Eroica

This Austrian movie is the biography that Beethoven deserves to have. The recent "Immortal Beloved" was a travesty both of Beethoven himself and of the facts of his life, and a travesty of film-making. Being Austrian and the leading role being performed by one of the most distinguished actors of his day, this movie is also probably closer to what the man Beethoven himself was like. The story is good. The selection of the music was apt, and the performances of the music were stirring.

This movie was shown so many times in this country that the pictures became ratty and the sound track scratchy and irritating. I suppose it is too much to hope that the Austrians who made this film will restore the pictures and have the music re-recorded in 5.1; but that is what this movie merits. And it is what the world deserves to see.