter's mother, Marjorie Oelrichs, died in July. Not as depicted in the film after Eddy Duchin's radio show from the Central Park Casino in the Winter, Christmas. The Harriman's are portrayed as the Wadsworth's. Why? I don't know why but if you read Peter Duchin's book "A Ghost of a Chance", you will get more of the inside scoop. Still a wonderful film.

I don't believe the young actor Rex Thompson was even close to Peter Duchin's persona. But that's my story.

TYRONE POWER does a remarkably convincing job at the keyboard and the camera seems to linger on his dexterity at the piano (on a dummy keyboard, of course) while the magic of Carmen Cavallaro takes over on the soundtrack. He's excellent as the brash and overly eager young piano player who eventually makes bigtime as a popular pianist, marries and loses his sweetheart, KIM NOVAK, with whom he has a young son who at first resents him after Power's desertion, then reunites before Duchin's untimely death from leukemia. That's the plot, in a nutshell, but it's the sparkling music that counts.

The richly textured Technicolor photography of Manhattan and its settings evoke the time and period perfectly. I found KIM NOVAK's performance artificial and disturbingly unreal--as though she were affecting a series of poses--while Power is completely natural and appealing opposite her. Novak's performance here is a far cry from her work as Madge in PICNIC. The mood of the film becomes somber after her death and Power's decision to leave the country on tour, leaving his baby son behind. The conflict between Duchin and his son is what has to be resolved before the story ends.

The handsome production values are all enhanced by the constant use of Duchin's music, either in the background or with him at the keyboard and these qualities make it one of the most enjoyable musical biographies I've seen in a long time.

The film won four Oscar nominations and Power deserved to be included, but was not.

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid - not only does it have great musical sequences, but it is a real tearjerker. I read recently that this movie just about ruined the life of Peter Duchin, Eddy's son. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a character in such a popular film that shows up on AMC just before you play your next gig.

George Sidney did a beautiful job of directing, and no expense was spared for this Technicolor movie filmed on location in New York. There are so many great shots of the city -- if you're familiar with New York, watching the movie is all that much more enjoyable. The film appears to follow the structure of Duchin's actual life but how much is fact and how much is fiction is hard to say. What is fact is that Carmen Cavallero does a divine job dubbing the piano, and Tyrone Power's fingerings are excellent. He apparently worked at them night and day, and the result was worth it.

There are some wonderful scenes in the film, one of the best being when Duchin talks about his love for Marjorie to Chiquita, who is about to become his new wife. It's such a beautiful monologue about how you can be young and love someone the way he did Marjorie only once, watch your parents age only once etc. - needless to say, hearing that little speech today means more to me now than it did when I was 14. Another great scene is Eddy and a little boy playing chopsticks on a rickety piano in wartime; and, of course, Eddy talking to his son at the playground toward the end of the film.

Tyrone Power knew Eddy Duchin personally as he knew just about everyone, and his portrayal is masterful. In the beginning, however, he's the young Eddy and it's obvious that he's way too old to be fresh out of college. Power was 41 at the time of the filming, and it wasn't the 41 of 2006 - it was a 1950s, three-pack-a-day, party all night, I fought in World War II 41 - hello. You would have thought that the lighting man and cameramen would have worked just a tad harder - we're talking about Tyrone Power here, not some nobody. A little star treatment, please. Instead, Power ends up looking younger in the second half of the film. Ridiculous.

There are lots of posts about Kim Novak, who is very beautiful though vapid as Marjorie, but not much mention of the beautiful Australian actress, Victoria Shaw, who played Chiquita. Like Power and Duchin, she died young. She does an excellent job in the movie. One of the comments suggested the character of Chiquita is fictional; in fact, Duchin's widow was indeed Chiquita Wynn Duchin, and in 1947, Peter Duchin left the Harrimans to live with his father and his stepmother.

Rex Thompson plays the young Peter Duchin and though he makes a game try at hiding his British accent, he sounds British. As a young adult, Thompson was a handsome and fine actor - he worked into his twenties, and then faded from view. In real life, Peter Duchin went on to marry Margaret Sullavan's daughter, Brooke Hayward.

It's hard to hold back the tears during "The Eddy Duchin Story," so don't try. Enjoy the romance and be enveloped in a more gentile world where people had some class, and listen to that great music.