Histoire de trois amours

Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" is the gorgeous music to which Moira Shearer danced her lovely ballet in the first story. It's a perfect choice for this movie (and this scene) because it's full of passion and promise. The awed & inspired look on James Mason's face as he watches her dance expresses what we, the audience, see: how dancing makes Moira's character feel. It's a moving scene and there are 3 beautiful, emotional performances: Moira Sheara, James Mason, and the music.

This Rachmaninoff piece has been featured in several movies. These include, among others: The Story of Three Loves (1953); Rhapsody (1954); Somewhere in Time (1980); Dead Again (1991); Sabrina (1995); Ronin (1998).

It's a beautiful, moving, "timeless" piece of music. It is sometimes used in period movies whose action takes place before the piece was actually written & first performed. That was in 1934.

I enjoyed this movie, in spite of the uneven script. There are some great actors giving good performances (at times melodramatic - but that's the nature of the script more than their acting abilities), plus (suprise!) a young Ricky Nelson in the only thing I remember seeing him in as a boy besides the Ozzie & Harriet TV series - and he wasn't stilted like he was on his family's show (probably good directing!!!). Some great face shots throughout, too, showing emotion that the script couldn't (using the classic face-lighting techniques that have fallen out of favor with most of today's contemporary film directors).

In spite of some beautiful and memorable scenes in this movie, I'll probably remember the way the music made me feel longer than I'll remember the rest of the movie - and it's worth watching for that alone!

Although this movie has three rather uneven stories in separate segments, the overall package succeeds, is quite beautiful artistically and is highly entertaining. For once, I think this movie on IMDb is UNDERRATED. However, I must say that I've seen this film several times and it did get better the more I watched it.

The first story is the best. It concerns Moira Shearer as a ballerina who has a heart condition but MUST dance, as to her ballet is a compulsion. The music by Rachmaninof is VERY haunting and I got it stuck in my brain for weeks following the movie. This segment reminded me of The Red Shoes (also starring Shearer) but was thankfully MUCH shorter and interesting--a definite plus for those like me who really DON'T like ballet!

The second is about as good and is a cute little fantasy involving a little boy who is magically transformed, temporarily, into an adult. As a child, he said how much he hated his governess, but as a man, hormones kick in and he is naturally drawn to the vivacious Leslie Caron (who wouldn't be?). It's cute and a bit sad as well.

The final is the weakest story about a trapeze artist who lost his last partner but now has discovered another,...and LOVE! It's a decent portion but is just overwhelmed by the quality of the other stories.

Interesting mix of short stories with a galaxy of stars both major and minor. The first with James Mason and Moira Shearer has beautiful music and dancing but a rather overwrought storyline and wastes Agnes Moorehead in a nothing role. The last with Kirk Douglas and Pier Angeli is suffused with sorrow made especially poignant since she plays a girl saved by Kirk from suicide, such was not the case in real life and she ended up taking her own life several years later. The real charmer is the middle episode, a precursor to the film Big, with Ethel Barrymore as an elderly enchantress, Leslie Caron and Farley Granger sweet in a story of young love. Most enjoyable.

I was a college sophomore in 1953 when Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" was near the top of the charts. (Yes, believe it or not, there was a time when good music was popular!) At the time, I knew it was featured in a movie, and I probably knew the title, but I never saw it. Over the years I forgot the movie title, but "Rhapsody" was always a favorite. Occasionally I puzzled over the movie that popularized it, but I couldn't remember what it was. This morning I discovered "The Story of Three Loves" (1953) on Turner Classic Movies, and there was Moira Shearer dancing to Rachmaninoff. I didn't have time to see the movie when it was new, but at least I solved the mystery for myself, and this time I won't forget. I thought the whole thing was charming. Speaking of shades of the future, in the first scene of the aerialist segment, "Equilibrium," Pier Angeli attempted suicide but was saved by Kirk Douglas. In real life, she succeeded in killing herself with a phenobarbital overdose in 1971.

Each of the three love stories would have been worthy of a movie to itself. The second, with Leslie Caron, must rate at least a 7 for anyone who enjoys her, but her work in Lili outshines everything else she has done. The third, with Pier Angeli and Kirk Douglas was a treat even for a viewer who does not usually like Kirk Douglas. It rates a 9 on the basis of the marvelous sequences as he teaches Pier Angeli the art of high wire performance. But it is the first, which deserves 11 out of 10, which makes this film a "must see." I know of no other film in which great orchestral music has been treated with such respect and insight. There are long, uninterrupted sequences of the marvelous Moira Shearer dancing to one of Rachmaninoff's fabulous Variations on a Theme of Paganini. The combination is superlative ballet, and superlative interpretation of a great orchestral work of the late romantic school. As icing on the cake, James Mason is the audience of one as she dances, an irascible impresario who is, quite understandably, overwhelmed by the magic of Shearer's performance. The story ends too soon. At full length, with three times the dancing, and a better love story between Shearer and Mason, it would be a movie I might expect to see in Heaven. It makes the whole film easily worth a 9.